Visual Artists' News Sheet - 2012 September October

Sirius Arts Centre

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This is a FREE event, all are welcome, though booking is required.

With guest speaker Nigel Rolfe W

Artists: Amanda Coogan/Dominic Thorpe/Aideen Barry rr rry

Saturday, ay, 29th September 2012 ay

Ballina Arts Centr Centre/Mayo e/Mayo County Council’s Jackie ie Clarke Collection/C ivic Officess Galler Galleryy

A Perfor rf mance Art Symposium rfor in Ballina, Co Mayo

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

issue 5 September – October 2012

Published byVisual Artists ireland Ealaíontóirí Radharcacha Éire

#008000

A group exhibition of Engage Art Studios’ members Curated by Grace McEvoy The Shed, The Docks, Galway 21 September – 7 October 2012 Opening reception: Culture Night, Friday 21 September, 6pm Opening Hours: Friday – Sunday 12 – 6pm

Orla Mc Hardy : The Beacon Line

Orla Mc Hardy The Beacon Line HD projection, trt 10’58” 2011

7 September—27 October 2012

Siobhán McDonald Seism guest curated by Aoife Tunney 7 September—27 October 2012

Siobhan McDonald 'Rhythm' Sound drawing generated by volcanic sounds waves 2011

www.thedock.ie

Brian Maguire, Airis

Since 1993, 14,525 murders have been committed in the city Cuidad Juarez bordering on the United States, of which 1,248 have victimized women.

Most of these crimes against men, women and children remain unpunished.

Julian Cardona , Juarez, Mexico 2012.

AN OASIS OF HORROR IN A DESERT OF BOREDOM 6th October 2012 – 6th January 2013 Ground Floor Galleries

BR IA N M AGU IR E TE RES A MA RGOLLES LIS E BJOR NE LINN ERT M AR K MCLOUGHLIN L ANKA H AOUCHE PER RE N

UTENSIL

CURRENT APPROACHES TO TABLEWARE Image courtesy of David Clarke - detail from the Much More Collection

VISUAL

CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART & THE GEORGE BERNARD SHAW THEATRE Old Dublin Road, Carlow T: 059 9172400

www.visualcarlow.ie

OPEN: Tuesday - Saturday 11am-5.30pm, Sunday 2-5.30pm

11 August – 29 October National Craft Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny, Ireland T + 353 (0) 56 779 6147 E info@nationalcraftgallery.ie W www.nationalcraftgallery.ie

EVENTS Friday 21st September, 4.30pm: Culinary Culture Remix Friday 26th October, 6.30pm: Late Date with DesignGoat Saturdays, 3.00pm: Crafternoon Tours

4

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

Introduction

September – October 2012

Contents

Welcome to the September / October issue of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet

1. Cover Image. Colin Darke. For Courbet III (2011).

5. Roundup. Recent exhibitions and projects of note. The latest developments in the arts sector.

This issue begins with a regional profile on Co Leitrim, featuring artists Grace Weir, Anna McLeod and

5. Column. Treasa O'Brien.

Christine Mackay. This section also includes information on events at The Dock, Leitrim Sculpture Centre

6. Column. Christopher Clarke.

and Leitrim Arts office, and features a report from Linda Shevlin on the recent WDC micro-loan fund announcement.

8. News. The latest developments in the visual arts sector.

9. Regional Profile. Visual arts resources and activity in Leitrim.

VAI welcomes two new columnists: Chris Clarke, Curator of Education and Collections at the Glucksman

13. Profile. Space Time Travel. Artist Sara Haq writes about her unique use of barter and exchange.

Gallery, Cork; and filmmaker and curator, Treasa O’Brien, who is based in London. Chris discusses the

14. How I Made. The Artist's Studio. John Beattie describes his upcoming exhibition at the RHA, Dublin.

difference between ‘space’ and ‘place’ for artists, while Treasa talks about art and dissent as a counterpoint to the revival of national pride engendered by media coverage of the Olympics.

15. Profile. Night School. Áine Macken introduces her unusual nightclub art classes.

16. Event. Of Other Spaces. Aoife Desmond reports from Manifesta 9.

Also in this issue: Sara Haq describes how she has incorporated barter and exchange into her practice; Emma

17. Conference. Like a Buck. Alan Phelan gives his impressions of a recent heritage conference at the

Loughney looks at the long-term sustainability of vacant space initiatives; Aine Macken introduces Art

Clash, a series of creative classes that take place in nightclubs; and Maeve Mulrennan details an upcoming project where selected artists create work for autistic children. In addition we have ‘How I Made’ pieces from Fergus Kelly and John Beattie and reports on artist residencies in Rome and Donegal.

University of Gothenburg.

18. Issue. Are you Re -entering the Art World? Noel Kelly provides advice and guidance for those who are.

19. Critique. Our four-page Critique supplement features six reviews of exhibitions, events, publications and projects – that are either current or have recently taken place in Ireland.

VAI is pleased to introduce a new feature to our online services. In recent discussions, several people raised the point that it would be good to have a place where artists or organisations can submit details of exhibitions that are currently available for touring. Therefore, we are providing an area to allow people to advertise

23. Profile. Long-term Let. Emma Loughney asseses the long-term sustainability of vacant space initiatives.

24. Interview. First Resort. Jack Nyhans interviews the initiators of a new residency in Donegal.

exhibitions that they currently have available for exhibiting in venues. Due to the scale of this we will be

26. Seminar. Art Law Canada . Kathleen Killin reports from the CARFAC Art and Law conference.

limiting each listing to a maximum of three months. Please note the guidelines for submissions. We reserve

27. How I Made. A Congregation of Vapours. Sound artist Fergus Kelly writes about the production of his

the right to remove any listings that do not conform to the information outlines provided. www.visualartists.ie/categories/touring-exhibitions-available

new album.

28. Opportunities. All the lastest grants, awards, exhibition calls and commissions.

30. Event. 100 Thoughts. Jonathan Carroll reports from Documenta.

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31. Issue. In Sync. Maeve Mulrennan details a recent project aimed at engaging autistic children in the

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32. Art in the Community. From Context to Exhibition. Michelle Brown illustrates Create's Learning

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33. Art in Public. Public art commissions, site-specific works, socially-engaged practices and other

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35. Residency. Courbet's Apples. Colin Darke reflects on his residency at the British School in Rome.

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Contributors Treasa O'Brien, Chris Clarke, Grace Weir, Anna McLeod, Christine Mackay, Sean O'Reilly, Claire McAree, Phillip Delamere, Linda Shevlin, Sara Haq, John Beattie, Aine Macken, John Beattie, Aoife Desmond, Alan Phelan, Noel Kelly, Emma Loughney, Jack Nyhans, Katheleen Killin, Fergus Kelly, Jonathan Carroll, Maeve Mulrennan, Michelle Brown, Feargal O'Malley, Colin Darke.

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The Visual Artists’News sheet

September – October 2012

COlUMN

Chris Clarke space is the Place

5

Roundup WON-NIl

If there’s one thing artists are always looking for it’s space. Leaving aside the strangely metaphysical connotations of this demand, the inference is that there’s a real lack of adequate venues for exhibition. If only there were more spaces available,

Nevan lahart,Won-Nil, 2012

then all problems would be solved. There would be room to work and think, to explore

‘Won-Nil’ was a solo exhibition by Nevan Lahart held in the Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (15 June – 26 July). “Lahart makes irreverent social commentaries in his work, often highly politically charged and full of humour. However, this use of wit and irony is always matched with a profound investigation into the history of art and contemporary art’s position within the ‘real’ world.”

display possibilities, to install and to show.

The reality, of course, is that there are plenty of spaces. As a by-product of the economic downturn, numerous former commercial properties in Cork sit vacant, ready to be utilised in the interim before an imagined boom takes off again.

Furthermore, the initiative to convert existing spaces into studios and galleries was already underway, with several spots springing up in the aftermath of The Black Mariah’s prior existence on Washington Street (it has since relocated to the Triskel Arts Centre). A rough tally would include Camden Palace, Basement Project Space, Tactic and the Elysian, as well as other premises taken over for temporary events like

www.themarketstudios.ie

www.templebargallery.com

the Art Trail or Cork Midsummer Festival (this doesn’t even include more formal institutions, albeit often with a different remit, such as the Glucksman, Crawford Art Gallery, the Triskel and National Sculpture Factory). More often than not, it is the difficulty of sustaining a regular programme that’s an issue, rather than the availability of exhibition sites.

Furthermore, the demand for ‘space’ isn’t really just about a physical location.

Instead, it means a suitable venue, preferably painted white with enough empty walls to hang paintings or photographs, with video equipment, speakers, projectors, invigilation staff, posters, wine and canapés, accompanying publication etc etc. So ‘space’ is itself a misnomer, a modest attempt to downplay the requirements of an exhibition site that misleading infers the intransigence of potential funders and assistants. “All I need is a space” actually means a specific type of space.

As even a rudimentary understanding of physics demonstrates you can’t separate space from time, yet I never hear the complaint that an artist needs time (I don’t mean when one is pushed up against the deadline of a particular exhibition but rather as a

INEx ‘Sentence’ was a group show of Dublinbased artists, INEX, held in the Market Studios, Dublin (21 June – 23 June).

‘Sentence’ comprised work in various media, based on experimentation in relation to the written word. The artists involved were Mette Roche, Mags O’Dea, Nick Bayne, Deborah Hewson, Adèle Lacey, Angela McDonagh, Bonnie Kavanagh, Frances O’Dwyer, Ken Rooney, Gay Brabazon and Marie Morrow.

own position as someone who works in an art gallery, ie an actual ‘space’, but I’d also suggest that time is contingent on the promise of space, that the reservation of an exhibition venue dictates the pace of work and the possibility of what can be accomplished within a set deadline. The idiosyncrasies of many locations – domestic settings, historical sites and abandoned, empty warehouses – determine what the work might be and how it will be shown. Therefore, time depends on a site, a physical location that operates as a promise and a marker for an ongoing artistic practice.

The distinction is unusual. What artists really mean is a place, as described by Michel de Certeau: “A place is […] an instantaneous configuration of positions. It implies an indication of stability. A space exists when one takes into consideration vectors of direction, velocities and time variables. Thus space is composed of intersections of mobile elements […] In short, space is a practiced place.”

els and frames she turns the conventions of painting literally inside out. Humorous

Belfast (15 June – 11 July). “Staged at the

dynamism.”

Arts Disability Forum Gallery, this sound

www.butlergallery.com www.helenoleary.com

installation by disabled artist Shannon Yee is part radio-drama, part visceral trip, ‘performed’ for a single audience mem-

CHEATINg PROgRESS

ber at a time, via headphones. In from a subdural empyema (a rare brain infection). This 12-minute work-inprogress segment of ‘Recovery’ begins her journey of “being disassembled and put back together, slightly askew”. Using sonic arts technology, dramatic narrative, movement and sound, ‘Recovery’ creates a new genre of performance to

Maggie Madden,Untitled Untitled, 2012

communicate a personal story of brain

‘Apposite

injury. The creative team behind

Progress’ was a group show held in the

‘Recovery’ is Paul Stapleton, Anna Newell,

Exchange House, Galway (June 29 – July

Hanna Slättne, Stevie Prickett and

8) as part of the Volvo Ocean Race Galway.

Shannon Yee.”

It featured over 25 artists from or living www.adf.ie

cursed ‘Cursed’ was held in Catalyst Arts, Belfast (21 June – 13 July). The artists involved were Flora Moscovici, Craig Donald, Karin Hagen, Emma Boyd, Helen McDonnell, Deirdre McKenna and Miguel Martin (workshop). "‘Cursed’ provides a platform for these artists to display works that exist on the periphery of the medium. Their practices all challenge the formal qualities of and explore or bridge boundaries between painting and everything else. This a painting show in the loosest possible sense." www.catalystarts.org.uk

exhibition by Magnhild Opdøl held at the KUBE museum, Ålesund, Norway (10 June – 2 Sep). Opdøl’s book, If you go down to the woods today, was launched at the exhibition opening.

www.kunstmuseekube.no

AR MUIR IS AR TÍR St Johns Theatre and Arts Centre, Listowel, recently presented ‘Ar Muir is

Yanny Petters,Yellow Flag, 2012

The Oliver Cornet Gallery, Dublin recent30 June). The artists involved were David

struck by the number of practitioners who were looking for ‘space’ but seemed to

tices, allowing the viewer to dig deeper

mean ‘place’. There are empty buildings everywhere. Wouldn’t it be better to use them

into the world of these artists, their crea-

to display their work rather than just leave them sitting vacant? Perhaps, but what I

tive life force, their statements and all

didn’t hear was any acknowledgment that these spaces require management,

that lies beneath.” www.oliviercornetgallery.com

invigilation, someone to open and close, to explain the work, to make sales. There

Annie Atkins,Dinosaurs, 2012

ar Tír – Sketches and Etchings from the West’ (30 June – 31 July). The participating artists were Tomás Ó Cíobháin, Deirdre McKenna and Áine Ní Chíobháin, all work in Corca Dhuibhne and are part of the West Kerry print group, Meitheal Eitseála. In their sketches and etchings from the West the artists explore their strong connections to the landscape, the sea and the people who live on these dramatic coastal shores.

http://dingleprintstudio.wordpress.com

SUBjECT TO ONgOINg CHANgE

COMMON PlACE

To be fair, that isn’t really what artists do, but nor can they expect that such things

in Galway and was curated by Jim Ricks.

‘If you go down to the woods’ was a solo

which are central to their current prac-

weren’t many volunteers for those duties.

Cheating

If fy yOU gO DOWN TO THE WOODS

ly exhibited the group show ‘4x4’ (14 – WE lOVE yOU y OAKlAND

Extravaganza:

4x4

exhibition? In attending a forum for artists at Cork City Council earlier this year, I was

there are places out there, it just depends what you want them to do.

apart canvases, wooden stretchers, pan-

are infused with newfound energy and

introduce four works by each artist

it is in becoming a ‘space’ that the ‘place’ finds its reason for being. For the artist, then,

ruins and failures of her studio. By taking

well-worn objects while at the same time

Which is it, then, that artists really mean when they bemoan the lack of sites for

even if that’s nothing more than a city street, a website or a publication. And, in turn,

matter and raw material rooted in the

Shannon Yee held at the ADF Gallery,

Martha Quinn. “This exhibition will

exclusive; rather, the potentiality of the latter will always require some sort of location,

history as a painter, with both subject

make a new whole, bare their histories as

space is the exhibition itself.

discursion, and the “intersections of mobile elements”. The two aren’t mutually

“O’Leary’s new work delves into her own

‘Recovery’ was a sound installation by

Begley, Mark Doherty, Yanny Petters and

objects, immaculately arranged in a pristine white cube, or a space of engagement,

artist Helen O’ Leary (16 June – 29 July).

and enigmatic, these fragments that

devoid of an audience with the emphasis solely directed towards the artwork, while

take care of themselves. Go back again to de Certeau’s formulation: the place of stable

presented ‘Outawack’ by USA based Irish

December 2008, Shannon nearly died from loop head to valentia Culturlann Sweeney Theatre Gallery, Kilkee, Co Clare recently held ‘From Loop Head to Valentia’ by Philip Brennan (19 June – 6 July). The press release notes, “Mostly water colours, Philip’s work continues to be drawn from a Clare base.

This group of paintings has a strong coastal bias, with half the pieces coming from the Loop Head peninsula where he has spent many years both painting and doing wildlife work. Wildlife, terrain, sea and weather all feature strongly in this atmospheric collection."

Space is, in other words, messy, fluid and unpredictable. In terms of the art exhibition, the difference can be explained like so: the place is the installation shot,

The Butler Gallery, Kilkenny recently

RECOVERy

more general gripe of artistic practices. An artist is able to ‘make time’ for their work in a way that they are unable to ‘make space’). This is partly a matter relating to my

OUTAWACK

Allen Brewer and Pamela Valfer recently exhibited ‘Common Place’ at Occupy

‘We love you Oakland’ by photographer

Space, Limerick (14 June – 13 July). “In

Annie Atkins was showcased in Filmbase,

January 2011 artists Allen Brewer and

Dublin (14 – 17 June). The exhibition

Pamela Valfer spent four months in resi-

displayed “images from one of America’s

dence at the Burren College of Art, an

toughest neighbourhoods. The work is a

experience that challenged their notion

collection of portraits of the children,

of ‘place’. The exhibition ‘Common Place’

parents, dancers, street workers, residents

seeks to explore this topic through ques-

The Performance Collective, Galway Arts Centre

and homeless of one of America’s sunni-

tions of contemporary landscape, memo-

As part of the Galway Arts Festival, the

est but toughest neighbourhoods.”

ry, beauty and overall questioning of

Performance

one’s authentic experience.”

‘Subject to Ongoing Change’ – 14 days of

www.occupyspace.com

Collective

presented

6

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

COLUMN

September – October 2012

Roundup

Treasa O'Brien

live improvised performance art at the

statue, high on its shelf, and subsequent-

porary art practice. The resulting exhibi-

Galway Arts Centre (18 July – 1st Aug).

ly in pieces on the wooden floor, are

tion reflects the shape and process of its

A Sense of Displace

The Performance Collective is a group of

recurring images of that place and time.”

own making, looking at the nature of

www.davidfolan.com

five leading performance artists based in Ireland. The artists involved were Michelle Browne, Alex Conway, Pauline "What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry?"

Cummins, Frances Mezzetti and Dominic Ursula le Guin

Thorpe. Each day the group performed for four hours with additional works dot-

No one thinks so much about place as the displaced, or as much about identity as those who feel without it. I’ve lived in London for nearly four years but it’s only this year that I have been struck with the realisation that London is not a utopian multicultural cosmopolitan island that lands every so often atop the faraway tree; it’s in England! Until recently, Londoners did not seem particularly patriotic or sentimental people. My experience was that Londoners tried to be almost post-nation, or were, at least, a bit embarrassed about displays of patriotism due to the whole empire thing.

Last year I ignored the royal wedding madness as a temporary blip but this year, sometime around the end of May, people started wearing the Union Jack as clothes and going soft in the head for an 86-year-old monarch. And the Boobilee had barely subsided when nationalist nostalgia ramped up again and folks got teary-eyed for their values of democracy, liberty and citizenship, while remaining quite happy to militarise London, displace locals, and deny the recession in favour of paying £9.3 billion (almost five times its original £2 billion budget) to host The Games. But these born-agains say: “The games aren’t political. Get into the spirit!”

The modern Olympics have always been used as a political tool to bolster national pride and quell any dissenting voices, and this is the main reason that countries want to host it despite the economic implications. The reinvention of the games occurred in 1896 in Greece and led to a surge of Greek nationalism culminating in a war against Turkey in 1897. From the 1936 German Olympics (which were intended to demonstrate the idea of a perfect Aryan race), boycotts during the Cold War and IOC corruption revelations in the 1990s, the Olympic games have always been political.

Luckily, art is also political, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously.

Boris may have got his Orbit ‘sculpture’ – which has been described competitively in the media as “better than the Eiffel Tower” and “higher than the Statue of Liberty” – but even in a Saatchi-rated market culture, art still remains a place for dissent and critique.

While the state and corporate sponsored London games included some blockbuster shows and officially-commissioned sculptures that have mangled themselves into the skyline, there have been several un-commissioned artists’ projects engaged in exploring the real legacy of the Olympic infrastructure and ideology. The book Art of Dissent: Adventures in London’s Olympic State (edited by Hilary Powell and Isaac MarreroGuillamón) comprises over 60 projects and essays exploring issues such as the militarisation of public space, evictions in the name of regeneration, legacy and exclusion. These art projects are not intended to bring down the Olympics. The contributors object to the political ideology of a state that allows places to be treated as blank canvases to throw a huge ‘project’ at in the name of regeneration and national duty. These artists pay attention to these places, their inhabitants and projects that are rooted in reality rather than a constructed spirit of nationalist identity.

The Olympic spirit is more than a political and commercial exploitation of people’s goodwill towards athletes. There are real people, real desires, real sport and drama and this creates a damn good spectacle. However, most people experience the Olympics as media spectacle and when the media presents a united front that keeps telling one how to feel and think about being British in a so-called international games, it starts to get a little worrying. The media jingoism, the values of extreme competitiveness, the exaltation of violence, the dedication that distorts athletes’ lives into summaries of success / failure, the drugs and the racism just don’t square with the spirit of good clean fun. Not to mention the whole IOC set-up and the political lobbying required for winning the initial bid.

I’m not calling for the dismantling of the Olympics; it is the effort put into silencing dissent and naming critical thought as unpatriotic that is repressive. This year, free speech in the UK is only a value as long as you love (or at least tolerate) the Queen and agree that the Olympics is the best thing to ever happen to good old Blighty. Once you accept this you can occupy what you like, fight for democracy in Egypt and eat curry for breakfast. Doublethink isn’t just an Irish malaise. If you would like to critique the royal elephant in the room or the profiteering interests entrenched in the modern sports industry, the people you considered progressive pluralists will come over all dewy eyed, and if you push it, they might start to worry about your terrorist tendencies and (god forbid) start calling you unpatriotic!

I understand the basic human need for a sense of place, but I’m not up for supporting a mentality of “my daddy’s better than your daddy” competition that’s brought about by a constructed sense of a fatherland that’s better than other fatherlands. Lands are lived in and made by people, not imagined fathers. When it comes to the Olympics in London, the cultural hegemony that became the opium of the masses scares me in its willingness to ignore complexities of place. This ‘place’ is now a massive hole in East London that was filled in with national desires for shared identity for a few weeks, with the subsequent regeneration left to those actually living there.

Ich bin ein Londoner but I am also a cute Kerry hoor, and more than both. To love or hate a country, I’m with Ursula le Guin, “I lack the trick of it”.

ted throughout the week. The work was created and received in the same moment, as the artists perform together to explore action and interaction in a non-linear, non-narrative form. www.theperformancecollective.com

collective research, peer learning and knowledge production, through the

Lenticularis ‘Lenticularis’ by Roisin McNamee was

structure of an exhibition.”

www.print.ie

held in the Joinery, Dublin (12 – 16 July).

McNamee presented a mixed media

time in your pocket

work comprising three installations – sculpture, sound and video. “The sculptures within the installations are kinetic, fragile and intricately constructed experiments. McNamee’s repetitive use of lensshaped objects and patterns refer to the hypnotic and unstable nature of the

Homeless gallery

image / object relationship. The constitu-

The Homeless Gallery ran as part of the

ents of the installations are positioned in

Dublin Photo Festival in the D-light

response to the space of the Joinery to

Studios, Dublin (1 – 4 July). The event

test notions of the physical encounter.”

had no entry criteria and was open to all artists. What was eventually shown during the exhibition depended solely on the participants’ own self-censorship. www.d-lightstudios.com

a very normal place

pallette and mallet ‘Palette and Mallet’ was a solo show by

Eve Parnell,Time in Your Pocket, 2012

David White held in Allihies Copper

The Courthouse Arts Centre, Co Wicklow

Mine Museum, Beara, Cork (July 7 –

recently presented ‘Time in your Pocket’

August 7). He describes his subject mat-

by Eve Parnell (4 Aug – 7 Sep). “The space

ter and approach as “varying from realist

is at once occupied and deserted; occu-

to unashamedly neo-Romantic”. The

pied by familiar, serviceable objects

centrepiece of this exhibition is a wood-

(hangers, suitcase, measuring tapes) and

carving described by the artist as a paean

yet deserted. The geometric forms of tri-

to feminine erotic beauty, comprising 15

angles, rectangles and radials carve up a

interlocking pieces.

space with severe design that brings to mind the clothes they have, in their time,

for i is someone else Carol Anne Connolly recently exhibited ‘For I is Someone Else’ at the Werkstadt Adam Patterson, from 'A Very Normal Place'

Rua Red, Dublin recently presented ‘A Very Normal Place’ by Northern Irish

Kulturverein, Berlin (7 – 31 July). “Her exhibition deals with the politics of influence, sharing and appropriation in

photographer, Adam Patterson (29 June

music. Her research encompasses the

– 4 August). The exhibition concerned

motivations of musicians from the early

his time in West Tallaght. Gallery Two

twentieth century through to contempo-

featured three short films that follow

rary times and looks at how practices of

moments in the lives of West Tallaght

appropriation, sharing and influence

residents that Adam met during his time

have politically developed over time.”

on film, in black and white. www.ruared.ie

extension, those chaotic human lives that have gone with them. The suitcase is the centre of attention; it is the axis from which radiate the lines of the tapes and hangers. The hangers are the common or garden metal variety and hang in straight lines at shoulder-height, suggesting lives of work and duty, the lives about which we know nothing, lives now absent.

There is always a certain horror in considering life in terms of measurement.”

www.tinahely-courthouse.ie

www.werkstadt-berlin.com

in the area, while Gallery One featured over 25 photographic prints shot entirely

bundled, borne and measured, and by

are we there yet?

something from nothing

'Are we there yet?' took place at The Warehouse, Glenties, Donegal (7 – 29

with clarity after the fact

July). The exhibition brought together a group of visual artists who have a strong connection with Donegal and included works by John Beattie, Shea Dalton, Emily Mannion, Malcolm McClay, Cathal McGinley, Maria McKinney, Chicory Miles, Locky Morris, Fiona Mulholland and Eamon O’Kane.”

Emmet Kierans,Something from Nothing, 2012

Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda are currently exhibiting ‘Something From production

Nothing’ a solo exhibition by Emmet

Black Church Print Studio, Dublin David Folan, from 'With Clarity After the Fact'

Kierans (9 Aug – 29 Sep). “The work in

recently presented ‘Production, An

the exhibition is an attempt to under-

Nag Gallery, Basement of Cross gallery,

Experiment in Collaborative Exhibition

Dublin recently held ‘With Clarity After

stand the completely familiar yet utterly

Making’ (4 – 18 Aug). The show was co-

the Fact’ by David Folan (5 – 28 July).

mysterious phenomenon of conscious-

produced by Janine Davidson, Emma

“Combining sculptural installation with

ness. There are a number of sub-catego-

Finucane, Mary A Fitzgerald, Sarah

video projections and sound, the piece

ries and relationships involved in this

Gordon, Robert Kelly, Elaine Leader,

‘With clarity after the fact’ explores the

investigation: perception and reality, the

Colm Mac Athlaoich, Anja Mahler, Tom

mechanics of memory, specifically in

notion of real space and mind space, the

Moore, Louise Peat, Atoosa Pour Hosseini,

relation to a single event – the accidental

process of translating the physical to the

Piia Rossi and Kate Strain. “In collabora-

breaking of a small statue of the ‘Child of

mental and the phenomenon of personal

tively developing and producing a con-

experience. Practically the work is

structed environment, the Black Church

engaged with two main strands, the first

Print Studio members seek to actively

explores the potential for colour to pro-

question the role and function of the

voke a conscious response and the sec-

Prague’ in my grandmother’s house, sometime in the early 1980s. Although the exact details of the event have been lost over time, the memory of the small

non-commercial group show in contem-

The Visual Artists’News sheet

September – October 2012

7

ROUNDUP ond attempts to visually represent the

them has approached the theme from an

processes of the mind. The resulting

individual starting point reflecting phys-

work uses a variety of techniques and

ical or historic realities and personal or

mediums and is both playful and

shared interests in the imaging of evi-

philosophical.”

dence.” The artists exhibiting include www.droichead.com

DESDE El AlMA

Mary Brady, Pauline Crothers, Lynne

professional development training & events summer 2012

Foster Fitzgerald and Biddy Scott.

SITE lINE

www.signalartscentre.ie

‘Site Line’ by Maggie Madden was held in The Lab, Dublin (18 May – 31 July). The

CTRl – C / CTRl- V

press release notes, “In Maggie Madden’s

Fiona Saunders fromDesde el Alma,2012

recent work, a diverse array of collected

‘Buenos Aires – Desde el Alma’ was an

materials are crafted into fragile sculp-

exhibition by photographer Fiona

tural formations with geometric affini-

Saunders held in the Arthouse Gallery,

ties. The work is suggestive of architec-

Stradbally, Co.Laois (8 – 31 Aug). Fiona

tural structures, but also reflects on our

recently published a photography book

spatial encounters in both the urban

entitled Buenos Aires – Desde el Alma

landscape and the natural world. Her

(Buenos Aires – From the Soul) , the book

detailed constructions have the potential

features work from Argentina and was

for endless expansion: to grow outward

officially launched at the opening.

from densely ordered space and continue boundlessly. Madden’s practice explores a combination of found, industrial and natural objects.

Anthony Antonellis,CTRL – / CTRL-V,2012

Steambox, Dublin recently presented ‘CTRL – C / CTRL- V’ by Anthony

My MACKINTOSH BOx

Antonellis (17 Aug – 1 Sep). The exhibition is part one of a five-part series entitled 'Run Computer, Run' – an exploration of critical and experimental approaches to curating digital and new media art. The press release notes “Anthony Antonellis is a visual artist who is known primarily for his work online, but his process copy-pastes between analog and digital states, exploring the simultaneity of real and virtual objects […] In this particular exhibition,

Miriam McConnon,My Mackintosh Box,2012

The Talbot Gallery, Dublin recently presented ‘My Mackintosh Box’ by Miriam McConnon as part of the Artist Initiative

CMYRGB is encountered as a room infused with clouds of color that reflect the aesthetics of the original set of GIFS.” www.steambox.imoca.ie

EVERyTHINg CAN BE DONE ‘Everything can be done, in principle' was an exhibition by Brian Duggan that ran at Visual, Carlow 9 June – 26 August "This exhibition rebuilt full scale a 1880s Wyoming timber barn inside the the extraordinary galleries of Visual, 25 meters, by 12 meters by 7 meters high, that the visitor could roller skate in.

Outlined in the banditti of the plains by AS Mercer (1894), a band of 52 cattlemen and hired gunmen invaded Johnson Country, Wyoming, in April 1892, killing and terrorizing the settlers. Through the installation of a full size timber and canvas roller skating rink within the gallery, Duggan’s ambitious work transported gallery visitors through the frontier lands of Wyoming and American Western Cinema, as seen in Michael Cimino’s Heavens’s Gate (1980)."

