Visual Artists' News Sheet - 2011 January February

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The Visual Artists’ news sheet

issue 1 2011

January – February

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Contents

Introduction

Introduction

January – February 2011

Contents

Welcome to the 2011 January / February edition of the Visual Artists News Sheet. Happy New Year!

1. Cover Image. Andrew Duggan Hole 2009 5. Roundup. Recent exhibitions and projects of note.

Despite the generally bad news filling every media channel and format, the contributors to this edition of the VAN report and comment on a range of inspiring initiatives and strategies, that counter the threats to supports for the arts and offer constructive responses to the wider socio-economic situation.

Maeve Mulrennan reports on the upsurge in artist led activity in Galway City, while our regular columnist Mark Fisher is impressed by the spirit and potential to the UK student protests. Alternative approaches to the potential of architecture – other than just for property speculation and ‘development’ – are explored in Cliodhna Shaffrey’s profile of the ‘Commonage’ project in Kilkenny, and Katherine Waugh’s report on Mermaid Arts Centres recent ‘Unbuilding’ exhibition.

In this edition of the VAN we are also delighted to present an exclusive two-page interview with Oliver Dowling and Rachael Thomas of Dublin Contemporary 2011, that explores the aims and ambitions of this major international art event. Visual Artists Ireland are an official partner of DC2011 and we will be offering regular coverage in the run up to the event – as well as producing a special edition for the VAN to coincide with the show. Further details can be found at www.dublincontemporary. com Sarah Baume reports on another ambitious project, scheduled to take place in Cork, in March, entitled ‘Terminal Convention’ – which will see a large scale international contemporary art exhibition held in a disused terminal building at Cork Airport. And as usual there is much more – all the latest news, opportunities and profiles of a diverse variety of recent art events and projects.

Our cover features information of the new VAI Student Pack, which has be specially put together for the benefit of visual and applied arts students and recent graduates making the transition into professional practice in Ireland. It’s a must! Student members receive the pack for free when they join VAI. VAI’s programme of professional development training workshops and seminars continues throughout 2011. We have worked in collaboration with the National Sculpture Factory in Cork to offer master classes by Nigel Rolfe and Daphne Wright. Rolfe and Wright will be presenting their master classes in Dublin and Cork during March. Further information about our professional development programmes, will be announced soon on the VAI website and in the e-bulletin.

The new issue of Printed Project – issue 14, The Conceptual North Pole is now available from gallery outlets in Ireland and internationally. The issue looks at visual arts crossovers with literature of all kinds. Copies can also be purchased from Amazon.co.uk Members of Visual Artists Ireland should note that they are entitled to purchase the copies of Printed Project, at the discounted price of E5.00 (including P&P) – offer available from www.printedproject.ie

5. Column. Mark Fisher. The Game Has Changed 6. Column. Sarah Searson. How to be a Mensch 7. Column. Jonathan Carroll. Failure, Success and Engagement.

8. Column. Chris Fite-Wassilak.Real Art Top Ten 2010.

9. Column. Eamonn Maxwell. Come Together.

10. News. The latest developments in the arts sector.

11. Regional Profile. Visual arts resources and activity in Kerry 14. Conference. Central & Indispensable. Joanne Laws reports on ‘Writing Irish Art History’ a research day

held at TRIARC, Dublin.

15. Profile. Airport Art. Sara Baume introduces ‘Terminal Convention 2011’ – a major project that will

place on the site of the former Cork International Airport.

16. Profile. Polyphonic Public Conversation. Rachael Thomas and Oliver Dowling talk to Jason Oakley about

the background, aims & ambitions of Dublin Contemporary 2011

18. Profile. Ghost Modernism. Katherine Waugh reports on ‘Unbuilding’ (21 August – 17 October 2010) 19. Art in Public: Profile. Return to Sender. Claire Meaney Talks to Emily Robyn Archer about ‘the Post

Room Project’ at Waterford Regional Hospital.

21. Art in Public: Profile. Art or Social Engineering? Aisling Prior reports on Jochen Gerz’s 2 – 3 Streets

project for the Ruhr Valley, Germany.

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

27. Conference. Joining the Dots. Sara Baume reports on ‘Making in Two Modes’ a conference on the cross-

overs between the visual arts and writing, that was held at University College Cork and the Crawford

Art Gallery, Cork.

28. Laughism. Laughism. Cartoons by Borislav Byrne.

29. Focus. United State. Maeve Mulrennan, Galway Arts Centre’s Visual Arts Officer reports on the artist-led

movement in Galway City.

30. Conference. Things could be Otherwise. Jesse Jones reports on ‘Approaches to Collaborative Arts

Practice’ a conversation between Malaysian artist Chu Yuan and Mick Wilson of gradcam, an event held

at Dublin Civic Offices.

31. Art in Public: Roundup.

32. Regional Contacts. Visual artists ireland's regional contacts report from the field.

33. Profile. Honouring Creativity & Craft. Anne Callanan talks to Deirdre Quail, acting Curator, FE

McWilliam Studio & Gallery.

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34. Profile. Architectural Essence. Cliodhna Shaffrey profiles ‘Commonage’ a project merging art and

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

5

January – February 2011

COLUMN

Mark Fisher

The Game Has Changed

Roundup

Roundup

with a series of screenings at The Exchange Collective Arts Centre, Dublin during the summer of 2010 and continued with further screenings at the renowned Lucca Film Festival in Italy and most recently at

TWO FOLD

Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway (19 Oct). www.anotheririshcinema.blogspot.com

Alan Phelan Cabbages and Things.

In my column for this publication a few months ago, I called for a new negativity, in the spirit of Herbert Marcuse’s claim that the proper function of

in fabric. The Cabbages were made in a

art was to be a “Great Refusal”. What better answer could I get than the massive

series of workshops held in Dublin and

‘NO’ painted on the grass of Parliament Square in London during one of the

Navan whereas the Things, created by

recent series of protests against government cuts in the UK? Only four weeks

Bea McMahon InDivisble. Still.

ago, this kind of negativity still seemed to be only a distant possibility in a place

The Green on Red Gallery in Dublin

like the UK. When, at a conference on public art and civility organised by SKOR

presented an exhibition of new work by

in Amsterdam at the end of October, I suggested that there would soon be

Bea McMahon, entitled ‘Two Fold’ (11 Nov

expressions of massive public anger in the UK, some of the UK-based delegates

– 11 Dec, 2010). The exhibition was centred

were sceptical, accusing me of “revolutionary nostalgia”. I was confident that

on InDivisible, a moving image work using

they were being unduly dismissive – but I still didn’t anticipate the scale of the

the apparatus of 3D film technology.

recent protests.

McMahon manually assembled a 3D

Like Ireland, the UK has been at the forefront of what I have called

screening for this exhibition in which the

“capitalist realism” – the view that, since capitalism is the only game in town, all

parallax effect is disrupted in certain

we can do is find a way of accommodating ourselves to it. Part of leftist capitalist

sequences that contain entirely different

realism has been the disavowal of people’s own pessimism and disillusion and

images for each eye thus presenting the

its projection onto others. Nothing will happen; people will remain apathetic.

audience with an irregular set of

That kind of diagnosis has been blown apart by the astonishing student

possibilities. This irregularity, according to

movement that has changed the political landscape in the UK so dramatically

the press release, reflects those “not

since November. Apathy is dead, said a placard at one of the London protests.

admitted by the secular capitalist system

The game has changed, the protestors have chanted, and so it has. What we’ve seen is an efflorescence of oppositional activity: not only massive protests – which have led to increasingly naked displays of antagonism – but occupations and flashmobs invading chainstores. Comparisons with ’68 have inevitably been made, but this movement is in many ways much more remarkable than what happened forty years ago. ’68 came at the end of the “cultural revolution” of the 60s – a series of challenges to the monolithic Marxist meta-narrative (its claim that everything could be reduced to class conflict). ’68 presupposed both a credible leftist political project (from which it could deviate) and a social democratic context (which provided the conditions for its exorbitant demands).

But both of these have definitively disappeared. They are a distant memory even for the parents of many of the teenagers who took part in the recent UK protests.

The current movement has had to build itself up almost from nothing, in a

PS2 Happenings

manifestations of the superhero The Thing

we live in which has monopolized myths in the course of generating its own”.

