Harry Boulton (b. 2002, London) is an artist and founder of The Burrow, a space prioritising collaboration in artistic practice. He recently debuted a collaborative publication, Monobloc, presented at Index Art Book Fair, Kurimanzutto in Mexico City and in New York, Glasgow, Paris,Tokyo, and London. The work is now part of The Living House archive by Household Belfast.
He experiences ‘stage fright’ more often than he would like.
The site-specific installation Before the Applause approaches this fear through the physical and social structures of the theatrical stage. Rather than viewing ‘stage fright’ as purely internal, Boulton examines how the stage organises power, quietly determining who is seen, who waits, and who holds authority.
The work incorporates an audio recording of an actor, whose monologue examines the conditions in which performance, on stage or otherwise, can produce unease. Under pressure, gestures and emotions become inseparable from the stage itself, allowing the work to unsettle our assumptions about where agency resides as between viewer and performer.
The installation develops Boulton’s interest in the architectural shelters we inhabit and the subtle ways environments shape behaviour, sometimes helpfully, sometimes awkwardly, and not always by choice.
