Curtain Up

Featuring works by Simeon Barclay, Denzil Forrester, Joy Labinjo, Ryan Mosley, Abigail Reynolds, Bridget Smith, and major new commissions by Rowland Hill, Chris Paul Daniels and Ulla von Brandenburg.

The dynamic of congregating and witnessing something collectively is a powerful stimulant that enrichens any creative experience. Curtain Up is a group exhibition that explores how visual artists have sought to capture the shared anticipation, heightened emotions, and communal energy of being in an audience.

This exhibition, which includes specially commissioned artworks, considers live performance, music and other art forms as experiential moments, shaped by three key elements: space, event, and audience. The cinema, fairground, theatre and concert halls are all explored as backdrops to experience cultural events. But it is also about being part of a crowd that activates a shared feeling of unity and reacting to the emotional and behavioural responses of others - that creates the energy and atmosphere of a unique experience.