Previously on show was Dennis McNulty’s The driver and the passenger (6 Oct–6 Nov). The exhibition included new works in a variety of media that drew on sources from other architectures and epochs whilst responding to the gallery space. The gallery also hosted a live performance on 28 October, a collaborative between architectural historian Ellen Rowley, musician David Donohoe and the

Phelan alone, used versions of the cartoon superhero from the net. No one Thing is the same but, as contemplated by the press release, they “all seem emasculated when www.solsticeartscentre.ie

O’Kane at Crawford

Eamon O'Kane Twentieth of April Sixteen Eighty Nine

Eamon O’Kane’s installation Twentieth of April Sixteen Eighty Nine at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, (29 Oct 2010 – 22 Jan 2011). The show featured video-works,

Laura Graham – The Seance: Rule from ‘Sounding out Space, VI: The Space in Between’

paintings, drawings, and sculpture. The

PS2, Belfast presented Celi Spouncer’s

works focused on a pivotal period in the

show ‘Apple Diversity’ (7–9 Oct) which

history of Ireland, addressing and

comprised of the presentation of the

illustrating the overlapping histories of

collection of over 30 rare and locally grown

the artist’s family home in Donegal and

apple varieties. Alongside her art practice,

the siege of Derry by James II in 1689.

Spouncer works as a professional landscape

www.crawfordartgallery.ie www.art-agenda.com

artist.

the culmination of a project by Laura Sue Morris at QSS Gallery

left has long since acquiesced to capitalist realism; and, perhaps most

a sound-installation, live action and séance (18 –30 Oct 2010). The project presented

forgotten – even though it often is - that ’68 failed. The new breed of protestors

the findings of Graham’s commissioning

expect to win. They do not have the ingrained defeatism – and romanticism of

of a ‘ghost whisperer’ to visit the gallery

failure – that has been the vice of so much of the so-called radical left since the

space, along with the documentation of a

60s. Another difference between ’68 and now is the class composition of the

séance held in the venue.

protestors. Where the university students of the 60s were a small elite, many of

Recently on view was 'Drawing on

the students involved in the current wave of demonstrations are working class. today’s students are already workers, forced to do part-time – and often full-time – jobs in order to support their studies. Similarly, the Fordist model of the worker (as someone who does 40 hours a week in a factory for 40 years of their life) has long since been replaced by precarious work, which assumes “flexibility” and short-term contracts. Finally, new technology has played a crucial role in the current movement. The rapid-response nature of the protests has only been made possible by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

In the UK, the government has targeted education, the arts, public services and benefits, imposing cuts that are breathtakingly punitive. The justification for cuts in all these areas has been the capitalist realist rationale that “there is no more money”, but opponents have rightly identified this as a thin pretext used by the rump of neoliberalism in order to pursue its uncompleted ideological project of totally eliminating public space. But this has created the conditions

Illness', an exhibition of self-portraits by Janet Mullarney And Another Story

Beth Frazer (4 – 27 Nov 2010). The portraits

A dual exhibition of the works of Janet

explored links between art and art

Mullarney was recently held at two venues

therapy.

in Dublin – ‘Things Done’ took place at the

www.pssquared.org

Taylor Galleries (20 Nov - 11 Dec) and ‘Things Made ‘at the Royal Hibernian Academy (19 Nov – 22 Dec). At the Taylor Galleries, the artist’s sculptures “sat, stood and lay, conjuring up a medley of art historical references from Gothic carvings to Egyptian art from the surrealist assisted ready-mades to”. ‘Things Made’ at the RHA showcased new video works by the artist. www.taylorgalleries.ie

is the reconsolidation of a relationship between bohemia – those elements of the bourgeoisie, which disdain business values – and the working class. That

At 126 Sue Morris 'Obsessive Compulsive Drawings' Installation view, QSS, Belfast.

The Queen Street Studios Gallery Belfast recently

presented

the

‘Obsessive

Compulsive Drawings’, an installation by Sue Morris (11 Nov – 11 Dec). As the press release noted Morris’ work “explored the boundaries of drawing practice” while considering “questions of perceptions and

for an alliance between all those groups, which are ‘naturally’ hostile to neoliberalism. In terms of art and education, what we are potentially seeing here

Graham entitled ‘Sounding out Space, VI: The Space in Between’ – which comprised

THINGS DONE AND MADE

most obvious victims of capitalist realism – the young. And it should also not be

’68 was about a short-lived alliance between workers and students, but many of

gardener and ecologist.

The following show in the venue was

www.greenonredgallery.com

situation where the revolutionary left has no infrastructure and the moderate astonishingly, it has been constructed by those who had previously been the

Celi Spouncer ‘Apple Diversity’ at PS1, Belfast

cut in fabric remnants”.

CABBAGES AND THINGS A solo exhibition by Alan Phelan entitled

preconceptions of obsessive-compulsive behaviour”. www.queenstreetstudios.net

‘Cabbages and Things’ was presented

Alan Butler, work from ‘IntheBedroom OMIGOD SUBSCRIBE!!! KTHXBAI XXX’

126, Galway presented Alan Butler’s solo show, entitled ‘IntheBedroom OMIGOD

relationship – which allowed the arty working class to escape drudgery, and for

recently at The Solstice Arts Centre in

the bohemian middle class to make contact with the mutational energies of

Navan, Co Meath, (29 Oct – 27 Nov). The

(AN)OTHER IRISH CINEMA

proletarian culture - was the engine of British and Irish popular culture during

show featured two bodies of works – paper

(An)Other Irish Cinema is the title under

the 60s, 70s and 80s. Could today’s antagonism revive this? I see no reason not

Cabbages and fabric Things. Both works

which Donal Foreman, Rouzbeh Rashidi

to be optimistic.

were made in multiples, filling the galleries

and Maximilian Le Cain jointly screen

with newsprint cabbages and various

their short films. The project was launched

SUBSCRIBE!!! KTHXBAI XXX’ (26 Nov – 18 Dec2010). The exhibition is a collection of mixed media works – drawing, print, video and installation – which used “the proliferation of culture as their subject or starting points”.

6

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Roundup

Column

Sarah Searson How to be a Mensch

January – February 2011

(1)

Driving down to The Claremorris Open Exhibition from Dublin on one of those filthy wet days we had last September, I am listening to the radio. Sean O Driscoll, the CEO of Glen Dimplex, the country’s largest manufacturer, is on, calling for a three-year national pay freeze. He also calls for greater value to be

Previously on show was Niamh

over a four-hour period throughout the

Heery’s ‘BULK,’ a body of video,

cells and open areas of Kilmainham Gaol’s

photography

work

East Wing. Among those who performed

exploring “the logistics of consumerism

and

sculptural

on the night was Alastair MacLennan,

and capitalism” , (7 – 28 Oct). As the press

Aine Phillips, Amanda Coogan, Brian

release outlined the works were the

Connolly, Dominic Thorpe, Declan

product of the 24-day transatlantic voyage

Rooney, Frances Mezzetti, Brian Patterson,

the artist undertook on a freighter ship

Sinead McCann, Catherine Barragry,

from Buenos Aires to London “where she

Fergus Byrne, Michelle Browne, Ann Maria

observed the routine processes and bulk

Healy, Francis Fay, Pauline Cummins,

operations that define modern industry

Victoria Mc Cormack, Alex Conway,

and commodity culture today”.

Sandra Johnston, Helena Walsh, Meabh

www.126.ie

place of role of imagination in our society (the cynic’s listening might see a connection). To this end, Mr O Driscoll is quoting Einstein’s

(2)

www.alanbutler.in

Redmond and Niamh Murphy. www.dominicthorpe.net

assertion that

imagination is more important than knowledge. This, I guess, might not be a

TALES FROM THE ROAD

SENSE OF SPACE

INSCAPE

common premise at his boardroom table.

Sabina McMahom Girl on Cliff

September is that time of year for those who strike our budgets. Early cries for clemency begin to rise in advance of the inevitable financial amputations to

The Joinery, Dublin recently presented

come. 2010 is a year when budgets are spoken of as embodying an arc from fat,

‘Sense of Space’ an exhibition by Vanya

onto muscle and into bone. Any thinking person is feeling a bit wobbly. Back

Lambrecht-Ward (25 – 30 Nov 2010). The

though to Mr O Driscoll’s appropriation of Einstein, and to what end, for whom

works on show related to the themes of

is it opportune to polarise knowledge and imagination? The arts community

dwelling and our relationship with space.

itself has to some extent begun interpolating this call for innovation and

As the press release noted LambrechtWard’s works were concerned with “the

creativity. The weight of which is something which will be untimely put on the back foot, right back, performing itself as really useful, voluntarily careering into New Labour, Blarite territory.

Think then about a town like Claremorris, Co Mayo. A place where for the month of September for the last remarkable, 33 years, has been hosting an exhibition of visual art. Showing works of leading and emerging artists; selected by reputable curators. (This year’s curator was Lisa Le Feuvre, co-curator of the

Eimear Jean McCormack, work from 'Tales From the Road'

‘Tales from the Road’, a group exhibition featuring artists Heike Heilig, Wendy

physical experience of the built space rather than its measured reality, and the work as an object itself, contribute to a

Work from 'Inscape'

Eimear Jean McCormack and Paul La

Galway Arts Centre presented 'Inscape', a re-examining of the mediums group show, featuring artists Christine photography and painting”.