Series II (16 – 30 Aug). Miriam’s painting “…focuses on simple and quiet domestic

UNREqUITED HATRED

www.everythingcanbedone.com

settings. Each scene has been carefully chosen by the artist to show everyday

Get into The Roundup

household objects bearing the evidence of time passing and each carrying its own individual story.” www.talbotgallery.com

■ Simply e-mail text and images

AfTERWARDNESS

for the roundup to the

‘Afterwardness’ by Sara O Gorman is cur-

editor (lily@visualartists.ie).

rently on display in Studio Nine, Westgate, Wexford (15 Aug – 6 Sep). “The work connects the politics and poetics of memory, referencing Jacques Derrida’s

■ Your text details / press release ‘Unrequited Hatred’ was held recently in

1974 film, The Mirror Mirror, and Ridley Scott’s

The Shed, Galway (10 – 25 Aug). The

Blade Runner Runner. The artist exploits the dis-

press release notes, “Unrequited Hatred

tinctions between mechanically-mediat-

will be a diverse and multi-faceted con-

ed photographic recollections (preserved

stellation of work, that is representative

from the moment of origin) and the

of a shared attitude or stance towards our

unreliability of neurological memory

artistic practice. This attitude manifests

with all the natural lapses and misrepre-

itself in the form of a collective desire to

sentations that occur.”

create work that is provocative, energet-

TRACES ‘Traces’ was a group exhibition held in the Signal Arts Centre, Bray, Co.Wicklow (14 – 26 Aug). The press release notes that the artist’s are “…interested in integrating their varied practices and backgrounds towards the exploration of a shared theme, tracing remnants from the past using a variety of mediums. Each of

should include: venue name,

Francis Quinn forUnrequited Hatred,2012

Spectres of Marx, Andrei Tarkovsky’s

www.studioninewexart.com

for more information or to register visit: northern ireland http://visualartists.org.uk/services/professionaldevelopment/current republic of ireland http://visualartists.ie/education/register-for-our-events/

ic, assertive and indifferent towards the increasing commercialisation of the contemporary art world.” The exhibition featured work by Darren Barrett, Alan Bulfin, Daniel Cunniffe, Terence Erraught, Nevan Lahart, Tadhg Ó Cuirrín, Jeroen Van Dooren, Kees van Lankveld, Francis

location, dates and a brief description of the work / event.

■

Inclusion is not guaranteed, but we aim to give everyone a fair chance.

■ Our criteria is primarily to ensure that the roundup section has a good regional spread and represents a diversity of forms of practice, from a range of artists at all stages in their careers.

■ Priority is given to events taking place within Ireland,

Quinn and is curated by Darren Barrett

but do let us know if you are

and Tadhg Ó Cuirrín.

taking part in a significant

www.facebook.com/unrequitedhatred

international event.

REPUBl REPUB lIC Of IRE IREl lAND

NORTHERN IRE IREl lAND

DUblIN

bElFAST

Managing your Accounts with Gaby Smyth and co.

Tue 26 Sep (10:30 – 15:30) In partnership with the Crafts Council of Ireland @VAI 10 places Cost ˆ 80 / 40 (VAI Members) Working with Digital Images with Hugh McElveen Wed 5 Sep (10:30 – 16:30) A hands on workshop lo In partnership with the Crafts Counciloking at best practice for the use and storage of digital files, post-production, repurposing images for different media requirements and safe archiving of digital information and prints. @ Visual Artists Ireland, Dame Court, Dublin 2 Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI members) 10 places Documenting Your Work with Tim Durham 12 September (10.00 – 17:00) In partnership with the Crafts Council Workshop on photographing your work for proposals and submissions, covering xposure, ISO, white balance, apertures, depth of field, jpg and raw quality, resolution of images, tripod use and much more. @ Visual Artists Ireland, Dame Court, Dublin 2 Common Room Lunchtime Talk with James L Hayes Thur 20 Sept (13.00 – 14.00) James L Hayes will discuss his current research and his recent IRON-R project with CIT CCAD and the National Sculpture Factory. This presentation will focus on the overall aims of the research project, the nature of the process and its relevant history.

Free event @ Visual Artists Ireland, Dame Court, Dublin 2 18 places Self-Promotion for Portfolio Career Artists with Mary Carty 18 Sept (10.30 – 14.30) In partnership with the Crafts Council Mary Carty looks at ways to promote and sell different aspects of your creative work, with a focus on online platforms and approaches to audiences and markets. In association with the Crafts Council of Ireland. @ Visual Artists Ireland Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI members) 10 places Performance Masterclasses #1 for Emerging Artists, with Nigel Rolfe 1 Oct (9:30 – 17:00) @ Visual Artists Ireland, Dame Court, Dublin 2 Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI members) 10 places Performance Masterclasses #2 with Nigel Rolfe 11 Oct (9:30 – 17:00) @ Visual Artists Ireland, Dame Court, Dublin 2 Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI members) 10 places Peer Critique Sessions led by visiting artists and curators Autumn and Spring Dates and venues tbs in Dublin and Belfast Health and Safety for Artists Autumn Date tbs in Dublin

Gallery Installation Skills - Traditional Media Wed 7 Nov (tutor tbc) In partnership with Belfast Exposed.

Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places Community Focused Arts Project Planning Wed 14 Nov (tutor tbc) Practical session for artists working collaboratively and community activists. £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places Gallery Installation Skills - Digital Media with Angela Halliday Thur 22 Nov (10:30) – 16:30) In partnership with Belfast Exposed and DAS. £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Digital Art Studios 10 places Project Management for the Visual Arts with Noel Kelly Wed 28 and Thur 29 Nov (10:30 – 16:30) In partnership with Belfast Exposed.

A hands-on session adapting project management principles to the visual arts. Aimed at artists, curators or festival organisers in the visual arts £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places Facillitation Skills for Artists Working with Groups Thur 7 Feb 2013 (10:30 – 16:30) (tutor tbc) In partnership with Belfast Exposed £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places

Monica Flynn / Professional Development Visual Artists Ireland Central Hotel Chambers T: +353 (0)1 672 9488 E: monica@visualartists.ie http://www.visualartists.org.uk http://www.visualartists.ie http://www.printedproject.com http://www.thecommonroom.net Twitter: VisArtsIreland Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ VAIProfessionalDevelopment

8

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2012

News rate opportunities: one award provides a

Tbg&s studios

by Brendan Flaherty for his painting,

Production Ireland. After careful deliber-

supermassiveblackhole

visual artist up to six months residency

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (TBG+S)

Screen; the Freyer Award, won by

ation, the jury, consisting of Locky

SuperMassiveBlackHole has been award-

in the workshop for longer-term projects;

has recently announced 10 new studio

Dominique Beyens for his work entitled

Morris, Paul O’Neill and Emily Pethick

ed an Organisational Residency at the

the other award is allocated to artists

member artists for the year 2012 / 13. The

Baile Átha Cliath; and the Barry Dunne

selected Lee Welch from a shortlist pre-

Steambox

Centre.

requiring workshop space for shorter-

new member artists were awarded their

Picture Framing Award, worth €250,

pared by Co-Directors Aileen Burns and

Established in 2009, SMBH is dedicated

term projects (approximately eight

studios following an open submission

which was won by Lauren Flynn for her

Johan Lundh. Welch’s solo exhibition at

to contemporary photography and the

weeks). For both awards, artists have full-

application process, which took place in

entry, Harbour: A Study With Words. The

CCA will open in November of this year

photographic imagery resulting from

time access to their own bay in the sculp-

May 2012. In total, six membership stu-

prize-winning and selected entries will

and run until early 2013. This first com-

the time-based processes found in many

ture workshop, support from the part-

dios for a three-year period were awarded

be displayed alongside the RDS National

mission has been made possible through

interdisciplinary art practices today. It is

time workshop manager and workshop

to six artists: Kevin Cosgrove, Mark

Crafts Competition prize-winning and

the generous support of Arts and Business

available to download for free as a PDF.

equipment. A bursary of between €200

O’Kelly,

Susan

highly commended entries which is

NI, Caldwell and Robinson Solicitors,

As a truly international and respected

– €500 accompanies this award.

MacWilliam, David E Maher and Jim

open to the public on Friday, August 10

and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

publication it has shown the work of

Firestation has also announced the recip-

Ricks. Additionally, Seamus Nolan was

from 10.00am – 5.00pm at the RDS

This years shortlisted artists, duos and

over 120 emerging and established art-

ients of its Digital Media Award: Lisa

granted a one-year extension on his

Concert Hall. Following this, the RDS

groups were: Ciarán Ó Dochartaigh,

ists from all over the world, as well as

Reburn, Aideen Barry, Bridget O’Gorman,

membership studio. This year, one-year

National Crafts Competition and Student

Christine Mackey, Bea McMahon, Conal

exhibiting with PhotoIreland and Belfast

Fiona McDonald (July – December 2012)

project studios were allocated to Elaine

Awards Exhibition will be open during

McStravick, Megs Morley and Tom

Photo festivals. The initial duration of

and Frances Mezzetti and Janine

Byrne and Mark Clare. 2012 is the pilot

the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show

Flanagan, and Work Head (Jason Dunne,

the residency will be for six months, with

Davidson (January – April 2013). This

year for a new Graduate Artist Studio

at the RDS Concert Hall, Merrion Road,

David Eager Maher, Sam Keogh, Joseph

opportunities to use the galleries and

award provides up to four months sched-

award at TBG+S. This award allocates a

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 from August 15 –

Noonan Ganley, Marcel Vidal and Francis

community space within Steambox for

uled access to Fire Station’s Resource

large studio free of charge, as well as a

19 (times vary – entry fee required). After

Wasser).

various talks, reviews and other events.

Centre, high-end digital equipment and

variety of mentoring and development

the conclusion of the Discover Ireland

scheduled technical support. Both

opportunities, to a recent graduate of a

Dublin Horse Show, a selection of works

awards will be offered again in 2013.

Fine Art BA programme. The recipient,

from the RDS Student Art Awards

venice 2013

Lucy Andrews, was selected via an open

Exhibition will travel to the Riverbank

The Arts Council and Culture Ireland

submission process. The 10 new artists

Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare from

have

September 3-29.

Commissioner / Curator to represent

Arts

Research

www.smbhmag.com

rise

www.firestation.ie

RISE – the landmark public artwork on

Barbara

Knezevic,

Belfast’s Broadway Roundabout – has

siamsa tire emerging artist

will take up their new studios at TBG&S

been highly commended at the national

This year the Siamsa Tire Emerging

between now and spring 2013.

Structural Steel Design Awards, which

Artist Award received over 60 submis-

were held in London last week. The 37.5

sions in what was a fiercely contested set

metre high sculpture – by the Nottingham

of applications. After whittling down to

artist Wolfgang Buttress – was one of 29 projects shortlisted for the prestigious

www.rds.ie

announced

the

artist

and

Ireland at the Venice Art Biennale in 2013, which is an initiative of Culture

www.templebargallery.com

red stables

Ireland, in partnership with the Arts

rds taylor art award

Swedish artist, Lina Nordenström, will be

Council. The Commissioner / Curator for

a shortlist of just 10 artists, Adam Gibney

The RDS has announced that the RDS

resident at The Red Stables International

Venice 2013 is Anna O’Sullivan, Director

emerged as this year’s winner with his

Taylor Art Award worth €5,000 has been

Studio during August and September.

of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, who

annual industry awards. The six overall

interactive technological installation.

won by Barry Mulholland from Belfast.

Lina works with prints, drawings and

has selected artist Richard Mosse to

winners included the Peace Bridge in

Adam’s work will investigate technolo-

Mulholland, who is a student at the

artist’s books. She studied at Gothenburg

present a highly ambitious eight-channel

Derry / Londonderry. Other winners

gy’s effect on our surroundings and real-

University of Ulster, was presented with

University (1982 – 1985), The College of

multimedia installation on the subject of

included the main Olympic Stadium and

ity. Through installations that both rely

this award at the RDS Student Art Awards

Printmaking Arts in Stockholm (1991 –

the ongoing conflict in the Democratic

the new Velodrome in London, as well as

on and question technology, his work

prize-giving ceremony in the RDS

1995), where she now teaches, and at the

Republic of Congo. Commenting on the

the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in

highlights in a playful manner the dark

Concert Hall today. Mulholland’s work is

Royal University College of Fine Arts in

selection, Ms O’Sullivan explained:

Stratford-Upon-Avon, the M53 Bidston

undertones that exist in our technologi-

inspired by cultural and previous travel

Stockholm (2000 – 2001). Since 2005 she

“Richard is an outstanding choice to rep-

Moss Viaduct strengthening project and

cal landscape. With the growth of mass-

experience. The work contains images

has been an associate member of Graphic

resent Ireland at the Venice Biennale

the new footbridge in Salford’s MediaCity

production and the media, objects have

from photographs of buildings taken

Studio Dublin. Lina will give a free print-

2013. He has already gained internation-

UK. RISE was one of only two projects

developed a reliability on technology to

while travelling and through a decon-

making demonstration on Saturday 25th

al recognition, especially for his ongoing

outside England to be commended at the

define their function and value. In his

struction of the building forms he aims

August from 2 – 4pm in The Red Stables

work, ‘Infra’. At Venice, Richard will push

awards. The judges said that RISE was

new installation for Siamsa Tire, Adam

to communicate unfamiliar landscapes

gallery, St Anne’s Park, Mt Prospect

this work into a strong, immersive multi-

“impressive for its geometric form and

will explore an opportunity to correct

within which recognisable features of

Avenue, Dublin 3. All Welcome. The aim

media environment. I am thrilled for

precision” adding that “intelligent analy-

technological mishaps. Adam is also resi-

architecture emerge. The work hints at

of the International Artists’ Residential

Richard, who I know will rise to the chal-

sis, precision fabrication and safe assem-

dent artist at Moxie Studios in Dublin.

the idyllic and utopian, as well as the

Studio at The Red Stables is to encourage

lenge of this important opportunity, and

bly on a road-locked site have produced

His exhibition opens on September 7th

connectivity between person and place.

international artists to visit Ireland, cre-

will create an extremely original installa-

steelwork of fine quality” and describing

2012 at 6pm.

Other 2012 prize-winners include

ate work and actively exchange practice

tion that will represent Ireland power-

Jonathan Ross from Kircubbin in County

and expertise with artists, arts organisa-

fully on the international stage”.

Down who won the RDS James White

tions, local arts initiatives and people living and working in Dublin city.

the finished sculpture as “a stunning and

www.siamsatire.com

popular landmark”. Two globes, one

www.richardmosse.com

inside the other, cast in silver and white

limerick city of culture

Drawing Award worth €3,300 for his

steel, symbolizing the rising of the sun,

Limerick city is to be designated as the

entry Untitled. Drawing has always been

RISE is made up of more than 65,000

first in a new national City of Culture

an autonomous activity for Ross, who is

individual parts and was manufactured

initiative, delivering a programme of cul-

a student at the University of Ulster. His

Graduate residency

to our online services. In recent discus-

by M Hasson and Sons Ltd of Rasharkin.

tural events and engagement in the city

work displays an interest in mark-mak-

Louise Brady has been selected as the

sions, several people raised the point that

Standing 37.5 metres – or 123 feet – the

in 2014. Minister Jimmy Deenihan TD

ing as an extended practice which trans-

fifth annual Graduate Resident at

it would be good to have a place where

sculpture is a metre taller than the spires

made the announcement after discuss-

gresses boundaries from drawing into

IMOCA, 2012 – 2013. The one-year stu-

artists or organisations can submit details

of nearby St Peter’s Cathedral, three

ing the initiative on a recent visit to the

painting and explores the kinaesthetic

dio residency will culminate in a solo

of exhibitions that are currently availa-

metres taller than the Albert Clock and

Limerick School of Art and Design to

relationship between direct dependence

show, and can be followed in a regularly

ble for touring. Therefore, we are provid-

twice the height of Gateshead’s ‘Angel Of

open their graduate show. The City of

on the physical and the cognitive. The

updated blog about her work, as well as

ing an area to allow people to advertise

The North’ – and just 8.5 metres shorter

Culture initiative will seek to bring art-

RDS Printmaking Award worth €3,300

future artist talks. Brady’s practice is cur-

than the Statue Of Liberty. It is 30 metres

ists, arts organisations, local authorities

was won by Jamie Murphy for his entry

rently focused on text based video instal-

in diameter and weighs the equivalent of

and civic groups and get them to work

entitled Albert, Ernest & The Titanic.

lation centered on the role of women in

six double-decker buses.

together through the design of a calendar

Murphy is based in Clonshaugh in

film, gender dynamics and traditional

of events that showcases all that the city

Dublin and is a student at the National

cinematic narrative structures. More

has to offer in arts and cultural expres-

College of Art and Design, Dublin. The

information on the residency and her

firesation award

sion. Limerick has been chosen to be

biannual Henry Higgins Scholarship

work can be found at:

Firestation has announced the recipients

start the initiative, which will see one

Award was won by Hannah Mooney for

of the Sculpture Workshop Award and

city in Ireland designated a City of

her video work entitled Extinguished

Bursary: Barbara Knezevic, Jennifer

Culture ever two years, holding the des-

and the Model Residency Award, which

production ireland 2012

Phelan, Cliona Harmey (July – December

ignation for one calendar year.

includes a stipend of €500, was awarded

The Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry

to Ian Nolan for his entry entitled

received over 100 applications from 12

Forsgren (January – June 2013). This

Interrupted. Other awards include: the RC

different countries for their inaugural

award has now developed into two sepa-

Lewis-Crosby Award for Painting, won

annual commissioning programme,

www.belfastcity.gov.uk

2012) and Lee Welch and Veronica

www.limerickleader.ie/lifestyle/entertainment

www.redstablesartists.com

vai touring exhibitions VAI is pleased to introduce a new feature

www.imoca.ie

exhibitions that they currently have available for exhibiting in venues. Due to the scale of this we will be limiting each listing to a maximum of three months. Please note the guidelines for submissions. We reserve the right to remove any listings that do not conform to the information outlines provided.

www.visualartists.ie

The Visual Artists’News sheet

September – October 2012

9

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

Visual Arts Resources andActivities:leitrim Anna Mcleod

Anna Macleod, Water Bodies and Spiritsbodh Spirits , Gayar, bihar, India, 2011

leitrim Sculpture Centre

Anna Macleod, Water Bodies and Spiritsbodh Spirits , Gayar, bihar, India, 2011

SINCE its renovation was completed in 2008 /

negotiating the logistics of making work both

09, Leitrim Sculpture Centre (LSC) has emerged as

inside and outside the framed world of the gallery.

a key location for professional artists in Ireland and

In such contexts, sculptural or artistic interventions

abroad seeking open and comprehensive resources

serve not so much as representational forms but

for creative practice across all visual arts media.

engage in dialogue with the communities and

Situated in Manorhamilton, the LSC at first

landscape around them. In this respect, the position

looks out of place in such a small rural town – but

of the artists, curators and their objects of study are

first impressions can be deceptive. The town is

reconstituted through the activity of research and

positioned at the hub of five glacial valleys that

making.

converge on the town affording access to very

In relation to the status of the centre as an

different human and non-human landscapes.

artists' resource, there is a tendency amongst

Manorhamilton's historical status as a market

European art venues to reconceptualise the 'white

and agricultural centre for the region, and as an

cube' model of displaying contemporary art as a

important locus for trade and communication in the

studio or experimental 'laboratory'. Curators who

North West and across the border, still remain. Such

promote this ‘laboratory’ paradigm include Hans

settings and their contextual implications have

Ulrich Obrist, Hou Hanra and Nicolas Bourriaud.

become an important inspiration for many artists

Each support work that is open-ended, interactive

who come here, becoming a key feature in their

and resistant to closure, often appearing to be work-

work. This has resulted in a series of arts projects

in-progress rather than a completed object. LSC

reflecting on the ecology and landscapes of the

differs in its motivations for increased ‘sociability’

area and their connection to broader geo-political,

through the emphasis we place on both the material

economic and environmental concerns.

and human-discursive agencies in the production

In reflecting on my own practice as an artist /

of art. In this way, LSC functions as a testing ground

My work is primarily concerned with landscape

practices have evolved that pass far beyond that of

curator and Director of the centre, I am driven by

or a laboratory, where artists can experiment with

and the competing sets of values placed on land and

the physical and serve to define and transform an

two central interests: a commitment to the creative

different materials and explore or take risks with

its natural resources. I am interested in the dynamics

identity of place.

and material processes of art-making and the

exhibition formation within various contexts and

between local and global commonalities, in how

My interest in water as content and context

provision of time and space for artists to develop new

using different processes – a sociability embodied in

indigenous sets of knowledge and experience can

derives from participation in the project ‘AFTER,

work and try out ideas; and secondly, a long-term

the material life of both subjects and objects. In fact,

inform alternative contemporary practices of land

Responding to Changing Landscape’ (2008) where

interest in social issues connected to landscape and

the impressive 360 square metre gallery is really

ecologies and resource management in the face of

five Leitrim-based artists: Carol Anne Connolly,

environment and accounts of these in geographic,

an extension of the productive factory where both

infrastructural failure, corporate economic interests

Gareth Kennedy, Alice Lyons, Christine Mackey

materialist and philosophical thought. These are

human and material forces combine and emerge

and privatisation.

and myself, worked with lead artist Alfredo Jaar to

sometimes connected in artists work or taken as

together. Thus, the LSC provides a place where the

Since 2007, water has been the primary focus of

develop individual projects addressing the rapidly

separate lines of inquiry.

material and conceptual development of artists’

my research-based projects that are clustered under

changing landscape of rural Leitrim (TRADE

In terms of the former, the buildings technical

work is brought together and where the border

the umbrella term ‘Water Conversations’. My water

residency programme 2007). My response to

resources are some of the best in Europe. The

between production, participation and reception,

projects to date have examined attitudes to water in

the theme was the construction of a functional

factory houses all the hot glass, ceramic and metal

and the ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ of the centre, is kept

a variety of global locations where water is either

temporary public artwork, Rain Catcher Catcher, that sought

processes as well as stone, wood, large fabrications

open and elastic.

plentiful or scarce, mismanaged, contaminated

to question infrastructural failure of planning and

and mouldmaking and supports the exploration

Continuous and significant support from the

and subject to infrastructural failure, difficult

urban / rural development during the Celtic Tiger

of different materials and their combination in

Arts Council ensures that LSC is able to maintain and

to access, privatised or more expensive than oil.

building boom.

the development of sculpture, installation and

provide a comprehensive, accessible and affordable

Articulated as a series of actions, small sculptures,

Since moving to County Leitrim in the

environmental works. Our second property known

facility for artists, fostering a safe and responsive

posters, drawings, public interventions, site specific

late 1990s I have found the county provides an

as Sheehans, includes spaces for two-dimensional

environment for their creative needs. The LSC, you

works and collaborations, the work explores the

excellent base for an artist interested in landscape

works, digitial and traditional printmaking as well

could say, revolves around the dynamic connection

complex interstices between landscape, science and

studies. The support for artists through the Leitrim

as the Library and Archive. A total of 14 individual

between the technical and material resources of

technology, culture and geopolitics. Each project

Arts Office is very strong through the excellent

studios exist across the two buildings, all with

the centre and the way artworks resonate with the

takes as its starting point a particular aspect of the

TRADE programme that provides knowledge,

broadband connection. Artists can rent a studio or

surrounding environmental worlds they choose to

layered readings that water can suggest. For example,

resources and opportunities for artists to participate

simply hire many of our workbays to make specific

explore.

in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, Northern India in 2010 Water

internationally

project from one day up to three months.

Bodies and Spirits – a mobile solar-powered sculptural

engage locally. The Leitrim Sculpture Centre in

With regards landscape and the geographic, one

‘outside’ of the centre is most evident in the work

shrine to water located in a variety of public sites

Manorhamilton, where my studio is based, offers

might define a site, not in terms of a static geometry,

created during the Artists in Residency Programme,

throughout the pilgrimage town – became the

support and technical resources for practices that

but as a series of complex flows and intensities in

of which there are five each year. For this programme

catalyst for discussions and debates on spiritual

involve a diverse range of materials and processes,

which, I would argue, the sites material and social

and the annual funding referenced above the Leitrim

practices and rituals with water in Buddhist, Hindu

the centre’s workshop facilities can be reconfigured

agencies are becoming increasingly important

Sculpture Centre would like to acknowledge the

and Muslim traditions.

according to production needs.

factors in the development of the work.

Arts Council and the Arts Office of Leitrim County

and

international

artists

to

This dynamic tension between the ‘inside’ and

‘Water Conversations’ projects have taken place

I am currently preparing for a show next year

Curated projects such as ‘New Sites – New Fields’

in Ireland, Ghana, the USA and India. In August

at the Mermaid Art Centre where I aim to bring

(2008), ‘Fields of Vision’ (2009) and the international

this year I will be participating in the 2nd Land Art

an archive of my ‘Water Conversations’ projects

‘Sense in Place’ (2005 – 2006) for example, all

Sean O'Reilly is Director of the Leitrim Sculpture

Biennale in Mongolia with another water-based

together with new work made specifically for the

involved extensive fieldwork in which existing

Factory.

project. Working in Mongolia and, in particular, the

show. In addition, I will be organising a series of film

ontological and social registers were incorporated

Gobi Desert, offers a unique opportunity to research

screenings, talks and workshops on the subject of

into the evolution of the making process. Projects

indigenous customs, practices and attitudes to water

water during the run of the exhibition.

such as these capture the sense in which the work

in a landscape defined by its lack of rainfall. There

Council for their invaluable support.

www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

might become a ‘co-fabrication’ with the world.

are two key psycho-cultural components that are

Anna Macleod is a visual artist based in Leitrim

They seek to go beyond pre-ordained scripts and

interesting to me in this context: a ‘sense of place’

and is a lecturer in Fine Art Practice at the Dublin

strategies that foreclose the site and the making of

in the relationship between symbolic landscapes

Institute of Technology and committee member

objects, by reducing the potential for interaction

and everyday activities; the beliefs and philosophies

of Broadcast Gallery @DIT.

and co-emergence. Here, the role of the artist is

embedded in the social relations of the ethnic and

more interventionist, seeing the practices of art as

indigenous populations of the Gobi Desert. Water

www.annamacleod.com

operative in the socio-material matrix of life, rather

bodies have the ability to mark boundaries between

www.broadcastgallery.ie

than removed to the realm of symbolic rendition.

the human and spirit underworlds, at sites of water

My responsibility as curator in many of these

provision for humans and livestock, traditions and

projects was as fellow traveller with the artists

Karl burke,Taking a Line, 2011

10

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2012

REGIONAL PROFILE

The Dock

Western Development Commission Conference On June 29th, the Western Development

cultural structures in the region. He didn’t expand

Commission (WDC) launched a €1 million micro-

on what that would involve but commended them

fund to support creative industries in the region at

on their activities as these funds regenerate capital

The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon.

that is re-invested in small businesses within the

Quoting from the WDC website, the loan is

Gordon Ryan, A Dimensional Translation by Phone,2012

Garrett Carr, The Map of Connections,2012

Orla McHardy, The Beacon Line,2012

Since opening in 2005, The Dock has enjoyed

community) we received the most submissions to

rapid development of our national profile. Having

date, with work from over 150 artists based in the

capitalised well on the good times, we have been

Northwest. As always, we were delighted to accept

able to sustain our place on Ireland’s cultural road

work from old-time pros to fledgling newcomers.

map. Indeed there is more talk of budget cuts (and

Our ‘Working Drawing’ exhibition in February

BYOB after-parties) but thankfully we work in a

2012 included a residency by performance artist

sector abundant in creative thinking.

Fergus Byrne. Fergus facilitated a series of master-

At a recent event – a poetry reading by Vincent

classes in movement and drawing. His residency

Woods and uilleann pipe music by Neilladh

culminated with a performance based on his

Mulligan – our gallereries were full to capacity. The

experience of the gallery spaces and the local town.

event was programmed as part of our ‘associated

Sensing a hunger for more performance art in our

events’ for the summer exhibition ‘The Border’,

programme we have invited Fergus to curate a

which comprised three solo exhibitions by artists

weekend-long performance art event in April 2013,

Adrian Duncan, Garrett Carr and Bryonie Reid. We

so watch this space.

invited attendees to the evening event on a tour of

Autumn 2012 will see Orla Mc Hardy’s ‘The

the galleries during the interval. This proved a

Beacon Line’, which will be her first solo show in

quirky opportunity to push a more literary and Irish

Ireland. Having studied Animation in IADT, Orla

traditional music crowd towards enjoyment of our

went on to complete an MFA at The School of the

visual arts exhibition.

Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. Siobhan Mac

All publicly-funded art centres face an interesting challenge: how to maintain a significant

Donald’s ‘Eye of the Storm’ will run as a parallel solo show, selected by guest curator, Aoife Tunney.

reputation in the contemporary art scene whilst

An exhibition by Mark Joyce is planned for

seeking the broadest possible audience in an extra-

early 2013. The Dock will also host the inaugural

urban environment. Here at The Dock, conversations

Irish screening of Holis Frampton’s Gloria.

around signage, wall text and labelling are ongoing

We have worked hard this season to provide an

and have developed over the last year. A guide

engaging and ambitious programme and look

entitled ‘How to Get The Most from Your Gallery’ is

forward to continuing to do so long into the future.

in the pipeline.

We are delighted with the success of our associated programmes, since we started to focus on

There has been a resurgence of interest in the

groups operating in the creative industries sector.

creative industries since the publication of a report

This is defined as: occupations and industries

carried out by the WDC in 2008 titled ‘Creative West

centred on creativity, for the production and

– The Creative Sector in the Western Region’. This

distribution of original goods and services. The

report compartmentalised and defined the creative

preference is for businesses to be incorporated, ie a

industries into 12 sectors: music visual and

company limited by shares or a company limited by

performing arts composing the most populated

guarantee but non-incorporated businesses will be

sectors that provide 66% of the total employment in

considered.”

the creative industries in the region. This is very

The loan value ranges from €5000 – €25,000,

substantial when compared to the internet and

with interest rates determined by the ECB interest

software sector that only provides 2% of

rate (currently around 5%) and repayments are to

employment, though the latter’s turnover far

be made monthly over a period of one to five years.

outweighs the visual and performing arts sector,

It can also be applied for in conjunction with other

making it a far more lucrative and attractive

funding / investment.

investment. And that is exactly what this loan sets

Typically, there were plenty of local politicians,

out to provide – an investment in a solid industry

councillors and county representatives present. Ian

that can demonstrate its ability to repay the loan

Brannigan, who is the acting CEO of WDC, welcomed

and intends to expand its exportability.

the other speakers in his address. They included

I have to say, when I heard about this fund, I

ministers John Perry (Minister of State for Small

knew it wasn’t going to be something that would

Businesses) and Phil Hogan (Minister for the

appeal or apply to visual artists. I asked one of the

Environment, Community and Local Government).

WDC staff how they imagined this could be utilised

Brannigan opened by speaking of the region’s

by an artist and the only potential example they

reputation for creativity, naming John McGahern,

could give was that of an artist awarded a commission

William and Jack B Yeats, among others, as pioneers

who needed working capital until the commission

for the quality of its artistic talent. He mostly spoke

payment came through.

about the breadth of the Creative Industries in the

I asked the same staff member if they ever

region, giving figures relating to number of

thought they would roll out a fund that didn’t

individual businesses (5,000) and employment

require financial repayment, particularly for

within them (11,000) that translates to 3% of

creatives whose work and contribution wasn’t

regional employment and revenue (€530m).

measured in monetary value but in its social and

WDC now work with regional partners and are instrumental

in

managing

three

growth

programmes. Brannigan described this micro-loan

cultural impact, but unfortunately they are prohibited from ever releasing funds in this manner.

fund as a “Jobs Growth Programme” focusing on

Despite this, the fund is a great initiative for

regional access to capital. This is with a view to

industry, but not for all creatives. WDC do fantastic

realising a call for access to finance so businesses

work but I take issue with the visual arts being

can move to international markets but it’s targeted

aligned to a fund that doesn’t really apply to them.

towards creative industries in the region and will

I’m concerned it gives the impression that the arts

differ from the standard bank loan in that it also

sector is being supported beyond the mainstream

includes mentoring.

funding bodies when in fact it’s not.

