Benign Land is a site specific work set in the imposing site of Carlisle Memorial Chruch in Belfast, presented as part of the contemporary art festival Red Sky at Night. The artist has created an evocative installation that incorporates his long standing research into perception, architecture and light, and responds to the specificities of the site, while expanding his current research into creating interactive experiences using the medium of video games.

The installation consists of two light art interventions together with an interactive gaming experience on a large LED screen that invites the viewer to inhabit a new, unsettling twilight world, set in a fictional landscape that interweaves layers of history, folklore, literature and music relating to the land. It culminates to a dreamlike experience where the viewer embarks on a metaphysical journey into Ireland’s subconscious past, drifting through evocative scenes from pagan times to recent historical events, revolving around the Troubles of Northern Ireland.

Benign Land includes 3d photogrammetry models captured by the artist across the island of Ireland of locations and environments that relate to his research into stories and folklore of the mythical, industrial, political, musical and literary past. These images have been rendered into fictional landscapes that can be navigated using a controller in different ways, allowing multiple narratives and experiences of these liminal spaces to co-exist.

A soundtrack composed in collaboration with Belfast based sound artist and lecturer John D'Arcy accompanies the work.

VFX art: Anna Chocholi
Engineering & construction of rotating light installation: Bram Vreven

[THE INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE OF BENIGN LAND WILL BE RELEASED IN EARLY 2025 SO THAT AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DOWNLOAD IT AND EXPERIENCE IT FROM THE COMFORT OF THEIR HOMES.

KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MORE INFORMATION, HERE ------> BENIGN LAND LINK ]

Benign Land is part of the Belfast 2024 celebrations and is generously supported by Belfast City Council, British Council, and the Mondrian Fund. It is kindly sponsored by Visual Spectrum Studios and made possible through the support of Belfast Buildings Trust.

Red Sky at Night is a festival of new art commissions across Belfast by international artists Zuza Golińska (Poland), Kanich Khajohnsri (Thailand), Kasper Lecnim & Irmina Rusicka (Poland), Dina Mimi (Palestine), Aisling O'Beirn (Ireland) and Leandros Ntolas (Greece), curated by Household Belfast.