Rocque, took place at Bluewall gallery in

Mackey,

Dison, Debbie Godsell, Peter McMorris,

Marielle

MacLeman,

Julie

of

The previous show was ‘The Transport

An early sphere of the Claremorris Open Exhibition’s (COE) success and

The show presented works that were

Merriman and Ann Quinn at the Galway of the Holy House of Loreto’, an exhibition Arts Centre in October, (7 —30 Oct). The of new work by Sabina Mac Mahon (21 –

perhaps even motivation for the exhibition might have arisen from its novelty.

described as “akin to voyaging uncharted

exhibition

And it is important to acknowledge the daring development of such an

territory, testing undefined narratives and

“connection to landscape — real,

ambitious event, particularly in a secondary county town during the poor

reconsidering the familiar”. All six of the

remembered and imagined”.

economic climate of the late 1970s. The early years of this exhibition were

artists involved were members of Cork

significant, in that they contributed to the broadening of visual cultures and

Printmakers.

successful British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet.)

Corrancanvy, Cavan (7 Aug - 1 Sept 2010).

explored

Showing at

each

artist’s 27 Oct 2010).

the same time was

The following show in the space was

Nicky Larkin (7 – 30 Oct). For the show,

infrastructure was in place. The exhibition is also remarkable in that it has

‘Nexus’ an exhibition of contemporary

Larkin has created a multi-channel video

operated outside of usual motivators or drivers, which might be available to

ceramic works by artists Frances Lambe,

and sound installation, which examined

organisers in locations where critical mass is a factor. With an ethos that is

Andrew Livingstone, Michelle Maher,

some of Ireland’s most neglected housing

sensitive, inclusive and relevant to international contemporary arts practice,

Isobel Egan, Neil Read and Ross Cochrane,

estates.

the COE works to a successful strategy, which has offered compounding

(30 Oct – 23 Nov)

Vanessa Daws 'Cascade' Installation view www.galwayartscentre.ie

www.corkprintmakers.ie www.bluewallgallery.com

Vanessa Daws’ exhibition ‘Cascade’ was presented at The Linenhall in Mayo (1 – 30

WATERLILIES

The exhibition is not beholden to an institutional remit, but needs public money to survive; it doesn’t have infrastructural responsibilities of permanent

CASCADE

‘Bullets Are Rats’ a solo show by artist

placed a focus on visual arts in the region before more developed support

benefits over the years.

www.thejoinery.org

Oct 2010). As the press release noted the show explored the artist’s “ongoing

THE END OF THE NIGHT

venues or staff. It is this fluidity, coupled with the exhibition’s utilization of the

fascination with water as a source of

structure of the town itself, which is another aspect of its on-going achievement.

inspiration and of energy”. The show

How estimable is the endeavour of putting on a show like this is? It’s a dogged

featured multi media works incorporating

head-down commitment to realisation over the equivalent of a lifetime that is

works with peepholes behind which

impressive.

viewers could discover animations, film and sound pieces.

Sure, as currently constructed, the Arts in Ireland seek and need stability

www.thelinenhall.com

without systemisation, acknowledgement without embedment and the possibility of growth without the need to be parasitic, sycophantic, or directly in the paternal line. But the Arts also need to consider how to engage with the State’s various funding streams without being directly in their pay. It is also a sneaky reality that if you sign up for erosion of these principles, that if you identify yourself as of some sort imaginary solution, you decentre your value, particularly when your activities weren’t really much to do with the crisis in the first place.

The paradox now is to think about the Arts – not respond to neediness and

SHADOW PLAY Belfast Exposed hosted Shadow Play (21

Eoin Llewellyn Study for Two Figures II

“restrained palette of 15th-17th century in order to explore “the psychological effects of the portrait”. www.llewellyn.ie

forward. These are times in which recalibration not polarisation will be key.

Values like, knowledge, tenacity, and strong clear systems need to share an axle

Notes 1. Mensch is a person of considerable integrity, an applied person who gets on with work and people, possessing rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous, is someone to emulate.

2. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

illuminated by a number of spotlights. The

the show was described as utilising the

living in an era when race to the bottom, replaces the catchphrase going

Claremorris Open offers us a few good pointers.

placed on slowly revolving platforms,

in Berlin (11 Oct – 11 Nov). The works in

realm of the imagination over profit. There is a need to be mindful that we are

of life’s systems to be stabilised by seeking the common, mean or average. The

small figurines and household objects

shown at the Staatsgalerie Prenzlauerberg

painters such as Velázquez and Van Dyck”

robust confidence in the fact that the Arts are in constant flux, they are not one

Peter Feldmann. The show consisted of

by Irish artist Eoin Llewellyn were recently

appropriation particularly in a time where there is a fauxed-up interest in the

with creativity, imagination and visionary risk taking. And we need to take

Oct - 20 Dec 2010), an installation by Hans-

‘The End of the Night, Paintings 2008-2010’

work made reference to shadow puppetry,

Laura Buckey ‘Waterlilies – The possibilities of re-presentation’

an ancient form of storytelling and Mother’s Tankstation recently hosted entertainment, and early optical Laura Buckley’s new installation entitled technologies such as the magic lantern ‘Waterlilies

–

The

possibilities

of and camera obscura.

re-presentation’ (3 Nov – 11 Dec 2010). As

www.belfastexposed.org

the press release outlined the show RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW Performance Art Live presented ‘Right Here Right Now’ at Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin (4 Nov). This free event featured some of Ireland’s top performance artists and was curated by Amanda Coogan, Dominic Thorpe and Niamh Murphy.

Visitors to this event were presented with 20 live artists performing simultaneously

“comprised selected moments of the BUILDING SIGHTS artist’s accrued experiences, processed The Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin through film clips that are screened onto, presented ‘Building Sights’, an exhibition or through other reflective and transparent of new work featuring Robert Armstrong, plastic motorised structures” and that the Tadhg McSweeney and Mark Swords, (4

artist’s approach was informed by –27 Nov). This exhibition was be followed “phenomenological questioning of how by a solo show of Geraldine O’Neill’s we experience the everyday environment paintings. (2 – 23 Dec). of our world and decipher meaning”. www.motherstankstation.com

kevinkavanaghgallery.ie

7

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Roundup THE REAL AND THE UNREAL

what you think I said, but I’m not sure

Lang’s 1927 film, Metropolis, exploring

you realise that what you heard is not

themes

what I meant’, (22 Oct – 27 Nov).

surveillance and the city. The exhibition

www.annikastrom.net www.alanbutler.info www.templebargallery.com

futurism,

technology,

features works by Lisa Byrne, Martina Corry, Lydia Holmes, Allan Hughes, Jenny

DARK MATTERS

of

Keane, Fiona Larkin, Mary

McCaffrey, and Lisa Malone. www.goldenthreadgallery.co.uk

ELECTROMAGNETIC The Context Gallery, Derry, in association with Today FM presented Garrett Phelan’s two part radio / video project entitled Electromagnetic Phenomenon – James Hayes ‘Looking into the Light of Dark Matters’

Portrait of a Broadcaster Donal Dineen 2010 (8 – 30 Nov 2010). The first phase of the

Bartosz Kolata UFO, 24x18cm, oil on canvas, 2010

New paintings by Bartosz Kolata and Eoin O’Connor were presented in the exhibition ‘The Real and the Unreal’ at the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge (4 – 18 Dec 2010). The works on show were described as “visually arresting works moving between abstract and representational imagery”. www.riverbank.ie

‘Looking into the Light of Dark Matters’

work comprised Dineen broadcasting

James Hayes’ installation at the Droichead

his Small Hours radio show live from the

Art Centre, (3 Sept – 4 Oct) featured

Context Gallery; the second instalment

sculptural objects, digital projections

was video work documenting these

and sound. As the press release outlined,

broadcasts made by Phelan which was

the gallery space was occupied by bronze replica’s of polystyrene toy planes, mounted on a steel structure reminiscent of a pylon; accompanied a double screen audio / video projection of wind turbines.

put on view in the gallery. The press release described the project as exploring “analogies between energy, electricity, voice, the power of the mind and other matter”. www.garrettphelan.com www.todayfm.com www.contextgallery.co.uk

www.droicheadartscentre.com

IRISH MUG Catalyst Arts Belfast recently launched a

THE TIDE

new gallery space on the ground floor of

URBAN ANXIETY

their college court premises in Belfast, with the exhibition ‘Genuine Irish Mug’, a solo show by Irish artist Nevan Lahart (18 Nov – 11 Dec). For the show Lahart developed new works in response to the city of Belfast and in a broader sense, Northern Ireland itself. www.catalystarts.org.uk

GTG shows

Gillian Lawler – work from 'Urban Anxiety'

The Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast

Jay Roche work from ‘The Tide (Commissioned works, Systems and Interventions)’

presented ‘Art Beyond Ulster’ the seventh

The Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast presented

instalment of its series of Collective

‘Urban Anxiety’ an exhibition of new

Histories of Northern Irish Art exhibitions

paintings by Gillian Lawler, (28 Oct – 20

(15 Oct – 30 Oct 2010). Curated by Brian

Nov 2010). The press release described

Kennedy, the explored the impact of

the works as addressing “spatial,

‘The Tide (Commissioned works, Systems

international

and

structural and psychological fluctuations

and Interventions)’ an exhibition of

experiences on the visual arts in the

and schisms were considered within an

recent work by Jay Roche was shown at

region with a special focus on the British

urban framework”.

the Monster Truck Gallery in Temple

School at Rome. The exhibition featured

Bar, Dublin (12 – 23 Nov 2010). For the

works by artists including John Aiken,

show Roche worked with a range of

Ian Charlesworth, Cian Donnelly, Felim

collaborators to co-author a range of

Egan, Graham Gingles, Vivian Hewitt,

paintings and drawings, based on

John Kindness, Niamh O’Malley, Philip

imagery selected by the artists and

Napier, Eillis O’Connell, Simon Reilly

Chancel at Istabraq Hall, (12 Nov – 23

interpreted by his co-artists. As the press

and William Scott. The exhibition was

Dec 2010). The show presents images

release noted the resulting works “tread a

accompanied by a publication with

taken by Chancel during a 2005 visit the

line between subjective expression and

essays by Brian Kennedy and Brian

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

the objectivity of more process based

Ferran.

