The Dolls House

“Theatre takes place all the time – wherever one is – and art simply facilitates persuading one this is the case“ – John Cage

Joseph Heffernan’s exhibition The Dolls House presents a series of assemblages and objects, made during his residency in the Triskel/Sample Project Space which further develop his recent ventures into the field of expanded painting. These objects are a continuation of his pre-occupations with memory, fantasy and identity and look at childhood forms of ‘meaning making’ such as fairytales and games and considers how these are not simply abandoned but are used as models for organising and poeticising memory in later life. The philosopher Johan Hunzinga’s seminal text Homo Ludens: The play element in Culture is a key influence on the work. Throughout his text Hunzinga argues that much of the same rules that apply to childhood play also apply to sacred rituals and that formally speaking there is no difference whatever between marking out a space for a sacred act and marking out a playground for play. Heffernan’s work extends this idea into the gallery space allowing the work to focus on the staging of rituals and performances utilising an elaborate world of private signs and symbols. Through his use of found objects and referencing of domestic settings memory is presented as something which is performed with a continuous dynamic process linking performative behaviour to the ways in which people think and organise their lives.