‘The Dazzling Far-Near' is a new audio-visual installation made for 36 Gallery by Newcastle-based artist/composer Jayne Dent. Touch responsive e-textile banners activate fragments of a disembodied choral composition, a morphing and hypnotic soundscape shaped through audience interaction. This exhibition explores ideas of communion, sacred folk tradition, and the potential role of technology as a mediator of transcendent experience.
The title ‘The Dazzling Far-Near’ is taken from the writing of Hadewijch of Antwerp, a 12th Century poet and mystic who conceptualised the abstract relational space between human and divine as the ‘far-near’.
How do you commune with the invisible? Where do you meet? Shapes of sanctuary blueprints and open doors, this visible, divisible light. Mirrors to step through, reflections and shadows, eyes closed, hands clasped, a spiritual experience. A ladder to climb, a call and response, turning inward and reaching out. Getting lost in mapping and making and remembering. Open the songbook at any page and sing: voices synchronised, sit together in dazzling light.
Important Information
36 Gallery, Lime Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 2PQ
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The exhibition runs 7th-16th February 2025
Preview Event: 7th February, 6-8pm
General Opening Hours: Saturdays/Sundays, 12-5pm
Open other days by appointment only, please contact j.dent4@newcastle.ac.uk to arrange viewings outside of the preview and general opening times.
The exhibition is free entry
Research Context / Data Collection Information
The work in this exhibition forms a part of my PhD research at Newcastle University. It is an early-stage design experiment that aims to bring together the threads of my creative practice and autoethnographic research, mapping out some initial ideas and presenting them publicly. I will be documenting the exhibition and collecting data which may be used to evaluate the work and inform the next steps of the research project.
Data Collection methods:
· Photographic Documentation: There will be photographs taken of the exhibition installation and may include visitor interactions with the artwork. Members of the public will not be identifiable from the photographs. Please inform an invigilator if you do not wish to be photographed.
· Observation: I will observe how members of the public interact with the exhibition and take brief handwritten notes. No identifiable information will be included in the data collected.
· Comment Book: There is a comment book in the entrance area of the exhibition for you to share any anonymous responses to open questions/prompts and additional space to write other general feedback and reflections.
As the lead researcher I will be invigilating the exhibition, so will be around to answer any questions about the exhibition content, research project and data collection, however if you have any further questions please contact j.dent4@newcastle.ac.uk.