(DPRK). As the press release notes the

I GO CRAZY Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin presented ‘I go Crazy: The community halls, stage and podium’ (11 Dec 2010 – 5 Feb 2011) an exhibition by Swedish artist Annika Ström. The show features a wooden construction that resembles a stage for an event. As the press release notes “the audience are participators in the meaning taking place – the podiums await its function”. The show was curated

by Aoife Tunney, TBG&S curator in residence.

The previous exhibition at the venue was Alan Butler’s solo show ‘I know that you believe you understand

www.gillianlawler.com

LCGA offsite The Limerick City Gallery of Art’s offsite programme presented the exhibition ‘DPRK’

by

photographer

Philippe

Colin Darke’s show, ‘Parodos GTG’

exhibition offers rare glimpse of life in

was hosted at the project space of the

North Korea and Chancel’s DPRK

Golden Thread (4 – 20 Nov 2010). The

“explores the complex, shifting and

work, consisting of 60 paintings and two

fertile territory where art, documentary

animations, reproduced a short film of

and journalism meet”.

art”. www.monstertruck.ie www.open-studio.info

opportunities

the delivery of a speech by Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin.

Also part of LCGA’s off-site activities a selection of historical works from the

Previously on show in the venue

gallery’s permanent collection were

was ‘(with)in(the)visible’ which featured

show at the Hunt Museum in Limerick

works by Justin McKeown and Una

and (19 July – 23 Dec 2010). The show

Walker, “dealing with similar concepts

featured works by E. H. Bailey, Grace

but from very different perspectives –

Henry, Paul Henry, Evie Hone, Maine

one occult the other scientific” (7 – 20

Jellet, Doyle Jones, Sean Keating, Harry

Oct).

Kernoff, Thomas Kirk, Charles Lamb, Sir The current show at the venue is

John Lavery, William J. Leech, Sean

‘The M-Machine’ (2 Dec 2010 – 29 Jan

O’Sullivan,

2011) which takes place in the project

Sheppard.

space. Curated by Ben Crothers this exhibition draws inspiration from Fritz

Sarah

Purser,

Oliver

www.gallery.limerick.ie

January – February 2011

Column

Jonathan Carroll

Failure, Success and Engagement “How do you tell if your work is a success or failure?” asked Francis Halsell at the opening of In the Blind Spot­ – Marta Fernández Calvo’s intervention, at The Joinery, Dublin (6 – 12 October) (1). I was invited by the artist to respond to this question; to be honest I felt like I was playing a game of ‘pass the malodorous parcel’. So I began a monologue on where the responsibility of the success or failure of a work lies. Firstly to whom do we target success? Is it to the institution in which we are showing or the audience or even the sponsors? It is not the artists responsibility for the success of the work. It may be the curators or it may be that success is not a prerequisite at all?

Tricky questions – and the discussion concluded little more than that the success or failure of Calvo’s work may not yet have revealed itself (the old “too early to tell” defence) – or it may already have been achieved in a basic ‘relational aesthetics’ way in that the artist had simply engaged with the local community and viewers in the gallery.

Further inconclusive conversations about success, failure and engagement continued during the Spanish-themed buffet that the artist provided for the vernissage. The next morning, still digesting the jamon, rioja and all the chat, I caught a flight to Murcia in South Eastern Spain to attend the opening days of Manifesta 8 (9 Oct 2010 – 09 Jan 2011). (2). Manifesta is the crash test dummy of the contemporary art world – it takes risks and often sets itself up for a fall, with overambitious remits.

Manifesta 8 with a focus on ‘collective curating’, parachuted in an artistic team of three groups of curators –Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (Egypt / USA ); Chamber of Public Secrets (Italy / Middle East / Scandinavia / UK) and tranzit.org (Austria / Czech Republic / Hungary / Slovakia). Each of these collectives was given responsibility for artistic and curatorial approaches – resulting in the selection of over 100 artists. If this wasn’t confusing enough, the three groups also invited participation and input from further collectives; writers, film producers, social activists, philosophers and media specialists.

My abiding memory of Manifesta 8 was the number of artworks and projects that were concerned with critically unpicking exactly what is meant by ‘engagement’. Two events in particular stood out. The first was Arts Assembly a collective, who describe themselves as follows, “AA unites a diversity of actors – that is, YOU – in a participatory decision making and amphitheatrical action”. At Manifesta 8 AA described themselves as acting as a “critical organ of the curatorial process” that would evaluate “artists, Manifesta 8 and its processes and the state-ofthe-art” (3).

One of the organisers of this theatrical ‘trial’ of art, Damian Le Bas, remarked to me that “critics often write about artists without having to engage with them directly”. AA’s project put curators and artists on the defensive in a process reminiscent of art college crits. Of course what on paper seems painless, can in practise be an unsightly bloodsport. The amateur dramatics employed by AA came up against one of the intellectual heavyweights in contemporary art writing, when the Founding Editor of Third Text, Rasheed Araeen delivered a diatribe on the failures of the forum before us – “You are being a politician” and “if you find the value (of the art) is negative what are you going to do?”. Araeen’s passionate outburst sounded like someone who had experience of a time when being an artist was not so free and easy – when there were actual consequential trials of art and artists where being judged as a failure or making the wrong type of art, led to loss of livelihood, possessions or worse. Perhaps only at Manifesta could you encounter uncomfortable exchange. In comparison, many other art world forums seem to be far too mediated.

Even more awkward was Backbench, an installation of a recorded assembly of four collectives, discussing their methodologies and the place of activism in collective art practices today and the instumentalisation of contemporary practice, moderated by two art theorists / curators – namely Nav Haq and Suhail Malik. Here the art world’s cannibalism and auto-destructive nature was dramatically played out through semantic perturbation. Here are some brief quotes from the filmed exchanges: “in art there is a love of impotence and staring at your own ass”; ‘this critique stuff is wearing me out”; “I don’t function in an art context, I function in a political context”; “saying, ‘it is a form of critique’, what does that mean?”; “this word critique gives me a rash”.

Very appropriately, a work installed closest to the site of this gladiatorial encounter was Kenny Muhammad and Adam Carrigan’s text work Prayers for Art – one of which goes like this: “Where art proposes- let there be discord. Where art declares – let there be humility. Where art critiques – let there be love. Where art supports- let there be good reason. Where art fails – let there be relief.”

Karl Holmqvist’s work seemingly defied all this questioning of art and the attempts to ‘out’ failed art endeavours. Holmqvist’s performance work comprised of a raucous and repetitive rendition of the Iggy Pop song Success. Railing against a refreshingly obnoxious heckling Spanish crowd the artist intoned the mantra “here comes success, here comes success, oh, hooray success, hooray success” – until even the doubters believed it. Just shows you the power of persuasion.

Notes 1. www.martafernandezcalvo.com / www.thejoinery.org 2. http://www.manifesta8.com 3. www.TheArtsAssemby.org

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

8

January – February 2011

Column

Chris Fite-Wassilak Real Art Top Ten 2010

Roundup and Peter Morgan. The participants were;

Tumble Weed

Anastasia Artemevia, Chris Boland,

Stephen Brandes recently presented new

works

in

his

Elaine Flannery, Tom Fitzgerald, Gareth

exhibition

Jenkins, Keith Winter, Mary Clare Lyons.

