Curated by internationally acclaimed artist Haroon Mirza from the Arts Council Collection, We stared at the Moon from the centre of the Sun, presents works from the Collection alongside new works made by Mirza for the exhibition.
Often taking the role of composer, Mirza creates atmospheric environments through the linking together of art works often using light, sound, music and elements of architecture. For this new exhibition modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, installation, and film and video works are brought together to explore how our experience of the present is influenced by the juxtaposition between the archaic, or the obsolete, and an imagined future.
The title of the exhibition centres on the recurrence of solar and lunar symbolism in our attempts to understand the past and our images of the future. Such symbolism also relates to the shared realm we all inhabit – the earth – the social sphere, the cycles of natural phenomena, shapes and symbols as endless as the circle itself. In this exhibition Mirza tests the friction and relationship between existing artworks, to create dialogues between them that unfold along the recurrent lines of the circular shape. The exhibition is curated as a kind of spiralling, cyclical narrative to create a visual soundscape that triggers new narratives and relationships.