John Minihan's Beckett (2011)

This moving image exhibition of John Minihan's exquisite photographs of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was installed at the Ron Cooke Hub from 16th to 26th June 2011 as part of the first York Festival of Ideas. John Minihan opened the exhibition on 16th June 2011 with a lecture on his encounters with Beckett and the stories behind iconic photographs from his collection.

The Irish photographer John Minihan photographed Beckett many times in Paris and London, capturing moments that have become iconic images of twentieth-century culture. Minihan’s friendship with Beckett certainly produced some of the most memorable photographs ever taken of the writer. He is credited by Beckett’s friend and publisher, John Calder, with capturing 'the introspective, infinitely sad gaze of a man looking into the abyss of the world's woes'.

The exhibition played in the 3Sixty Immersive Demonstration Space, a 2-storey high white box with four HD projectors and 32 speakers. I created the motion graphics in After Effects, and the sound design was produced in Reaper by composer Morag Galloway. The installation was curated by Benjamin Madden, who oversaw the project.

Designing this on a computer monitor didn't prepare us for the immersive shock when Minihan's images floated across the 22ft high screens. Intimate photographs of Beckett socializing in cafes became enormous panoramas, and Morag's surround-sound ambience of Parisian chatter and piano-music transformed these still images into environments. Sudden cuts to frozen moments from Beckett's haunting stage works were made all the more visceral by the possibilities afforded by the 3Sixty. Benjamin Madden's carefully written titles provided context through which to contemplate Minihan's images, and the audience left the space onto fresh green turf, provided by Lindum Turf Ltd.

The exhibition was also part of the Samuel Beckett International Conference and Festival, which took place at the University of York from 22th to 26th June 2011.

Production Credits

• Installation curated by:
• Benjamin Madden
• Motion Graphics Design:
• Nik Morris
• Sound Design:
• Morag Galloway

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