The Path to the Distribution Point of Light - The Untold Want

This research, which is part of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Collection, explores the relationship between the spaces depicted in photographic images and the gallery spaces in which they inhabit. Through the integration of sculptural elements, McIntyre’s installation, ‘The Path to the Distribution Point of Light’, explores the audience’s relationship to photography through greater spatialised interaction with the work, calling into question the possibility of ‘passive’ viewing, as each step taken towards viewing the photograph brings awareness of moving towards the image in order to view it.

In this research project, a low platform is constructed in the form of a shallow angular ramp jutting out from the corner of the gallery space, positioned below the accompanying photograph. Within the physical and conceptual space that occurs when these 2-d and 3-d elements are brought into close proximity, a new agency of inter-relations is made possible. Within this, the installation is multi-dimensional in purpose, functioning as a surface on which to step up towards the photograph it is positioned under and pivotal in its relationship with the image in its ability to mirror the flooring depicted in the photograph. The grey surface of the linoleum, a material ubiquitous in institutional locations, depicted in the photograph, echoes in its pictorial presence within the photograph and its physical presence within the gallery space. Thus, each element active in this research, of photograph, installation and its location, are inextricably bound together in material narrative.

The photograph at the heart of this installation, depicts an empty interior. The minimal details in the space depicted within the photograph, take on a significance, which was further explored in McIntyre’s reflective writing process in her text, ‘The Failure Sense’, published in a new collection of essays on Beckett’s influence on contemporary art (Reginio et al 2017).