‘Tumbleweed’ at the Rubicon Gallery in

A commissioned documentary by

Dublin (17 Nov – 17 Dec 2010). The So, with a slowly optimistic international art market amid more and more belttightening, will the gaps simply get wider? I’m going to ignore prediction and take the chance of the New Year to look over the past year. Once again ripping off Greil Marcus, my view of what was 2010 in no particular order: 1. The curating MA at the RCA in London for the first time in its history put on a solo show as its final presentation. 14 curators, one show. Disaster, right? Luckily they chose filmmaker John Smith, who finally got some of the attention he deserves, and particularly a chance to see his Slow Glass (1988-91) is always worth any amount of

Daniel Keane was screened which

show featured a range of paintings,

explored the creative practices of visual

posters, and collaged images that

artists Tom Fitzgerald, David Lilburn,

collectively conjured up – as the press

Fiona McDonald and composer Benedict

release remarked, “ a kind of storytelling

Schlepper Connolly.

reliant on intuitive association rather

Elizabetth Magill Turn Oil on Canvas

than analytical logic, yet at the same

GDR – a mandatory feature of East

time it is both accessible and darkly

German education, swiftly abolished

humorous”.

after the fall of the Berlin wall. Free

The previsions exhibition was Tree

Fotolab (Berlin) was the manifestation of

House (13 Oct – 13 Nov) which presented

a service and archive Collins has been

2. Je ne sais quois, aka “I don’t know what it is, but I feel strangely drawn towards

works created during the Nick Miller’s

running for the last six years whereby

it”: Trisha Donnelly at Casey Caplan in New York in May: deep lines etched into large

residency in 2009 at the Josef and Anni

inhabitants of a city are invited to submit

chunks of unpolished stone, alongside a sound loop of something like trains passing

Albers Foundation.

rolls of 35mm film, which are processed

curatorial scuffles.

www.stephenbrandes.com www.nickmiller.ie www.rubicongallery.ie

overhead.

3. I’ll gladly side-step Thomas Scheibitz’s own work, but the ‘Moving Plan B – Chapter One’ he curated at The Drawing Room concurrent to his solo show at Sprüth

and printed for free, on the understanding

invited to make a proposal for an architectural intervention in the gallery.

Visitors to the exhibition were invited to make their own contribution to the wall of scans, a live collaborative work derived from sketchbooks and research imagery. www.tableofcontents.ie

SCOPING WORLDS

Magers was a rare gathering of preparation notes, sketches, and thoughts in formation;

The following show was Elizabeth

Robert Crumb doodles, an exuberant letter from Paul Sharits, and Tacita Dean’s editing

Magill’s ‘Green Light Wanes’ (26 Nov–

notebooks. Cool.

23 Dec 2010), which presented new paintings by the artist.

4. Damien Roach’s Shiin, Jet Stream, White Earphones at the David Robert’s

www.kerlin.ie

Foundation was a loose set of playful sculptural artefacts and also a damn good set of events that took place within; where else might you get Laura Mulvey introducing a

LOOKIE LIKIE

screening of her and Peter Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx one night and a set by noise

Iontas Arts Centre in Castleblayney

rockers Temperatures? Sign me up if you know.

recently presented Allyson Keehan’s

5. ‘Damn, locked from the inside,’ or, artists who are edging just beyond criticism:

Frohburg of the Drawing Board were

that he may present any of the images as his own work.

UNFRAMED

Colin Kelleher, Edel Murphy, Adrian Clery, Diarmuid O Súilleabháin and Jan

Clodagh Murphy – work from 'Unframed'

I found Francis Alÿs’ Tate Modern show for the most part an uninspiring jumble,

exhibition ‘Lookie Likie, Mimetic

'Scoping Worlds' promotional image.

Protagonist’ (18 Nov 2010 – 4 Jan 2011).

crowded and heavy handed, over balancing his quiet modern myth-making attempts.

‘Unframed’ was a group show, featuring

As the press release noted “Keehan’s two

‘Scoping World’s at the Leitrim Sculpture

Apparently, the man can do no wrong. Christian Jankowski’s Perfect Gallery intervention

the work of 31 artists presented at the

major concerns in the work are space

Centre brought together three projects

Bluewall gallery in Cavan (27 Nov – 22

and light. She is interested in how

concerned

Dec). The exhibition notes quote the

changing one element in the set-up can

between vision, technology and history,

Spanish philosopher José Ortega y

change the whole body of work”.

(15 Oct – 15 Nov 2010). The exhibited

at the Pump House Gallery was the opposite—completely empty, getting TV personality Gorgon Whistance to do all the work and redesign the gallery, a neat re-telling of the Emperor’s new clothes and a critical success made all the more marked when immediately following the work the Council decided to reclaim the Pump House as a space for corporate events.

6. Florian Hecker at Chisenhale. I’d love to see images of people visiting this show: standing around, pulling strained listening faces in a room that is entirely blank and empty save for 10 speakers hanging from various points in the room; Hecker managed to be both confrontational and elusive.

7. Winner of the Rolf Harris Most Fun Exhibition: Space gallery in Hackney hosted the Destroy All Monsters archive for a few weeks, an energizing mash of posters, ephemera, and videos of Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw et al in top form; but first place goes to the maybe obvious choice, but it paid off, with Viz’s ‘Social Satire’ room in Tate Britain’s 'Rude Britannia' – Hogarth prints interspersed with commentary from Roger Mellie, the man on the tele, topped off with a giant comic in the middle of the room with some spot-on send-ups of the art world.

8. Biggest dud: 17 years after making 24 Hour Psycho, and over a decade of hardly showing in his home town, Douglas Gordon returned for the Glasgow Festival to bring us… 24 Hour Psycho Back and Forth To and Fro. Two screens, one shows the old work, the other shows it—wait for it—backwards. Thanks. Brilliant. Though not far off was the Serpentine’s ‘Sleepover’ night, an all night set of events, talks, music held in Jean

frame has the air about it of a naked,

the

relationships

projects were Studio Games by Yukie Hori, On / Off States by Elaine Reynolds

despoiled man. Its contents seem to spill

TOM MOLLOY

and Seeing Across Boundaries by artists

out over the four sides of the canvas and

Dunamaise Arts Centre, Laois, presented

Yvonne Cullivan, Harriet Sarah Jane

dissolve into the atmosphere.” The

an exhibition of works by Tom Molloy

Browne, Kim Doherty, Tom Hyde, J. Keith

artists featured in the show were; Aideen

(22 Oct – 18 Nov). The show featured 3

Donnelly, Christine Mackey, Carmel

Barry, Michelle Boyle, John Brady, Joey

pieces Colleagues 2003, which consisted

O’Callaghan, Bernard McCabe, Gerard

Burns, Louise Butler, Mildred Cullivan,

of 300 individual portraits of the RUC

Reilly, Celia Richard, Olivia Johnston

Yvonne Cullivan, Seamus Dunbar,

members who lost their lives in the

Murphy and Sally O’Dowd.

Gabhann Dunne, Killian Dunne, Peter

troubles; Proclamation 2009, featuring

Erikson, Caroline Fay, Pauline Halton,

the text of The Irish Declaration of

Cliona Harmey, Annette Hennessey,

Independence carved from a sheet of

Sean Hillen, Alison Kay, David Keane,

heavy watercolour paper and Standard

Christy Keeney, Edwin Lynch, Mermaid

2008, a dark slab of limestone that has

Turbulance. Ruth McDonnell, Patricia

been incised with a reproduction of the

McKenna, Clodagh Murphy, Joanne

formal protocol for lettering on

Murray, Geraldine O’Reilly, Fifi Smith,

tombstones that mark the graves of Irish

Cara Thorpe, Rikki van den Berg, Vanya

soldiers.

www.bluewallgallery.com

that they forgot to think about the audience. The first talk was the incendiary

www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

REMEMBER

www.dunamaise.ie www.rubicongallery.ie

Lambrecth Ward; Freda Young.

Nouvel’s red pavilion; organisers seemed proud enough to have done the whole thing psychoanalyst Darian Leader, whose monotone voice ranting against Inception was

www.iontascastleblayney.ie www.allysonkeehan.com

Gasset (1893-1955) “a picture without a

with

Gavin Murphy 'Remember' installation view

MOSSE The Gallery at the Roscommon Arts

enough to kill the night straight away. Hence the frenzy when Bompas & Parr brought

Hugh Lane gallery in Dublin presented

Centre,

Mosse’s

‘Remember’, a show by Gavin Murphy, (4

out their ‘Power Trifle’ that came with the warning, ‘trifles either contain calming

exhibition ‘Two and a Half D’ (5 Nov - 16

Nov 2010 – 16 Jan 2011), and the latest

remedies or powerful stimulants. You could be awake all night!’ People went nuts for

Dec). As the press release noted “Mosse’s

instalment of the Golden Bough series of

the stimulant, under the impression hard drugs might be contained therein. The

work focuses on space and scale and the

exhibitions. Murphy’s exhibition, as the

soporific ingredient tuned out to be lavender, I’m guessing the ‘powerful stimulant’

tactile world of the senses”. The show

press release noted “made use of texts by

was along the lines of coffee. Watch out.

featured mixed media works, that

Flaubert to Fellini, Milan Kundera and

9. Magic Moment of the Year – the Dock’s Shed as part of Galway’s Tulca festival;

employed a range of non-traditional

Italo Calvino, and the hidden fabric of

the shed looks closed, but there’s two cranes just next to it making their way through

materials (plastic pellets, polystyrene,

Charlemont House itself, to consider

sawdust, nails and screws, and so forth)

specifically the arts as system — ordering

as well as paper, paint and wood.

knowledge, ideas, and cultural history”.

a massive pile of scrap metal. One is lifting loads into a container, while the other is

AT THE KERLIN

Phil Collins ‘Ich esse keine Bananen mehr und trinke naturlich keine Coca-Cola’ Installation view.

skilfully using a large sheet of steel to gather smaller bits onto the larger pile. Like a

Phil Collin’s show ‘Ich esse keine

giant arm, it rose and swung in S-shapes it fluid, organic movements, making its

Bananen mehr und trinke naturlich

hundred-pound load look like wiping your plate with a piece of bread. Richard Serra eat your heart out.

