OPENING: Glass and Lego sculpture in the crypt of a Dublin cathedral

Sean Campbell's work fuses glass, steel, and Lego blocks. photo: the artist

Most of us would never think to decorate an ancient cathedral with modern glass art, or to stack Lego blocks amongst ancient tombs. That, however, is precisely what artist Sean Campbell’s latest exhibition does. Contemporary sculptures forged of glass, steel, and Legos will be revealed within Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral’s Crypt this Thursday in an exhibition entitled “The Sentinel Project.”

Campbell’s hope, as he says in the artist statement upon his website, is for this exhibition to prompt viewers into asking questions regarding the facets of observation and timelessness within our ever-changing, fast-paced world. The role of a sentinel is to stand watch, to guard and protect. Yet for a sentinel to observe closely, he or she must also, in turn, be observed. In a modern world where the view is always changing, how does this dual role of observing and being observed come into play? Who or what are the immortal sentinels within our society, and what do they watch over? By juxtaposing the modernity of Legos and glass art with a placement in one of the oldest crypts in Ireland., perhaps visitors will begin to find such answers.

Campbell won the Robinson McIlwaine Architects Original Vision Prize at the 130th RUA, Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museumin 2011 for Sentinel (in Belfast, Lego). This new exhibition combines pieces from that show as well as newer works.

“The Sentinel Project” opens this Thursday, February 9^th, and runs until March 4^th. The exhibition will be opened at 7PM by Dr. Audrey Whitty, the curator of the Ceramics, Glass, and Asian collections at the National Museum of Ireland.

—Anna Tatelman