In his speech, Minister John Perry recognised

On the whole, this is not really a fund for

the work of WDC and their involvement in

artists, which is ironic given that the opening

developing assistance for the creative industries,

address named John McGahern and the Yeats

pointing out that he doesn’t see this loan as being in

brothers as beacons of the arts. I reckon even they’d

competition with standard bank loan products but

have a tough time getting €5000 out of this fund.

complementary to them.

Minister Phil Hogan addressed the audience next and announced that he has approached the WDC in relation to expanding their services: becoming co-ordinators of enterprise, social and

Claire McAree is Visual Arts Co-ordinator at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon.

them as a vital way of improving footfall into the three galleries. Working with exhibiting artists on the delivery of artists’ talks, workshops and other types of highly engaging and accessible events has helped our audiences get the most from the work in the galleries. We’ve also had great feedback from our artists who have enjoyed the opportunity to engage face-to-face with the audience.

For the 2011 ‘Open Season’ annual exhibition (where we give the walls of our galleries over to the

region so it’s at no cost to the exchequer.

open to “sole traders, partnerships, businesses and

Images courtesy of the WDC

Linda Shevlin is an artist, curator and VAI board member based in Roscommon. www.wdc.ie/microfundci/

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

September – October 2012

11

REGIONAl PROFIlE

leitrim Arts Office

Christine Mackay

lEITRIM County Council’s vision, as affirmed

own development, to broaden their practice, and to

in its current arts strategy, is to “continue to develop,

gain access to international networks. TRADE

in Leitrim, greater access and quality participation

challenged the traditional necessity of artists,

in the arts for all people living in or visiting the

particularly those working in rural contexts, to

county; to nurture individuals, organisations,

migrate towards traditional global art capitals in

festivals and communities to be part of that

order to maintain and develop their practice. Rather

provision, and to work in partnership with local,

than considering ‘rural’ as being isolationary, TRADE

national and international agencies to achieve

recognised that high quality arts practice and

common goals”.

networking should, and can be, maintained from

Since the development of a distinct Arts Service

anywhere.

within the local authority over a decade ago, the arts

Within TRADE, leading international artists

have increasingly played a more integrated and

worked for a period of one year with groups of artists

substantial role throughout Leitrim. Building on a

from this region, culminating in an exhibition and

strong pre-existing arts tradition, the development

weekend seminar. Since its inception, lead artists

of arts organisations and infrastructure together

have included Alfredo Jaar, Rebecca Fortnum, Darren

with the work of the local authority has given rise to

Almond, John Gibbons and David Michalek. This

a significantly high proportion of artists living and

year, Isabel Löfgren (Sweden / Brazil) was resident in

working here. This trend has continued, as artists

July and in October Victoria Vesna (USA) will

who live here are widely valued for their essential

undertake a residency exploring holy wells from the

contribution to the development of the arts and to

perspectives of folklore and commonly held beliefs,

quality of life as a whole.

to the water itself at a molecular level.

The development of the artist-led Leitrim

More recently, Leitrim County Council has

Sculpture Centre in Manorhamilton in 1997 became

developed SPARK in association with Leitrim

the first significant cultural infrastructure in Leitrim

County Enterprise Board – a residential programme

dedicated to developing and promoting visual arts.

aimed at artists who are interested in working in

In recent years the offering of the LSC has been

new environments, and companies who are

developed to include printmaking and digital arts.

interested in collaborating with artists and

The Arts Office supports LSC through a residential

promoting creativity within their organisations.

and exhibition programme which seeks to promote

As part of SPARK, artists take on the dual roles

the development of artists living in Leitrim and the

of artist and creative collaborator. There is no pre-

work of artists whose practice is concerned with

determined outcomes and the journey the residency

collaborating with communities.

takes defines its own path. In the role of artist, the

The Dock, developed by Leitrim County

resident is provided with the opportunity to explore

Council in 2005, provides three galleries, artists’

different methods of working, new influences and

studios and a 118-seat performance space. Its

the opportunity to produce art in a unique context

programming is progressive, experimental and is

that allows for greater participation in its creation.

curated with a focus on new commissions,

In their role as creative collaborator, the artist can

promoting new work and supporting the

propose new and different creative and innovative

development of artists.

paths and serve as a catalyst for new thinking within

The Solas Art Gallery is an artist-led gallery

companies.

space in Ballinamore developed in 2007 whose

The Arts Office operates an open-door policy to

purpose is to promote the arts in the wider local

artists and arts organisations, and seeks to encourage

community by encouraging awareness and

and support artist-led initiatives, as well as projects

providing exhibition opportunities to artists.

and work programmes devised by individual artists.

Over the years, the Arts Office has developed a

To that end, the arts office operates an individual

number of programmes which sought to provide

bursary scheme which provides financial support to

opportunities for visual artists to develop their

any artist for any purpose that will constructively

practice and make new work. Most prominent

contribute to an artist’s development.

among those was TRADE, devised in association with Roscommon County Council to provide artists from this region with opportunities to further their

Christine Mackay, Temporary Response Unit , 2012

Christine Mackay, Living Fields, 2012

fOR the past four years I have worked

500 drawings exploring the morphology of plants.

simultaneously on a practice-based PhD at the

This work was initially inspired by John Millar’s

University of Ulster and my studio work, based at

essay ‘Drawings That Question Diagrams’ – a

Leitrim Sculpture Centre. This brought many

procedural process that involves the selection of a

challenges but, determined not to lose my practice, I

diagram which is copied by hand repeatedly, ad

initiated a range of projects that informed the

infinitum.

theoretical investigation of the PhD – work which

Continuing with this interest in diagrams, I

sought to develop new models of social engagement

began to develop a series of interactive analogue

in relation to site, agency and ecology. This led me to

‘posters’ entitled ‘It’s not what I have started…but

develop an interest in institutionalised knowledge

where we begin…’ (2009 – ongoing). I was keen to

systems and how these data systems can be visually

explore how drawing akin to a diagrammatic system

challenged in unexpected ways. Part of this task

may serves as a cognitive and social tool for public

involved the testing out of theoretical, scientific and

interaction. Following this, Johanne Mullan (IMMA)

philosophical ideas such as organisation, feedback,

commissioned new drawings for the publication

agency and difference. Underpinning this practice is

Line Exploring Space, which was based on similar

the act of drawing, planned as a series of creative

themes.

diagramming,

I have now completed my PhD and have a solo

recording, talking, mapping. The focus is less on

show, ‘SEED MATTER Part II “Living Fields”’ at the

textual descriptions of biological phenomenon and

Leitrim Sculpture Centre. This work is housed under

Phillip Delamere is the Leitrim County Council

more about getting dirty and active in the field. The

the collective title, ‘The Politics of Seeds’, which has

Arts Officer.

following projects have emerged from these eclective

been the predominant focus of my work over recent

processes.

years and has evolved into various productions. It

www.leitrimarts.ie

activities:

collecting,

digging,

‘RIVERwork(s)’ (2006 – 2008) constituted an in

addresses an ongoing social investigation of land

depth study of a site in Sligo, utlising a number of

use, plant culture and community gardening in an

the approaches mentioned above, collecting local

attempt to envision local ecological processes

knowledge from walkers, residents, fishermen,

relative to global contexts. I have a solo exhibition at

public officials and local record keepers who possess

Limerick City Gallery (2013) where I will launch a

a vast amount of information on an array of subjects

new publication that collates the expansive research

related to the significance of the river Garavogue,

for 'SEED MATTER', followed by a show at The

and the wider landscape of the area. This exploratory

Mermaid Arts Centre (2013).

research took many directions but was grounded by

In conclusion, the privilege of having a stable

my presence and connection with people. I set up

and secure studio with additional technical and

studio in an abandoned gate lodge in Doorly Park,

social resources at LSC with generous support from

keeping a regular website diary. The outcome of this

the Arts Council of Ireland has afforded me with the

work manifested as a publication and exhibition

time and space to challenge new practices and

held at the Yeats Gallery, Sligo.

contexts both at a local and international level, of

I was selected to participate in a residency programme in Portugal called Drawing Spaces, at Fabrica Braco de Prata, a former miltary site. There I developed two new works: video installation Tending to Nature Nature, a small public intervention on the grounds of the factory, using gardening as a process of rejuvenating abandoned sites whilst exploring the history of the factory; and Intimate Formations Formations, which Isabel löfgren, Satellite City, 2012

exists as a free-hanging sculpture composed of over

which I am very grateful.

Christine Mackey lives and works in North Leitrim. Her practice combines site-specific and public works, exhibitions, performance and artbooks. Mackey has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally and is a recipient of numerous awards and artist residencies.

12

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

Regional profile

Grace Weir, If only something else had happened , 2011, audio, carpet tiles, paper stacks, stones, table

Grace Weir, If only something else had happened , 2011

‘scripts’ and their relationship to fiction and its subsequent relationship to truth. Filming the class conducting the experiment, I wanted to reflect the students’ awareness of the camera’s presence and my own intentionality in documenting the class. I was interested in echoing, through the function of the framing of shots and the cuts within editing, the issues – of reasoning about another’s intentions – that were being simultaneously questioned by the group.

“A camera-consciousness which would no longer be defined by the movements it is able to make, but by the mental connections it is able to enter into."2 Deleuze links issues of editing to forms of thought, suggesting that by the construction of a film through the connection of images, the film as a whole is continually made. This produces an image of Grace Weir, Déjà vu, 2003, 16mm film transferrred to DVD, four minutes

Grace Weir, If A, Then B, 201, HDV, 15' 25"

thought, represented through the film as a kind of inner monologue.

The resulting film, If A, then B, concludes with a sense of a possible

If Only Something Else had Happened

fiction being generated, as we view one of the participants gazing out a window at the nearby Lisbon harbour.

Drawing further on the fictive aspect of the research, If A, then B was screened alongside an earlier fictional work, Déjà vu, projected onto a book, The Nature of Explanation, by Kenneth Craik, as a footnote within the installation. Déjà vu, shot by the sea at another harbour, plays with complex ideas around time; two people are momentarily

Grace weir describes the development behind her 2011 installation at the rha, dublin.

part of the same event but have different perceptions of it. The work speaks to an audience through a cinematic language that references brief encounters and missed opportunities as much it references theories of time and space.

The installation If only something else had happened, shown in 2011

the proposition. Working primarily in the moving image, my work is

at the RHA, Dublin was based on an audio interview between

concerned with aligning a lived experience of the world with scientific

“Experiment. Describe as many circumstances as you can, that could

psychologist Ruth Byrne (Professor of Cognitive Science in the School

knowledge and philosophical theory. I am interested in a trans-

make this situation possible:

of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin)

disciplinary approach, a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary

If she leaves, then she will catch the boat.

and myself. It focused on hypothetical thinking, specifically her theory

boundaries, researching facts not as self-evident objects in the world

that imaginative thought and rational thought have much in common.

but as processes, in the complicated mediations by which the factual

She leaves but does not catch the boat.

In her book, The Rational Imagination, Ruth Byrne examines the mental

acquires its immediacy.

models theory of reasoning, examining the mental representations and

Following an invitation from Patrick Murphy, Director of the RHA

cognitive processes that underlie deductive reasoning, testing the

Gallery, who was curating a show, ‘Apertures and Anxieties’, in

theory that imaginative thoughts are guided by the same principles

connection with Trinity College’s School of Medicine’s tercentenary, I

that underlie rational thoughts. She writes, “People often create

became interested in Ruth’s research that was concerned with reasoning

alternatives to reality and imagine how events may have turned out ‘if

about intentionality. Ruth was working in collaboration with Professor

only’ something had been different. But why do people imagine

Cristina Quelhas and Dr Csongor Juhos (from the University Institute

alternatives to particular aspects of reality more readily than others?”

of Applied Psychology in Lisbon, Portugal) creating experiments to test

Exploring the idea of “fault lines” in reality, Ruth discusses how certain

how people make conditional inferences that concern intentionality.

aspects of reality are more mutable: junctures that are more readily

The experiments compared the reasons and causes behind actions.

changed in mental simulations.

I was particularly drawn to the research group’s work explaining

Installed in the gallery as an audio work within a fabricated stone,

the number of possible sets formed by the symbols A and B, which

that was placed on a stack of grey carpet tiles, removed from a corner of

logically contain four possibilities: A and B, A and not B, not A and B,

the previous installation and replaced with a gradated blue sequence of

not A and not B. However, when real life examples are substituted for

tiles, the interview expands on the mental model theory of reasoning.

the symbolic ones – knowledge, pragmatics and semantics – the

Mental models are representations in the mind of real or imaginary

context and content of the real life examples modulate the construction

situations. They can be constructed from perception, imagination, or

of possibilities to yield 10 distinct sets of possibilities to which the

the comprehension of discourse. They are a representation of the

conditionals can refer. “When it comes to logical problems, we don’t

surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts, a person’s intuitive understanding of their own acts and the ensuing

use logic, so what do we use?”1 The experiments that the research group conducted involved

consequences. Mental models are based on a principle of truth: they

presenting short scenarios or scripts to a group of volunteers in Lisbon.

represent only those situations that are possible, and each model of a

These were hypothetical situations that they were asked to respond to

possibility represents only what is true in that possibility according to

and make deductions from. I was interested in the formation of these

She catches the boat but does not leave.”3 Grace Weir studied at the National College of Art and Design, followed by a MSc at Trinity College, Dublin. She co-represented Ireland at the 49th International Venice Biennale. Selected exhibitions include Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany; Christopher Grimes Gallery, Los Angeles; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Künstlerhaus Berlin; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Fundacio Miro, Barcelona; The Hugh Lane, Dublin; BAMOIC, Beijing; Gracelands, Leitrim; The Science Museum, London; Furini Arte Contemporanea, Arezzo; Project Arts Centre, Dublin; Temporarycontemporary, London; Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York; Dommuseum zu Salzburg, Austria; RHA Gallery, Dublin; The Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide; NIFCA Helsinki; Cornerhouse, Manchester and IMMA, Dublin.

Notes 1. Csongor Juhas 2. Gilles Deleuze, Gilles, Cinema 2: The Time-Image , 1985 3. From the opening credits of If A, then B, a film by Grace Weir

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

13

profile

Sara Haq, from the 'Overland Project', 2008

Sara Haq, from the 'Overland Project', 2008

Sara Haq, 'Space Time Travel Holiday' destination

Space Time Travel

holiday. It takes 10, 15 or 30 minutes. The Space Time Travel Agent

The experience is like going to the travel agent and booking a starts by asking simple questions to determine the client’s emotional state and ideal holiday environment and activities. Depending on the participant’s response, the facilitator guides the participant into the

sara haq discussing her experience of bartering artworks and her project 'space time travel holidays', which aims to relieve stress for hardworking artists.

experience of total calm and deep relaxation using the chosen image as a focus. There are several prompts to take a deep breath and observe sensations in the body, focusing on pleasurable thoughts, whilst being in the chosen destination and situation.

I began bartering my artworks at the age of 12, offering a

month earlier. We travelled as a research expedition in a mobile ‘think

photograph of a beautiful decaying rusty doorknob for a pot of Mrs

tank’ exploring social enterprise and business ideas for creative

Burman’s homemade raspberry jam. I’m trying to remember what

communities. The journey was extraordinary: intense, immediate, fast,

followed, perhaps a drawing for a meal or a cinema ticket. Necessities

inspiring, fulfilling; it provided creative fuel that has lasted a long time.

like food and shelter have often been a currency of exchange for artists

The resulting solo exhibition and publication, The Overland Project,

and many questions surround this process.

consolidated some of this work through photography and video, but

Is art a means of exchange or a gift? How do you value your own

there were volumes of material and much more to be done.

art? It is often not as simple as hours put in – the thinking and feeling

Over the next year I suffered a burnout, complete exhaustion from

that goes into the work does not switch off at the end of a working day.

the intensity of that experience. Later that year, as I recovered, I met

The gestation period of a work can be months or years, or sometimes

some extraordinary people with whom my ideas about social change

just a single moment when the muse appears and the creativity flows.

and creativity collided in the most interesting way. The German phrase

Artists have lived like this for centuries.

tapeten wechseln, which literally means wallpaper change or change of

I am reminded of watching Stella Artois adverts from the early

scene, was running around my head.

At the beginning of 2009, just when the recession kicked in, I had

1990s: “A penniless artist is desperate for a drink of the smooth and

a major solo exhibition at the Alexia Goethe Gallery in London. Art

reassuringly expensive Stella and offers his masterpiece in trade. A

sales were crashing due to the economic downturn, but I still needed to

reluctant barman takes pity on him and gives him a half a pint for his

make a living from the work that I had spent the last year making.

picture. We then pan out to see classic masterpieces on the wall, all of

I found myself working with Dougald Hine, founder of, among

which we are led to believe have been traded for a drink of Stella

other things, 'Space Makers Agency', 'The Dark Mountain Project' and

Artois.”

Whilst talking to a friend recently, a dancer, we considered the

co-founder of the 'School of Everything'. Sitting together in the BFI cafe

instability and precariousness of trying to maintain artistic freedom

holding hands with Dougald and our waitress, Bibiche.

1

in late August 2009 ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ was conceived whilst

within established societal systems. We realised that in order to be

Initially, the idea was to address the needs of creative individuals

autonomous and work outside of the system you have to make many

pushing themselves to the limits and burning out. A long-standing

sacrifices and live without security or stability. Yet it is often this

yoga and meditation practice as well as my practice as an artist had

precariousness that sparks the creative embers.

helped me to recover and this inspired ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’.

I had long been thinking about barter and exchange in this context, the value of artwork and the value of the artist in society. Judy

Often, all artists really need is a holiday but they can’t afford to take one – so why not bring the holiday to them?

Freya Sibayan – a Manila-based artist who has explored extensively the

I began to pilot ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ with various people.

gift economy, the value of art and role of the artist – was an inspiration.

Firstly, with my sister-in-law over Skype, then with my studio mates. I

In 2007 at Peer, London, I gave a spoken artwork to her project, the

gave these ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ and watched people wind

Museum of Mental Objects (MoMO), which “collapses the body of the

down, relax and change their perspective in a very short space of time.

Once participants have emerged from the deep relaxation and are back in the present, they are asked again how they feel and invited to talk about the experience. They are also invited to consider how they will take their relaxed state of mind into their day and how they can repeat the experience themselves.

At a fascinating conference in Manchester in November 2009, on media ecologies and post-industrial production, I delivered ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ in exchange for meals – I had no money at the time. I was exploring different ways of experiencing and gifting something as valuable as a good holiday. As an artist posing as a travel agent I still needed to pay the bills, to eat food to sustain and nourish myself in order to provide my service. ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ was an offer and a gift. I also wanted the audience to consider what that offer was worth to them so I invited them to contribute to the basic costs of the travel agent, depending on what they thought it was worth.

This rendered it no longer a gift, but a service with measurable value.

This project also reflected my desire to explore the pure experience of art – a collaboration that is not a commodity but leaves an implanted memory. For those not well versed in the world of art, the process serves as a guide and allows a relationship with that work to form more easily.

It provides tools for appreciating precious moments. The way in which people value a memory also posed a challenge – it is often after some time and much reflection on a particular memory that its value is understood.

My period of illness forced me to reflect on my practice and rehash my work in an inventive and playful way in order to survive. I am planning now to offer ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ to companies in exchange for finally writing off my bills. After which, I plan to be able to offer the experience to those working in health services, in desperate need of respite and relaxation. Meanwhile, I’m still figuring out how to make a living and survive without too much compromise.

artist and the art space into one”. The performance began in 2002 and

The experience is guided by visual and sensory prompts (from

Sara Haq is a London-based photographer, visual artist and creative

was conceived with London-based writer / curator, Matt Price. The

'The Overland Project') and uses mindful practice, simple breathing

workshop facilitator. She has exhibited nationally and

museum collects and exhibits artworks that are not visible, addressing

techniques and imagination, to transport participants to desired places.

internationally and is currently developing 'Space Time Travel

the problem that art is in constant threat of disintegrating into mere

I used visual prompts from my vast archive of photographic works to

Holidays'.

commodity. MoMO is an exploration of how to deplete an art object of

elicit emotional responses. This immersive experience has been met

its ‘commodifiable’ condition. The museum does not collect or exhibit

with delight and a deep state of relaxation, with notable decreases in

www.sarahaq.com

visible objects. The artist is the museum; the curator can open MoMO’s

stress and a fresh perspective for all participants. In 2009, as a result, I

www.spacetimetravel.co.uk

doors anywhere and everywhere at any time. This idea of ‘decluttering’

was invited to deliver ‘Space Time Travel Holidays’ for an evening as

artworks of their materiality really appealed to me.

part of The Museum of Non-Participation (Art Angel) and at Tate

Early in 2008, I embarked on an overland expedition from London to Thailand, by train and bus, with a filmmaker whom I had just met a

Modern. I was also ‘on offer’ at Studio Voltaire’s open studios in June 2011.

14

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

how i made

femininism and the studio as a social / political space.

While Artist in Residence at IMMA in 2011, and since the beginning of this project in 2006, I had been working closely with professional film makers, producers and directors. I have also been involved in the technical post-production workflows involved in cinematic filmmaking. Before starting the residency, I had already begun plans to co-ordinate a large-scale film shoot to re-create and re-interpret the Courbet painting. The approach to this took over a year of planning and research. My intention was to invite real people, who were representatives at various levels in the arts and visual arts in Ireland, from national cultural institutions and organisations such as the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Visual Artists Ireland and Dublin City Arts Office. I also invited arts representatives from the government, a variety of artists, writers, critics, curators, community activists, Tom Ryan (PPRHA), Self Portrait, 1965, oil on canvas

individuals responsible for the production and installation of gallery / museum exhibitions and people who have supported my own career and practice, placing them all into a staged reconstructed scene in the context of ‘the studio’.

I began writing letters to specific individuals with my proposal and intentions. I then conducted many studio visits to illustrate the work and investigations to date and to also allay any fears participants might have about being portrayed negatively. There were many

John Beattie on the set of 'An Artist, the studio and all the rest', 2012

The set of 'An Artist, the studio and all the rest', 2012

challenges and obstacles in opening up this process. Before deciding on a date for filming, and before anyone agreed to get involved, important decisions had to be made on conceptual stategies, theoretical

The Artist's Studio

framework, legistics, location, production management and who was going to represent Courbet.

“The camera that presents the performance of the film actor to the public need not respect the performance as an integral whole. Guided

john beattie describes how he made two new films for his upcoming show at the rha, Dublin, which will take place in November 2012.

by the cameraman, the camera continually changes its position with respect to the performance [...] also, the film actor lacks the opportunity of the stage actor to adjust to the audience during his performance, since he does not present his performance to the audience in person.

This permits the audience to take the position of a critic, without

through the exchange of shared knowledge. He responded to this

experiencing any personal contact with the actor. The audience’s

‘An Artist, the Studio, and all the rest…’ takes the form of two HD

proposal by saying that he wouldn’t work with me. However, he would

identification with the actor is really an identification with the

film projections with audio, produced and directed between 2006 –

consider it if he could see that I had some form of skill, ie that I could

2012. Part one will be presented to the viewer as performative research,

draw! He set me to task, and asked me to produce a self portrait on

camera.”3 Through the supportive co-ordinators and heads of department of

shot in the studio of the artist Tom Ryan (PPRHA born 1929) and the

paper as a measure of my artistic skill.

the IMMA Artist in Residency Program (Helen O’Donoghue, Janice

Background

RHA School. Here, I observed what became a ‘master / apprentice’

With this in mind I went back to the studio (in a sense) to re-learn

Hough), I was given access to the Great Hall, an historic heritage

relationship that has developed between myself and Tom Ryan since

self portraiture. At this time I was based, as Artist in Residence, at Fire

building on the North Wing of the museum – the ideal location. We

2006.

Station Artists’ Studio, Dublin (2006 – 2009). ‘Drawing’, in the

had four days full access to the Great Hall, 20 crew members and over

Appropriating the 1854 / 1855 painting by Gustav Courbet, The

conceptual sense, was an important subject in my practice. I produced

30 individuals committed to being in the scene. In this time we had to

Artist’s Studio, part two is a staged, choreographed moving-image film,

drawings where the process of production and the context were

set up, co-ordinate the event, rehearse with the crew and extras, time

shot in the Great Hall at IMMA, where representatives from various

integrel to the reading of the work and incorporated methods of

and practice each camera shot, in order to be fully organised for the

levels of the arts in Ireland were invited to be filmed in the context of

photographic documentation, sculpture, performance and video .

arrival of each participant to be filmed and choreographed in the

this surreal, staged studio.

“If the artist carries through his idea and makes it into visible

scene.

My work explores ideas and perceptions relating to notions of the

form, then all the steps in the process are of importance. The idea itself,

The person who played Courbet was Tom Ryan. By negotiating

artist, the studio and relationships with the audience. Through process-

even if not made visual, is as much a work of art as any finished

this act through placing Tom in a contemporary context, we resolved a

based and context-specific methodologies, my work attempts to create

product. All intervening steps – scribbles, sketches, drawings, failed

project where we had learned to respect each other's craft, traditions,

discourse between traditional, classic academic and contemporary

works, models, studies, thoughts, conversations – are of interest. Those

skill – whether we agree with them or not – through the exchange of

practice. Employing the use of film production and performance, my

that show the thought process of the artist are sometimes more

shared knowledge.

interest lies in how the viewer deconstructs or unravels the creative

interesting than the final product.”

Once the drawing was produced, I invited Tom into my studio to

The Exhibition

process.

Process The starting point for this process was a phone call, a letter and a studio visit, followed by an initiated task set by the artist Tom Ryan. To

2

view the portrait. He was surprised that I could actually ‘draw’. This

The work will be exhibited in Galleries II and III at the RHA.

represented my golden ticket and the first step towards initiation into

(Gallery II will present part one and Gallery III will present part two.)

a method of performative research, working as apprentice to the

Both works will be exhibited as large-scale video projections. Part two

master.

will feature a newly-developed soundtrack I have been working on

cut a long story short, I first came across Tom Ryan through his work, then through talking with him over the phone. I was immediatley

with soprano singers Michelle O’Rourke and Donna Malone, and a The Studio and Production

group of classical musicians. It also includes recordings of the sound

struck by his opinions and comments on contemporary practices and

The concept and subject of ‘the studio’ has been an ongoing

from audiences crowding gallery spaces during exhibition openings

practioners. He regarded this kind of work as a form of “cult and heresy,

enquiry in my practice: the artist’s studio as classic romantic setting, or

across Dublin. The post production of both the audio and the video

and a bad, ill-informed one at that”.

Tom represents the early teachings and principles of traditional,

whether the studio extends beyond that into the social, public and

work is kindly supported through the Arts Council Projects Award

political spheres, opening up a wider conversation with the audience

2012. I would like to acknowledge the support of The Arts Council, Fire

classic academic painting and drawing, and continues to stand for

on what is produced there. A noted exhibition on this theme was ‘The

Station Artists’ Studios, ARP Program IMMA, Bow Lane Recording

what he believes to be art that is of “value and worth”. Now in his mid

Studio’ at The Hugh Lane Gallery, curated by Jens Hoffman and

Studios, Sonic Recording Studios, Screen Scene, the crew and cast

eighties, he has a long history of holding high ranking positions such

Christina Kennedy, in 2006. A fundamental reference point for my own

involved in the production.

1

as President of The RHA, President of The United Arts Club, Governor

investigations on this theme was Gustav Courbet’s iconic painting The

of The National Gallery of Ireland and Founding Member of The

Artist’s Studio. It is an allegory of Courbet’s life as a painter, portrayed as

Originally from Co Donegal, John Beattie is currently based in

European Council of National Academies of Fine Art (Madrid). He was

a heroic venture, in which he is flanked by friends and admirers on the

Dublin as a visual artist and works in Resource Management at

educated at Limerick School of Art and The National College of Art &

right and challenges and opposition to the left. Friends on the right

Fire Station Artists' Studios, Dublin.

Design, Dublin under Sean Keating and Maurice MacGonigal. He has

include the art critics Champfleury and Charles Baudelaire, and art

personality, drive and absolute commitment to the preservation of his

collector Alfred Bruyas. The figures on the left include a priest, a

tradition. He was, for me, a fascinating subject.

prostitute, a grave digger and a merchant. To the right of Courbet is a

Following the phone call, I wrote a letter inviting him to work

female nude model who represents the classical academic tradition.

with me on a collaboration. I wanted us to contribute equally – though

The artist sits in the centre, independant of the crowd, performing the

we come from opposite backgrounds – to produce some form of work

act of painting. The work approaches many issues: the role of the artist,

Notes 1. From an interview with Tom Ryan in his studio, 2006 2. Sol Le Witt, 0–9, 1967, New York 3. Walter Benjamin, 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction in Illuminations, 1968, (ed Hannah Arendt)

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

15

event

Art Clash class

The 'pond' behind Pallas Projects / Studios' new building

Art Clash class with Karl Martini

Night School

Art Clash poster

Art Clash DJ

participants with a multitude of disciplines such as film, performance

ÁM: As someone who wouldn’t necessarily classify themselves as

art, art therapy, illustration, watercolour life painting, animation,

a teacher, how did you find the experience of being a guest tutor

fashion, make-up and street art. Classes have been conducted in various

for Art Clash?

alternative venues (including the basements of pubs, gallery spaces,

Áine macken, founder of art clash, describes the motivation behind this ongoing series of creative classes.

gay bars and even a disused convent). The music used was sourced

PD: At the outset, it was a little overwhelming, not the class itself but

through DJs and carefully selected playlists were created in keeping

the idea of standing in front of a group of people and saying ‘this is

with the suggested environment encouraged by the art making. The

what I know and want to impart’. I sometimes found myself thinking

social aspect has always been on a par with the focus on creativity, thus

‘who the hell am I to be giving a class?’ but during the run-up and

providing all the right elements to immerse the participants in an

preparation it really started to sink in how passionate I was about my

environment of contemporary art without trepidation.

subject and how little people probably knew about it and so I began to

Art Clash began as a creative experiment, where contemporary

Bringing together artists and creatives from a broad range of

nightlife became a platform for utilising and incorporating creativity

backgrounds was fundamental to the fresh quality of Art Clash and

and talent in a visual art context.

look at it as a sharing rather than a teaching.

guest tutors were not necessarily familiar with teaching. These features

Regular attendee of Art Clash, Niamh O’Hora, had a background in art

After much experience in art making, I was left with the very real

also add to the social element and abandonment of formality that

making (she studied in NCAD 15 years ago) but had lost touch with her

awareness of the difficulty in making money through traditional art

remains important to Art Clash as a concept. Illustrator Steve McCarthy

creativity and lost confidence in her own art skills. After having

practice. The idea of attempting to apply creativity to nightlife and the

spoke to me about the experience of becoming a tutor within the Art

attended a number of art classes, she found Art Clash a rewarding

industrious world of clubbing became a slightly more exciting method

Clash format and how it fit with his own aversion to formal teaching

experience.

of generating money than making sandwiches at a deli. Club nights

methods and environments, particularly when it comes to addressing

such as Synth Eastwood openly encouraged an environment of

creativity as an experience:

“Many of the art classes I’ve attended focus solely on technique, but at

creativity, art making and innovation. Pubs like The Bernard Shaw and

“When you’re being creative, you should feel comfortable. Every

the core of Art Clash is the premise that people are naturally creative

U Bar in Christchurch, Dublin had a clear and apparent mission: to

class I’ve ever been to happens in a classroom which to me is one of the

and just need a space to try different things out and have fun at the

combine creativity with nightlife and to enter art making into a more

most uncomfortable, boring and depressing places on earth. With Art

same time. It’s more than acquiring new skills, but also developing or

accessible format. However, too frequently these events contained an

Clash you have the most positive elements of the classroom: enthusiastic

re-discovering the confidence to be visually creative.

obvious element of voyeurism rather than participation, where punters

and diverse teachers, new experiences, materials and ideas. With the

were permitted to gawp at an artist creating work as they supped a

classes taking place in a pub, people are instantly more relaxed and

pint.

their inhibitions are lowered.”

