Curtain

Published to coincide with the projection of the ten minute video piece ‘Curtain’ onto the vast brutalist fly tower of the National Theatre, London, by artist Peter Bobby. This work depicts the closing and opening of a vast auditorium curtain, at first denying us of the view out, then authorizing us to look again. At first seemingly static, perhaps more akin to a projected photograph, the viewer is drawn in to observe the minutiae of detail evident through the plate glass window in the functioning city below. The piece looks at ideas of representation and spectatorship. The camera referencing photography by performing a function similar to that of a shutter or eye, this is further enhanced by an additional reference to photographic exposure when the camera, in fully automatic mode, struggles to balance the interior and exterior spaces, resulting in a sudden and dramatic shift, rendering the dense fabric curtain blood red.