Postponed due the recent fire at the Cathedral Buildings, we folk at DAS are even more delighted to present Anticipated Nostalgia, an eclectic exhibition showcasing works from the recent cohort of DAS Home Residents. Working in person from the studios, and online, our residents hail from north and south of the border and Pakistan. So please do join us on Thursday the 3rd of November for the opening reception from 6-8pm, and Juanita Rea will give a live performance of She is with spoken work and music at 7pm.
Wajeeha Batool’s work explores the increasingly disconnected relationship between ‘us’ humans and the natural world. Drawing on childhood inspiration from fairy tales, movies and video games, Wajeeha uses the digital language of pixels, and the forms and patterns in nature to remember and perhaps lament this changing but innate interconnectivity.
Cameron Clarke’s film Amber Evenings pays homage to HPS streetlights, which have been bathing our cities in a monochrome amber glow since the 1950s. This integral aesthetic of our urban nightscape is however slowly changing with the introduction of white LED street lighting. Cameron’s study of 'anticipated nostalgia' documents something that exists now but won't for much longer, and questions how this will affect our perceptions of the night.
Aleena Akbar Khan is interested in translation. A fragmentation of meaning and the visual occurs when AI generates images based on text prompts. This fragmentation is further amplified when these images are translated into physical bodies, and thus a Loop of Fragmentation is set in motion.
Brigid Mulligan’s animation April Fool’s Day attempts to understand the incomprehensible, how someone could be here one moment and in another instance is no longer here. Material objects are held onto as surrogates. Place and time become saturated with memories.
Chinedum Muotto’s interactive piece Floor Wet manifests itself as a dystopian and satirical performance that speaks to flooding and rising sea levels. At the moment these climate disasters disproportionately affect black, indigenous and low-income earning communities. Activate this time traveller whose mission is to warn us of the future.
Juanita Rea presents She is to tell her story, a common yet usually untold story of childhood sexual trauma recovery, using poetry, spoken word, mixed media drawings, songs and AI-generated images interwoven into video.
Juanita will give a live performance of She is with spoken work and music at 7pm on Thursday the 3rd of November.
Opening reception: 3rd November 5-8pm.
Exhibition runs: 3rd - 12th November, Tues - Fri: 11am – 5pm, Sat: 11am - 4pm.
Where: Golden Thread Gallery, 84 - 94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast.
DAS would like to sincerely thank GTG and Flax Art Studios for their assistance.
Principal funder: Arts Council of Northern Ireland.