antechamber: mary mcintyre
See new intervention by Northern Irish Artist Mary McIntyre in the Spotlight Gallery, which is at the Ulster Museum as part of the Ulster University Belfast School of Art at 175 programme
Northern Irish Artist Mary McIntyre presents a new intervention for display in the Spotlight Gallery at Ulster Museum.
Mary McIntyre has explored different types of space in her work in multiple ways over the past three decades. In this new work, she presents the viewer with an image of a room which, at first, appears to be empty and unremarkable. Upon closer inspection, it reveals frayed and discoloured carpet tiles, stained walls and makeshift partitions – traces of occupation by unknown inhabitants.
Central to this image is a large-scale wooden panel, roughly painted and punctured with cut-out sections. This panel, replicated in the gallery, forms an unintentional and abstract composition. It is set alongside a work by Roger Hilton from the Ulster Museum’s collection, allowing the viewer to make visual connections to the abstract painting.
Activating the rooms that her photographs inhabit is key to McIntyre’s practice. The artist aims to inform the viewers by creating a surrounding environment that intensifies the act of looking in a multi-sensory way. Recently, McIntyre has become increasingly engaged in collaborative and cross-disciplinary practice, in particular as the founder of electronic record label TONN Recordings. This exhibition also debuts a new modular synth composition by Sean McBride of Martial Canterel, made in response to the artist’s photograph, which will play periodically throughout the day.
'Antechamber: Mary McIntyre' is at the Ulster Museum as part of the Ulster University Belfast School of Art at 175 programme. Free to visit in our Spotlight Gallery, no booking necessary.
About
Mary McIntyre was born in Northern Ireland where she lives and works. She graduated Master of Fine Art in 1990 at the University of Ulster at Belfast where she is a Reader in Fine Art.
Mary McIntyre’s photographs often present spaces and places that have been forgotten and overlooked. The atmosphere of each location resonates from the image. With this in mind she depicts the transformation that occurs to these locations at specific times of day when, for a fleeting moment, the play of light can transform the mundane, urban environment. When photographed at night and artificially lit, these spaces begin to take on a cinematic quality, imbuing them with a heightened psychological charge.
Read more about Mary McIntyre and her work here.