10. RIP: J.D. Salinger finally got the isolation he was looking for; Claude Chabrol, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Hopper, Sigmar Polke, Tony Curtis, Jack Parnell, bandleader for the Muppet Show, American historian Howard Zinn, and Colin Ward, author of Utopia (1974) and The Child in the City (1978).

presented

Paul

www.roscommonartscentre.ie

www.hughlane.ie

keine Coca-Cola’ at The Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (23 Oct – 20 Nov) comprised of

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NAKED PROPHERCY

two new works by the artist – the video

Limerick School of Art and Design

Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray is currently

work Marxism Today (Prologue) and the

Gallery, presented ‘Table of Contents’ an

showing

archive-based Free Fotolab (Berlin).

exhibition of works by artists, architects

Prophecy’ (3 Dec 2010 – 12 Feb 2011).

Marxism today (prologue) was created by

and scientists (22 Oct – 12 Nov). The

The exhibition comprises responses

the artist in collaboration former

show was commissioned and curated by

from 25 invited artists who consider the

teachers of Marxism-Leninism in the

Alan Keane, Carla Burns, Róisín Lewis

current economic context in light of

‘The

Swimming

Naked

9

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

Column

ROUNDUP

Eamonn Maxwell

investor Warren Buffett’s renowned

‘Living on the Edge: People, Place &

McMahon, Paul Murnaghan, Clive

observation “Only when the tide goes

Possibility’ was the title of this year’s

Murphy, Cris Neumann, Damien

out do you discover who’s been

Tulca festival of contemporary art in

O’Connell, Alan Phelan, Garrett Phelan,

swimming naked”. The participating

Galway, (6 – 21 Nov) The event

Ann Quinn, Jim Ricks, Sonia Shiel,

artists were – Aideen Barry, Stephen

presented the work of over 40 national

Cornelius Thalbridge, Ciaran Walsh,

Brandes, Alan Butler, Mark Clare,

and international artists across right

Orla Whelan, Mick Wilson

Felicity

Coyle,

venues and public spaces in Galway

The previous show at PCP Jim

Culturstruction (Jo Anne Butler + Tara

city; as well as including a programme

Rick’s exhibition ‘Synchromaterialism’

Kennedy),

Cunningham,

of workshops. One of the highlights of

(16 Oct – 13 Nov 2010).

Clodagh Emoe, Fiona Hallinan, Seán

the show was the presentation Mexico-

Hillen, Jesse Jones, John Jones, Vera

based artist Francis Alÿs’ work When

Klute, Sam Keogh, David Lilburn, Sean

Faith Moves Mountains at the Docks

Lynch, Brian Maguire, Bea McMahon,

Shed venue. Tulca 2010 was opened by

Tom Molloy, Teresa Nanigian, Sorcha

Belfast performance art network

O’Brien, Dominic Thorpe and Saskia

Bbeyond.

Come Together

With the country facing the worst (financial) crisis since its founding, this may seem a peculiar time to be proposing more harmony, partnership and collaboration in the visual arts, when there are other seemingly more important things at stake in the country. But I believe this may actually be the best time to suggest this shift as a positive response to the situation we find ourselves in.

Visual Artists Ireland does an amazing job of lobbying and campaigning, both in public and behind closed doors. But sometimes it feels like a lone voice, which can

Clear,

Róisín

Jennifer

Vermeulen.

The participating artists were www.mermaidartscentre.ie

only achieve so much and what is required is more of a groundswell in the visual arts.

Marie Connole and Tom Flannagan,

By this I mean everyone from current students to mid-career artists to gallerists, encompassing those who work in the public sector to those who run privately funded

community artists Emma Houlihan, exhibiting in the Fairgreen Gallery,

AS IT IS

alongside Niall Dooley, James Ó

initiatives.

hAodha, David Eager Maher, Rhona

As with the UK, the performing arts (by which I mean theatre, dance, opera and

Byrne, Aoife

music) in Ireland get the lion’s share of public funding. In 2010, the Arts Council gave

Desmond,

Seoidín

O’Sullivan and Brian Duggan. Fiona

grants totalling €30.6 million to 74 regularly funded organisations. Of this total only

Woods’ work was featured at The

about 8% went to organisations under the work area of Visual Arts – to put that in

Western Bike Shelters, Meave Collins at

context, the total funding for the visual arts was less than one-third of the grant that

Aran Ferries Offices and Jennifer Brady

was given to the Abbey Theatre alone. Obviously the performing arts cost a lot more (1)

at 126.

to programme, primarily due to the number of artists and technical staff involved in

The Docks shed was also host to

those productions. Yet that alone doesn’t explain how the performing arts sector seem

works by Susanne Bosch with Anthony

to garner more critical acclaim and such a high proportion of the funding available to

Haughey and Marjetica Potrc. Engage

the arts.

Studios

members

Eimear

Jean

On 17 September a National Day of Action was called by the National Campaign

McCormack, Jennifer Cunningham,

for the Arts, during which those involved in the arts (practitioners and workers)

Cecilia Danell, Miriam Donohue,

lobbied their local TDs to maintain levels of public funding for the arts. Prior to the Day of Action the organisers recorded which featured artists talking about the importance of their particular art form and why it should be protected. Even though NCA claim to represent all art forms (2), the video (indeed the general perception of the organisation) had a focus on the performing arts, with a token nod to the visual arts.

NCA will argue that they do represent visual arts in the same way as they represent theatre, dance or opera. Maybe visual artists are not as adept at presenting a viewpoint as artists working in those other disciplines but we do still need to be counted.

Subsequent to the National Day of Action, the Government had to ask for €85 billion to deal with the worsening economic situation in the State. In late November the National Recovery Plan was issued by the Government. To top it off the budget in December saw a further erosion of resources. It is clear that things are going to get much worse before they get better. Given the emphasis the minister has put on tourism and the prevalence of sport in Ireland it doesn’t take a genius to conclude that culture will get the biggest hit. Does this mean the Day of Action was futile? I would suggest not. If the lobbying of TDs and ministers had not happened, maybe the cuts would have been even worse.

A potential impact of these funding cuts could be an increase in protectionism – everyone fighting for their own slice of the ever-decreasing pie. We all want to hold

The Inniscara Gallery in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin recently presented 'As it is' an exhibition of paintings and printmaking

by Pamela de Brí (14 – 20 Nov 2010). As the gallery notes outlined the works explored “the transience of culture” offered

“a

perspective

on

temporality in response to an everevolving world”. Half of sales from the show were donated to Professor John Crown and the Clinical Research Oncology Unit. www.inniscara.com

Robert Ballagh’s exhibition ‘Ego’ at

at Niland Gallery. Caroline Doolin’s work were on show at Galway City Museum; while Alex Boyd, Oliver Comerford, Aoife Desmond, Fantaman Productions y Matelisto Contemporary Movements, Mary Noonan, Damien O’Connell, Ruby Wallis and Andrea Zittel exhibited at Galway Arts Centre.

Other performance were presented by Paola Paz Yee, Helge Meyer, Aidana Rico, Sinead McCann, Live @ 8 and Denis Buckley. Tulca 2010 was curated by Michelle Browne.

BIZARRE BAZAAR

Wexford Arts Centre (16 Oct – 28 Nov)

Aoibheann Greenan is currently on show at, Blanchardstown Draiocht (18 Nov 2010 – 22 Jan 2011). The show, presented in association with Fingal County Council Arts Office, was the seventh instalment of the venues annual showcase of emerging Fingal based artists. Last year the remit was extended to include an award for an emerging critic, and this year the expertise of an emerging curator was invited – Susan Holland.

