Exhibition Roundup

A4 Sounds Gallery ‘Queer Utopia’ by Mariette Feeney was on display online and in-person at A4 Sounds Gallery from 13 to 30 May. As stated by the gallery: “‘Queer Utopia’ is a collaborative sculptural and digital vision of a queer future: a pink, joyful, playful space created in response to a series of discussions between the artist and other queer people… Our queer utopia is a place of freedom, of righteous anger, a place full to the very brim with loving and radical care for our comrades.”

a4sounds.org

Pallas Projects/Studios John Conway’s ‘Object Im/permanence’ was on display at Pallas Projects/Studios from 21 May to 5 June. From the gallery: “John’s verbal description of the exhibition space evokes a Church-like quality; I imagine a quiet, reverent space that has been designed to make you take a moment, to think. In my mind, the gallery is large and filled with darkness that your eyes adjust to as you walk in. The luminous icons which intermittently fill with light are dazzling, appearing as if by magic and sizzling words into your eyes.” Dlr LexIcon The group show ‘Tangled’ is on display at the Municipal Gallery, dlr LexIcon, until 18 July. The exhibition was created by Michael Fortune in collaboration with Southside Travellers Action Group. From the gallery: “The exhibition includes both new and recent work from the artists’ studios. The range of work varies from folkloric themed drawings by Alice Maher to intimated ethnographic styled images of Traveller hair and hairstyles as seen in the photographs by Breda Mayock.”

libraries.dlrcoco.ie

Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Viewable online and in-person until 10 July, ‘Agitation Co-op’ features artists Michele Horrigan, Catriona Leahy, Laurie Robins, Libita Sibungu. From the gallery: “’Agitation Co-op’ is an exhibition that investigates the subject of landscape from a range of vantage points; not only social and political ideologies but also, mapping and topography… It is accompanied by an online screening programme highlighting films by Forensic Architecture, Melanie Smith, and Eva Richardson McCrea, Frank Sweeney and the Dublin Dockworkers Preservation Society.”

pallasprojects.org

The Complex Tanad Aaron and Mark Swords collaborative project ‘Portico’ was shown at The Complex from 7 to 28 May. An online programme of scheduled events coincided with the exhibition, to communicate the exhibition to digital audiences. This featured a textual exchange of ideas between the artists – which was digitalised to create an interactive experience and punctuated with links to research material and imagery – a video walk-through and audio description of the exhibition, musical performances/practices, and audio essays.

thecomplex.ie templebargallery.com

The Library Project The Library Project and Basic Space Dublin exhibited the group show ‘On Belonging’ at The Library Project from 3 to 27 June. This collaborative group exhibition was guest curated by Diana Bamimeke and featured work by Bassam Al-Sabah, Moran Been-noon, Maïa Nunes, Osaro, Oscar Fouz Lopez, and Salvatore of Lucan. From the gallery: “Each of the exhibiting artists have been invited to respond not only to the state of belonging – how it is conceived and made physical – but conversely, to not-belonging, and the outcomes of both in the modern world.”

basicspace.ie ArtisAnn Gallery Margaret Arthur RUA’s new collection of work ‘Tides of Life’ was on display in the gallery and online from 2 to 26 June. From the gallery: “This exhibition is inspired by the ever-changing light and colour of the coastlines and tides of Counties Donegal and Down… [Margaret Arthur] exhibits widely in Ireland, the UK, and throughout Europe, and in the USA, where she lived and worked for a year, holding a solo exhibition at The Russell Rotunda, a Senate building in Washington DC.”

artisann.org

Golden Thread Gallery Paul Moore’s solo exhibition, ‘Fionnghlas’, was on display from 25 to 30 May in the Project Space at Golden Thread Gallery. From the gallery: “Within the exhibition, Moore looks to these experiences almost meditatively, creating a cathartic release during difficult times. This continuing struggle with the present and the search for both extreme reality and out of body experience marks a change in Moore’s practice towards a more contemplative question about how we as a society are equipped to deal with adversity.”

