Dominic Clare

Audiences enter the installation alone and journey on a winding path along which they encounter ‘sensory portals’.

This labyrinth was created as a performance venue, it was built in the Gwydyr Forest near Llanrwst, North Wales with Community Development Organization Golygfa Gwydyr, and at a mile long is the largest labyrinth of its kind in the world. It has hosted many professional sensory labyrinth theatre performances to date. Supported by Cynefin, Acadeni, Cyd Coed, Cywaith Cymru and North wales Stage.

During the residency I collected old bottles from the ruined house that is in the labyrinth. Using latex I made moulds from the bottles and cast them in plaster. To display the bottles I made a cabinet cut from one piece of cedar wood, a pleasant smelling timber that was used in the past for the insides of cupboards to hide rotten food smells. Two of the compartments of the cabinet are tapering boxes creating illusions. One lined with mirrors suggesting eternity the other providing a white ghostly serene atmosphere. I also hung a set of cast bottles above the path by the place where I found the originals.

Carrying on with this domestic theme I made a large oversized chair and table out of Welsh oak, pegged together in a traditional fashion. These were set in four walls of rowen and birch trees with a floor of turf. On the table sits a cedar bowl and a lead bottle giving reference to the lead mines in the forest. A ruined house and bread oven are in the background.