May 23, 2018
FROM DIFFERENT ENDS: SILAS PARRY, LOUIS MCHUGH AND JILL BOUALAXAI
(WORMS OF SURPLUS, GENERATION LOSS AND GHOST LINES)
As this year’s Hidden Door Festival reinstates the dilapidated State Cinema with artistic invention, performance and theatrical displays, three visual artists occupying the basement and foyer of the building present contrasting interpretations of life to come and life lost.
A section of Jill Boualaxai’s work is situated in the main foyer of the entrance to the State Cinema. A copper ‘collage’ adorns the wall referencing old maps and the history of the area of Leith that Hidden Door 2018 occupies. Jill refers to the installation as a series of drawings — the geographical landscape of Leith replicated in burnished copper exposed to weathering and patination. The copper itself was discarded after last year’s festival and Jill has transformed the discarded material, ageing it then reenergising the copper pieces into an artistic installation.
As you travel through the foyer and down to the basement you will meet the colourful, playful work of Silas Parry. In contrast to the work of Jill, Silas’ installation looks forward to the future; anticipating the unexpected life forms that may emerge. As a planet, society and race we are a rapidly changing ecology — Silas seeks to create fictional forms, a reminder, almost, of the stories and controversies over alien life on the planets surrounding Earth. In the words of Silas, Worms of Surplus ‘grows where we least expect it’.
Opposite Silas’ work, in the furthest offshoot of the basement, Louis McHugh has installed ‘Generation Loss’. Comprised of hacked VHS players and prepared VHS loops Louis’ installation confronts the subject of pervasive technology, playing upon failed systems and mechanical defect. Similar to Jill’s practice, Louis seeks to rehabilitate and rework items that were once familiar components of our day-to-day life.
All of the above artists installations will be displayed throughout the festival in the State Cinema.