Art Clash has been such a personal inspiration for me, I do hope this resource continues and expands. Many people find the

Club night, Partie Monster, had been engaging with a more

Steve’s class took place in the basement of U bar, with fast-paced

contemporary arts inaccessible and out of reach; a weekly meet-up

performative and avant-garde agenda, taking its inspiration from 1990s

drawing games and exercises deconstructing the idea of drawing, all

where people come together in a social environment and learn new

New York club kids such as Michael Alig and James St James. It

based around Albrecht Durer’s Rhinoceros drawing, that became

techniques from talented practitioners is invaluable. The broad range

encouraged and welcomed creativity in an attempt to make club nights

famous as an extremely accurate depiction of a Rhino based merely on

of media is unique – I had never imagined I would be producing my

become more vibrant and exciting. This extended to the act of

a verbal description. Steve’s class was infused with excitement and

own street art for example – but now I feel that I can try anything and

marketing: through a series of viral videos, extremely high quality

exchange, with conversations being opened up through the medium of

it doesn’t matter about the final result. It’s the process and participation

artistic posters and ensuing photography, this became a creative act in

making. The experience of drawing was key to the exercise, with less

that is more important.”

itself. The costumes used were outlandish and created an other worldly

emphasis on creating a perfect finished object. As the first ever Art

Art Clash is unique in that it is exciting, encouraging and relaxed.

persona that had its basis in horror films and gore. Furthermore, they

Clash, the energy, excitement and enthusiasm from participants was

There is an element of secrecy and surprise to the classes, both in the

adopted a shameless approach, ignoring the decorum of ‘appropriate

overwhelming. Competitiveness and perfectionist anxieties was

mystery surrounding the locations and in how a particular tutor will

dress’ with a casual attitude towards nudity and body painting. Their

removed through simple exercises.

choose to impart their expertise. It allows for exchange and opens up a

visual language was of shock, which could seem alarming and

Peter Dunne, film enthusiast and creator of Morb (a much famed

dialogue through sociability. The first 10-week session culminated

intimidating for some. What was most refreshing about Partie Monster,

underground Shock cinema club) was not only a regular attendee of

with an exhibition for all participants at The Copper House Gallery,

however, was the welcoming nature of these seemingly intimidating

Art Clash, but also led one of the sessions under Morb’s guise. Here he

where a curatorial workshop from Stag&Deer allowed participants not

people. The organisers demonstrated an openness and encouraged

discusses the experience of being involved not only with Art Clash as a

only to exhibit for the first time, but also, with their advice, to make

participation through the clever implementation of various pop up,

tutor but also the experience of having attended many of the sessions:

crucial decisions in how to hang and show their work. This exercise

live art installations and make-up booths. I quickly became a regular

demonstrated that, even in a sociable and relaxed environment, you

participant – to the point that I painted my entire body blue and

Áine Macken: How do you think Art Clash differs from other art

can take yourself seriously as a creative through dedication and

created a completely new body of work for their Halloween club

classes?

application of technique. The second season of Art Clash will begin in

night.

late September of this year.

Over many years, people have tentatively yet constantly inquired

Peter Dunne: Even if you knew next to nothing about the particular

both about my own practice, the experience of being someone who

subject of each class, which was definitely the case for me some of the

works creatively and Partie Monster itself. It was this constant line of

time, you were never made to feel untalented, or an outsider. The fact

Áine Macken is an artist and curator based in Dublin. She has exhibited widely at venues including Monstertruck Gallery &

enquiry that triggered the idea of Art Clash. By fusing workshops

that each tutor had such a passion for their particular subject really

Studios, the Greenroom Gallery, Pallas Contemporary Projects,

facilitated by Irish-based working artists with a clubby, social side, Art

shone through and the little individual ways each person had of

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, The Little Ghost Gallery and the

Clash’s fundamental aim is to sensually please. Starting in March of

looking at and explaining their ideas made it unique.

Mac, Birmingham.

this year, these unconventional classes have provided enthusiastic

16

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

event

mined from the deep by the sweat and strength of many men, women and children. Looking out of the windows at mountains that are in fact naturalised slack heaps, I temporarily connected with the immense effort and the intricacy of the infrastructure created to fuel modernity.

This also serves as a reminder of the intangibility of labour in our daily lives.

Taking as its theme post-industrial capitalism, the contemporary section is housed mainly on the top two floors of this former industrial Mikhail Karikis and Uriel Orlow, Sounds from Beneath, 2010 – 11, image courtesy of the artists

building and collects together new works from 39 contemporary artists with very divergent positions and approaches.

One of the contemporary works that articulates the post-industrial position well, is The Accumulation of Capital (2010) by Raqs Media Collective. This 50-minute film work is composed of two simultaneous projections and is based on the eponymous Rosa Luxembourg 1913 text. Raqs link ideas within Luxembourg’s text through human and bird migration and the movement and flow of capitalism. In an adjacent room, a slide projection work, Kumartuli Printer, Notes on Labor Part 1 (2010), by Praneet Soi, is set in an antiquated printing workshop in

Manifest 9 building exterior, former Waterschei Mine, SInt Barbara Hall, photo by Kristof Vrancken

Raqs Media Collective, The Capital of Accumulation , 2010, image courtesy of Frith St Gallery and artists

Kolkata, India. The slide series portrays a printer’s hands as he works an ancient treadle press. As each slide progresses the images being printed are in fact documentation of the printer’s hands working; a circle of

Of Other Spaces

labour is revealed, as is the working process between the artist and the printer.

Nearby, Un moment d’éternité dans le passage du temps (2012), by Nicolas Kozakis and Raoul Vaneigem, is a poetic five-minute film piece

Aoife Desmond reports on manifesta 9, which takes place from 2 June – 30 september 2012 in genk, belgium.

set at the base of a holy mountain by the sea in Greece. The film depicts a lone builder constructing a house and the text by Raoul Vaneigem urges for a new, more humane vision of the world. The film, Sounds from Beneath (2010 – 11), by Mikhail Karikis and Uriel Orlow, seems to take place on an uninhabitable lunar landscape that is in fact a disused

Manifesta, the nomadic biennale, always takes a secondary city

modernism, ranging from realism and the aesthetics of pollution

mine in Snowdon, Kent. A choir of former miners vocalise the sounds

or region as its location and is concerned with a deep investigation of

to the underground as hell. A room within this, which feels like the

of mining, recalling the rasps, hisses and rattles that are embedded in

local contexts and their global implications. Manifesta 9 took place

black heart of the exhibition, is entitled ‘Carboniferous Landscapes’.

their acoustic memory. Karikis emerges from the blackened soil like

in an abandoned coal mining building on the outskirts of Genk city

Here, Robert Smithson’s Nonsite, Site Uncertain (1968) sculpture quietly

a trickster or joker figure at the end, festooned with multicoloured

in Belgium’s Limburg region. The first 'wow factor' in the exhibition

occupies a corner. Smithson’s work takes geological time as one of its

balloons.

is the Waterschei building itself. In a semi derelict state, the scale and

themes: carboniferous landscapes that date from 299 – 359 million

The role of art or the artist in our complex global system is a

complexity of the building is complemented by the rigorous curation

years ago. The room also houses Max Ernst’s series of 'Histoire Naturelle'

common thread that runs through the contemporary works. Proposition

of Cuauhtémoc Medina (Mexico City) and his co-curators Katerina

(1926) prints: delicate works that use rubbings or ‘frottages’ to compose

pour un musée sur un ile déserte (2009), by Yann Tomaszewski, features

Gregos (Greece) and Dawn Ades (Great Britain). The exhibition is split

imagined and surreal natural landscapes. Seemingly primeval, they

the artist as a present-day explorer or mountaineer, colonising new

into three sections: mining heritage (’17 Tons’), art historical (‘Age of

complement the selection of fossilised coal ferns (Dukinfield Henry

territory. Here, the site of exploration is an island outside Paris that once

Coal’) and contemporary (‘Poetics of Restructuring’). Almost the whole

Scott Studies in Fossil Botany, 1908, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural

housed the Renault factory. As coal mining finished in Genk, the Ford

exhibition is contained within this one building, which is unusual for

Sciences Library) in the glass case opposite and the painted, imaginary

factory took over. Several works in the contemporary section reference

a biennale, though a considerable number of parallel events take place

carboniferous landscape, Steenkolenwoud in de oertijd (1945) by Jan

‘Fordism’ and car manufacture, most explicitly the Irish artist Duncan

throughout the Limburg region.

Habex, which used to adorn the reception hall at Waterschei mine.

Campbell’s film, Make it New John (2009), about the ill-fated Delorean

Within the different sections there are cross-references and

Smithson’s legacy is evident throughout the exhibition,

subversions; the three strands inform and re-inform each other

particularly his theory of site and nonsite. Here, each of the artworks

Lina Selander’s film works, The Anteroom of the Real (2010 – 2011)

in surprising ways. In the heritage section there is a work by Lara

translate external realities back to the ‘nonsite’ of the exhibition,

and Lenin’s Lamp Glows in the Peasant’s Hut (2011) are subtle, complex

Almarcequi entitled Wasteland (Genk) (2004 – 2016). Presented as a slide

a nonsite composed – as in Foucault’s text Of Other Spaces – of

works that combine a revisiting of the Chernobyl disaster and a natural

projection and information booklet, the artist has secured a hectare of

superimposed chronological time. Cinema is perhaps the best

history of radioactive energy processes. Her work ties in, once again, to

wasteland in Genk for a period of 10 years to let nature take its course.

example of an other space, composed of external realities, fictions and

the carboniferous landscapes beneath, but also to the contemporary

This project ties in with the ambitions of Manifesta itself by engaging

timescapes. A trio of films form a small subsection ‘docu-modernism’ of

and to the aftermath of extreme industrialisation and energy

with a site and drawing out potential and submerged histories.

car.

the historical section. These films were made in the 1920s and 1930s,

production. Standing at the top of the Waterschei mine building that

The Cinematek (Royal Belgian Film Archive) have a selection of

when film was still defining itself. They are fluid works that can be read

houses Manifesta 9, a positioning occurs between these diverse artistic

projected films placed at the entrance to the heritage section. These

both as reportage and as avant-garde films. The strongest of these, Coal

perspectives. This viewpoint provides an overview which, though

films ground the section in the reality of the mining experience, a

Face (1935), by Alberto Calvalcanti, incorporates verse by WH Auden

fragmentary and possibly contradictory, allows a brief glimpse of a

reality re-enforced by the objects and artworks that comprise the whole

and an experimental soundscape by Benjamin Britten. Elsewhere the

of the section, in particular the Mining Museum, which is permanently

voice of Auden is picked up by the voice of contemporary poet, Tony

complex system forming, dissolving, reforming, expanding, migrating and morphing like the ant colony in Oh!m1gas201 by Kuai Shen,

housed in the building. Several works in this section were made by

Harrison. The film V made by Richard Eyre in 1985, combines a live

strategically placed in the formers director’s office.

non-professional artists or have never been considered art objects

reading of Harrison’s poem V with film footage that fleshes out the

before, such as a display of fabric pieces with sayings embroidered on

poem’s imagery. The poet’s ruminations at his parents’ grave, situated

them, from the homes of local Genk miners. Alongside these sit works

over a disused coal pit, give full measure to the buried sadness that is

by the Ashington Group: a group of painters, all former miners from

part and parcel of our recent industrial past.

the 1930s and 1940s. The painting they produced are a remarkable

Victory? For vast, slow, coal-creating forces

documentation of their everyday life.

that hew the body’s seams to get the soul.

occurs. If the first floor is evocative of a local museum display, the

Will earth run out of her ‘diurnal courses’ before repeating her creation of black coal?

second floor, despite the decayed architecture, resembles a survey-style exhibition. The coal mining experience is contextualised in the canon

www.manifesta9.org -

the Northumberland area in England, who came to prominence in

Moving one floor up to the historical section, a shift in perspective

Aoife Desmond is an artist and writer based in Dublin.

(extract from V by Tony Harrison)

of art. According to co-curator Dawn Ades, this section explores “both the political and aesthetic impact of coal and the many ways these

The Battle of Orgreave (2001) by Jeremy Deller and Mike Figgis

have been intertwined”. Richard Long’s Bolivian Coal Line (1992) is an

restages the violent clash between British police and striking miners

apt inclusion, as is Coal Sacks Ceiling, an homage to Marcel Duchamp’s

17 years ago. In the context of Manifesta 9, this piece acts as a bridge

Twelve Hundred Coal Sacks Suspended from the Ceiling Over a Stove

between the historical and the contemporary. In this final section,

(1938). The suspended sacks mirror the miners’ clothing suspended

material labour starts to give way to immaterial labour. Journeying

from the ceiling in the museum below. From this point you can enter

through the exhibition, I was continually reminded that our modern

an inner gallery that leads you through a historical view of coal and

world has been partially founded on a hard black dusty substance,

References 1. Jack Flam (ed), Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings , 1996, Berkeley, University of California Press 2. Michel Foucault, ‘Of Other Spaces, Heterotopias’, Architecture / Mouvement / Continuité,1984, Paris, (first published 1967)

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

17

conference

Gothenburg Tram, images courtesy of Alan Phelan

'Re / Theorization of Critical Studies' Conference

Like a Buck 0-9

and collective amnesia that occurred during the political changes and the early-1990s war in Croatia – searching for an anti-fascist school text book that had disappeared from libraries in more recent years; Cold War Neighbours, by Kata Varsanyi, was a short film about a small town in

alan phelan writes about a recent interdisciplinary conference on heritage studies entitled 're / theorisazion of critical studies', which took place from 5 – 8 june 2012.

Hungary where thousands of Soviet soldiers were stationed for almost 40 years, leaving curiously indifferent memories.

It proved a tricky task to catch up on or select from what remained.

I dipped in and out of various sessions trying to get a flavour of

Following an open call for artists to submit films for screening at

towards heritage as a political resource. But this is where I entered and

proceedings starting with the problems of archaeological heritage in

a heritage conference in Sweden, I found myself, after much wrangling,

then promptly exited the general proceedings to attend to my two-day

Canada. This began with a panel about professionalisation processes in

at the University of Gothenburg, Department of Global Studies for the

panel session titled ‘Experimenting with Visual Media and Memory’.

cultural heritage work. The temporal dissonance between descendant

‘Re / Theorization of Critical Studies’ inaugural conference. This is an

Alyssa Grossman, a postdoctoral research fellow in Heritage

communities and land developers is a sad but familiar tale. In line with

interdisciplinary academic area and the inclusion of art within the

Studies at the School of Global Studies in the University of Gothenburg,

other odd mixes this was followed by an interesting critique by Ellen

conference structure provided an opportunity to learn more about what

had put out the call for films to be screened at the conference. Given

Sæthre‐ McGuirk on the use of social media. She charted the evolution

Heritage Studies is or might be, especially with the bonus aspiration of

the rise in popularity of documentary techniques in art filmmaking

of multimedia techniques that have led to the co-authoring use of social

being critical.

over the past decade, it certainly seemed like an idea worth exploring.

media within museums and claim to include audience knowledge

I thought I would be a little out of my depth and, perhaps, auditing

Many artists have used methodologies rooted in ethnography and

production, but provide little evidence that this is taken seriously by

the conference in the US sense (sitting in on classes without paying for

anthropology albeit from an unqualified, non-academic and amateur

institutions.

them) as opposed to conducting a forensic analysis of proceedings. The

perspective (if a comparison with other delegates were made). In actual

Later, Ciraj Rassool spoke of public history as critical heritage

line-up was immense and a thorough review would be near impossible

fact the art films shown covered many of the topics presented in the

practice in South Africa with regard to the District 6 Museum in Cape

as there were, on average, nine simultaneous sessions to cater for the

conference as case studies, with unresolved endings not unlike the

Town. This unique museum grew out of a community eviction that

500 delegates who attended. My own panel participation took up two

outcomes of academic research, which often elude closure.

marshalled a new discourse on the nation’s authorised public sphere. It

full days of the four days I attended. The first day comprised 11 film

The film pieces ranged broadly but shared issues such as land

provoked critical citizenship in place of the paternalism and atonement

screenings, followed the next day with papers from the 11 film makers.

ownership and latent yet forgotten politics and history, both personal

Thus, my attendance of the overall conference was a little thin or, as a

and public. The contexts for the films were also varied, as many had

debates that dominate in post-apartheid South Africa. The museum has been re-thought beyond collections, charting the narrative of the

Texan delegate put it, “like a buck-0-9 soaking wet”.

been shown in gallery and film festival circuits. What emerged was an

nation through independent and contested public culture.

So, by way of introduction, the range of heritage topics

interesting connection between visual anthropology and contemporary

As is often the case, the keynote speeches were able to address

included: dark heritage, contested heritage, indigenising heritage,

art, where there is an emphasis on research, exploring topics or ideas

wider concerns than the specific case studies presented in panels.

reconceptualising world heritage, locative media in heritage landscapes,

with an indeterminate approach.

Sharon MacDonald from the University of Manchester cut to the

theorising democratisation of heritage, war heritage, sex heritage,

Pieter Geenen showed his film Relocation, which consisted of a

chase in questioning the heritage and memory boom and wondered

moving image heritage, intangible heritage, gastro heritage, dialogical

static shot of the dawn rising on Mount Ararat, now located in Turkey

whether it was all about to crash. She cleverly dismissed claims that

heritage, post-conflict heritage, interstitial heritage and more. Only

on the border with Armenia. The symbolic importance was slowly

identity politics and other ‘isms’ are ending in favour of unresolved and

a minority of delegates came from heritage studies, with attendees

revealed by subtitles that comprised of a collection of testimonies

desperate entanglements, maintaining that heritage can suffuse various

hailing from the fields of anthropology, sociology, ethnography, history,

from both sides of the mountain and can be interpreted as a fraught

debates to offer continued resistance, not neo-conservative control.

museum studies, and variations therein; hardly any came from the

dialogue between two nations. Collective memory of a different kind

Re-enactment, the heritage version of time travel, was discussed

tourism sector, which I had expected to hear more about.

was explored in Karina Nimmerfall’s Double Location (the Ambassador

elsewhere but this never progressed beyond a few good one-liners

This multi-disciplinary element meant that there were several

Hotel) where a slow, 3D-animated tracking shot re-created the lobby of

and odd-ball case studies. Instead, the conference ended – for me – on

interesting gaps between authority, relevance and competence. This

a famous Los Angeles hotel. The Ambassador Hotel was used as a film

a high note, with keynote number five by Valdimar Tryggvi Hafstein

did lead to an occasional lame paper where the basic foundations of the

set over a 100 times each year between its closure for regular business

from the University of Iceland. This very entertaining paper (which

field were gleefully explained by self-proclaimed, oddly over-confident

in 1989 and its demolition in 2006. The reconstructed lobby was left

included dancing) followed the complex cultural appropriation of and

outsiders. However, this is the dynamic of any academic conference

empty, de-montaged in a sense, of the multiplicity of possible references;

copyright ownership battles over the Peruvian melody used famously

where everyone wants to give a paper to gain points on tenure and

instead it became spatially loaded. Similarly, Tim Leyendekker’s The

by Simon and Garfunkel in Bridge over Troubled Water and many other

salary scales.

Healers reconstructed memories of Rotterdam’s mid-1990s gay nightlife

songs. This illustrated brilliantly how ‘intangible heritage’, as inscribed

As an artist interloper, then, I was not alone. Almost everyone

scene in triptych: a strobe light sonic intro, followed by vacant venues,

in UNESCO, is, in fact, a more tangled issue. The common heritage

seemed to come from a different field, united in curiosity about this

then shifting to a text rehearsal between a director and two actors. The

story used presents the question: when is protection not a means of

heritage debate. In Ireland, this topic requires discussion that extends

effect was to reveal a narrative construction that remained satisfyingly

dispossession?

beyond the caretaking of national monuments and creating tourism.

unfulfilled, like the cloudy memory of a good night out. My own

Ultimately, the whole experience was not as alien as I had expected,

The field is attracting huge funding in the academic area and its rather

presentation was an extract from my newtownwhowhatwhere? web

as an artist attending a conference outside my discipline. I discovered

bland, conservative image was one to be challenged here.

project and contained a representative selection of nine interviews

many parallels, which only served to enrich my own narrow confines,

from the original 36, edited for the screening. The passion of the activist

that became ever more apparent during the conference.

Within heritage studies there is also a power struggle for agency over the debate itself and who controls or leads it. One of the aims of

residents in the piece translated well into this context.

the conference was to set up an international organisation, marking

Other works included: Lisa Thomas’s film surveying a former

territory beyond regular heritage studies. Laurajane Smith, in her

mining town of Burnley in Northern England via morphing still

passionate, articulate, yet self-effacing opening keynote, set the tone

photographs; Ana Lucia Ferraz’s Ways of Memory, a film about the

for this. She sought to move the discussion away from right-wing,

pioneering feminist Brazilian Miriam Lifchitz Moreira Leitez; In War

conservative policies and the dumbing-down effects of heritage centres,

and Revolution, a film about Ana Bilankov – which charted the personal

Alan Phelan is an artist based in Dublin. His next solo exhibition is in Limerick City Gallery of Art, 11 October – 25 November 2012.

For more information on papers see: http://www.science.gu.se

18

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

issue

Are you Re-entering the Art World?

Let’s assume that all of the above have been done, and that the habit of regular studio time is in place… the next big question is, “How do I get my work out there? How do I get curators to notice me?”

Frankly, if there were any simple answer to this then we would write that book and live off the royalties. But, there are some very simple steps that increase the possibility. Why not consider curating yourself!

There are lots of local opportunities to be found in places such as small

VAi's noel kelly gives advice for those returning to their practice.

museums, interpretative centres and local galleries. These may be places that would like to engage with the visual arts and will find it interesting to have an exhibition or simply have blank walls that they are looking to fill.

We often receive telephone calls from artists who have taken time

important content. Simple, clean and clear are the key tenets. Like any

Also, calls for submissions in the eBulletin are a good way to get

out from their practice and, even if this is only for a very short time,

good exhibition, the website is your shop front on to the world. So, it is

curators to see your work. Selection panels often contain key decision-

they feel that the art world has changed and in some extreme cases

not a place to put every piece of work ever made. Instead it should have

makers that use them for their active research. Even if you are not

appears to have left them behind. There is a palpable sense of fear in

selected samples of recent works, and where pertinent, highlights of

successful, curators sitting on the selection panel will get to see your

these conversations and, even with the most experienced artist, there is

past work. A good hint is to get help from a fellow artist or curator in

work.

a sense of helplessness. Based on these conversations we have prepared

terms of selecting the works to be shown, and also to ensure that the

Another good option is to put together a carefully edited and

this basic guide to ‘Re-entering the Art World’.

images used are composed so that the works are clear and unambiguous.

documented group of works and indicate their availability through the

Our first piece of advice is, get up to date on what is going on. This

Some installation shots can also give a level of engagement. There is

VAI website Exhibitions for Touring feature. Just remember that it is

is a simple matter of research and following the news. A good place to

much assistance to be found in this, including a regular professional

key to “Present yourself with the highest level of quality and

start is by subscribing to Visual Artists Ireland’s eBulletin service and

development workshop run by VAI on presenting your work.

professionalism.” Review, edit, review, edit and get advice from friends

the Visual Artists’ News Sheet. Both of these, along with our online

So, with an email address, a clear website, registration in the VAI

on how your proposals look. Assume that the selection panel will

presence and smartphone App, offer the most up-to-date information

directory, and a clearly prepared statement about practice and work,

never have heard of you and check that your submission gives them

on what is current in galleries and other venues around the country, as

the next steps are to look into what social media can do. This has

the best clear picture of your proposal.

well as offering opportunities for artists such as calls for submissions

become more important in contemporary society, and, as can be seen

It is almost too obvious to say approach galleries and curators, but

and other forms of support and revenue generators. Using this

from VAI’s wide-ranging presence, there are many ways to get a

this simple act can be expensive, and may not yield results without

information gives insight into what different types of galleries are

message out, as well as create opportunities for networking with fellow

some careful consideration. Using the research above, find out places

showing, and which of them might be interested in your work.

artists. Like it or not, sites like Facebook and Twitter are a great way to

that show the type of work that fits best with your own practice and

However, don’t assume anything. Go to their exhibition openings and

keep people up to date, and also to see what is going on with other

start from there. Make sure you have a clear statement that can be

get to know them in person. It is really obvious to gallerists and

artists around the globe. Remember to keep it professional, and give

easily understood. One of the most remarkable things to emerge at a

curators the artists who have engaged with the space before making a

people a reason to come back and subscribe to your updates.

recent VAI networking event that included curators was the number of

proposal, and those who are simply scatter-gunning galleries for

This brings us to our next point: network with fellow artists and

artists who came with no images of their work. This left a lasting bad

art world professionals. Everywhere we go in Ireland we hear the same

impression. So, get some advice on presenting yourself, and also do

Our jobs and opportunities section also provides a useful insight

thing: “I feel isolated, I’m not part of the crowd, I don’t know what is

some practice runs with other artists and friends.

into the expanse and the limitations of what is out there. Use them to

going on!” There is really no excuse for this anymore. Apart from the

Lastly, when you have had successes, celebrate them. And not just

build a realistic picture of what the art world is offering. Looking back

regular networking events that VAI holds around the country, there are

with that glass of wine shared with friends after an opening. Make sure

through recent archives and keeping up to date will help you identify

many formal and informal artists groups that can be a great way of

that you update the general public. Share them through your online

patterns and know when to step back in again. There is also an

building a local support and information network. Being an artist can

presence. If there are any curators who have asked to be kept up to date,

immense wealth of handy hints, information articles and advice on

be one of the most solitary professions and keeping a positive attitude

then make sure that they know that you have a show on, or that your

how to protect yourself from being taken advantage of.

and the creative juices flowing can be hard. But through these local

work has been written about. Never assume that people are out there

The next piece of advice given is to get up to date with technology.

groups, and also the annual Get Together event that VAI holds, it is

looking to find out what you are up to. Instead, have a mailing list of

It is important to make it easy for people to find out more about your

possible to find other artists who are more than willing to talk about

people who you know want to be regularly kept up to date.

work and how to contact you. No matter what opinions you might

their work, share experiences, as well as understanding that key point,

have about email (and we hear many), get one NOW. As part of our

you’re not alone.

exhibitions.

membership services we have a directory that artists can join. This

We also get asked for advice on artistic direction. VAI runs peer

provides a place for artists to give some information about their work

critique groups on a regular basis throughout the year. We advise

and people looking to make contact can use, while at the same time

artists not to be afraid to put themselves forward for these, and have

maintaining a level of privacy (keep in mind that spam merchants love

found several groups who have met through a peer critique session and

unguarded email addresses).

have maintained a supportive contact with fellow artists afterwards.

A website always appears to be a daunting task. But keeping it

The VAI offices meeting room is available in Dublin, but having some

very simple with the basic information of background, examples of

artists do reciprocal studio visits can pay many dividends when there is

work and a simple statement on practice are the minimum and most

a level of professional appreciation and trust.

Summary •

Don’t despair you, are a not alone

•

Do your research, including the extensive self-help and advisory articles in our Resources Section

•

Look at what VAI professional development workshops and peer critique sessions are suitable for you to attend (members get big discounted rates on these)

•

Maintain contact with like minded people that you meet at these events

•

Get an email address

•

Look for local opportunities to show your work

•

Become a member of Visual Artists Ireland

•

Apply for the opportunities advertised in the Visual Artists’ News Sheet and eBulletin that are suitable for you

•

Subscribe to VAI’s eBulletin and Visual Artists News Sheet (delivered to your door if you are a member of VAI)

•

Look out for networking events and make a point of going

•

Develop a professional looking website and web presence

•

Use to the web to increase your professional network

•

Be prepared for refusals, but use them to learn by asking for feedback

•

Target galleries and curators that you feel will be interested in your specific work after researching carefully what they show (there’s no point in offering your paintings to a curator who only shows moving image etc)

So, these are a few simple steps, and by no means fully inclusive, but hopefully they provide a good start for those trying to re-enter the art world.

Noel Kelly is the VAI CEO.

•

Be professional at all times and have a clear statement about your work, and professional images in electronic format

•

Use the supports that VAI offers members to their best advantage

•

Be careful out there, there are a lot of unscrupulous people around at the moment. Use your VAI membership to get advice on who and what to avoid using our help line +353 (0)1 672 9488 or info@visualartists.ie

•

Above all, remember that it is about making work and the rest is just the business surrounding it, KEEP AT IT.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Critique Supplement Edition 7 September / October 2012

Richard Mosse 'Infra' Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Cork 3 August – 2 September 2012 Against the walls of the Sirius' central gallery

Mosse’s previous projects are remarkable:

space, the photographs of ‘Infra’ stand as tall as a

images of desolated plane wrecks and the austere

man. On the exhibition’s opening night, the sea and

palaces of Saddam Hussein, structures scrupulously

sky of the harbour outside are calm and drab. Inside,

constructed and subsequently discarded by man.

the otherworldly hills and forests of North Kivu,

For ‘Infra’, Mosse has chosen images with landscape

Eastern Congo, are blazing bright and vicious pink.

and people as his subjects. This might seem like a

The day after the opening, Richard Mosse gives

nod to tradition, but the Congo’s disfigured valleys

a talk in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. Mosse, in

and disgruntled faces ensure that the resultant

person, is as unexpected as the scale and intensity of

pictures are defiantly unconventional.

his pictures. There is none of the posturing of a

This is also due in large part to Mosse’s bizarre and risky choice of photographic film. Discontinued in 2009, Kodak’s Aerochrome infra-red was originally developed by the US military in the 1940s as a means of detecting enemy camouflage in the undergrowth. It works by reflecting the chloroform contained within the foliage of healthy vegetation.

In territory so vast and lush as that of North Kivu, that means an awful lot of startling pink, from the grass stalks to the treetops.

Mosse’s use of Aerochrome also means that the exact results of each photograph are impossible to predict. Colonel’s Soleil’s Boys, for example, shows a row of soldiers roughly assembled with their commander standing slightly forward from his troop. Unlike the grey-brown of his compatriot’s uniforms, the commander is clad in dusted pink.

