Hello, Sam Redux, 2016

About the Installation

Made specially for Dublin Contemporary 2011, where it was shown at the National Gallery of Ireland, Hello, Sam is a multi-media installation artwork by Brian O’Doherty that attempts to engage with the myth of Beckett’s persona, as well as the mystery of his work, by staging a situation which calls on the viewer’s imaginative participation and “willing suspension of disbelief.” On this occasion Brian O’Doherty has reimagined Hello, Sam in a work entitled Hello, Sam Redux, 2016 for the Emerson/Paramount Mainstage to accompany Here All Night.

Circling around themes of death, resurrection, mourning and celebration, the complex mixed-media work, Hello, Sam Redux, 2016, has as its main visual focus a suspended effigy, framed by a skeletal rectangular space made of rope. Three listening stations - with voices speaking to Beckett as if he is still alive and on the other end of the phone - face the effigy including texts created and spoken by Eoin O’Brien, Beckett’s doctor, Michael Colgan, of Dublin’s famous Gate Theatre and long-time Beckett friend, and for the first time the voice of Jack MacGowran, the consummate Beckett actor, reciting Beckett’s Texts for Nothing #8, contributed by Beckett to O'Doherty's seminal artwork Aspen 5+6 in 1967.

Hello, Sam Redux, 2016 also includes a solo performance conceived by Brian O’Doherty and Fergus Byrne called Shade, featuring a single figure concealed in a habit circumnavigating the space of the installation bearing witness to the effigy suspended in the space. Shade will occur once during each installation period.

How to View

Immediately following the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances of Here All Night, the set on stage will be reconfigured to be the stand-alone art installation Hello, Sam Redux, 2016. Audience members are invited to stay after the performance to experience the installation in full, and members of the general public are also welcome. The installation will also be open for viewing from noon until 5pm on Friday.

Immediately following the public viewing on Friday, join Dr. Brenda Moore McCann, the great O’Doherty interpreter, for a lecture and discussion from 5:00pm-6:00pm about Brian O’Doherty’s Hello, Sam Redux 2016 as well as his significant contribution to installation art.

Public Viewing times:

Thursday, 10/6 - 9:30pm – 12am

Friday, 10/7 - 12pm –  5pm, and  9:30pm – 11pm

Saturday, 10/8 - 9:30pm –11pm

Location: Emerson/Paramount Main Stage

Price: Free of charge.