Also on show is ‘Home’, presented in association with The Graphic Studio Dublin (12 Nov 2010 – 22 Jan 2011) featuring works by 35 members of the studio responding to the them of belonging and family. www.draiocht.ie

COLLECTIVE CONTEMPORARY ART ‘Collective

Contemporary

Art’

a

platform for the work of 40 artists, was presented at the Industries Hall of the RDS, Dublin (5 – 7 Nov 2010). The exhibition featured artists selected from an open call by an international panel along with previous winners of the RDS Taylor Art Award alongside worlds by the short listed artists for the 2010 AIB Art Prize. Curated by Helen Carey, the particular mode of installation of the works was described as a “combination http://www.rds.ie/media/CCA-RDSExhibitors1.pdf

THE REPETITION FESTIVAL

portraiture. As the press release noted “Ballagh’s new work explores the intimate relationship between the self-

exhibitions, talks and events. I’ve been to some regional events recently, involving

portrait and the viewer, supported by

international practitioners and the turnout has been embarrassing. So what can we

the idea that we can only exist when

do?

we are perceived by others”. www.wexfordartscentre.ie

In 2011 there are at least two major international events taking place, which will

'Bizarre Bazaar' installatio view.

‘The Repetition Festival Show’ – installation view.

help raise the profile of visual arts in Ireland. The 54 Venice Art Biennale opens in th

‘Bizarre Bazaar’ at Pallas Contemporary

early June and Ireland will be represented by Corban Walker – at this stage I should

X-PO

declare an interest, as I will be curating the pavilion for Corban. September will mark

X-PO, Kilnaboy, Co Clare, presented

the launch of Dublin Contemporary 2011, which aims to show how the City can host

‘Abridged 0 – 7: Abandoned Donegal’

a major presentation of contemporary art similar to Manifesta or Documenta. Whilst

(24 Oct – 11 Nov). The exhibition was

Venice and DC 2011 have very different histories and ambitions, together they will

part of an ongoing curatorial project by

put a flag in the sand for current practice by Irish artists in Ireland and beyond.

Derry-based

curator

Gregory

So, I would urge all those practising and working in the visual arts to fully

McCartney, who invited artist Denzil

support both the Venice Biennale and Dublin Contemporary. Leave aside any

Brown to make a photographic

suspicions or criticisms, these initiatives need the visual arts community to come

exploration and a visual archive of the

Notes 1. http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/we_funded.aspx (Regularly funded organisations 2010)

exhibition of work by Ella Burke and

was focused on the theme of self-

in the visual arts. Also, just as important is supporting others endeavours by attending

underwritten by public funds but that is more of a reason to endorse them.

‘Amharc Fhine Gall VII – the cloud’ an

of the White Cube and the labyrinth”.

EGO

on to what we have, but it is also critical that we realise the need for a joint approach

together and support all that is great about Ireland. Yes, they are both being

Amharc Fhine Gall

Meave Curtis & Maria Brennan showed

Pamela de Brí - work from 'As it is'

and

www.pallasprojects.org www.jimricks.info

architectural ruins of abandoned commercial premises throughout county Donegal. A free magazine Abridged 0 – 7: Abandoned Donegal was available during the exhibition.

2. http://www.ncfa.ie/index.php/page/about

www.x-po.ie www.publicart.ie

Projects (25 Nov – 18 Dec) was described as “an open platform for the exchange of ideas, where every idea has its price”.

The show, which was the venues annual group fund raising exhibition featured artworks, editions, fanzines, long-playing records and artists’ books.

The featured artists included: Aideen Barry, David Beattie, Mark Beatty, Big Chief Random Chaos, George Bolster, Peter Burns, Alan Butler, John Byrne, Rhona Byrne, Judy Carroll Deeley, Fiona Chambers, Brian Duggan, David Eager Maher, Brendan Flaherty, Mark Garry,

by Clemens von Wedemeyer is currently on show at the Project, Dublin (25 Nov 2010 – 19 Feb 2011). The exhibition brings together four film installations by the artist – Occupation (2002), Otjesd (2005), From the Opposite Side (2007), and a selection of artworks from The Fourth Wall, including Against Death (2009) that will be presented in gallery installations at the Project. The works are being presented over three-week intervals. www.project.ie

Wendy Judge, Des Kenny, Chad Keveny, Gillian Lawler, Nevin Lahart, Breda

TULCA 2010

‘The Repetition Festival Show’ a project

Lynch, Colin Martin, Niamh McCann, Ian McInerney, Maria McKinney, Bea

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

10

news

News Tax Exemption Cap Visual Artists Ireland, is seeking clarification on the implementation of the new cap on Tax Exemption Scheme on Artistic Works and the increase in PRSI contributions by self-employed artists.

On 7 December 2010, the political parties of the current government

examining the impact of the arts on

an

Arts

Council

Engaging

with

claims that the Council will strive to

Northern Ireland society and economy in

Architecture Award for a project during

maintain balanced and sustainable arts

December. ‘The Digest of Arts Statistics

KAW 2011, working with Brady Mallalieu

provision,

Northern Ireland 2010′ provides a

Architects, artist Vivienne Roche, and the

organisations throughout the country.

reliable single source compilation of

local and wider communities. Kinsale

Arts Council Chairman Pat Moylan

statistical information reflecting current

Arts Week will run from 9 – 17 July

said: “The Arts Council’s task is to fund

arts-based economic and consumption

2011.

and develop the arts in good times and in www.kinsaleartsweek.com

trends in Northern Ireland. The Arts Council’s Annual Review of 2009 –2010, published to coincide with the Digest, takes a look back at some of the artistic highlights of last year. www.artscouncil-ni.org

Susan Philipsz was announced as 2010’s winner of the Turner Prize at Tate Britain on 6 December 2010 in a live broadcast was presented by Miuccia Prada.

on the Artists Tax Exemption scheme is

ROI CULTURE BUDGET

to be hit again by cuts caused by their

The Department of Tourism, Culture and

Philipsz was nominated for the

mistakes. In addition, the increase of PRSI

Sport was allocated €296 million for the

presentations of her work Lowlands at

contributions announcement with no

2011 Budget – a reduction of 6.5 % overall

the Glasgow International Festival of

confidence of a fully thought out

on current spending on 2010. A further

Visual Art and Long Gone in the group

implementation provides us with cause

€96 million is available for capital projects

exhibition Mirrors at the Museo de Arte

for concern.

across the three sectors and €8m of

Contemporanea de Vigo, Spain. Philipsz

unspent capital funding from 2010 is

uses her own voice to create uniquely

being carried forward into 2011.

evocative sound installations that play

The artists’ exemption scheme is not a ‘rich man’s relief. Instead, VAI has shown

spirit of confidence, tempered by the realism required to plan and provide for

international.

funding

artists

and

bad. Our strategic approach outlines the principles by which the Arts Council will

PHILLIPZ WINS TURNER

on Channel 4 News. The £25,000 prize

announced that the already reduced cap

has been assisted with funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport Access 11 scheme. Laois County Council has forged a number of key partnerships to ensure the success of this new enterprise. These include the National College of Art and Design where a bursary is available to a graduate from the NCAD to the value of €10,000. The Craftsperson Studio Scheme is in association with the Crafts Council of Ireland. Mentoring and business support will be given to the successful candidate to grow his or her enterprise. The remaining studios are available to professional artists, local, national and

that the small number of visual artists

Culture & Film – €150 million

upon and extend the poetics of specific,

who qualify for it must maintain second

The Arts Council has been allocated

often out-of-the-way spaces. She is the

and even third jobs to make ends meet. In

€65.2m which is a 5% reduction on 2010.

fourth woman to win the Turner Prize

addition, there are long years of

Decisions on how this figure will impact

and the first person to win with a sound

production during which an artists

on arts organisations and artists have yet

installation.

income may be negligible. This lowering

to be made.

The Turner Prize is a contemporary

of the ceiling of €40,000 on the tax exempt

The artists’ tax exemption has been

earnings of artists brings with it a

capped again at €40k, a significant

celebrate

responsibility for the government to

reduction from €125k. Visual Artists

contemporary art. The prize is awarded

introduce a levelling of payments that

Ireland has serious concerns about this

each year to ‘a British artist under fifty for

takes into consideration this cyclical

along with the proposed increase in PRSI

an outstanding exhibition or other

nature of visual artists’ income. In

contributions for self-employed artists.

presentation of their work in the twelve

addition, the minister must be held

http://visualartists.ie/category/vai-news/

months preceding’. Four artists are

art award that was set up in 1984 to new

developments

in

steer our course over the next three years, which we know will be challenging for all.”

The Arts Council said it was publishing the strategic overview “in a

in the public finances,” and stressed that the consequences of some decisions could be “far from what we would wish in ideal circumstances”.

In the overview, the Arts Council commits itself to working in effective partnership with a range of other bodies and with the arts sector. The agency says it will also continue to work closely with Fáilte Ireland to promote the arts element of Ireland’s tourism offer, and build new partnerships to contribute to economic development and job creation, especially in the creative and cultural and industries. www.artscouncil.ie

makes them “hobbyists” and I use this

€4m has been provided to support

This award was established by Sligo

ARTS COUNCIL BURSARYs A total of 59 individual artists from across the country received a grant as part of the second round of Arts Council’s bursary awards for 2010. The Arts Council received a total of 275 applications and has offered funding totalling €459,371 in this round.