Mosse explains that this is because his uniform is made from newer and better quality fabric, a fabric designed specifically to counter the effects of Aerochrome infra-red. Despite the film’s delicate and temperamental nature, it has a unique capacity to expose elements otherwise concealed, to reveal subtleties and lurking mystery.

The Congo certainly appears as a mysterious land, a haunted land, in these images. Better Than the Real Thing shows a scarecrow soldier which Mosse encountered in the jungle, a man-sized amulet erected to protect against intangible evils. Despite the overwhelming dominance of Christianity, ‘juju’, a belief in magic and superstition, remains an enduring feature of everyday life. Jarring contradictions such as this are a recurring theme: the richness of the land despite the crushing poverty of its people; the watery innocence in the eyes of a child despite the AK-47 he is holding against himself, raised loosely through the undergrowth.

Standing alone at the bottom of the Crawford’s tiered lecture theatre in the dark, Mosse talks about his appreciation for the real world, which provides poetry in a far better way than the artist ever could.

This finishing statement strikes a note of humility, belied by the selection of photographs on show in

Richard Mosse, General Fevrier, 2010, all images courtesy of the artist and Sirius Arts Centre

Richard Mosse, Vintage Violence, 2011

the Sirius. Enormous and garish though they may globetrotting photojournalist, nor of an artist in the

be, there is also a great deal of tenderness, of respect.

midst of professional success, although he has

The middle ground Mosse occupies, between

thoroughly earned the swagger of both. Instead,

photojournalism and fine art, is a good place to

Mosse stands still and alone at the bottom of the

pitch a tripod, a place where judgment is suspended

tiered theatre in the dark and talks about fear.

and strange beauty is allowed to filter through.

What most people know of the Congo is

Despite his initial trepidations, Mosse found

enough to understand that Mosse had every reason

the Congo difficult to leave behind. He has since

to be frightened. Africa’s third largest country, with

returned and indicates he will continue to return

a population over 68 million, the Democratic

and to take photographs. His fear seems somewhat,

Republic of Congo is renowned for its history of

if not entirely, abated.

obscene violence and for the convolutions of its ongoing conflict. War, disease and rape are still

Sara Baume is an artist and writer based in East

commonplace. “There are no good guys in this war”

Cork.

Mosse says, almost as an assertion to himself as much as to his audience, a reminder that the child soldiers who accompanied him as bodyguards on trips into the jungle were themselves war criminals, responsible for the perpetration of unthinkable atrocities.

Richard Mosse, Colonel Soleil's Boys, 2012

Richard Mosse, Nowhere to Run, 2010

www.sarabaume.wordpress.com

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

Chris leach 'on the threshold of recognition' ballina Arts Centre, Mayo 5 – 12 July 2012

September – October 2012

Áine Phillips 'spectral' Exchange, Dublin 31 July 2012

WHEN asked to review this exhibition I thought

construct, photographic imagery as digitised meta-

it necessary to come prepared, so within my notebook

data and distribution via satellite and internet

I concealed a magnifying glass. I knew little about

technology (eg eg Google Earth), create an ambiguous

the history of miniature painting, other than vague

and perplexing present-day scenario which

correlations with Persian and Ottoman empires, and

simultaneously allows the world to be ‘superficially

wasn’t overly enthused about learning more. I

small and known’, while remaining fundamentally

certainly couldn’t envisage what contemporary drawing of this genre could offer me, other than a

unknown.1 From this global perspective, the narrative then

serious case of eye-strain. However, since viewing the

moved towards the local, a trajectory that became

exhibition and attending the artist’s public talk, I

increasingly nostalgic. A series of framed drawings

have thought about this work quite a lot, ruminating

depicted scenes of habitation and construction in

on the dense relationship between visuality and

various locations from Bolivia to Iran. Some sites

meaning, wrapped up in my own experience of

were perceived as politically charged, while others

‘close-looking’.

denoted the seemingly everyday. The artist seemed

Although photographic in their initial

to be querying how these systems of association –

appearance, Leach’s series of monochromatic

between visual information, place and meaning –

miniature drawings retain a humanly-crafted appeal.

evolve. While I enjoyed the overall curation, glass

The body of work took three years to complete,

became an obstacle when looking closely at the

testifying to the labour-intensity of this detailed

framed works, though it was easier in the only piece

process. Time was invested by the viewer too,

mounted on black.

Áine Philips, Spectral, 2012, image by Jonathan Sammon

attracted ever inward by the disruption of scale, for a

My reading of The Lovel Radio Telescope at Jodrell

more intimate reading. While moving through the

Bank – a drawing of satellite dish situated on a hill in

space, I kept referring to the titles list to illuminate

Cheshire – became animated when the artist spoke

SPECTRAl was a live art performance by Áine

the content. I became conscious of triggered ripples

about his childhood, and his memory of cycling

Philips, that took place in Exchange Dublin as part

of associated meanings, my own ‘threshold of

around it on his BMX. For a child of the ‘ET generation’,

of Unit 1’s monthly live performance art events.

recognition’. This established a slow pace for looking

extra-terrestrial imagination knows no bounds.

The performance unfolds in three stages.

to address social and political concerns. Ireland has

(using my surreptitious magnifying glass) and

Caravan sites, dart players and ventriloquists also

Philips, bound in a white straitjacket, socks and a

known controversy and corruption over the past

perpetuated a degree of submersion.

featured, encapsulating a Butlin-esque era that

wig, is seated on the ground in front of a table

couple of decades – from the Troubles to the clerical

engaged me on an emotional level.

topped by broken eggshells, the scene lit from

abuse controversies – providing an array of issues

The exhibition conveyed a strong sense of

light.

Like many performance artists, Philips draws on autobiographical and biographical experiences

narrative, executed in a linear configuration across

Having reviewed a number of drawing

behind by a spotlight. A white tape, with ‘fragile’

for Irish performance artists to address. Many of

the four walls of the gallery space. I first encountered

exhibitions lately, it has occurred to me that this

written in red, marks out her boundaries on the

them, such as Amanda Coogan and Michelle

a drawing depicting a panoramic view from the

renewed curatorial interest in drawing may

floor, separating her from us.

Browne, engage holistically as Phillips does, by

summit of the World Trade Centre. This frozen

constitute a desire to reconnect with the mind of the

Philips proceeds to quietly but steadily

curating and working in groups in addition to

moment – a monumental ‘presence’ re-enacted – is

creative individual, a figure who has been

manoeuvre her way around her enclosure lying face

performing. This has created a vibrant, evolving

loaded with meaning from the contemporary

momentarily relinquished in the contemporary

down, shuffling on her knees or inching forward on

field within Irish art, which also addresses

vantage point. Inscriptions of lapsed time,

discourse surrounding revivals of collectivity within

her side. She is aware of her boundaries, tracing

international concerns.

monuments, war and the slippages of binary terms

multi-media environments. Drawing as a direct

them with her head or backing right up to her ‘wall’.

Characterised by its immediacy and intensity,

and their prescribed meanings – good / evil, ally /

mode of ordering thought can reveal unique, flawed

Her expression remains blank and, although she

live performance art demands a response like no

enemy, local / global, past / present – slowly infiltrated

and fragile things which evoke empathy within the

moves almost continuously, she is going nowhere;

other art form. It is delivered and received at the

my reading of the exhibition as the sequential

viewer.

time eludes us as we become immersed in her

same time, engaging and often involving us directly,

The artist spoke philosophically about his

movement. This action – which explores physical

requiring us to face issues head on. Philips subjects

unresolved thinking regarding ‘meaning’ in his work,

and psychological restraints on human freedom –

her body to an endurance test, a characteristic of

narrative panned from the general to the particular with the upmost dexterity.

Cartography and geographical division was the

and also about the role of the artist as observer or

takes place in silence, once broken by a soundscape

much performance art, by staring into a light.

focus of 15 drawings on primed wood, entitled

narrator. From my perspective, the artist, engaged in

which evokes a clock ticking and metal doors

Spectral allows her to use her body to communicate

‘Meridian Series’ and ‘Equatorial Series’. These tiny

the act of perpetual looking, can draw the audience

clanging, and a second time when Philips asks the

worldwide injustices, including containment and

yet surprisingly expansive cityscapes depicted the

in, as Leach does, magnifying those complex realities

audience to untie her.

oppression, without the need to speak: breaking

capital cities of countries which span the Greenwich

that remain unchallenged, highlighting unchartered

She then swaps the straitjacket for a slinky

silence without speaking words. There is an

Meridian from North to South Pole and the Equator

thresholds between the established and the yet to be

dress and heels and discards the wig. A touch of

interesting visual cycle in this performance where

respectively,

discovered.

lipstick and she is in a new, powerful role. In a

the vulnerable becomes the oppressor and then

repetitive cycle she takes eggshells from the table

morphs back into the oppressed.

with

geographical

co-ordinates

constituting each title. Mounted separately on small blocks, each drawing protruded slightly from the

Joanne Laws is a critical writer based in Leitrim.

and paces alongside the audience, crushing the

Philips delivers a performance which is

wall: a sculptural gesture that was further evident in

She has been published in Afterimage Journal of

shells and scattering them at our feet. Placing the

powerful in its simplicity. I interpret the end of the

the thick layer of gesso which enveloped the edges of

Media, Arts and Cultural Criticism (US), Axisweb

last remaining eggshells under her dress, she

performance as positive, referencing the strength of

the supports so seductively.

(UK) , Cabinet (US) and Variant (UK).

implements us in the destruction by taking our

the human spirit in breaking away from persecution.

hands and making us crush the eggshells against her

Live performance art can be uncomfortable for the

The fact that the artist has never visited most of these cities reveals the conceptual premise of the

Notes

body. When all are crushed, she bestows one

audience in its intensity and the level of artist-to-

work. Pre-conceptions of place through media

1. Dh lawrence, ‘New Mexico’, 1928, in The Spell of New Mexico, Tony hillerman (ed), University of New Mexico Press, 1984, 29 – 30.

remaining whole egg from the table on an audience

audience interaction (I once attended a performance

member. Here she addresses the idea of power: its

by another Irish female live performance artist who

misuse in the wrong hands and postive potential in

locked her gaze with mine to the point of distraction

the right hands.

rather than positive engagement), yet this

Next, Philips moves the spotlight in front of

performance, slow and steady in pace with minimal

her. She dons an electroshock headpiece with cables

eye contact, leaves us space to reflect on the issues

and pliers, and it becomes difficult to watch as she

addressed; this is a strength in my opinion. Phillips

forces herself to stare directly into the spotlight,

acts out madness, constraint, oppression and the

looking away intermittently. This becomes a form of

limits of body and mind, in a bid to prompt reaction

self-imposed

and eventually action.

torture,

testing

physical

and

psychological limits in reference to the secret torture practiced by the world’s most powerful countries.

Róisín Russell is based in Dublin. She currently

With cables wrapped around her neck, she clips the

manages 9 Bond Street Photographic Studios.

pliers to the lamp. As she moves, the lamp swivels,

Her writing has featured in Paper Visual Art

ensuring the spotlight stays on her. With a sudden

Journal and Circa online.

movement, she recedes towards the back of the Chris leach, The Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank , oil on paper

room, pulling the lamp over and extinguishing the

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

September – October 2012

helen o'leary 'outawack' butler Gallery, Kilkenny 16 June – 29 July 2012

Amelia stein 'the big sky' and 'the Palm house' RhA, Dublin 21 June – 27 July 2012

HElEN O’Leary is originally from Wexford but

‘pictorial’ works in the exhibition. However, they

has built her career as an artist in the USA. Her work

seem to suggest the backs of paintings or their

references her upbringing in rural Ireland in the

margins, the unseen and unloved by-products of

1960s and 1970s and the idea of ‘make do and mend’

‘pictures’.

that prevailed at the time. Her work combines this

For things that I thought I wanted (pictured) is a

subject matter with an exploration of the history of

construction that has, as one of its components, a

painting.

stretcher rail with the brand name ‘Masterpiece’

O’Leary uses the the four rooms of the Butler

stencilled on. The word, in this context, seems to

Gallery to carefully construct a narrative that is richly

imply a sense of yearning and loss, but also about the

personal, as well as acutely sensitive to the

kind of painterly humour deployed throughout

implications of materials and processes. Using found

modernism from Picasso’s Ma Jolie onwards.

and discarded materials, she has developed a number

Outawack is a room-sized installation which

of distinctive motifs, which we are gradually

brings together the motifs from the previous rooms.

introduced to, like different characters in a play.

Walking into the installation is rather like entering a

These characters are all brought together to perform

place that has been inhabited by someone over a long

in a dramatic installation inside the final room.

period – like a garden shed or workshop. The way

In the first room one encounters the series of

things are laid out has an apparent logic, but we may

works, ‘Places I’ve Lived’. They introduce us to the key

not be privy to that logic. Strips of canvas stream from

motif that is reworked throughout the show: the

the wall, painted wood and myriad fragments fill

re-use of painting studio detritus as the raw material

every inch of space. The field of fragments is ordered

to make art. Materials such as cardboard, stretcher

and contained by a sequence of diagonals made from

pieces and scraps of linen are painted, repainted and

long pieces of metal and wood. These create a kind of

joined together to make entities which, although

vorticist dance across the walls of the room.

Amelia Stein, The Big White Shed, silver gelatin

In this exhibition of two parts, comprising the 2001 series ‘The Palm House’ and the 2012 study

shed from the plant’s stem create a design of neat polka dots redolent of a modernist design.

whole, seem as if they could collapse in on themselves

The work has been made over three years and

‘The Big Sky’, photographer Amelia Stein (born

The second series of images is ‘The Big Sky’,

or fall apart at any moment. Places I’ve Lived 66, in

the process is reminiscent of Schwitters’s Merzbau.

1958) offered a kind of mid-career survey, albeit

Stein’s study of landscapes taken in County Mayo

particular, with its wobbly, spare, rectilinear form,

Where Schwitters used the detritus of the city as a

omitting her signature portraits. Instead, the show

this year, where her attention turns to the impact of

seems to have an internal energy, like Cimabue’s

subject – tram tickets and such as the index of urban

embodies her explorations of form, beginning with

migration on human structures: the houses, barns

writhing Christ on the cross. It stands alone rather

living – O’Leary uses the fragments created by years of

the dense intimacy of the equatorial vegetation in

and social spaces of a sparsely-populated

than as part of a sequence of works and this heightens

making paintings to explore our complex relationship

the Palm House at Dublin’s Botanic Gardens and

countryside.

the feeling of tension.

with the history of art. Schwitters’s work came at a

ending with the space and openness of County

Yet while ‘The Big Sky’ title infers a sense of

In the second room, the series ‘Unfortunate

point in history where artists were moving towards

Mayo’s landscapes and eponymous skies. The show

vastness, of the enormity of the heavens, the

Agreements’, made using silverpoint on small

fragmentation as a way of breaking from academia

was also part of this year’s PhotoIreland Festival, the

inclusion in each work of a humble building grounds

agglomerations of painted wood, has a particular

and the perceived tyranny of the picture plane.

theme of which was ‘Migrations: Diaspora &

the ambition that appellation invites. The skies are

density and poignancy. The bringing together of the

O’Leary’s work is about creating, from the

Cultural Identity’, drawing on the role of the

undoubtedly expansive, yet it is the bricks and

language of minimalism with the use of silverpoint

fragmentation of Modernism, something which is

photograph in documenting human movement

mortar that call for closer study, and at first appear

– something one normally associates with high

whole again, albeit a more delicate and humble

around the globe.

an unambiguous comment on the depopulated

renaissance and Baroque art – seems elegiac to a lost

whole.

idea of painting. The room is dominated by works

Stein’s forays into creating still-life images and

Irish countryside. But careful scrutiny reveals that

landscapes see her apply a taxonomic rigor, grouping

not all of these isolated vistas are empty of people. In

that use rectangles within rectangles, the classic

Andy Parsons is an artist based in Sligo and the

like with like and often repeating compositions – an

White House House, a TV aerial and security lighting reveal

Modernist trope, but these are asymmetric rectangles

Co-founder of Floating World Artist Books.

approach further underlined by her method of

active inhabitation, while the residents of Pump

which again feel as though they might collapse in on

making photographs as artisanal objects. Using a

House enjoy satellite TV, a new slate roof and the

themselves. They owe more to the quixotic

large-format camera and travelling to Paris to work

comfort of UPVC double-glazing.

architecture of Duccio than they do to the sleek

with a specialist printer to produce silver-gelatin

This subtlety reveals a disruption, though

modernism of Mondrian.

prints, both sets of black and white images are

slight, of the received notions of migration in rural

In Room 3, the series ‘Diminishing Possibilities’

resonant of photographs of an earlier age: artifacts as

Ireland, where a common perception is that

comprises combinations of fragments of stained and

well as images. Modest in size (none exceed 50 x 40

communities slowly disintegrate and homes and

coloured linen. They are the most apparently

cm), their high-contrast tones and richly printed rag

social spaces fade into the landscape. That nearly all

paper recall the photograph as an ethnographic

of the images feature buildings from the 1930s Land

record, reminiscent of explorers’ trophies from

Commission rural re-building programme also

foreign climes.

provides another point of classification, and a

In ‘The Palm House’, produced between 2001 –

further nod to the allure of the ruin. In truth,

2002 as a project commissioned by the Office of

however, many of these structures lie empty because

Public Works, Stein records the changing light and

the have been replaced, not abandoned.

architectural structures imposed by the jungle of

In this way, Stein is offering images that

tropical palms, grasses and hardwoods. This is not

memorialise. The plants in ‘The Palm House’ become

the seasonal environment familiar to northern

totems of nature, even, perhaps, the botanical other,

Europe and the changes she records are infinitesimal,

while ‘The Big Sky’ images are paeans to a

relating to the husbandry of the botany rather than

romanticised

the cycle of denuding and regrowth. This allows the

environment bereft of people. Like the early

structure of both the plants and the palm house

pictorialists, Stein’s images do not seem to pose

itself to remain in focus, the claustrophia of the

questions, instead offering pre-emptive answers.

vegetation almost obscuring the fragments of the man-made gantry, window frame or pot.

anti-idyll,

a

beautiful

rural

Susan Sontag writes that a photograph or a

It’s impossible to explore botanical photography

painting can never be other than a “narrowly selective interpretation”.1 This is the temptation

without referencing the architectural work of Karl

here, where both the subject and process lend a

Blossfeldt or Imogen Cunningham, but where they

carefully configured sense of distance between the

magnified their subjects until the form transcended

images and their place in time.

the botanic into the abstract, Stein maintains her distance to record a complex living architecture.

Anne Mullee is a former journalist and TV

This is most successful in the compositions where

producer turned emerging curator and writer .

she turns her lens upwards to capture the layering of

She is based in Dublin.

light and sculptural forms as in Metal Walkway and Dombega x Cagenxii Cagenxii, though there is a nod to her helen O'leary, For things that I thought I wanted , 2012

predecessors in Philodendron Nobile Nobile, where the leaves

Notes 1. Susan Sontag, On Photography, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1977

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

September – October 2012

hannah mcbride 'tender t tender object' Satis house, belfast 20 July – 4 August 2012 thepictureworks.com dedicated to artists

hannah Mcbride, Faint Faint, 2012

hannah Mcbride, You can't hide your love forever , 2012

hannah Mcbride, You can't hide your love forever , 2012

hannah Mcbride, You can't hide your love foreverand Hard Hard, 2012

IN ‘Tender object’, Hannah McBride casts careful

Souvenir From a Dream, began playing in my head.

arrangements of individual objects in a quiet domestic

Walter Benjamin wrote about the “blue Horizon” of

drama. Inviting oxymoronic description – extreme

dreams, how tangibility can render them grey upon

The Picture Works Michael Terry Award 2012

modesty, humble hubris – her tiny mise-en-scene is staged in the bedroom of a private house. The

entering the polluted atmosphere of everyday life.4 Ethereal essences – dreams, mystery, light – require a

‘My Own Personal Mountain’

entanglement of public and private engenders

delicate touch; they’re vulnerable to contamination

ambiguity, while the idiosyncratic pairing of adjective

and a crossover into kitsch.

and noun in the exhibition’s title adds a further

An alcove painted with silver emulsion is a

contradiction to the dynamic of opposites. The

work called Sophistication and indicates, perhaps, that

ultimate opposites – something and nothing – are the

kitsch is no longer a term of abuse. To its right a

most difficult ones to flirt with, and McBride’s

modestly ornate (low rent Deco) tiled fireplace

exhibition negotiates the line between them with

occupies the centre of the wall. Though dominant

varying success.

this object is not art, but acts here as a plinth for what

‘Satis House’ is a small terraced house in south Belfast.1 The gallery space on the first floor has white

is. Untitled (red edge) is a small wooden panel edged in

walls and grey painted floorboards. There is a central

dense field of faintly expressionist, seemingly

heating radiator on one wall and an electric fireplace

descriptive (I wasn’t sure of what) coloured marks.

on another. Two sash windows overlook the quiet

Drawing is not the artist’s strongest suit. On the

street. The former bedroom contains eight artworks.

opposite wall three small silver and graphite works

An initial glance gives the impression of leftovers,

are nailed in place in an oddly violent gesture,

residues of habitation and small actions, a kind of

somewhat at odds with the gentler placing of the

domestic desuetude.

other works on show.

the eponymous red, stood vertically and covered in a

McBride graduated from the University of Ulster

Faint, a clear glass panel with beveled edges rests Faint

earlier this year and is developing a practice,

at an angle against the final wall, the transparent

“concerned with discerning and emphasising

panel like a mirror without its silver backing. Light

particular aspects of identity and character – of

markings of rusty orange and pale blue, in place of the

formal sculptural things … [and] some abstract internal residue of experience”2. She seems interested in the

mirror’s reflective surface perhaps, seem like a residue

distinction between essence and appearance, an object’s aura (in a Walter Benjamin sense) and its

“The grey film of dust covering things has become their best part”.5 It’s worth remembering that this

physical matter of factness. There is also illusory play.

patina of dust covers ourselves as much as the objects

Hard is a fragment of quartz kitchen counter – we can

around us, our own chronology affects how we

see the rectangular void cut out for a sink – propped

experience the chronology of things. Art, as and

off-centre between the two windows. The dark blue

about experience, doesn’t come quickly; practices

stone, with its constellations of glitzy aggregate,

evolve through praxis, time has to do its work.

of reflections not given back. Benjamin writes that,

conjures the sky at night. If we read the opening as a window rather than simply a housing for a sump the

John Graham is a Dublin based visual artist. His

nocturnal scene is turned inside out, framing a view,

next exhibition will be at the Green on Red

rather than constituting one.

Gallery in October of this year.

A desire to bring the outside in – the aspiration of so many domestic projects – is also expressed in an adjacent work, You can’t hide your love forever 3. A small trapezoid of silver glitter (with a sideline of blue, gold and white) describes a shaft of light that landed on the floor during the exhibition’s installation; it’s a shiny souvenir, a trashy relic of the sun. Thinking about it later on the train going home the Tom Verlaine song,

Notes 1. ‘Satis house’ is named after Miss havisham’s decaying house in Charles Dickens’s, Great Expectations. The house is lived in and the gallery space curated by Eoin Dara and Kim McAleese 2. Gallery leaflet and website 3. At first I thought it unlikely You can’t hide your love forever was referencing the Orange Juice album of the same name – the record was released eight years before the artist was born – but then I remembered (and I double checked) that track 4 on the album is called Tender Object.

4. Walter benjamin, Dreamkitsch, 1927 5. Ibid

Svetlana Sobcenko

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

23

Issue

programme, they have no agenda so we can have a certain amount of autonomy, which is really important as well.”

Sustainability The most obvious obstacle for these initiatives is their lack of secure tenancy. Arrangements with artists and collaborators are based on an understanding that the space is temporary. While this generates a flexible and up to the minute programme, it also means that large and complex exhibitions requiring long-term planning can prove untenable.

Soma Contemporary and Occupy Space have recently lost their gallery spaces of over three years. With little notice to make alternative arrangements, this inevitably had an effect on their programme. In Occupy Space’s case, a commercial buyer purchased the shop-front Gililian Fitzpatrick, Building Blocks, 2012

Long-Term Let emma loughney asseses the sustainability of the vacant spaces model as occupy space and soma contemporary close their doors.

Launch of 'Shoot the Tiger' at Prettyvacant Dublin

building they had occupied on Thomas Street. Sale of tenure was always a possibility; indeed the potential for increased commercial appeal was the initial incentive for the landlord to supply the space to

Dublin’s ‘Shoot the Tiger’ exhibition saw a number of newly constructed

artists. However, with its bi-monthly online publication, Occupy Paper

but vacant spaces redesigned for cultural use, addressing the “ever-

(relaunched in May) and aspirations to find a new venue, Occupy Space

uncertain economic reality”. These projects and many others emphasise

is not showing signs of departure.

the nature of the alternative gallery’s responsive programme that can

Soma Contemporary was obligated to vacate the building they

facilitate dialogue on immediate issues in a way that institutional

occupied on Lombard Street, Waterford this May due to fire safety

galleries may not.

issues – an obstacle more likely to arise in buildings that have been

Such initiatives have received official support in the form of

vacant for prolonged periods. The potential for finding another space is

schemes like Creative Limerick, who provide public liability insurance

hindered by the impracticality of curating fulltime and long

and a link to landlords. Creative Limerick was set up by Limerick City

termwithout pay. Paul worries that without more support these spaces

Council in 2009 to provide a link between gallery initiatives like these

will fade away. “I’d like to see the Arts Council approach these

and the landlords of unoccupied buildings. Landlords benefit from

initiatives and see them for what they are, separate between them and

The idea of artists occupying disused buildings for exhibitions is

offering their unoccupied premises temporarily for nominal or no rent,

arts centres – people aren’t being paid. That would legitimise the

by now familiar to us. Many vacant-space galleries were set up – by

on the understanding that artists will serve to maintain the building,

idea.”

artists, for artists – as graduates recognised a need for space to work and

enhance it aesthetically and create energy and atmosphere in the

exhibit and saw potential in the increasing number of buildings lying

locality.

Background

vacant around the country.

Due to their nomadic nature, Prettyvacant Dublin are perhaps less likely to be hindered by such obstacles. They plan to continue

Noelle of Occupy Space points out how helpful schemes like this

exhibiting in different locations and developing a dialogue about

According to curator Mary Conlon, who founded Ormston House,

are, “They come from an official standpoint so they are familiar with

vacant spaces. Mary Conlon stated that Ormston House have received

Limerick in 2011, “A lot of graduates had been moving away from here

attached procedure; an artist coming in to open up a gallery or a dance

reassuring support. “We have been approached by a number of

beforehand and these initiatives gave them reasons to stay and make

space, they are not going to be aware how to negotiate”. Dublin City

institutions who are really keen to collaborate both nationally and

things happen”. Noelle Collins of Occupy Space, Limerick, founded in

Council (DCC) has recently initiated its first vacant space scheme,

internationally. We have to say ‘well, we don’t have the tenancy’, but

2009, concurs, “We wanted to make it happen for ourselves and for

which encourages artists to connect with landlords offering shot-term

they respond by saying that buildings come and go, it’s the people and

emerging graduates in Limerick”. Louise Marlborough, co-founder of

use of their premises. As of yet, DCC do not cover Public Liability for

the energy that we want to be involved with and support.”

Prettyvacant Dublin, established in 2009 to re-purpose vacant properties

artists in these spaces. Though Prettyvacant Dublin has exhibited in

as exhibition space, points out, “The benefits for landlords are that the

vacant spaces around Dublin for nearly three years, Louise comments,

building is being occupied and bringing people to the area. It’s fit for

“Having a scheme that is government supported, to match owners and

purpose”.

cultural and creative groups gives leverage to the idea.”

Vacant Space Initiatives

Collaboration

Support With regard to long-term survival, certain areas are worth examining within the available support network. There is a danger in categorising these groups with Arts Centres or more established institutions in terms of funding, as the people running them are

These alternative galleries are determined to engage with the

These groups work together regularly and opportunity to

volunteers. Paul of Soma Contemporary believes that “there needs to be

community and make art more accessible – creating an alternative to

collaborate with larger arts institutions seems to be increasing. Noelle

a conversation about what these initiatives are and how they are

the white cube gallery. Paul Hallahan, co-founder of Soma Contemporary,

affirms, “Recently the Limerick City Gallery and The Belltable have

feeding visual arts in the country”.

set up in Waterford 2009 with the aim of making contemporary art

been looking to make partnerships with artist-led spaces; that’s a really

However, their importance is being recognised, demonstrated by

more accessible, says, “For me, commercial galleries like to keep people

healthy move.” Occupy Space and Ormston House also participated in

the introduction of the Dublin City Council Vacant Space initiative.

at a distance…high-brow galleries bring in different clientele. My main

eva International while Soma Contemporary has worked with large

Dublin Arts Officer Ray Yeates said of the vacant space gallery, “It has

interest is in showing the work”.

institutions, namely IMMA on ‘Hints of the Outside World’. Paul

democratised the arts by opening up spaces and letting people express

For Prettyvacant Dublin, the location of venues is key to

asserted, “The IMMA project was the biggest exhibition we ever

themselves […] This is something that is being done on little or no

accessibility. They seek spaces at street-level, which people may

worked on.” In addition, he argued that this collaboration “allowed a

money […] it’s important to think about using the resources we have.”

stumble across in their daily routine. Louise states, “One of our aims

wider community to get involved with the work”. Nevertheless, Paul

Ormston House, like many similar initiatives, would like to

was to engage with a wider audience who might not traditionally go to

felt that there had not been much opportunity to collaborate with

develop a national dialogue to talk about desirable support structures.

a gallery.” Their exhibitions make a point of engaging with the nature

institutional or commercial galleries on a local level. Though

“Do we want long-term support? Do we accept that these are temporary

of the space they occupy. In February, Louise curated ‘Hidden Currents’,

Prettyvacant Dublin has not yet collaborated with larger arts institutions

projects? We are interested in coming together, we are our greatest

based in a long-term disused travel agency office. She retained the old

they have been approached. They were also invited by Dublin City

resource and there’s a knowledge base there that we could share.”

interior so the venue served as a sort of time capsule in which the

Council Arts Office to use a previously empty unit for a pilot of ‘Shoot

Increased collaboration may serve to rejuvenate long-established

artists could create a dialogue between their work and the surroundings.

the Tiger’ in February and saw this as significant recognition of their

art institutions while providing support and acknowledgement for the

She continues, “We don’t want the space to take over from the work but

contribution to the city’s culture.

vacant space movement. In turn, this would continue to provide a

we want them to connect, that’s something that a traditional gallery

The effects of collaboration are inevitably two-fold. Limerick City

bridge for young artists and the wider community. These grass roots

Gallery of Art curator Helen Carey highlighted the dual benefit of such

initiatives are not just here to occupy the space, their programmes are

Due to the temporary nature of these initiatives, the organisers are

collaboration in a recent issue of Occupy Paper. She believes that these

designed to open up a dialogue on issues and accessibility and there

adept at planning in the short-term and so their programme can

initiatives demonstrate “an absence of bureaucracy that allows rapid

must be discussion on whether this investment of time is something

respond quickly and directly to local or national issues. Mary Conlon

response and re-invention.” Continuing, “What the institution can

worth funding.

asserts, “We have that freedom of flexibility to engage in what is going

bring on the other hand is a strategic development platform with a

on in the city.”

would not be doing.”

coherent legacy to draw on and a negotiable place in decision-making.

