John Notten

Huddle       2020

Winter Lights Exhibition

Ontario Place Toronto

Huddle is a winter ‘chapel’, the warm glow of which invites the viewer into an immersive, contemplative experience on a cold winter night.  With a formal structure reminiscent of European Gothic cathedrals, the light within offers a temporary haven from the harsh conditions outside. 

 

The internal space, however, offers a surprising twist as viewers find themselves in the middle of a ‘huddle’: one that combines the opposing images of sport and church.  This is an experience that may be at once welcoming and disconcerting.   Within these dualities of strength and fragility, Huddle seeks to investigate tropes of masculine power and institutional control. 

​

An audio component accompanies Huddle, sourced from a recording of the announcement of a new Pope in St. Peter's Square, Rome.  

 

Through the ironic use of football helmets and stained glass, conventions of organized sport and religion are questioned.  Huddle invites the participant to contemplate the connections (or incongruence) between these two worlds and the associated issues of masculinity and control that surround them.