goldenthreadgallery.co.uk

Naughton Gallery The group show ‘Sorry, Neither’ continues until 11 July. From the gallery: “Taking its title from Star Trek’s Lieutenant Nyota Uhura’s response to being referred to as a ‘fair maiden’, ‘Sorry, Neither’ is an exploration of Afrofuturism and Black futurity within contemporary art and pop culture… The term ‘Afrofuturism’ refers to a cultural movement that uses the frame of science fiction and fantasy to reimagine the history of the African diaspora and to invoke a vision of a technically-advanced and generally hopeful future in which Black people thrive.”

naughtongallery.org Belfast Photo Festival Belfast Photo Festival took place from 3 to 30 June this year with the theme of ‘Future(s)’. From the festival: “Taking ‘Future(s)’ as its theme, this year’s festival tackles issues as diverse as climate change, migration, the advancement of technology, government surveillance and the power of protest, to explore how the future is shaped by our actions in the present. Rather than presenting a singular vision of what this future might be or look like, the festival instead offers up a speculative, imaginative glimpse into… what might lie ahead.”

belfastphotofestival.com

MAC Belfast Three exhibitions are showing at The MAC until 8 August. Dutch filmmaker Jaap Pieters’s Super 8mm film medley, ‘The Eye of Amsterdam’, is on display in The MAC’s Sunken Gallery, shown on three showreels, rotating throughout the duration. Presented in the Tall Gallery is the first institutional exhibition of artist Maya Balcioglu, whose works are “neither figurative nor abstract but in an intermediary condition.” The Upper Gallery hosts the first UK exhibition of New York-based painter, Ambera Wellmann, whose works “embody processes of erasure and revision, engaging with the potential of chance, vulnerability, and failure.”

themaclive.com

PS² Gary Shaw’s ‘GYRE 2’ was on display at PS2 from 27 May to 12 June. Shaw exhibited three work groups of his drawing output: Drawings of circles, Sketches of passers-by and kinetic animations. From the gallery: “Gyre is a term mostly used in oceanography and means a circular or spiral path, a motion or large current… At first glance the drawings look calming and meditative like a mandorla, but then reveal a nervous energy, where the lines turn to sparks in a fire wheel.”

pssquared.org

Elizabeth Price, Footnotes: Stiletto, 2020; image courtesy the artist and Void Gallery.

Regional & International

126 Artist-Run Gallery The group show ‘Fuzzy Logic’, was on display at 126 from 19 May to 13 June, featuring artworks by Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Ben Reilly, David Dunne and Lorraine Cleary. According to the press release, the exhibition was a “kaleidoscope of approaches to the entropy of uncertainty and fuzzy logic… Uncertainty is a term used in subtly different ways in several fields, including philosophy, statistics, economics, finance, insurance, psychology, sociology, engineering, and information science. It applies to predictions of future events, physical measurements already made, or to the unknown.”

126gallery.com

Künstlerhaus Bremen Irish artist Aleana Egan’s exhibition ‘small field’ was on display at Künstlerhaus Bremen from 8 May to 29 August. From the gallery: “‘small field’… creates a setting of abstract sculptures that are assembled in multi-layered constellations. Materials such as metal, wood, pigment and fabric refer to their own properties, while also remaining indeterminate: In this ambiguity, the objects evoke immaterial moments – ideas, thoughts, feelings, moods, energies, and relationships both towards each other as well as interpersonal. Manifested in form, the internal is turned outwards.”

kuenstlerhausbremen.de

Roscommon Arts Centre Barbara Knežević’s ‘Scapes: Rose Quartz’ was on display at Roscommon Arts Centre from 11 May to 18 June. From the gallery: “’Scapes: Rose Quartz’ is a sculptural work that is comprised of an array of crystals, plants, ceramic coiled vessels, a single-channel video work and silicone surfaces that are carefully arranged on clear acrylic display plinths. The arrangements of objects in this exhibition speak to the deep human faith in the power of the material things around us.” Backwater Artists Group The Cork-based Backwater Artist Group premiered their show ‘The Human Animal’ on 22 February and it will run until 12 November. From the artist group: “In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic a core strand of Backwater’s 2021 artistic programme examines humanity’s relationship with the natural world and takes a closer look at ‘the human animal’ in this context. The Human Animal: A Personal View of the Human Species is a 1994 television documentary series written and presented by zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter Desmond Morris.”