Emma Loughney is a graduate of the UCD MA in Arts Management

Following Limerick City Council's purchase of the ‘Opera Centre’

The combination of the independent and the institutional is a powerful

and Cultural Policy. She carried out research on Vacant Space

in 2011 – a 3.2 acre premises that lay derelict since 2008 – neighbours

Galleries in Ireland for her thesis, 'The Emergence of Artist

Ormston House presented ‘Bit Symphony’. The exhibition sought to

one and they are perhaps dependent on each other”.1 Ormston House is currently collaborating with Limerick City

open up a dialogue on the regeneration of the space after years of

gallery of Art on ‘Writer in Residence’, open from May. Mary points out,

vacancy. A Soma Contemporary exhibition based at Ormston House

“This is a project we would not have been able to put together without

last May entitled ‘Dogs’ examined the human relationship with

their support both logistically and financially.” It is notable that the

canines. This ran parallel to Limerick City Council’s formulation of a

institution does not necessarily dominate the direction of the project.

campaign to reduce dog littering in the city. In March, Prettyvacant

“What’s been fantastic is that they don’t want to interfere with our

Collectives in Recession'.

Notes 1. Helen Carey interviewed by Claire Walsh, Occupy Paper, 7 June 2012 2. This article is based on interviews with Mary Conlon of Ormston House, Noelle Collins of Occupy Space, Louise Marlborough of Prettyvacant Dublin, Paul Hallahan of Soma Contemporary and Ray Yeates, Dublin City Arts Officer

24

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

interview

Tom Lawton, Tidal Structure, 2012

Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty, Lament for Portsalon, image by Tom Watt

O'hAodha's buoy through Lawton's sculpture, image by Darius Murtagh

Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty, Lament for Portsalon, image by Tom Watt

Cliff walk, image by Andreas Kindler von Knobloch

First Resort

performance look great but you had to be there to understand the power of this piece. There were a few pieces that fit into this category.

Matthew Slack prepared a participatory installation that required the viewer to take a giant existential shot from a catapult suspended

Jack Nyhan talks to with John Ryan and Tom Watt, initiators of Resort, a 10 day residency in the holiday town of Portsalon, Donegal, which culminated in a public exhibition on 12 May 2012.

between fences. After the object was launched the viewer had to turn a corner to reveal the object’s nautical destination. Another work by artist James O hAodha involved the residency participants swimming out to a homemade buoy and taking a shot of tequila as a flare was raised into the night sky. Even Tracy Hanna’s video-screening required

Jack Nyhan How did the decision for the location of the Resort

JN: Part of the exhibition happened along a cliff trail on the coast

your physical presence at the event as it was screened in the middle of

project come about?

and the uneven nature of the topography greatly informed the

the woods after we all left the local pub. Everyone walked the short

experience of the works. How did the trail work in the context of

distance along the coast after last orders and huddled together as an

the exhibition?

eleven minute long film projected onto an oddly shaped screen

Tom Watt: We decided to do this project as a follow-up to a show that some of us did in November 2011 entitled ‘Underground’ in Basic

elevated high between the trees.

Space, Dublin. That was an amazing location, great to have free reign in

TW: It was an existing path used by fishermen and people that go

such a massive space right in the middle of the city. With Resort we had

jumping off the rocks into the sea. The path remained as we found it

It seems that making and presenting art in an atmospheric environment

been looking for another space to do a show, and the idea of being

apart from the stairs at the beginning, created by myself and Sara

led some of the artists to make visceral work. The elements can be a

removed from Dublin and having the residency and exhibition near a

Amido, and a small footbridge over a stream. There was an interesting

persuasive prop. Amanda Elena Conrad twice performed a work in the

beach appealed to us. It was great to be out in the country and to live in

section where Niamh Moriarty and Ruth Clinton chose to do their

blistering cold sea as crowds gathered around the shoreline. As she

a tiny house together. It also made a really good platform for

performance. While you could hear Ruth singing it was only after you

gradually emerged from the water, her fingers gently touched reflective

conversations between the participating artists.

moved further along the path that you could see them on the undercut

bodily extensions that stemmed from a costume she had made during

rock below the path. They were situated on the edges of two opposing

the week. There was intensity, as the crowd fully understood the harsh

JN: When you started planning Resort you were aware of the

cliffs with some of the audience sitting above on the overhang in

conditions she had gone through.

physical life span of the works that would be created. Could you

between. We were a bit worried about people falling so we decided to

talk about temporality in some of the works exhibited?

do a sort of guided expedition rather than letting people wander. It

JN Resort took place in a public space within a rural area. How

made the experience somewhat different to a typical exhibition, like an

did the locals react to the event?

John Ryan: In the last show we did, all of the work was site-specific and

outdoor pursuit or adventure maybe. This method of viewing controls

would no longer exist after the show had ended. With this in mind we

or limits the viewers’ time with a work but I think it seemed appropriate

JR: Over the week we built up a strong relationship with people in the

decided that using a work’s temporality as the subject for a show could

with such temporary works.

area, from the local pub to the nearest hardware shop. When we first

have some interesting outcomes. Some of the works directly addressed their own life span.

started planning we were worried about receiving negative reactions JN: Some of the works at Resort integrated functional and

but this assumption was quickly disproven. Everybody living nearby

aesthetic considerations. Could you talk a little about function?

was enthused when they heard what we were doing and were even of

Clare Breen and Sarah Gordon’s’ sculptures were made from liquidised

great assistance at times. Sarah’s Pub provided outdoor electricity for

cabbage, which is a universal indicator, that was blended with a variety

JR: During that week of the residency I brewed wine from grape juice

Tracy Hanna’s film screening and donated empty glass bottles for the

of colour-changing ingredients. They were then frozen and exhibited as

bought in a local store. I did this secretly in the house with the

wine we brewed for the opening.

solid colourful shapes that would soon melt and be nothing but

intention of surprising everyone on the day of the opening. While I

colours in the sand. Jane Fogarty built a four-storey tower of wooden

enjoyed this experience, I was uncertain about how it would become

JN: Having done Resort and having learned a lot, I’m sure, do you

squares, each carefully painted in gouache by the artist. These paintings

an artwork. However, as the opening approached, it made sense to use

see yourselves doing something similar in the future?

were destined to wither with time as the tide slowly wore away their

the wine for a wine reception, which we held on the cliff. Peter

surface leaving only decay. Tom Lawton built a large wooden kinetic

Donnellan made a pontoon that was visible as you approached the end

JR and TW: Yes. We have already started planning Winter Resort which

sculpture that was contingent on time as its movement was effected by

of the cliff. It was a large cuboid that he had built from barrels and

is set to take place sometime between November and February 2013.

the tide. Small items of flotsam suspended between rectangular shapes

wood, the type built to entertain children off the shore of a holiday

We have some locations in mind that are contingent on a few different

would rise and fall in harmony as the tide washed in and out.

resort. I find it interesting to class the work as functional because that

factors.

brings me to thinking about representation; the pontoon is an object There were a lot of works that addressed their own temporality, but

designed for leisure, is that really a function? It was reminiscent of the

Participating artists included: Sara Amido, Clare Breen, Ruth

also some exceptions. Over the duration of our stay, David Lunney

work of Jorge Pardo that was on show in IMMA in 2010.

Clinton, Amanda Conrad, Peter Donnellan, Jane Fogarty, Sarah Gordon, Tracy Hanna, Tom Lawton, David Lunney, Niamh

made an intricately-crafted monolith that was erected on the beach for the exhibition. After the show, rather than dismantling it like we did

JN: A lot of the artists seemed to use the existing environment as

with the rest of the works, we left it there as a marker for the event that

a stage for creating experiential art works. How do you think

had come to pass.

these works compared to their documentation?

Moriarty, James O hAodha and Matthew Slack.

Jack Nyhan is a writer and project collaborator living in Dublin.

He studied Art History and Philosophy in UCD and is a

JR: Documentation is often an issue with live art. A photograph can be

postgraduate of the MA 'Art in the Contemporary World' at

really unsatisfactory. The images that captured Ruth and Niamh’s

NCAD. He currently interns in Pallas Projects / Studios.

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26

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

conference

O’Neill, teachers are making over 10 billion photocopies each year, containing 250 million images registered with Access Copyright, a Canadian copyright collection agency. Gendreau shifted the conversation to satire and parody, section 29 of the Copyright Act. Gendreau mentioned pivotal copyright cases including Cie General des Etablissements Michelin v CAW Canada and Rogers v Koons to highlight the distinction between satire and parody. Gendreau accentuated the importance of distinguishing parody from satire, with the former relying solely on the reuse of existing material. Seiferling rounded out the conversation by discussing digital rights management.

He stated that it would be in the artist's best interest to upload lower resolution images online and charge for higher resolution. He closed with an analysis of the possible copyright issues arising from the popular website Pinterest as its users ‘pin’ material to their accounts.

The final day was dedicated to Artist Resale Right (ARR) in Canada and further legal discussion to create a plan for the future. The panel consisted of, Louis E Greenwald, Henry Lydiate, April Britski (Executive Director of CARFAC National) and Stephen Ranger (Vice President,

CARFAC 2012, all images courtesy of Taylor Norris and CARFAC International

Business Development, Waddington’s Auction House). At present, Canada does not have the ARR implemented into legislation. Britski

Art Law Canada

emphasized the importance of ARR in Canada for the aging artist population and Canada’s large number of Aboriginal artists. Britski noted that 37% of Nunavut, one of Canada’s northern territories, self identify as artists. Thus, ARR would be an alternative source for income

kathleen killin reports from the 2012 canadian art and law conference held in ottowa from 8 – 10 june 2012.

for these historically disadvantaged groups. The proposed ARR is a 5% flat royalty rate for pieces over $1000, with CARFAC offering to act as a collecting agency. Additionally, the work must be up for public sale, resold in a country with a resale right and be protected by copyright.

Next, Greenwald addressed ARR legislation in California,

This year, the Canadian Artists Representation Le Front des

legal clinic. Rather than using a traditional clinic model, CLA matches

mentioning that a 5% ARR fee is placed on all works sold in California

Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) hosted the first annual 'Art + Law / Art +

a client to a specialised volunteer lawyer for a small administration fee.

with additional conditions applying. He states that Californian ARR is

Droit' conference at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa, Canada. Lawyers

From there, the lawyer and client negotiate fees. Additionally, fees to

currently under review by the federal government and expects changes

and artists came together for the first time to participate in the

use CLA’s services are on a sliding scale dependent of your income. CLA

in legislation to occur. Ranger, an art market professional, took a

'National Conference for Arts Lawyers' and engage in discussion of

holds workshops two to three times a month on various art law related

different stance regarding ARR. He saw ARR as a detriment to the

how art and law intersect within the country. Art law is a current hot

issues and offers services to attorneys, such as education on the art

Canadian art market if it were implemented. He believes that the

topic in Canada, specifically in the areas of copyright, artist resale right

world.

Canadian art market is composed of small businesses and that ARR

and artist legal clinics. The conference took on two streams – one for

Following the panel, Lydiate presented the group with the

would only hurt them. Lydiate continued the conversation opposing

lawyers and the other for artists – and both groups had their own

ArtQuest model: an online resource for artists with an art law section

each of Ranger’s points and calling to attention other creative industries,

respective schedule that ultimately overlapped on the second and third

for which Lydiate writes monthly. The possibility of implementing this

such as music composers, who have the legal right to be paid when

days of the conference.

On the first day, a collection of arts lawyers and students

in Canada was discussed, with a focus on creating bridges between the

their work is reused. Lydiate finished by refuting Ranger’s point about

various legal clinics. Currently, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal

the art market suffering as a result of ARR. He mentioned the many

gathered to engage in the first topic – artist legal clinics. Henry Lydiate,

and Halifax are home to separate art law clinics. The biggest issue

reports prepared throughout Europe and the UK show clearly that ARR

British art lawyer, advocate, professor and founder of the Henry Lydiate

lawyers from each clinic agreed on was proper funding and support.

had little to no impact on art market professionals and it did not

Partnership, opened the conference with a keynote address on his

With this, day one of discussions came to a close.

represent a deterrent to buyers. The afternoon comprised of CARFACs

experience and the development of international recognition of art

On day two, artists and lawyers came together to discuss labour

law. Lydiate emphasized the need for arts lawyers throughout all

and copyright. The first discussion, ‘Art + Labour’, was led by Charles

jurisdictions and the intricate interwoven bond between the law and

Smith (Professor at the University of Toronto), David Yazbeck (art

Over the weekend, various social events were planned for

arts. Artists are calling upon lawyers for issues ranging from copyright

lawyer), Lise Létourneau (visual artist and President of Le Regroupement

conference attendees. Friday evening was host to the welcome dinner

infringements to contract mediation, labour issues to moral rights,

des artistes en arts visuels de Québec) and Pierre Tessier (visual artist

for lawyers at the Lord Elgin Hotel and the Visual Arts Advocacy Award

litigation to tax law, as well promoting frameworks that support visual

and Co-Chair of the CARFAC-RAAV Bargaining Committee). The

presentation at the Ottawa Art Gallery, with this year honouring art

artists through legislation. Lydiate introduced the development of

panellists’ respective focal points were: to encourage greater

lawyer David Yazbeck. On Saturday, guests were invited to attend a

Artlaw Services, ArtQuest's online database and his work with the Arts

understanding and communication between artists and galleries, to

gallery hop in the afternoon and creative evening at Club SAW where

Law Center of Australia. He spoke of the many hats arts lawyers must

emphasise the importance of translating all documents into both

hands-on art projects with the theme ‘Art and Law’ were available.

wear when representing artists; the most important, he argued, is

English and French and discuss labour force and artist income

CARFAC’s 'Art + Law / Art + Droit Conference' provided a platform

offering legal services and representation. Following Lydiate’s keynote

disparities. Smith, a specialised cultural pluralist, engaged the audience

to fuse together two areas not usually interwoven. It is an exciting time

address a panel of arts lawyers was introduced to discuss the formation

with a compelling presentation on artists within Aboriginal and

in Canada as individuals continue to push the boundaries of current

and development of various legal clinics throughout North America.

immigrant communities. He stated 17% of all Aboriginal people self

legislation and promote artist rights. Strong partnerships were created

Annual General Meeting, however lawyer delegates met to discuss the future of art law in Canada.

Sitting on the panel were Martha Rans, Keith Serry and Louis E

identify as artists, with 40% as arts and crafts persons. Additionally,

over the weekend from across the globe with these common themes:

Greenwald. Rans, a lawyer from Vancouver, British Columbia who has

20% of artists in Canada are immigrants, with these numbers projected

collaboration, communication and cooperation.

been working within the non-profit sector for over 20 years began the

for continued growth. Smith identified income disparities between the

discussion. Over the last four years, Rans developed Artist Legal

average artist and "racialized" groups, stating that racialized artists earn

Kathleen Killin is an artist and Masters in Art Business candidate

Outreach (ALO) , a clinic that runs on a weekly basis that has catered to

11% less than their non-racialized counterparts, and Aboriginal artists

at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. She is currently completing

over 3000 clients. Rans focus for ALO is on educating artists to know

earning 28% lower than the average artist. Smith emphasized the need

her Masters dissertation on ‘Frameworks in Support of Visual

their rights and empowering them with knowledge. Rans, who also

to eliminate income disparities between racialized and non-racialized

Artists Outside and Inside Canada.’ Kathleen can be reached at

teaches copyright courses at Emily Carr University, runs artist legal

artists, especially given the fact that racialized communities have a

kathleen@kathleenkillin.com or @kaymaryclaire on Twitter.

outreach entirely on a volunteer basis with students from the University

larger percentage of individuals engaged in the arts.

of British Columbia Faculty of Law.

In the afternoon, topics shifted to the status of copyright in

www.carfac.ca www.henrylydiatepartnership.com

Similarly, Keith Serry, a litigator and Co-Director of Clinique

Canada. The panel leading the discussion included Roanie Levy

juridique des artistes de Montreal (CJAM) spoke of the formation of a

(General Counsel and Director, Policy and External Affairs, Access

www.artslaw.com.au

legal clinic geared towards artists in Montreal. The Montreal legal

Copyright), Aidan O’Neill (IP Lawyer and Partner at Fasken-Martineau

www.artistlegaloutreach.ca

clinic also runs on a volunteer basis with students and lawyers coming

LLP), Ysolde Gendreau (Professor of Law at the University of Montreal)

www.cjam.info

together. Like Rans, Serry touched on the issue of funding and

and Steve Seiferling (IP lawyer and legal counsel for Mosaic Potash).

www.calawyersforthearts.org

maintaining a legal clinic that generates very little profit.

Conversation centered on the recently passed Bill C-11, which seeks to

www.artquest.org.uk

Louis E Greenwald, a Californian art lawyer and partner at Choi

amend the current copyright legislation in Canada. The changes focus

and Greenwald, spoke of his work with the California Lawyers for the

on education, parody, satire and digitisation of works. Levy and O’Neill

Arts (CLA). Greenwald talked about the different approach CLA takes

both dealt with the education side of copyright issues, specifically

in matching clients to their lawyers, rather than hosting a traditional

issues arising with teachers photocopying materials. According to

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

27

How I Made

All images courtesy of Fergus Kelly

A Congregation of Vapours sound artist Fergus kelly describes the process behind his recent project, an album entitled 'a congregation of vapours', released in may 2012.

got to be pruned. I shouldn’t lose interest for a second. I’ve got to be totally involved all the way.

The next stage of the project involves titling and design. This goes through a similarly intensive process for me, where a large range of options are tested and trashed until I arrive at something I’m happy with. I keep a notebook of potential titles, and words and phrases which might become titles. The inspiration for these can spring from a

Anthony Kelly of the Dublin-based Farpoint Recordings label

This can be very lively and difficult to control, far more volatile than

number of sources: a book I’m reading, a film or exhibition, a magazine

approached me in January 2011 with a proposal to produce an album

speaker feedback, but when you manage to tame the beast, the results

or online review / article, a snatch of conversation (misheard or

of my work. I had been working on some new pieces involving

can be quite wonderful. It creates a pretty powerful range of pulsating

otherwise), public signage / posters.

electronics and field recordings, so this was an ideal platform to really

tones, which, because of their monophonic nature, establish an

Sometimes the compositions will suggest titles, or words and

expand and develop these investigations, and build towards a

especially monolithic and insistent presence. This can be best heard at

phrases, which need developing to become proper titles, rather than

thoroughly thought through and finished body of work. I had been

the beginning of the album’s fourth track, Pattern Recognition.

simply reference points. Quite a bit of the time I’m completely

putting work out on my own CDR imprint, Room Temperature, since

The next stage in the album’s construction was the editing

stumped. It can take weeks for titles to emerge that feel right. Titles are

2005, so this was also a very welcome opportunity to produce work

together of the feedback and no-input edits, and further processing this

important as they seal the work, give it an identity and act as an entry

without having to manufacture it myself, as I usually do all the

material in ProTools editing software. This is where the material really

point. I tend to avoid literal titles, preferring them to maintain a bit of

designing, printing and CD burning myself, which is a fairly labour-

began to find its form. A deliberate strategy was to take some of the

openness, ambiguity, uncertainty and mystery, whilst still feeling

intensive and time consuming process.

building blocks and subject them to considerable extremes of intensive

absolutely right for the work – organically linked if you like.

My recorded work has involved various combinations of field

processing – taking sound as raw, malleable matter, stretching it to the

What interested me about the phrase ‘a congregation of vapours’

recordings, invented instruments and electronics over the years. Each

point of collapse, pulling it inside out, further distilling and cross-

was not the Shakespearean reference (where Hamlet, melancholic after

new body of work either builds on and consolidates previous work, or

hatching it where it breeds inscrutable new forms, at once physical and

his father’s death, describes the earth as

is a conscious change of tack to keep things fresh. As an improvisor, in

phantom in nature. Chasing the process along a Moebius strip of

congregation of vapours”) but the suggestion of the album’s soundscapes

a live context, I work with a particular set-up and series of sound

endless decay and regeneration, where sound is repeatedly cannibalising

being a gathering of elements as insubstantial as gas. I’m fascinated by

sources. This has a certain lifespan that comes to a conclusion once I

itself, the tracks were grown from residual traces of empty spaces,

the dichotomy between sound as both a physical presence and a

feel I’ve exhausted all the possibilities it has to offer. Shortly before

ventriloquised into being – a void given voice – where feedback makes

ghostly emanation.

Anthony invited me, I had been experimenting with a new set-up,

dimension audible. As a starting point, I liked the idea of beginning

Similar to titling, the design also acts as an entry point. The cover

partly inspired by the work of Nicholas Collins, whose excellent book,

with nothing – pulling matter from emptiness, sound from silence. The

image is from a painting of mine from a number of years ago, where the

Handmade Electronic Music, had given me a few inroads into DIY

appeal here is also connected with the punk spirit of DIY and

source photo was processed to create a lot of dropout, putting it on the

electronics. I was particularly taken with speaker feedback as a means

experimentation, and the idea of using basic materials and rudimentary

of generating sound.

approaches – a considerable influence on my practice as a whole. No

cusp between abstraction and figuration, not unlike how the soundscapes work. Though it’s not illustrative in that sense, it works in

need for hi-tech gadgetry.

parallel.

This involves placing contact microphones either directly onto

"a foul and pestilent

speakers, or inside resonant vessels placed on speakers. The feedback is

The lengthy editing process created a broad range of disembodied,

A key aspect in Farpoint’s approach was the inclusion of a written

generated and controlled via the volume and EQ (tone) controls on the

atomised artefacts, which were then woven together in layers to

element. This is done with a view to the future archival / curatorial

mixing desk. With just one vessel, it’s possible to achieve a rewarding

establish their own space for the listener to navigate, volatile and

value of the project and, as such, enriches it and provides another entry

series of rich tones, rattles and buzzes, which can be further manipulated

capricious as the weather. Threaded through this speculative fiction

point for the audience. Paul Hegarty’s impeccable credentials as

according to where the microphone is placed, applying pressure, or

was documentary reality in the form of field recordings, which

purveyor of and writer on noise meant that his response was entirely

moving across the vessel surface. Considerable complexity can be

augment and galvanise a particular sense of place and narrative flow,

apposite and intriguingly articulated, for which I was very grateful, as

introduced when the number of vessels and microphones is increased.

sitting uneasily between the created and the real.

indeed I was for the input of Anthony Kelly and David Stalling of Farpoint throughout the project. They were a great pleasure to work

I had collected a large number of metal containers of various

Field recording is an activity I’m constantly engaged in; just as

dimensions, which I set up in a series of elaborate configurations. I

some people use photography, I have built up an extensive archive of

made various recordings over a number months, improvising with

recordings from all manner of environments, to stitch into future work.

Farpoint organised a launch at The Goethe Institute on May 23rd

these set-ups. I then forensically combed these recordings for

The recordings used on the album date from various points in the

2012, where I performed a solo set, improvising with some of the

worthwhile material. Feedback is a volatile element, which takes a fair

archive, the oldest being a thunderstorm recorded in New York City in

elements employed on the album. I also created a sound installation,

degree of control to manipulate successfully, so a lot of experimentation

August 2006, which features in the closing track, Breathing Room.

Breathing Room, for one week in The Goethe’s darkened bunker space,

with, conscientious and professional to a fault.

The textures of field recordings and electronics have an

using speaker constructions and fluctuating light. As a development of

interconnectedness for me, and a parity of presence. The ceaseless surf

soundscape compositions previously created for CD, this work took the

Another approach that got the hook in me at that time was the

of traffic, the hums and drones of supermarket fridges and myriad other

space inside the compositions, turning it inside out, to become a space

use of no-input mixing board. I had been aware of this ‘instrument’

machine presences – sounds we daily swim through with varying

to walk into and occupy, to be enfolded within the soundscape. Many

since seeing the masterful Toshimaru Nakamura perform with it in

levels of awareness – intersect on this album with magnetic fields of

thanks to Jonathan Carroll and Barbara Ebert for facilitating this.

London in 2000, but it wasn’t until seeing San Francisco-based sound

prepared noises, aural detritus and sonic fallout, to form a climate of

artist Joe Colley perform with it in Dublin at the I&E Festival in 2007,

disturbance and disruption. A seepage of spectral broadcasts, corrupted

Fergus Kelly is a sound artist from Dublin who has exhibited

that I was really taken with the possibilities it offered. Colley’s

signals and insidious transmissions – tactile yet immaterial – suspends

internationally and won many Arts Council awards. His work is

performance was inspirational. We swapped CDs, and his recorded

us in sound.

published via his Room Temperature label.

was involved. A substantial series of edits were made, which formed a large percentage of the album’s sonic vocabulary.

work became a particular touchstone for me, amongst other things.

Listening is a really important part of the editing process. I would

In layman’s terms, the no-input mixing board involves connecting

usually put rough mixes on CD and audition them at home for a period

www.farpointrecordings.com

your inputs and outputs the ‘wrong’ way so they create feedback inside

of time, let them settle – hearing them in much the same conditions as

www.roomtemperature.org

the desk itself, which is manipulated with volume and EQ controls.

the listener. If there are areas where I find I’m losing interest, then it’s

28

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Opportunities job job vacancies vacancies belfast print An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Belfast Print Workshop and make a vital contribution to this organisation. The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic self-motivator from a print background, with a working knowledge of all types of print techniques with a desire to learn more technical skills and knowledge about this medium of fine art.

Visit BPW website for application pack.

Deadline 4pm 14 September Web www.bpw.org.uk Address Belfast Print Workshop, Cotton Court, 30–32 Waring St BT1 2ED

Web www.artforartsake.org

offsite projects, and for other arts areas, such as film, photography, theatre, for readings / rehearsals / auditions / shoots etc. Special rates apply to artists: Pallas artists: €180 per week, Pallas artist groups: €300 per week, artists: €250, artist groups: €380. Separate rates are available for venue hire for other events and activities.

Submissions are ongoing, a calendar is available to view on our website for available dates.

Deadline Ongoing Email info@pallasprojects.org Website www.pallasprojects.org block t BLOCK T, a multi-disciplinary creative centre, is expanding. 80

unpaid internships volunteering / / volunteers unpaid internships

studios across 5 floors are now available for talented creatives working within any artistic discipline.

This

long-anticipated

open house dublin The Irish Architecture Foundation are seeking enthusiastic and friendly volunteers to join the Open House Dublin volunteer team. The Festival dates are 5 – 7 October. It is a great way to become part for Ireland’s largest architecture festival and immerse yourself in the architecture all around Dublin. For more information please contact Niamh.

Deadline 2 october Email volunteers@architechturefoundation.ie

expansion project means we have

Web www.openhousedublin.com

themselves in Dublin for a fixed /

studios spaces studios //space

room to accommodate an eclectic cluster of individuals and collectives who are interested in challenging

and

subverting

expectations while forging a sustainable long-term creative practice in Dublin. BLOCK T will provide a platform for new thinking from all kinds of independents, and we believe this is a unique opportunity for people to work in a cross-disciplinary DIY environment. Short and longer-term leases are available to individuals or collectives from further afield who are interested in basing limited length of time.

Email studios@blockt.ie

pallas projects

avenue road

Submissions guidelines are now

The new home for Art for Art’s

available for artists / groups who

Sake – the Dublin Art Tour and

are interested in proposing artist-

Portobello Salon – on Avenue

initiated projects, exhibitions,

Road, provides a host of opportu-

events or performances in the

nities and a wealth of possibili-

new PP/S project space. We are

ties. Avenue Road is dedicated to

seeking proposals from highly

the advancement and support of

motivated and professionally

emerging artists and the provi-

minded groups and individuals.

sion of an explorative and investi-

Participants will have the oppor-

gative space for all artists to avail

tunity to experiment with pre-

of. Acquisition of knowledge and

senting their work in the context

up-skilling are key factors in the

of an established gallery space

development of an artist and ones

with

tradition

that we fully support and encour-

towards do-it-yourself initiatives

age. By implementing pro-

and the professional develop-

grammes such as the Dublin Art

ment of emerging artists. PP/S are

Tour, Limerick Art Tour and the

committed to accessibility, with

Portobello Salon, we aim to

very competitive rates for artists.

encourage the overall engage-

All projects are self-directed and

ment, discourse, accessibility and

individuals / groups will be

education within the arts. Avenue

responsible for publicity and

Road is available for hire at acces-

invigilation. The space can also

sible and reasonable rates and

be hired out weekly to use as

full technical, administrative and

additional very-large-scale studio

curatorial support is provided.

a

dedicated

space ahead of exhibitions and

Address 30, Avenue Rod, Portobello, Dublin 8

commissions commissions per cent for art Dún

Laoghaire-Rathdown

firestation studios

County Council invites submis-

Two residencies will be offered

sions from artists and / or craft

from June 2013 (Studios 5 and 6)

designers / makers for a public art

and one from December 2013

commission related to the Central

(Studio 1). Fire Station has subsi-

Library and Cultural Centre

dised residential studios that pro-

under construction at Moran

vide self-contained, secure living

Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

and working spaces for profes-

Applicants are invited to respond

sional visual artists. The studios

to the geographical and / or his-

are let for a period of between one

torical environment and / or the

year and two years, nine months.

cultural aspiration of the Centre.

International artists are welcome

The commissioners are seeking a

to apply for shorter periods.

permanent artwork and are open

Resident artists have free access

to the work being incorporated

to high-end computers, software,

into the fabric of the building.

Wifi, technical expertise and sup-

The total budget for the commis-

port and also subsidised access to

sion is €54,000. A number of sites

digital equipment. This is a com-

have been identified within the

petitive selection process.

Deadline 6 September 3pm

building and externally in Moran

Web www.firestation.ie/studios

outlined sites. One commission

Email artadmin@firestation.ie

stage competition and a maxi-

Telephone 01 806 9010

listed for the second stage. The

rha school studios The RHA School is offering three studios to rent in six-month slots in 2013. Each studio measures approximately 4.7m x 4.9m and is fully equipped with a sink and storage units. There is also a common room and kitchen facilities available to the studios. The studios have 24-hour secure access and are non-residential studios.

The three studios are available in

Park. Applicants are invited to respond to one or more of the will be awarded. This is a twomum of three artists will be shortcommission is open to artists, sculptors, lighting designers, craft designers, etc. Proposals are invited from artists working either on their own or in collaboration with others.

Deadline 12 noon, 5 October 2012 Web www.dlrcoco.ie/arts Email cking@dlrcoco.ie Telephone 01 271 9529

two 6-month slots in 2013, January – June and July – December (six studio slots in total are being offered). Applicants for the studios are asked to send in, by post, a CV and up to 10 images of their work in a printed format, accompanied by a letter detailing candidate’s intentions for the allocated period in the studio. Also, we would ask that artists state which time slot they are applying for. The subsidised cost of each studio to the awarded artists is €200 per month. All heat and utility costs are included in this. Any questions or requests for further information can be forwarded to Fernando Sanchez, Academy Co-ordinator.

