Richard Proffitt
May the moon rise and the sun set is a site specific installation produced by the Glucksman.
The work transformed the interior spaces of the UCC Department of Music premises at St. Vincent’s Church into an uncanny, atmospherically immersive environment. May the moon rise and the sun existed as a place where the alternative spiritualities of counter-culture and sub-culture can develop and thrive.
Richard Proffitt’s previous exhibitions include TULCA 2017, Galway; Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin; Dada Post, Berlin; Galway International Arts Festival 2017; Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.
Curated by Chris Clarke and produced by the Glucksman, this new visual arts project has been funded by a project award by the Arts Council of Ireland, and created for the Cork Midsummer Festival. It was open to the public in the UCC Department of Music, from 14 - 23 June 2019.
Using the unique history and architecture of the building to create an ambitious large-scale installation artwork, the work included paintings, drawings, sculptures, indigenous and religious art, paraphernalia (both found and fabricated) as well as objects including musical instruments, books, lights, rugs, carpets, clothing, scraps of paper, sketches, countercultural newspapers, playing cards, psychedelic posters and everyday detritus.
The installation also incorporated elements of sound and video work, including music composed from tape loops of pre-recorded repetitive drone, folk and psychedelic music, cut-up monologues and video from found sources. These materials reference makeshift shamanic shrines and dilapidated places of worship, sub-cultural interests in folk ritual and the hippie communes of the 1960s and 70s.
