The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon 2nd June – 16th August 2017. Curated by: Sarah Searson
The opening night included an in-conversation between Cecilia Danell and curator/Director Sarah Searson and a music gig featuring Rusted Rail label acts Loner Deluxe, Cecilia Danell’s musical pseudonym A Lilac Decline and Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon. Sofia Ek, who made the soundtrack for the film, was brought over from Sweden for the opening and joined A Lilac Decline on stage.
“In a post-nature future the unconscious mind will be the last wilderness.”
This solo exhibition was an expansion of Cecilia Danell’s exhibition at Galway Arts Centre in March 2017. For the exhibition at The Dock, Danell’s paintings of Scandinavian landscapes, influenced by a residency at the Nordic Artists Centre Dale, Norway in 2016, were re-contextualised by making stronger reference to her interest in film, theatre and performance. Curated by director Sarah Searson, the Dock iteration of ‘The Last Wilderness’ featured an installation of false walls in the main gallery, mimicking theatre stage walls with a ‘backstage area’ consisting of laser cut plywood shapes. Gallery 1 contained a viewing theatre for the film ‘Tonight at the Magic Theatre’, which was made especially for the Dock exhibition and the entrance hall featured a photograph of the Magic Theatre pasted onto the wall, with a lilac colour between the steps which was taken from the photograph. The small gallery 3 contained smaller paintings and an icicle light sculpture.
The Last Wilderness was presented in collaboration with Galway Arts Centre and supported by a 2017 Arts Council Project Award.
