Willie Doherty's Ghost Story
's "Ghost Story" has finally come home. It's one of the Ulster Museum's latest purchases and a prominent part of their new exhibition of art " which opens today.Ìý
The Sean Scully's are away, the walls have been repainted and works that haven't seen the light of day since the museum closed four years ago for refurbishment are now back up.Ìý
I head straight to "Ghost Story". It dates from 2007 and formed the main part of his Venice Biennale exhibition when he represented Northern Ireland that same year.
To get to "Ghost Story", part of the first main gallery has been boxed off, and as with so many of his works, its boxed off to maximum claustrophobic effect.
A dark space reveals the screen, images of a bleak, rural landscape, the picture here is just one of those stark images shot by withÌýa narrationÌýby Ìýthat is deliberatelyÌýflat and lacking in emotion.ÌýIt makes for compelling, if uneasy, viewing.
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There's another Willie Doherty work I'm very curious to see. "Closure" from 2005. I did the voiceover for it but have still to see it. I've seen the stills. A lone female, pacing a perimeter fence. Again, trademark Doherty. Who is she? Why is she here? What has she witnessed?Ìý
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ÌýWe met in the Â鶹ԼÅÄ after Arts Extra. IÌýhadÌýthe script,Ìý16 words in all.
'My purpose is clear./ My endurance is constantÌý
The crack is splitting./ The glass is shattered'
The crack is splitting./ The glass is shattered'
It shouldn't take longer than an hour Willie says. An hour? It's only 16 words, I'll be done in 10, I thought. After all I was able to do the voiceover for all the floors in the Altnagelvin Hospital lift in 45 minutes! Maybe that's how Willie "discovered" me, him being a Derry man, somewhere between the ground floor and coronary care.Ìý
I had never worked with Willie before and he was tough. Usually when you speak, your voice has some level of colour in it. Willie wanted it stripped back. Every word was scrutinised for tone, timbre, depth, emotion. He knew how he wanted me to say his words. How he wanted to place them against the moving images.Ìý
But what I want to know is if I was there for an hour for 16 words, how long was Stephen Rea there for "Ghost Story"?Ìý
I'm talking to Willie Doherty on Monday 29th March on Arts Extra. And the duration of myself and Stephen's voiceovers may form the basis of my first question!
Postscript: When I met Willie for an interview for Arts Extra he pointed out that my part in his work was actually more involved than I remembered. In fact the whole piece was eleven minutes long and contained considerably more script.
Postscript: When I met Willie for an interview for Arts Extra he pointed out that my part in his work was actually more involved than I remembered. In fact the whole piece was eleven minutes long and contained considerably more script.
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