The exhibition explored the relationships between performance, installation, costume display, stage design, sculpture and props.
From the visual spectacle of contemporary dance theatre to the communal experience of the nightclub dance floor, the exhibition Bus2move manifested as a series of sculptural installations combining costume, film and video, photography, lighting and sound.
Barclay’s interest in dance and its many facets centred on the construction of masculinity, with particular focus on the way popular perceptions and stereotypes become defined, contested and encoded upon the dancing male body.
Barclay undertook a research residency at the internationally renowned Phoenix Dance Theatre based in Leeds to inform the creation of new artwork for the exhibition. Focusing on choreography, sound design, costume, lighting and stage design, this research informed a series of new installations which continued Barclay’s interest with the complexity of subjectivity and how these states of consciousness are refracted through race, class and received notions of identity.
Creating immersive environments with lighting and sound that bring theatrical influences into the gallery setting, Bus2move brought together resonant images and objects that speak to each other across cultural divides, between high theatre and popular culture, individual and collective identity.
Supported by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants, the exhibition was later reconfigured for Workplace Foundation, Gateshead and The Turnpike, Leigh.