TRAP

An exciting and provocative new collaboration between Artists James Colvin, Julia Griffin and Steve Sutton.

To experience life, A Tree must live
To experience fire, A Tree must die
By Herman Wallace 2006

‘Trap’ is an exploration of the relationship between a sculptural installation and the temporality of live performance. The work is a moving sculpture that consists of arranged tree limbs, creating an illuminated shadow landscape that shifts through different hues of colour. Tangles of bunched branches are woven into a metal cage that conceal the choreography of a slowly moving body.

When entering this caged interior space, the body is challenged by sharp branches pointing towards it, harshly piercing the outer mesh ‘skin’. The branches create liminal feelings from both natural forces and human fears. ‘Trap’ engenders feelings of tension and unease suggested by both the physical liminal space and the change of environment encountered by the human. The uncertain structure entices the human body to enter and explore the complex interior space, trapping and overwhelming them, akin to a fly entering an insectivorous plant. Beneath the hovering tree root the entrapment is palpable.

The body, trapped, navigates and inhabits the fragments of ‘re-ordered’ and disembodied trees, roots hanging from above, branches encased within the construction. The moving body shifts slowly, almost imperceptibly through the frame of the cage, sitting, standing, twisting, extending limbs folding, appearing, and disappearing into the structure. It is a doorway into a frame within a frame, trapped, multiple narratives emerge, dissolve, reappear and repeat. Sound is captured and then develops into an ambient, metallic and organic soundscape that pulsates within the space. This sound palette draws focus and plays on the viewer’s sense of time and space.

‘Trap’ explores the concept of trauma as sculpture and it is also about humans and their relationship to the natural world and each other. It questions how we deal in an ongoing and durational way with affective states that may include the deep social ambivalence that seeps into the way we maintain the lives of ourselves, others, and the natural world we all inhabit.

This immersive installation runs for approximately 45 minutes and is a ‘seated experience’. Please note that the entrance to the performance space is via a flight on stairs with no lift access. The performance space is dimly lit and can get cold. We recommend that audiences wear warm clothing and are directed by our staff to their seats. Audiences will enter the space via Steve Sutton’s studio and depart via Julia Griffin’s studio. Please feel free to explore the basement and enjoy both artists’ work.