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‘Gaze upon that which you are most afraid of’ 

 

As contemporary life’s religious and ‘moral’ façade slowly ebbs away we are left with the remanences of faith and belief, masculine power and divine law. These lasting concepts, like much of the detritus deposited from strong religious leadership, loom over many individuals in our current geo-political environment often impressing guilt, shame and feelings of unworthiness. We encourage artists to refocus these feelings through the lens of non judgemental kindness, observing their vindictive flesh with a proximity that - we hope - debases their integrity and opens up the conversation around shame. 

 

Talking about and understanding individual guilt and shame is, by nature, a conversation shrouded in secrecy. We are anxious about judgement, social prejudice and exclusion. In the cold light of day, our self-perceived ‘reprehensible’ inner thoughts are often not as private and personal as we’d endeavour to make them. Indeed, many of these obscurities are shared and with trust, community and celebration of vulnerability we look to extend a universal ‘olive branch’ to everyone, as many people hold unwarranted trauma. 

 

As modern influences continue to rear self-judgement’s ugly head within us, THE SOUND OF GLASS looks to offer a relief mechanism. We hope to enact a release of human emotion and the struggle to express these through raw uncompromised artistic and musical explorations of inner turmoil. 

 

Our opening year show THE SOUND OF GLASS asks you to build a ‘shrine’, honouring self love and loathing in one space, confronting these polarities and where they collide. Consider this show a purging ode to feelings of guilt or indeed, an event looking to reveal to artists and audiences a little more about their own shame and its roots in what will be a safe and supportive environment. 

 

KEY WORDS 
 

• Exploration of guilt and repression 

• Cultural value systems 

• Iterations of shame 

• religion 

• ‘Religare’ - meaning to bind

• Primal scream therapy

• Release through confession, dance, sex, environmental escape (internal/external)

• Link between original sin and transhumanism

• Radical acceptance of the worst possible tragedy

• vulnerability 

• Male physcosexuality of violence