Deadline 5 October 2012 Email fernando@rhagallery.ie Website www.rhagallery.ie Telephone 01 661 2558 Website www.rhagallery.ie Address Academy Co-ordiantor at the RHA, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2

clare county council Clare County Council wishes to commission a permanent external artwork for the newly opened library, theatre and gallery in the seaside town of Kilkee, Clare.

Deadline 7 September Web www.clarelibrary.ie Email arts@clarelibrary.ie Telephone 065 689 9091

courses / workcourses / training / shops / training workshops printmaking courses Black Church Print Studios have recently finalised a new schedule of printmaking courses / workshops from June – Sept 2012.

Etching, advanced: 23 August – 27 September and 29 September.

Lithography: 15 and 16 September.

Web www.print.ie painting in kilkenny UK-based Artist Mike Skidmore will be holding a painting work-

shop in Co Kilkenny suitable for anyone both novice and experienced. The course covers the traditional oil painting techniques of the old masters and is suitable for all levels. We explore glazing, using thin transparent colours and impasto, thicker paint and texture, to create artworks with depth and drama. We look at artists such as Vermeer, Rembrant and Eakins to learn how they approached their work and demonstrate the various techniques we discuss. All sessions are facilitated in an informal way, with plenty of one-to-one time due to small group sizes. The workshop runs from the 27th – 28th October. Fee: €200 ( €50 deposit required on booking) including lunch but excluding materials.

Accomodation: list of local venues available. Pet friendly.

Contact Colette O'Brien Email obriencolette1@hotmail.com Web www.mikeskidmore.com Telephone 086 369 1443 Address Hillside Studio, Donoughmore, Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny colour print shop Color Print Shop at Custom House Studios, The Quay, Westport, Co Mayo. Instructor: Virginia Gibbons.

Dates: 7 September – 26 October (Every Friday) from 11am – 2pm. Fee: €150 each (free materials). This course is an advance study of color and multiple plate and block printing. Students will complete one given assignment and then work on personallymotivated projects. The emphasis of this class is on creating a professional body of work. There will be a number of group discussions and critiques. Students will be asked to explore the boundaries of traditional printing. Both the scale of the work and scope of individual projects will be addressed. Advanced plate making and registration issues will be demonstrated. Students should have an understanding and working knowledge of at least two print areas. Only students who have taken advanced printmaking at the print studio at the Custom House, or have submitted a portfolio, will be considered for this class. Limited places.

Introduction to Printmaking.

Dates: 8 September – 27 October (Every Saturday) from 11am – 2pm. Fee: €150 each (free materials). The Custom House is also offering a beginning survey course in printmaking. The course is designed to introduce a wide range of printing techniques to both beginners and working artists. This course may be a first art experience or an addition of a new process and media for artist working in other areas of art.

September – October 2012

These print projects will include monoprint, drypoint, etching and relief practices. Students will have the opportunity to create finished works in each technique.

By completion of the course individuals will have gained the ability to produce professional quality prints with a working understanding of studio use and policy.

Completion of this course will allow artists to take offered advanced courses.

Email customhouse@eircom.net Telephone 098 287 35 national print museum The preservation of the traditional craft of letterpress for future generations is at the core of the mission of the National Print Museum. To ensure this preservation continues the Museum is holding an intensive two-day Letterpress Training Seminar on 13 and 14 October 2012. The Seminar will consist of introductory talks, practical demonstrations by the Museum’s volunteer active retired printers and compositors and a number of handson letterpress workshops facilitated by traditional and contemporary letterpress experts. The seminar will culminate in a Demonstration Day at the Museum during Science Week 2012, where seminar participants will assist in demonstrating the Museum’s collection to the public. A maximum of ten participants places are on offer and those selected must attend the entire two days (13 and 14 October) and the Demonstration Day (17 November). There is a registration fee of €45.00 per participant. To be eligible for a place you must be passionate about the preservation of letterpress in Ireland and willing in the future to become actively involved in the National Print Museum as a volunteer. Previous experience in basic letterpress printing is an advantage, however, those with little or no experience are welcome to apply. For more information or to request an application form, please contact Gretta Halpin (Education Officer).

Deadline 7 September Email education@nationalprintmuseum.ie Web www.nationalprintmuseum.ie Telephone 01 6603 770 Address National Print Museum, Old Garrison Chapel, Beggars Bush, Haddington Rd, Dublin 4 body weather An intensive seven-day workshop on Rathlin Island off the north Antrim Coast entitled Body Weather – Body Landscape. 8 – 15

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

29

opportunities September. Tutor: Frank van de Ven. Fee: £250. Student and unemployed discount £200. Body Weather is a comprehensive training and performance practice that investigates the intersections of bodies and their environments. Bodies are not conceived of as fixed entities but as constantly changing through an infinite and complex system of processes occurring in and outside of these bodies. Taking Body Weather into the landscape the aim is to explore and develop consciousness of the body as an ever evolving landscape within a greater surrounding landscape.

Lodging: £12 per night – dormitory style. Food: £10 per day – communal cooking in rotation.

Contact Séamus Dunbar Email seamus.dunbar@gmail.com Telephone 071 985 6148 Hunt museum The Hunt museum presents a photography Workshop by professional photographer and artist, Gerry Andrews (15 September from 10am to 4pm).

Email education@huntmuseum.com Web www.huntmuseum.com Address The Hunt Museum, Rutland St, Limerick jewellery workshops Jewellery Workshops will be held in the Irish Design Shop this Autumn / Winter. (8 – 9 September, 15 – 16 September, 20 – 21 October, 3 – 4 November, 17 – 18 November, 10am – 4pm.)

Cost: €95. Irish Design Shop, Bow Lane East, Dublin 2. Open to students of all levels from beginners to advanced, the aim of the workshop is to teach a variety of skills involved in producing metal jewellery. The tutors mainly work in copper and silver, but encourage the use of a variety of materials such as wood, plastics and found objects. Each weekend workshop is structured around the students’ designs and what they wish to get out of the two days. Beginners are introduced to metalwork on the Saturday morning with a brooch project (using basic skills such as the jeweler’s saw and soldering), then we work around individual designs to produce at least one finished piece of jewelry by the end of the workshop. All materials and tools are provided (we do charge for the use of silver however, which depends on what you choose to make). We advise each student to bring along a notebook and an apron. We take a €50 deposit from each student to secure a place on each workshop.

Email admin@irishdesignshop.com Telephone 01 475 2222

oInternational pportunities international Opportunities arte laguna The 7th International Arte Laguna Prize, based in Venice, Italy and dedicated to contemporary visual art, is open to artists with no limits on age or nationality, offering a finalists collective exhibition at Venice Arsenale, artist-in-residence programmes, personal and collective exhibitions, participation in international festivals, publication in the official catalogue and a network of opportunities. Artworks submitted can be in a number of mediums including painting, sculpture and installation, photography, video art, performance and virtual art.

Deadline 8 November Web www.artelagunaprize.com Scenic world Following the success of the inaugural Sculpture at Scenic World, which featured Irish artist Deirdre Robb, Australia’s only rainforest exhibition returns for 2013. This outdoor exhibition will provide local, national and international artists with an exciting opportunity to exhibit their works within the natural splendour of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. Up to 55 works can be displayed on the Jamison Valley floor, with a walk along the elevated walkway providing visitors with the opportunity to view world-class sculptures in an unparalleled setting. The exhibition dates are 23 April – 19 May. Scenic World is proud to offer an Acquisitive Award prize of AU$20,000 and an individually crafted trophy by internationally renowned artist Keith Rowe. The 2013 Scultpure at Scenic World Exhibition also offers: AU$5,000 Artists Peer Award (open to exhibiting artists only), AU$2,000 Scenic World Staff Award, AU$1,000 People’s Choice Award, sponsored by The Carrington, Blue Mountains.

Deadline 1 October Web www.scenicworld.com.au/sculpture Email lizzym@scenicworld.com.au location one Location One is an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering new forms of creative expression and cultural exchange through exhibitions, residencies, performances, public

lectures and workshops. Based in the Soho district of New York, it supports experimentation and is focused on the convergence between visual, performing and digital arts. Location One operates an international residency programme where emerging and established artists can experiment with new forms of artistic expression, particularly those involving new technologies. The Arts Council offers an annual fellowship to one artist to facilitate his / her participation in the international residency programme at Location One in order to develop his / her practice and create new work. In addition to the support and resources provided by Location One, the Arts Council’s Location One Fellowship also includes flights, accommodation and a stipend.

The residency is for a five-month period from February – June 2013.

Deadline 5.30pm 27 September Web www.artscouncil.ie Telephone 01 618 0200 Festival circulations The third edition of Festival Circulations will take place in February / March 2013 leading the Festival Circulations to become a major annual event dedicated to contemporary photography. The open call for submissions is open to all European photographers in their early career as artists. The photographers will be selected based on the quality of their artistic practice and the relevance of their work. There is no theme and freestanding photographic installations are approved. About 20 photographers representing a large panel of European new generation photographers will be selected to exhibit their work.

Deadline 20 September Web www.festival-circulations.com shpilman international prize Upon request from several applicants worldwide, the deadline for submissions to the Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography, originally set to 1 September, has been extended until 15 September, 2012. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Shpilman Institute for Photography announce the opening of the 2012 edition of the Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography and welcome nominations and submissions. Awarded every second year, the prize aims to catalyze groundbreaking work in the field by providing scholars and photographers with financial sup-

port in the amount of $45,000 in order to pursue original work and ideas in the medium. A first of its kind, the prize is awarded exclusively for the creation of new research rather than the recognition of previously completed projects. It is presented to an artist and / or scholar who aim to expand the boundaries of the medium and contribute to the understanding of photography.

As detailed in the regulations, prospective candidates may include artists and scholars in photography with a rich and well established record of past achievements who intend to create new work or undertake new research in the field, ideally combining the theory and practice of photography.

Deadline 15 September Web www.imj.org/il/shpilmanprize

funding awards / Funding // awards bursaries Artist workplace scheme Visual Artists Ireland, on behalf of the Arts Council, invites applications for grants of up to a maximum of €30,000 towards the running costs of visual artists’ workspaces. In keeping with the Council’s policy document ‘Visual Artists’ Workspaces in Ireland – A New Approach’, this scheme has the aim of assisting artists workspaces throughout the country to provide the best possible environment for working visual artists and, where feasible, to enable a level of subsidy for resident visual artists. The scheme will award grants of up to €30,000 towards running costs such as light, heat, rent, artists’ development programmes, administration and / or appropriate salary costs (capital costs cannot be applied for through this scheme). The funding will be offered on a once-off basis for 2013. There is an overall total available fund of €192,500. The scheme is administered by Visual Artists Ireland on behalf of the Arts Council. For further information please contact Visual Artists Ireland. The information requested is in keeping with previous years. Applications should be made online at http://www. tfaforms.com/250012.

Deadline 5.30pm 13 September Web www.visualartists.ie Email info@visualartists.ie Telephone 01 672 9488

opportunities ireopportunities land ireland arts and health www.artsandhealth.ie is a national arts and health website developed by the Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) and Create and is funded by the Arts Council and HSE South. The case studies section of artsandhealth.ie showcases examples of arts and health projects in Ireland. Background structures and partnerships are included to give an overview of the provision for arts and health practice. Please see the website for examples of case studies. Arts and health practitioners are invited to submit case studies of high quality arts and health projects to artsandhealth.ie. Submitted case studies will be peer reviewed by a sub-committee of the artsandhealth.ie editorial panel. The criteria for inclusion in the case study section are: projects that demonstrate clear artistic vision, goals and outcomes; projects that illustrate benefits for those involved; projects delivered by professional artists; case studies that demonstrate strong documentation in terms of writing and imagery. We aim to represent the following in the case study section of artsandhealth.ie: a diversity of art forms; a diversity of healthcare contexts; a diversity of partnerships / organisational structures; a national spread; projects that have taken place since 2005. Those wishing to submit a case study must complete a case study template. Please e-mail info@artsandhealth.ie to request a template. The content submitted will form the basis of the case study, that may be edited by artsandhealth.ie. A minimum of five and maximum of six images with photo credits and captions must be submitted along with the template. The template includes a consent form for images and guidelines for submitting these images. Please email your completed template to info@artsandhealth.ie. You will receive notification about your submission in mid October. For an informal chat about submitting a case study please contact Claire Meaney.

Deadline 2pm 17 September Telephone 051 842 664 online children's gallery Professional artists are sought who would be interested in submitting work for an online children’s gallery. There is no brief, though pieces must be bright, colourful and of high quality.

Pieces also must be affordable.

Please send images, bio or a link to your website to Gavin at gvnodonoghue@gmail.com.

Deadline ongoing

signal arts centre Signal Arts Centre is now accepting submissions for exhibitions to be held in 2013. When submitting your application please include the following: a minimum of six images (clearly marked with your name and title of picture), photographs or images on CD (all images should be suitable for print reproduction (300dpi) jpeg format, not exceeding 5mb in size); a submission proposal covering what you would hope to exhibit if you are successful. Include proposed sizes of work where possible; an artist’s CV (art related only); an artist statement (for PR purposes).

Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope if you require your photos etc returned to you.

Please feel free to call into the gallery at any time to assess size, dimensions etc. There is an exhibition fee of €250 when selected.

Deadline 5pm 28 September Web www.signalartscentre.ie/submissions Address Signal Arts Centre, 1A Albert Avenue, Bray, Co Wicklow

source magazine research trip As part of our research for future issues, Source Magazine regularly organises meetings with photographers and artists to view new photographic projects for consideration for publication and to provide feedback on work. We will be arranging meetings as part of: There There, Cork, Saturday 27 October, Submission deadline 19 October. Tulca Arts Festival, Galway, Sunday 11 November, Submission deadline 29 October. Full submission guidelines to book for these venues at: Web www.source.ie

Correction!

The correct details for Kilmainham Arts Club are www.kilmainhamartsclub. blogspot.com/p/about.html kilmainham.arts.club@ gmail.com.

WATCH OUT! We strongly advise readers to verify all details to their own satisfaction before forwarding art work, slides or monies etc.

30

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

event

Attia Kadar, The Repair From Occident to Extra-Occidental Cultures , 2012, image by Roman März, all images courtesy of Documenta

Paul Ryan, Threeing, 2012, image by Nils Klinger

Jérôme Bel, Disabled Theatre, 2012

Various artists, The Brain, 2012, image by Roman März

Song Dong, Doing Nothing Garden, 2010 – 2012, image by Nils Klinger

100 Thoughts

show repairs and various artworks made out of discarded war refuse.

While the violence and unsubtle nature of this room is an anomaly in the exhibition as a whole there is an underlying theme: questioning ideas of perfection and of superficial healing.

jonathan carroll gives his impressions of documenta 13, which takes place in Kassel, germany, 9 june – 16 September 2012.

I felt many works exhibited need some form of interpretation to make an impact. A good example would be Korbinian Aigner’s (1885 – 1966) multiple drawings of varieties of apples. I wish I had spent more time looking at these as I later discovered that Aigner cultivated

If you are the kind of person who hates to hear how someone

everything. You need to use your art antenna to listen out for tips on

these apples while an inmate in Dachau concentration camp. Known

enjoyed themselves on an expenses paid trip, stop reading now. I

what to see and what not to waste time on. I had to resort to stealing

as the ‘apple priest’, Aigner, a Bavarian village pastor, was deported for

travelled Lufthansa courtesy of the Goethe Institut Dublin to attend

other people’s agendas and following well known art experts whenever

openly criticising National Socialism (he also refused to baptize

the opening days of Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany. Lufthansa

it looked like they were on the scent of some obscure venue. I knew I

children with the name Adolf).

embodies the stereotypes associated with Germany: it is efficient,

was at the right place when one of the ubiquitous VIP North Americans

Christov-Bakargiev, in a generous attempt to explain her quirky

stylish and works hard at being a cut above the rest. Documenta is

shouted: “THIS IS BULLSXXT MAN, I HAVE FLOWN HALF WAY

way of curating, provides an aptly-named space at the heart of the

much the same. Both are rather more expensive than their competitors

AROUND THE WORLD FOR THIS” as the unfazed attendant let

exhibition called 'The Brain'. Here, over 30 displays are packed into a

but well worth it.

everyone know that the event was oversubscribed or would not admit

small rotunda with a glass wall exposing you to the visitors outside as

Documenta, which is held every five years, has a budget of some

latecomers. “COME ON MAN I KNOW THE ARTIST AND HE

if you were in a quarantined laboratory. As my guidebook tells me this

€24 million and making it far better endowed and therefore far more

WOULDN’T MIND ME COMING IN LATE!” I heard both of these

is “an associative space of research where a number of artworks, objects

ambitious than the multiple biennales that now exist around the

statements at two of the best performances I saw during the opening

and documents are brought together in lieu of a concept […] the many

world. This ambition stems from its foundation in 1955 when the

days.

threads of Documenta (13) inside and outside Kassel are held together

imperative was to demonstrate to the world that post-war Germany

The first was at the Walid Raad lecture / performance / tour

precariously in this ‘brain’, a miniature puzzle of an exhibition that

had recovered its modernist trajectory after the aberration of the

entitled Scratching on things I could disavow, a very slick one-hour event

National Socialist regime (1933 – 1945). The energy the National

where the artist led us through some of his work. Raad seems to

condenses and centres the thought lines of Documenta as a whole”. To give an idea of the variety, this includes: a figurine from late third

Socialists expended to denigrate certain types of art and artists in the

illustrate the (art) history and future of the Arab world, using fact and

millennia BC; a landscape painting by a Kabul artist who hid figurative

infamous Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibitions of 1937 and 1938

fiction masterfully ‘performed’ by a modest yet seductive storyteller. In

paintings with watercolours to save them from destruction by the

meant that an equally ambitious effort would have to go into reversing

some ways, the conjuring trick used to tell his story of the Arab art

Taliban; Eva Braun’s powder compact; a photograph of Lee Miller

this and reintegrating German modernist and abstractionist art within

world, where histories are mixed with fictions and not distinguished

taking a bath in Hitler’s apartment; a damaged work by Gustav Metzger

the culture and politics of wider Europe. The seriousness of this initial

from each other, encapsulates the overall feel of this Documenta. There

from the 1950s predating his Auto-Destructive Art and in storage until

event, entitled ‘Documenta: Art of the Twentieth Century’, developed

is a sense of the dreamy storyteller (a spinner of fairytales with a serious

2010; an excerpt from a video by an Egyptian artist who died of

and it has become something of an oracle on the status of contemporary

sting in the tail) in the way Christov-Bakargiev conducts herself. But I'll

gunshot wounds shortly after filming the uprising in Tahrir Square in

art.

get to that.

Cairo; and objects referencing various conflicts including Vietnam, Cambodia and Beirut.

Importantly, the exhibition and resulting catalogues are the

The second really outstanding performance I saw was Jérôme Bel’s

culmination of the multiple gatherings, talks and tours that the chosen

Disabled Theatre. With a title like that I should have known what I was

This appears as a collection of amuse bouche that mix together

director initiates years before the actual event. This year’s director,

going to see; obvious no? But, dear reader, in the heat of the moment I

age, history and time with references of future historical importance, to

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, has gone even further in ‘documenting’

just joined the most rabid queue and found myself not in a venue with

work of history past to work that has come out of retirement (as have

Documenta. She organised the printing of 100 seperate booklets, 100

disabled access but at a dance performance by members of Theater

some artists chosen) to be reappraised under the over eclectic gaze of

Notes – 100 Thoughts, creating a piecemeal trail that formed the

Hora, a Zurich-based professional theatre company of people with

this curator and her many agents (whose origins read like the make up

exhibition and catalogue of Documenta. The 100 thoughts were to

learning disabilities. Bel, a Paris-based choreographer whose

of a UN committee). There is so much to see in this Documenta that I

match the 100-day duration of Documenta, which has individual

presentations “break down the traditional barrier between performer

haven’t had space to even begin mentioning the many excellent

events programmed for each of those days. In her own notebook (No

and audience, which poses questions about virtuosity and the nature of

pavilions (52) in the Karlsaue Park. But if you have time to go to Kassel

003) Christov-Bakargiev writes, as if in a letter to a friend, “This is why

dance”, totally caught his eager art crowd off guard. Again, this work

before it closes on September on 16th, do not miss Omar Fast’s work in

I do not follow a single, overall concept but engage in conducting and

somehow fitted in with the idea of otherness and art from other sources

the park, entitled Continuity, or Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s

choreographing manifold materials, methods and knowledge.” All of

that I found at Documenta 13. The 18 or so performers, of various ages

audio tour of the historical Hauptbahnhof where you will also hear

this gathering and documenting has resulted in an exhibition of over

and mental disabilities, slowly worked themselves up to the

Susan Philipsz’s beautifully researched Study for Strings. Both works

200 artists in 31 venues around Kassel, as well as subsequent events in

performance of self-choreographed dances to their favourite songs. The

deal with the history transportating prisoners to the concentration

Kabul, Alexandria and Banff. Add to this an enormous catalogue aptly

audience felt relaxed enough to let out pent-up guffaws of laughter that

camps from this same train station. I would need my own VAN of VANs

titled The Book of Books, a guidebook, logbook and event diary called

felt politically incorrect. I don’t think I have ever cried with laughter so

to explain why.

What / When, a film programme, a performance programme, a lecture

much at an art event, especially one of such importance. This was a

series, readings, poetry sessions, master classes in how to think,

central element in the director’s thinking. What is art and who makes

Jonathan Carroll is an independent curator based in Dublin. He is

multiple conferences and art therapy sessions and you get some idea of

it? How do we think? Who tells us what to think? What is normal?

one of the curators for the Return at the Goethe-Institut Irland. He

the amount of work that went into the exhibition and the amount of time it would take to experience and understand it all.

These questions are again evident in a far more shocking way in

has worked for Project Arts Centre and The St Patrick’s Festival.

Kader Attia’s The Repair from Occident to Extra-Occident Cultures, shown

Jonathan is a regular columnist for the Visual Artists’ News Sheet.

This invariably creates an atmosphere different to other art

in the main venue, the Fridericianum. A warehouse of sculptures based

events. It is not the place for hobnobbing or ‘being seen’, as in art fairs

on images of disfigured soldiers from the First World War are joined by

like Frieze. Instead, there is a tension clearly visible in familiar faces –

projections of before and after surgery images of faces disfigured by

their worry lines tell you they have not left enough time to see

war. These are juxtaposed with African tribal masks which proudly

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

31

education

Sarah O'Brien, Abalta, ('Sync' work in progress), 2012

Elmarie Collins, Blue Installation, 2012

Daniel Greaney, The Look of Love, 2012, vinyl collage

In Sync

Elmarie Collins, The Giant, 2012, mixed media

planning and approach, as was basic physical engagement and how the audience would encounter the work.

Daniel Greaney also approached 'Sync' by making more

maeve mulrennan describes the curatorial strategies involved in developing the exhibition 'sync', which opens at the galway arts centre in October 2012, and is aimed at creating a beneficial gallery experience for children with autistic spectrum disorder.

predetermined choices when considering the target audience for the exhibition. This included making deliberate decisions in terms of how he processed and edited the work being created in the studio, considering both the context of ‘Sync’ and the physical exhibition space at GAC. Rather than developing something that distorted and

In October 2012, The Galway Arts Centre (GAC) will host an

did not know or understand could turn out to be a complete failure.

compromised his work, Daniel felt that this process allowed him to

exhibition entitled ‘Sync’ as part of the Baboró International Festival for

Ábalta Special School in Galway City became our mentor. A day

combine different strands of his practice when making this work, that

Children.1 My co-curator, John J Twomey, and I are currently researching

of observation and dialogue with the faculty showed John and I how

he would formerly have kept separate. This provided him with the

methods and mediation techniques for children with Autistic Spectrum

much we didn’t know and helped us devise a curatorial structure. We

opportunity to develop ideas and methodologies concurrently whilst

Disorder (ASD) in a visual art context that will inform this exhibition.

witnessed methods of communication and structures to encourage

being conscious of the potential scope and possibilities for future

GAC has been mentored by Ábalta ABA School for Children with

development that was catered to each individual. The teachers know

works and projects. John, Daniel and I hoped that “anyone visiting

Autism and I have also interviewed Carolyn Chin in the V&A Museum

everything about their pupils. Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) focus on

‘Sync’ [would] view the completed work as visually engaging and also

Childhood in London, who runs a mediation programme designed specifically for children and young people with ASD.2 ‘Sync’ aims to

one child at a time and work without distraction on making the world

as a presentation of ideas, techniques and materials, not only at the

seem less chaotic. Every behaviour, success and change is noted with

link together different sources and research, providing a support

precision. The point of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is not to

disposal of visual artists but for everyone”.4 Before embarking on this project, Elmarie Collins’s practice was

network to the invited artists. Our research has raised several questions:

force a child or young person into a socially acceptable model of what

about inviting the viewer into an imaginary, otherworldly place.

How can contemporary visual art contribute to the life of a child with

they should be, but to enable them to perceive the world and understand

Participation in ‘Sync’ led her to think about the imagination and

autism? What happens to an artist’s practice when they are asked to

themselves.

sensory perception of others. The work will edge away from the idea

make work for an audience that may have difficulty with perception?

Three artists were selected, reflecting the three very different

of art as object – a precious and sometimes ephemeral creation – and

The ways in which ASD manifests itself are extremely individual.

classes in the school. Daniel Greaney, Elmarie Collins and Sarah

instead be a ‘sensory adventure’ to interact with on a real level. Elmarie

However, the common link is perception. Film director Henry Corra,

O’Brien were invited to participate based on two differing yet

has researched the action of pressure on skin or a ‘hugging machine’ as

who made a film with his autistic son George, describes autism thus:

interconnecting elements. We started by looking at the artists’ practices and existing works. Through conversation and research, we knew that

a way to calm and soothe some people with autism, invented by Temple Grandin in 1965.5 Following this theory she has created an

they would be wiling to work hard and take a risk with us.

installation that will calm and soothe the senses. Elmarie wants to

“[Autustic children] have very splintered intelligence, so that they can deal with facts really well, and they can process concrete information really well, but when it comes to the idea of making

The initial invitation extended to the artists promised that we

explore what happens when the space between audience and

connections, or empathy, it’s a severe social impairment.”3 A child’s perception of contemporary art is often critical and

would support them in developing an artwork that was still relevant to

installation collapses and becomes a genuinely immersive

their practice but also considered the audience in a new way. Process,

experience.

engaging. However, if a child has ASD, a contemporary art gallery could

materials and transparent methodologies became paramount.

John is generating a lot of mediation material in order to prepare

be a site of confusion. The Baboró International Festival for Children is

Narratives needed to be accessible and not so subtle as to give mixed or

our audience for their visit to ‘Sync’. We will provide pre-engagement

world renowned for providing arts experiences for babies up until the

opaque ideas to the audience. Every element needed to be considered.

packs with images, sounds and textures from the exhibition, as well as

age of 12 but it remains difficult for parents and schools to avail this

On a practical level, a lot can be understood by physically handling

gallery-specific PEC (Picture Exchange Communication) cards for the

formative cultural experience for children with ASD.

objects, materials and textures. This goes against the concept of a

audience that act as tools for communication. This is something that

Our curatorial aim is to provide a platform for artists to examine

‘precious art object’. It was noted at our observation in Ábalta that all of

the artists will also be involved in, as we need to sort through each

their practice from the perspective of an audience with ASD, thinking

the pupils found common ground in digital media: videos on computers

artwork and consider what elements need to be highlighted. While we

about how they can engage these children and young people. John and

and things that required activation by the viewer. A child that cannot

are being very specific, we are also listening to the advice of our

I have encouraged the ‘Sync’ artists to look at how the children and

control a compulsive behaviour for longer than five minutes can

mentors on this challenging project.

young people in Ábalta, and those who engage with the V&A, deal

search for a specific video on YouTube, adjust the image and sound and

with the world and their day-to-day lives. We know that we cannot

sit down and watch it for its duration. It was also noted that certain

‘Sync’ will open on October. Workshops for children and young

address the needs, interests and compulsions of every potential visitor,

music, namely from Icelandic band Sigur Ros encouraged calm and

people will be devised and facilitated by Áine Kavanagh and John

but through qualitative engagement with participants who are open

serenity in most children. The artists were encouraged by both Galway

J Twomey.

and trusting, we can make an exhibition that takes into consideration

Arts Centre and Ábalta to visit the school as soon as possible. Daniel

differing audience perceptions. The title, ‘Sync’ works on a basic level

Greaney is currently based in London so alternative arrangements are

Maeve Mulrennan is the Visual Arts Officer in Galway Arts

– it’s a word that is easy to pronounce and remember. It also suggests a

being made with the V&A.

Centre. She also lectures in Visual Arts Policy in Huston School of

realignment of artists’ practices towards engagement with an audience

Sarah O’Brien was chosen as we felt that her paintings and

Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway. She is a founding member of

who possesses alternative perceptions and occupy a world that can

painting interventions would be engaging for our audience. Seeing

Live @ 8 and Chairperson of Tulca Festival of Visual Art in

seem random and chaotic.

colour is a basic formative experience for most children and is also an

Galway.

After further ASD research it became obvious that expertise was

important access point into understanding a painting. Sarah also has a

needed if Galway Arts Centre was to make an exhibition of any

lot of experience working in education and with autistic children. She

significance. People with autism can be challenged by a society that has

spent two days Ábalta, which assisted in her understanding of how to

been created without their needs in mind. The ticking of a clock, a

integrate her practice with her audience – a new methodology for her.

certain colour or an unfamiliar person can trigger nothing in one

This observational research was of fundamental importance to the

person but drive another to become scared, angry or shut off completely

conceptualising of her work to be made for ‘Sync’. Materials, colours

from the world. Therefore, curating an exhibition for an audience we

and spatial dynamism were high on the list of ideas and directed her

Notes 1. www.baboro.ie 2. www.museumofchildhood.org.uk 3. From an interview with Henry Corra George at www.blog.hulu.com, 2010 4.From an email conversation between John J Twomey and Daniel Greaney, July 2012 5. www.templegrandin.com

32

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

art in the community

Holert writes of filmmaker Trinh T Minh-ha, who rethinks collaboration as something that “happens not when something common is shared between the collaborators, but when something that belongs to neither of them comes to pass between them”.7 This is an apt way to look at the mode of engagement by the student artists. They are encouraged to draw from what develops from the engagement with their community, considering their role as the artist within the chosen context and actively challenging their own Launch of 'From Context to Exhibition' at NCAD Gallery, Dublin, 2010

pre-conceived notions and assumptions, they are engaging with a community to discover something new, to move away from conventions of thinking and mobilise themselves and their collaborators to a new way of being together in the world.

Therefore, the community can act as an inspiration, an activator or a collaborator in a form of art-making that is currently at the vanguard of contemporary art practice. Over the years, the student artists have developed projects with a variety of communities and works that draw out new relations with and among these groups, examples include St Patrick’s Cathedral bell ringers, the number 51 bus

Launch of 'From Context to Exhibition', 2010, image by Susan Walsh

'From Context to Exhibition at The LAB, Dublin, 2012, image by Sally-Anne kelly

route users, a guerrilla knitting group, dog walkers, shop owners and more recently Trinity Debating Society.

