Ceantar is a contemplation on the psychology of space. It ponders the past of history of a carpark, specifically, the feelings arising in the carpark and that which it embodies.
There is a distinction between space and place. Spaces are fleeting, flowing and encase movement. Therefore, carparks are spaces of flux; people do not linger there. It remains empty apart from the ghostly echoes of movement and shadows of cars. When underground amongst the institutional white lines, low ceilings and cemented floors, there is no sense of present time or fluid reality. Time is at a standstill in the carpark. It emits a psychological otherworldly presence. Ceantar is an Irish word meaning a locality, region or district. It is a term of mundane reality. It’s counterpart is alltar denoting an other ethereal place: the otherworld or a psychic hinterland. By alluding to ceantar, it suggests the alltar. “Our physical bodies occupy the ceantar but our minds can easily slip into the alltar.” (Manchán Magan, 2020.) |