backwaterartists.ie

NEON, Athens The ‘Portals’ group show in Athens, on display from 11 June to 31 December, features work by Irish artist Daphne Wright. The exhibition is a collaboration between Hellenic Parliament and NEON and is shown at Hellenic Parliament (a former Public Tobacco Factory) Library and Printing House. From the gallery: “‘Portals’ aspires to convey the messages, ideas and visions of contemporary artistic creation, investigating the new reality revealed through the prism of change and disruption.” The exhibition is curated by Elina Kountouri (NEON) and Madeleine Grynsztejn (Pritzker, MCA Chicago).

neon.org.gr

South Tipperary Arts Centre The artist collective, Na Cailleacha (The Witches), is comprised of eight older women who are currently based in Ireland but come from several other countries as well as Ireland. Their group show was on display at South Tipperary Arts Centre from 7 May to 12 June. From the gallery: “The collective set out to explore their experience of being creative women in a collective way. In that way, they are doing what women have always done – working, sharing and supporting, arguing and debating with each other, owning their space, and their visibility.” Cork Midsummer Festival 2021 This year the Cork Midsummer Festival (14 – 27 June) featured a diverse range of visual art projects, which were exhibited at venues across the city, including: Marie Brett, ‘The Day-Crossing Farm’; Laura Fitzgerald, ‘I have made a place’; Bassam Al-Sabah, ‘Longing, Beyond’; Eimear Walshe, ‘The Land for the People’, developed with NSF Neon public art commission; Fatti Burke, ‘Open Road’, developed with The Glucksman; ‘FALL/OUT’, a series of installations curated by Pluck Projects; and Doug Fishbone, ‘Please Gamble Responsibly’, which continues at Crawford Art Gallery until 28 August.

corkmidsummer.com

Pavilion of Ireland The 2021 Irish Pavilion exhibition, ‘Entanglement’ by Alan Butler, opened at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale on 22 May and runs until 21 November. From the artist: “‘Entanglement’ physicalises the materiality of data and the interwoven human, environmental and cultural impacts of communication technologies. The exhibition highlights how data production and consumption territorialise the physical landscape and examines Ireland’s place in the pan-national evolution of data infrastructure… ‘Entanglement’ responds to the [2021] theme... How will we live together?”

labiennale.org

The Dock, Carrick on Shannon Featuring artists Brian Fay, David Smith, Ellen Duffy, Eve O’Callaghan, Fiona Finlay and Jamie Cross, the group show ‘Second Summer’ is on display at The Dock until 28 August. From the gallery: “It’s an exhibition that gently asks questions of us, as it marks both the end and the start of a time – when we as a community are resurfacing from a period of remoteness. The exhibition is full of pattern, colour, and whimsical moments that point to the domesticity of our recent lives.” GOMA Gallery of Modern Art, Waterford Elaine Hoey’s solo exhibition, ‘Flesh and Tongue’, was presented from 8 June to 1 July at GOMA Gallery of Modern Art, Waterford. As stated in the press release, the exhibition, which presented new work by the artist, “questions the negative representation of the ‘monstrous’ female body through the exploration of the myth of Medusa. Historically Medusa has been depicted as either a monster or a beautiful woman who was raped, blamed, then transformed into a raging monster and subsequently beheaded.”

@gomagallerywaterford

Limerick City Gallery of Art The latest iteration of Mary-Ruth Walsh’s touring exhibition, ‘Skin Deep’, was on display at Limerick City Gallery of Art from 14 May to 27 June. The tour began at Highlanes Gallery in 2020 and will end at Wexford Arts Centre in October 2021. From the gallery: “Through the medium of film, collage and sculpture, Walsh explores skin’s parallels to architecture. Using Arnold Bocklin’s ‘The Isle of the Dead’ (1883) as a reference, ‘Skin Deep’ brings us to an imaginary island, a medical-tourism destination for the pursuit of the perfect skin.”

gallery.limerick.ie

Void Gallery ‘CHOREOGRAPH’, the first solo exhibition of Elizabeth Price in Northern Ireland, is on display from 22 June to 21 August at the Void Gallery. Price’s distinctive film works inhabit the digital world using computer animated voices, graphics and a saturated videography that give the works a dystopic sensibility, exploring the human experience from industrialisation to the digital age. The films are anthropological, often exploring mundane objects and imbuing them with a relevance, and situating them within an historical moment.