From Context to Exhibition

The students are further challenged with translating their process into output for the gallery, through ‘From Context to Exhibition’. There is much focus on identity and representation in collaborative practice discourse, as noted in Kester, Bishop, Kwon and more recently in

Michelle brown talks about the learning development programme run by create, the national development agency for collaborative arts.

Holert’s Artforum article. The Learning Development Programme draws away from this somewhat tired debate and encourages the student artists to consider the presentation of work in a gallery as a challenge. Rather than trying to represent the community they have

The Learning Development Programme offers third year Fine Art

worked with, the student artists are encouraged to distil their

student artists an opportunity to engage with collaborative arts and

relations then the next logical question to ask is what type of relations are being produced, for whom, and why?”2 For Bishop, practices that

socially-engaged practice across and between disciplines spanning

employ an antagonist mode of engagement, such as those of Santiago

political processes and outcomes of their experience. ‘From Context to

visual arts, design, sculpture, performance and multimedia as part of a

Sierra and Thomas Hirschhorn, offer a more nuanced view of “relations

Exhibition’ offers an invaluable opportunity for the artist students to

supported experience to co-create work with communities of place and

with our neighbours” than those proposed by Bourriaud, as conflict

consider their audience, their mode of address and the translation of

/ or interest. The programme was initiated by NCAD in 2001 and since

and division are fundamental to the way we co-exist in society. In the

their experience in a meaningful and challenging way.

then interest and partnering relationships have grown among

case of Sierra and Hirschhorn, the community that they engage with is

The Learning Development Programme creates a space for the

educational institutions, community groups and the wider arts sector.

fundamental to the work and the types of relations that are brought

artist students to engage with an area of art making that is at the fore in

Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts, manage

into being. The ‘who’ of this collaborative equation is therefore brought

contemporary art practice today. Kester, in his recent book, The One and

and produce the programme, and have partnered, for over 10 years,

into question. It is noted by Miwon Kwon that,

The Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, sees the

engagement and find ways to present the conceptual, social and / or

with the Fine Art Department of NCAD, IADT, Tisch School of the Arts

“…many collaborative projects reveal the extent to which ‘coherent’

New York University, DIT, The LAB gallery, NCAD gallery, IMMA, This

communities are more susceptible to appropriation by artists and art

Is Not A Shop, The Arts Council and Dublin City Council.

institutions precisely because of the singular definition of their

“As the history of modernism had repeatedly demonstrated the

Several of Ireland’s leading and emerging artists are alumni of the

collective identities [and] of the easy correspondence between their

greatest potential for transforming and re energising artistic practices

programme and contribute to the artist-led training for students. They

is often realised precisely at those points where its established identity

include Jesse Jones, Seamus Nolan, Jennie Moran, Michelle Browne and

identity and particular social issues.”3 In acknowledgement of this valid observation, the course has

This Is Collective. Guest tutors have included Dylan Tighe, Louise

transformed over the last 10 years, moving away from the placement of

is most seriously at risk.”8 Collaborative practice is expanding and redefining what and how

Lowe, THEATREclub and Anne Maree Barry. Since 2009, Create have

students with so-called ‘coherent’ communities, to allow for a more

arts practice is conceived. The fundamental tenets of the practice are to

also invited international guest tutors including Peggy Shaw, Stacy

nuanced approach. Student artists on the course generate, form or

draw on a variety of voices to open up the notion of the single author,

Makishi, Nic Greene and Bruno Humberto. The programme currently

identify their own ‘community’ to work with. This has created further

while exploring the artist’s relationship to contemporary society. It

runs over a nine week period and culminates in a celebratory art event

crucial challenges and opportunities for the students, leading them to

encourages student artists to consider their practice in relation to

‘From Context to Exhibition’ in a key Dublin city gallery.

question assumptions within their practice, as well as considering the

different facets of society. Create and their partnering universities and

social and cultural context for their work: offering them the chance to

arts organisations see this fissure in the accepted conception of what

really consider who they are working with and why.

arts practice is and are empowering their student artists with skills and

Students receive an intensive arts-led orientation and training before embarking on a six-week short-term creative project with a community they have identified. Lynnette Moran, Research and Development Producer at Create, programmes this training. Students

Grant Kester in Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art asks,

proliferation of collaborative practice as ‘a paradigm shift within the field of art’. He writes,

awareness within contemporary art. Collaborative practice in its many forms continues to offer an exciting space in which to develop ideas, to

are guided through an introduction to the critical framework in which

“Is it possible to develop cross-cultural dialogue without sacrificing

engage with different walks of life and to draw the audience into the

this practice sits, encouraging an engagement with theoretical and

the unique identities of individual speakers? And what does it mean for

work in new and exciting ways. The Learning Development Programme

conceptual concerns for collaborative practice and posing several

the artist to surrender the security of self-expression for the risk of

is a key element in the education of student artists in an expanding

questions: What is collaboration? What are the possible modes of

inter-subjective engagement?"

As proposed by Kester, this is the most fundamental challenge for

field of arts practice.

engagement with a community? How is a community defined? How will collaborative practice inform the development of the student

the student artists embarking on the programme. They must engage

Michelle Browne is an artist and curator based in Dublin. She is a

artist’s contemporary arts practice?

with alternative methods of art-making from that of a purely studio-

regular guest lecturer on Create's Learning Development

Over the course of the last decade there has been much debate

based practice (which forms the basis of their art university education),

Programme and has written for the VAN, Circa and Create News.

around the nature of engagement, with notable texts such as Miwon

while grappling with the many voices comprising the community of

Kwon’s One Place After Another, Grant Kester ’s Conversation Pieces,

their choosing. Tom Holert, in his recent essay for Artforum, quotes

Nicolas Bourriaud’s Relational Aesthetics, and Claire Bishop’s 'Antagonism

Mira Schor, the feminist artist, highlighting how “the particular

and Relational Aesthetics' – all part of extensive reading introduced through the training, offering a starting point for the initial critical

activation of the individual immersed in a collective with a shared goal entails ‘a peculiar relief in going outside the self’”.5 It is this ‘going

interrogation of engagement and collaboration.

outside of the self’ that the Learning Development Programme is

4

Relational aesthetics are defined by Bourriaud as “a set of artistic

promoting. The programme guides the student artists in ways of

practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure

looking at their own practice and exploring how this can relate to the

the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an

people around them and to their everyday context. The participants are

independent and private space”. Bourriad adds that “it seems more

therefore encouraged to look around themselves, to see who is next to

pressing to invent possible relations with our neighbours in the present than to bet on happier tomorrows”.1 Students are invited to consider

them in the line for the bus, at the bank, at a rock concert, and consider the entre nous, that which is between them.6 The entre nous does not just

this text in relation to Claire Bishop for example. For Bishop, “The

present us with the presence of an ‘other’ to cause us to consider our

quality of the relationships in relational aesthetics are never examined

position in the world; it offers the locus for an engagement where both

or called into question”. She asks, “If relational art produces human

have equal weighting in the experience.

www.michellebrowne.net Notes 1. Nicholas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, Les presses du réel, Dijon, 2002 (first published 1998) 2. Claire Bishop, 'Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics' in October, fall 2004, no 110, (this article was written prior to the release of Claire Bishop’s new book Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, which I am sure will stir the debate on further) 3. Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2004 4. Grant Kester, Conversation Pieces: Community and communication in Modern Art, University of California Press, 2005 5. Tom Holert 'Joint Ventures: The State of Collaboration’, Artforum, February 2011 http://artforum.com/inprint/issue=201102&id=27403 6. For an in depth discussion on this see Maurice Merleau Ponty The Phenomenology of Perception, London, Routledge, 1962 (first published 1945) 7. Tom Holert 'Joint Ventures: The State of Colaboration’ in Artforum, February 2011 http://artforum.com/inprint/issue=201102&id=27403 8. Grant Kester, The One and The Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, Duke University Press, Durham, 2011

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

33

Art in Public

Art in Public public art commissions; site-specific works; socially-engaged practices; and various other forms of 'art outside the gallery'. untitled

father thames banner Title: Father Thames Banner Artist: Sinead Smyth Commissioner: Ilex Urban Regeneration, DerryLondonderry Commission Type: Schools-based project Project Partners: Thames Festival Trust, HSBC, British Council, City of London, Ilex, Derry-Londonderry.

Date: December 2010 Unveiled: February 2011 Budget: €325 Description: This project work was based on

Title: Untitled

research by second year students, on our given

Artist: Annabel Konig Location: Fairview Community Nursing Unit, Dublin

theme ‘pollution’. Last year students had based their artwork on the Foyle. This year we tackled the river Thames, and the 'Great Stink' of 1858 was our

Commissioner: HSE Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme Date: Spring 2011

starting point. Images of ‘Old Father Thames’ emerging from the heavily polluted river linked to figures of Olympian men and Neptune. As a group,

Unveiled: Spring 2012 Description: A series of 31, colour, A1 photographs

the students, teacher and artist created a larger than life figure woven from willow, a clay mask and urn.

were placed in three wards in the Community

We constructed a willow sculpture combining the

Nursing Unit. The work was chosen by a committee

theme of 'Old Father Thames' and the 'Green Man'.

though a series of presentations. The range of images

This addressed the environmental aspect, as one use

chosen were intended to instil and evoke memories

of willow is to filter waste water and the green man

and stories from the residents as well as inspiring

is symbolic of the environment. Having also

conversations and dialogue between the clients and

researched the concept of 'leaving no trace', the

their visitors. The photographs focus on the clients’

students decided that the figure would be burned in

original neighbourhoods as well as landscapes and

a ceremonial way. The ashes collected and placed in

animals.

a ceramic urn. Students designed and made a ‘Green

www.annabelkonig.co.cc

Here you go

Man’ ceramic mask. All the materials burned were natural and the carbon foot print was offset by the planting of trees on the exact site of the fire, recycling nutrients. www.sineadsmyth.net

six moorings and a silent thread

Title: Here You Go Artist: Tonya McMullan and Jordan Hutchings Location: Belfast Project Partners: PS2 and Belfast Exposed Unveiled: 19 July 2012 Budget: £600 Description: Here You Go began as an art project taking place within a mile radius of PS2, Donegall Street, Belfast. Participants were invited to mark a place of significance on a map detailing the mile radius and writing their reasons on the reverse. Since then, each of the 60 locations have been photographed as they are today. The role of the artists is that of mediator, finding an image that captures the place as it is today whilst following instruction from the few words left by the initial contributor. All 60 images have been made into postcards, put on display at Exchange Space, Belfast Exposed in July 2012. The next phase of Here You Go is a further exploration of place and locality. Artists Amy Brooks, Colm Clarke, Charlotte Bosanquet and Aisling O'Beirn have made interventions or actions at a number of the locations. These photo actions have been remade into a new set of postcards now in circulation throughout Belfast.

Title: Six Moorings and a Silent Thread Artist: La Cosa Preziosa Commissioner: Offally County Council Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme Date: November 2011 Unveiled: June 2012 Budget: €10,000 Description: Positioning itself between soundscape and experimental documentary, this piece creatively

MARTIN HEALY Last Man until november 3

interprets perceptual experiences as well as the relationship between environmental spaces and the sonic environments they create. In its consideration of themes of reality, memory and representation and in the exploration of reciprocal influences between the Grand Canal and its communities, this project is embedded with a strong ethnographic spirit. The

artist talk /6pm/ thursday 11 october

public can experience the work in installation form around the country as part of a Grand Canal themed touring exhibition (currently at the Waterways Ireland visitors’ centre in Dublin), with the soundscape also scheduled for radio broadcast and festival presentation internationally.

Image ©Last Man (2011) Martin Healy courtesy of Rubicon Gallery, Dublin

part of its ongoing screening series by Irish and internawww.crawfordartgallery.ie

34

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

September – October 2012

REGIONAl CONTACT

Regional Contact

projects, public programmes and in and outbound residencies”. The ‘What Can We Do’ seminar addressed the role and function of education and outreach programmes in the field of art, featuring Damien Duffy (Void Art School), Lindsey Fryer (Head of Learning, Tate Liverpool), Rosie Lynch (Curator, Commonage), and Paul O’Neill

Northern Ireland: Feargal O'Malley

(curator and educator).

Not only are they putting on a really interesting programme, they also provided a free bus from Belfast to the talks and exhibition openings. Now how’s that for service? I can only wish the Co-Directors

AlONgSIDE every series of exhibitions sits the public participation

nonsense that leaves everybody temporarily stunned and scrambling

/ Curators (Aileen Burns and Johan Lundh) good luck with their bold

programme (talks / lectures / seminars) that is, in my opinion, an

for the ejector seat for the perpetrator. I repeat, this is a talk and not a

and refreshing programme and hope that this new approach succeeds.

underrated and undervalued component of any successful arts

form of group therapy!

The laid-back presentation given by the mercurial Damien Duffy

experience. Some organisations take this element lightly and roll out

Luckily, not all talks / seminars follow the format described above.

was a breath of fresh air and focused on his work with young students

all the old favourites; others invest a lot of time and effort for all to see.

Recently, I attended one of the Golden Thread Gallery’s series of lunch

for the Arts School at the Void, an exemplary model of autonomous art

Some events can be illuminating and well thought out, providing

time talks by Robert Peters (Director of the Seacourt Print Workshop,

school projects that are now widespread in current contemporary art

genuine moments of insight and thought-provoking explorations of

an internationally respected facility) that coincided with an exhibition

practice. Duffy shifted gears with ease when describing his students’

the exhibition / topic viewed in a new and interesting way. Others

of work by the artist Nuala Gregory. The talk covered three main

work, moving from theoretical to humourous depictions in an

come from the ‘cream cracker challenge’ school of thought: a bit dry

strands of the organisation’s programme: professional development,

absorbing way. The artist in residence plays a unique role at the Void

and hard to swallow.

education and research. I have spoken with Robert numerous times

Art School, acting as guide and tutor – a characteristic distinctive to

If I can be so bold as to recommend some basic house-keeping

about Seacourt and have been lucky enough to visit the workshop. Yet

this institution. To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, “…for he is a man of

suggestions concerning talks / lectures / seminars I would firstly

I was still fully engaged for the duration of the slide show. He managed

infinite resource and sagacity”. So, anybody truly interested in adding

suggest leaving the PHD thesis at home. In my experience, most people

to combine serious intention with a lightness of touch and I actually

an inspirational educational element to his or her programme, that has

can usually only keep up for a minute or so before all the terminology

came away with genuinely new information through his clear and

a real and long-term afterlife, take note. I think this one will be hard to

comes crashing down around them like a wall of sonorous noise. Also,

considered definition of print (feel free to get in contact with him, I’m

beat.

is it too much to ask that the dust be blown off the presentation before

sure he would love to wax lyrical about the much maligned medium

the talk has happened and not during it? How many times have you

and its meaning).

feargal@visualartists-ni.org

heard the same idea trotted out, leaving you with the feeling that you

Another recent seminar I attended was held at the CCA Derry-

have been served yesterday’s special? Secondly, there is the perfunctory

Londonderry, and, in their own words, “Centre for Contemporary Art

Q&A session. What typically occurs is a rupture in the tumbleweed

Derry-Londonderry fosters a wide range of artistic, curatorial and

silence with an ill-defined question / statement of pure muscular

critical practices through four streams: on-site exhibitions, off-site

RHA AUTUMN SEASON

www.visualartists-ni.org

The LAB gallery presents: The Red Stables’ Irish Residential Studio Awardee 2010 – 2011:

GROUND FLOOR & FIRST FLOOR GALLERIES

James Merrigan thelastwordshow and THE CUBE

Rachel Tynan Cut Throat

Stephanie Rowe, Untitled Untitled, 2012, Oil on panel, 10 x 13.5 cm, Image courtesy of the artist

7 Sep – 28 Oct FUTURES 12: Lucy Andrews, Peter Burns, Caoimhe Kilfeather, Ed Miliano, Jim Ricks, Stephanie Rowe Gavin Murphy On Seeing Only Totally New Things / Something New Under the Sun 7 Sep – 4 Nov

17th September – 20th October 2012 (Preview on 16th September 2012)

Julie Merriman Draw full size

7 Sep – 21 Dec Michael Warren RHA Predella Seán Keating and the ESB Enlightenment and Legacy Admission Free

GALLAGHER GALLERY / 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 +353 1 661 2558 / info@rhagallery.ie

The LAB Foley Street Dublin 1 T: 01 2225455 E: artsoffice@dublincity.ie Open Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm www.thelab.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2012

35

residency

Colin Darke, 1 March 1968, 2011

Colin Darke, 1 March 1968, 2011

Colin Darke, For Courbet III, 2011

Courbet's Apples

War demonstration was organised by the students of the Architectural College located next door to the BSR. With the deployment of a large number of police, the demonstration soon resulted in a riot, with a Fiat

Colin Darke describes his residency at the british school at rome, completed on an arts council of northern ireland fellowship.

500 overturned and set alight at the steps of the BSR and a pitched battle (the Battle of Valle Giulia) ensuing on and around the stairs leading to the Villa Borghese Park.

Towards the top of this flight of steps is a tarmac area that was damaged as a result of heavy snowfall in February. I removed 361 parts of the broken tarmac and wrote out a Pasolini poem about the riot onto

I think most artists would agree that continuous self-criticism is essential in order to avoid complacency and to create potential for

shows in which I took part was a collection of disparate pieces, some

them. This poem was controversial at the time as the author expressed

unrecognisable as mine.

his support for the police, who came largely from poor, working-class

development of practice. The alternative contexts offered by the right

During the second half of the residency I made two large-scale

backgrounds as opposed to the privileged, middle-class students. Using

residencies can make invaluable contributions to this process. The

installation pieces for two separate exhibitions. In addition to the end-

this poem – which I consider a foolish, ultra-leftist text – was the first

British School at Rome (BSR) residencies are perfect in this respect.

of-residency exhibition at the BSR, I was selected for a group show at

time I have included a piece of writing I disagree with in my work. As

Almost all artists come out of their residencies acknowledging a

the nearby Romanian Academy. This latter show, ‘Spazi Aperti’, is an

well as this modern reference, the work was directly influenced by the

significant influence on their practice.

annual event consisting of a curated show selected from residents at

fragments of ancient inscriptions to be found in museums and walls around the city of Rome.

Completing my PhD a couple of years ago – another significant

the many international academies in Rome. The pieces made for these

change of context – made a huge impact on my practice, but the

two shows were both text works, and in that sense no great departure

At the end of the exhibition, and the last day of the residency, a

resultant art work proved to be a conclusion rather than the basis for

from what I’d made previously, but the objects used were three-

number of fellow residents and I carted the work back to the steps from

further development. The opportunity to take up a residency at the

dimensional and moved from the wall to the floor. My previous work

which they came, the words scattered, all meaning removed. Since my

BSR, therefore, was a chance to give myself a further kick in the arse

has been defined as ‘installation’, which is open to debate, but these

return to Ireland the work has been disappearing, people taking its

through working within a new and challenging environment.

pieces can be described as such without ambiguity.

parts to keep as souvenirs, scattering it further.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland Fellowship takes place

I think the shift came directly from experiencing the city of Rome,

The residency provided me with the luxury of time, and provided

every two years. Previously, the residency had lasted for nine months,

for two reasons: After a period of time, my touristic relationship to the

me with the opportunity to visit the many museums and sites of

but this year ACNI was compelled, for budgetary reasons, to reduce it

city changed (planned visits notwithstanding) to what might be

historical and artistic importance offered by Rome and its surrounding

to six. For me, those six months were a period of intensive and dedicated

described as dérive, absorbing the city without intent; and, in a more

area. In addition, I found myself in the company of people who then

work as well as being the best craic, and proved to have just the impact

direct sense, the architecture and sculpture, predominantly ancient

had a significant impact on my work. The residents, who came from

I’d hoped for.

and Renaissance, impacted on my immediate sense of space within the

diverse areas of research and practice, interacted in such a way that

studio and the gallery.

opportunities arose to consider those interests from new perspectives.

BSR residencies are not only for artists – archaeologists, classicists, art historians and architects surrounded the six or seven artists selected.

The first floor piece I made (For Courbet III - Les mains de Jeanne-

The relationships have continues in one or two ways: I met a

Interaction with these disciplines is at least as important as engagement

Marie) was for the ‘Spazi Aperti’ show and followed on directly from

number of artists in Rome and have subsequently been invited to hold

with the other artists. This is where the importance of mealtimes

previous work, looking at the relationship between Gustave Courbet’s

a solo show later this year in an artist-led gallery in the town of Livorno,

comes in. The BSR is very English, often compared to a public school,

still-life paintings of apples during his imprisonment for his part in the

close to Pisa. Furthermore, an archaeologist and I have submitted a

and this is most clearly signified by the dinner bell. At 8.00 am, 1.00 pm,

Paris Commune of 1871. The text was also from 1871, a Rimbaud poem

proposal to make site-specific work with an archaeological project near

4.15 pm and 8.00 pm the bell promptly rings and all residents dash, like

about the role played by women on the barricades during the massacre

Rome. If successful, we hope to take this 'odd couple' relationship

Pavlov’s dogs, to the dining hall for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and

at the end of the Commune, titled Les Mains de Jeanne-Marie. Therefore,

between our disciplines a step further, resulting in new approaches for

dinner respectively. The dining table is the point where intellectual

this piece did not respond directly to my experience of Rome, but did

us both.

dialogue takes place and thus the focal point for exchanging experiences

conform to the theme of the show, that of the dialogical relationships

of Rome and individual research.

between the individual and the urban landscape, on my part

Colin Darke is a Belfast-based artist, who has exhibited widely

The majority of residencies, which vary in length, take place in

paradoxically signified by the apples with which the piece was

over the past two decades. Forthcoming exhibitions include Tulca

three-month semesters, between September and June. An exhibition of

constructed. Courbet’s apples stood as a metaphor for the dead

and a solo show at Carico Massimo in Livorno, Italy.

the artists’ work is held at the end of each semester. I treated my first

Communards whose bodies littered the streets of Paris and were thus

three months as a period of experimentation; my practice was

removed from their rural origins.

influenced by the information I absorbed and my experience of the city.

The piece for the BSR show (1 March 1968) was again text-based

The work I made during this time came from a number of angles and

and again laid out on the gallery floor. This time, however, both the

included references to research carried out by resident classicist

form and the content were specific to Rome, and indeed to Valle Giulia,

historians and archaeologists. My contribution to the first of the two

the area in which the BSR is situated. On 1 March 1968 an anti-Vietnam

www.britishinstitute.org

Public Art Commission Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invites submissions from artists and /or craft designers / makers for a public art commission

related to the Central Library and Cultural Centre being built at Moran Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. The commissioners are seeking a permanent artwork and the total budget for the commission is €54,000.

The commission is open to artists, sculptors, lighting designers, craft designers, etc. Proposals are invited from artists working either on their own or in collaboration with others. Selection will be by way of a two-stage open submission competition.

Stage One closing date: Friday 5 October 2012

The full brief and accompanying site maps are available to download at www.dlrcoco.ie/arts

Further information available from: Ciara King, Assistant Arts Officer Arts Programme Development dlr County Council E: cking@dlrcoco.ie T: 01 271 9529

Bronze Art, Fine art Foundry

Accept no compromise in the quality of your work, come work with the specialists.Best quality guaranteed everytime at competitive prices.

For your next project contact: David O’Brien or Ciaran Patterson Unit 3, Gaelic St, Dublin 3, Ireland.

Tel: 353-1-8552452 Fax: 353-1-8552453 Email: bronzeartireland@hotmail.com

www.bronzeart.ie

NEW FAITH LOVE SONG GARRETT PHELAN

IRISH MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

NEW GALLERIES 22 JUNE – 23 SEPTEMBER 2012

MILITARY ROAD, KILMAINHAM, DUBLIN 8, IRELAND T + 353 1 612 9900 INFO@IMMA.IE WWW.IMMA.IE

PLASTIC 18 AUG ART -13 OCT Barbara Knezevic Magnhild Opdøl Seamus McCormack Curated by Hilary Murray Arbor (Sep 21st - Oct 13th) At a certain juncture during Plastic Art certain works will be re-addressed in light of the current display and how it is received. This delicate adaptation of the work will be referred to as an ‘Arbor’ or branching.

Magnhild Opdøl, Atmoic No.79, 2012

01 451 5860 INFO@RUARED.IE WWW.RUARED.IE

West Cork Arts Centre, North Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork. t: + 353 28 22090 e: info@westcorkartscentre.com www.westcorkartscentre.com

Dermot Seymour, A Hereford nods in awe at the 5th batt. North Irish Horse who perished of pestilence and malaric fever on the 4th day of the battle of Omdurman, oil on canvas, 1989

Dermot Seymour Selected Paintings 1987 - 2012 18 August - 22 September Dermot Seymour in conversation with Gemma Tipton, writer, critic and Guest Artistic Director, Kinsale Arts Festival Friday 17 August at 6.30pm

50% DISCOUNT OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE IRISH ARTS REVIEW FOR VAI MEMBERS!

James L Hayes The Essence of taste...

3 October - 17 November Multi-disciplinary, sensory-based sculptural installations exploring issues related to both environmental and economic conflict.

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Tel: +353 1 6793525 Online: www.irishartsreview.com

Motion Capture Drawing and the Moving Image curated by Ed Krčma and Matt Packer

Arts Council of Northern Ireland Developing the arts in Northern Ireland

Arts Council of Northern Ireland, MacNeice House, 77 Malone Road, Belfast BT9 6AQ. T: +44 (28) 9038 5200. W: www.artscouncil-ni.org. E: info@artscouncil-ni.org

Image: Brendan Jamison, Green JCB bucket with holes. Arts Council Collection

Pierre Bismuth Duncan Campbell Tacita Dean Brian Fay Tom Hackney William Kentridge Alice Maher Henri Matisse Henri Michaux Susan Morris Ailbhe Ní Bhriain Dennis Oppenheim

MOTION CAPTURE: Drawing and the Moving Image until 4 November 2012 An extensive programme of curated events, talks, art courses and workshops takes place throughout the exhibition run.

Lewis Glucksman Gallery University College Cork Tel + 353 21 4901844

Gallery opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 2 - 5pm

www.glucksman.org

Closed Mondays

Áiléar Lewis Glucksman, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh, Éire Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Ireland

irish bronze Dedicated to the faithful reproduction of the sculptor’s vision

T: 01 454 2032 E: irishbronze@eircom.net W: www.irishbronze.ie

Willie Malone: casting sculpture for over two decades Kilmainham Art Foundry Ltd. t/a Irish Bronze, Inchicore Rd and Griffith College, Dublin 8

RETURN 2012 Claim your share

Culturefox.ie is the definitive online guide to Irish cultural events, giving you complete information about cultural activities both here and abroad.

Return is the service through which IVARO distributes a share of photocopying licence fees to visual creators.

To find out what’s on near you right now, visit Culturefox.ie on your computer or mobile phone.

Download the FREE App available now for:

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If your artwork or photograph has been published in Ireland in a book, magazine or periodical you may be entitled to claim a share of Return. royalties.

See www.ivaro.ie/return for further details

T: 01 672 9488

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NEWS VIEWS 2012 G N K S H E S K A V A N L X

N K A Q F WG H O A P U UA I G H TD A T D SF F H I SD X Z V BN R W H CW Z S A CR M U N EQ O N G ZX F A I WJ Y R N QS O P G EG A E T OP S AWCV R T E WA U Y U O P KA R UWMC Z I ER D V C A E R I N G JA I N S T A L L A T I O C QW E V Q B N Z AB Q L K MN S A T R S I X E R Y L M E Z C SE P O K Y R CMC A BL W A S Z I R U S U RC N R A I F Z L P A RM A V Z T J F V A T A I R S G F W A H S T GA A F A S Z F L T A AA Z A R A G E A P A AB A A A E A A H A Y AA J Q R F I U D Y Y O I A Z A S A G A S P JA E I G H T A H A A FH B O X E D A R T A VD A M A P AWHMG ZH Z C P D J S A T A GA A S O KWA G D A HF W I A U A D H T R Y J A N R Z R L A G F MC C R N D T I A A Z VD D A C A Z N E W Y OR S O H B V WA R A AS G A V R H O Y A S P I H S F Z A M A B Z EB E A R A N C E A A AR A J A P M A G AW FA A M E T A V A C S MG P F C C R N A A A AJ W A F A A I D H AA WD O L H B H J V I A E S S Y D N E Y T KD AM F S WC G PL S H P I F AG

F R J H T E M P E R A T U R E C O N T R O L L E D T R U C K A G O F D G A A K K A R A S V A M O A P S V

G Y Y A K I U I D V U R GM B O V N V L X A O K E R Z X R T F Q K E X E M K Y R T A K G U R F T A A A R Y A D H A T I P A K S J G K I A A X R A D A T A Z A OO F A H Z WR G Z B A I O A C P A D R E Z T A A

J L L P L F H K L D S D F I D U B L I NWN O D S G N E WO Y M N J N I C D I E S Z F Z O E R C G L Z W L L E O I P R U L U L I L S L S M S A P E V A E P S K J A S C E N C J H S O C D T R D U J R Y O B C I Y T R Y U H J K L O T Q I X Z MN X D N HW T R T V X Z X A R I P O A U I O Z N OG H T E N A T MD U S N E D A R P A G D F W E WQ L D H Q S D V C E T U T S D G C I L O U Y T WS S R E E C O K J F V Y C N P W S B A F A J S N T Z A Y U R Z R S A A Z F G A I A K H I G C A A M K Y T A C A L O T A A B I A B A C H A F A H J O Z J A T A C N Q F H L F B A A H CM A O I M A A A P F C N A A F S A M R D A A B T C T L O I L O N P J N E A R P M A H O A A L T D V G A C A A E A G H C S A Z E P A E A D P A H B A M N A A T H P T AG I P A M A K H J R R D L D S A N R D A L V P A E A I F D F T J H K Z WR H C R NM J S KW T Z Y F N P DM A F K I H S A

C X O E D V G U O Q P Z

C U S F M H O A Y

J F Y O T S P

K U A C A

— Fire Station Artists’ Studios’ annual newsletter available from mid-October 2012.

Includes commissioned essay by Jennie Guy as part of Fire Station’s ongoing support of art writing.

— Free download on www.firestation.ie/projects/publications or contact artadmin@firestation.ie for your copy in October.

Skills Programme 2012

— 5 & 6 October Introduction to Audio Recording & Editing for Moving Image 18 & 19 October Workshop with sculptor Mariele Neudecker — Further information and booking form on www.firestation.ie/skills — Fire Station’s Skills Programme is continuously being updated.

Check out our website, follow us on Facebook or get in touch if you would like to be on our mailing list.

WWW.MAURICEWARD-ARTHANDLING.COM E: MOVINGART@MAURICEWARD.COM UNIT J10, SWORDS BUSINESS PARK, SWORDS, CO. DUBLIN. T: +353 1 840 9099

CAST25

CAST Ltd. 1a South Brown St Dublin 8 www.cast.ie tel: 01-4530133

Contact Leo or Ray for your next project

Further information: www.firestation.ie / email – artadmin@firestation.ie / phone – +353 (0)1 806 9010

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