Among those who received the awards were authors James Harpur and Kathleen Murray, traditional artists Niall Vallely and Dominic Mac Giolla Bhride, dance artists Tara Brandel and Chantal McCormick, architects Maeve Staunton and Dominic Stevens and visual artists

word advisedly as it is an often used

regional and smaller museums, as well as

County Council under the Space for Art

George Bolster and Jeanette Doyle.

phrase when artists come face to face

to fund events such as Culture Night 2011

Sligo Arts Plan 2007-2012 to honour the

with officers of the Department of Social

and the major new contemporary art

late sculptor Fred Conlon, a native of west

Welfare.

event Dublin Contemporary 2011. A

Sligo. Fred Conlon supported generations

responsible for the implementation of a

Funding for the National Gallery has

nominated each year. This year they were:

review of the PRSI system as it pertains to

been reduced by 3% to €9.85m.The

Dexter Dalwood, Angela de la Cruz, Susan

self-employed artists, ensuring that the

National Museum allocation of €14.2

Philipsz and The Otolith Group.

system also recognises the cyclical nature

million includes €2m capital funding for

of their income, and the ability to balance

renovations at the Treasury in the

payments over several years.

Museum on Kildare Street and the fitting

CONLON AWARD

www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize

The government speaks of artists as

out of the Collections Resource Centre

The recipient of the The Fred Conlon

the core of our cultural identity, but in

while The National Library, IMMA,

Contemporary Sculpture Award 2010

fact that core are often unpaid, trying to

National Concert Hall, Chester Beatty

was announced in mid November as

support families on income supplements,

Library and Crawford Gallery are to get

Caoimhe Kilfeather who is to commence

and treated as if their chosen profession

€21m combined.

her residency in Easkey this January 2011.

Despite words of comfort, it is

carry-over of €3m from 2010 will be used

of young artists in his life and work and

obvious that more detail is needed on the

towards the funding of Culture Ireland’s

this award pays tribute to his contribution

implementation of this budget. Taking it

year-long season of contemporary Irish

to the cultural life of the region.

at face value, we can see the potential for

culture —Imagine Ireland — across the

An initiative of Sligo Arts Service,

more of Ireland’s artist population being

United States in 2011. The Irish Film

the award is delivered in partnership with

the victim of a system that fails to

Board has been allocated €18.4m.

the Conlon Family and the Leitrim

www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie

understand their career choice.

Sculpture Centre. The residency is for visual artists, particularly sculptors, who

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

KINSALE DIRECTOR

wish to advance their work or create a

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland

December 2010 saw Kinsale Arts

new body of work.

updated the ‘Funding for the Arts 2011-

Week appointing Gemma Tipton as the

The award offers the opportunity to

2015′ section on its website in December

new guest artistic director for 2011.

avail of studio and living facilities for two

2010 with new information on ‘What

Independent writer, journalist, critic and

months in the inspiring scenic region of

you can do now’, including a pro-forma

curator Gemma Tipton has worked in the

Easkey, West Sligo and one month in the

letter to MLAs, a message of support to

arts for a number of years, and in 2009

Leitrim Sculpture Centre followed by a

include in programmes and newsletters,

curated the exhibition ‘To Have and Have

solo exhibition in the Leitrim Sculpture

and the contact details of relevant MLAs

Not’ for Kinsale Arts Week.

Centre

upon

completion

of

the

and Committees. The Funding for the Arts

Many will be familiar with Gemma’s

2011 – 2015 section also includes up-to-

writing in The Irish Times. She also writes

date news on the budget, key messages

for Art and Architecture Journal,

ARTS COUNCIL STRATEGY

and a guide to advocacy.

Artforum.com Artists Newsletter, CIRCA,

The Arts Council published its strategic

Irish Architect, Irish Museums Journal

overview for 2011 to 2013 in November,

www.artscouncil-ni.org/campaig§ndex.htm

residency.

and the Wall Street Journal among others.

saying that the document will inform its

NEW ACNI PUBLICATIONS

Gemma is the Contributing Architecture

decisions over the period. The publication,

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Editor

Interiors.

Developing the Arts in Ireland, presents

published a new and extensive report

Kinsale Arts Week has also been awarded

the agency’s strategic priorities, and

for

Image

www.laois.ie

the arts at a time of significant difficulty

www.artscouncil.ie

ARTHOUSE STRADBALLY The unveiling of plans for the Arthouse Studios, Stradbally took place on 17 November, in Stradbally Hall, Stradbally, by kind permission of Mr. Tom Cosby.

Guests to the unveiling included representatives from Laois County Council, The Arts Council, the National College of Art and Design and the Crafts Council of Ireland. The guest speaker was Ms Pat Moylan, Chairperson of the Arts Council.

Following approval by the elected members of Council the Arthouse Stradbally was developed by Laois County Council and is scheduled to open in March 2011. The development includes the refurbishment and extension of Stradbally Courthouse to provide a state of the art community library, artists’ studios and living accommodation, an exhibition gallery, a rehearsal space, a kiln, and a garden space with a commissioned Percent for Art wall mounted artwork. Spaces in the complex will be available for use by local community groups. The development, costing in excess of €1.2million, commenced earlier in 2010. The project

SWORDS WINS AIB Wexford Arts Centre’s nominated artist won ‘The AIB Prize’ for 2010 in November.

Mark Swords was awarded a prize of €20,000 to assist in the publication of a catalogue and to facilitate the production of new work for an exhibition in the Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford. His proposal aims to extend his preliminary work on the theme of Robert Halpin, an historic Wicklow figure who was captain of the Great Eastern and who was responsible for laying and repairing telegram cables across the Atlantic. Using domestic materials and craft-based techniques, Swords hopes to explore the tensions between the modesty of crafts and the grand ambitions of historic/ scientific subject matter.

The three runners-up – who each received an award of €1,500 – and the galleries who nominated them, are Aideen Barry for the Millennium Court Art Centre in Armagh, Niamh Mc Cann for the Solstice Arts Centre in Meath and Richard Mosse for Sirius Arts Centre in Cork.

ARTS, CULTURE, TECHNOLOGY Mary Hanafin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, has announced funding of in excess of €1 million towards Cultural Tourism Technology projects late last year. The projects marked for funding are those which were successful under the Cultural Technology Grant Scheme – an initiative aimed at using technology to promote Irish arts and culture announced by Minister Hanafin in July of last year.

The projects will include self guided tours and walks of the National Botanic Gardens; virtual and 3D tours of the extensive collections of some of our National Cultural Institutions and a number of web based digital programmes aimed specifically at children.

The aim of the initiative is to utilise a selection of the best emerging and existing technology information and communications methods to present promotional and educational products to promote the Irish arts, culture and creative sectors.

The projects will include self guided tours and walks of the National Botanic Gardens; virtual and 3D tours of the extensive collections of some of our National Cultural Institutions and a number of web based digital programmes aimed specifically at children. http://www.tcs.gov.ie/publications/release. asp?ID=101007

11

The Visual Artists’ news sheet

January – February 2011

REGIoNAL PRoFILE

Visual Arts Resources & Activity: Kerry 10° 06’

Andrew Duggan 10° 06’ publication

Andrew Duggan – work with J Bellis NYC

Siamsa Tire

Andrew Duggan & CIndy Cummins. We All Fall

CAndrew Duggan Trial Scáileáin / Screen Tests

I step out from a photo-lab onto Broadway a few

five boroughs in New York. Video work and drawings

blocks south of Canal. They have just scanned a

I have made here will travel to NYC and work made

transparency for me; an image to be included in the

there will return and be shown here. I see these

publication 10° 06’ / Ildána. It is a contribution from

handball alleys as drawings on the landscape. I am

Anthony Haughey entitled An Blascaod Mór, Tréigthe

taken by curator Emma Dexter’s remark that

1953 (The Great Blasket Island, Abandoned, 1953)

“Drawing is part of our interrelation to our physical

photographed from the mainland. As I hold it up to

environment, recording in and on it, the presence of

the bright New York light, through it I can see

the human. It is the means by which we can

Manhattan’s distinctive skyline, an apparent

understand and map, decipher, and come to terms

collision of imagery, not unlike Brian Tolle’s

with our surroundings as we leave marks, tracks, or

incongruous Irish Hunger Memorial a short distance

shadows to mark our passing.”

away in Battery Park City. Anthony Haughey’s

Recently I have begun making drawings here,

image contains an arresting ‘X’ at its centre. X for

based on GPS mapping systems plotting routine

unknown, X marking the spot.

journeys, not just horizontal but also vertical

10° 06’ W is the line of longitude at which The

mapping, drawings which, when held up in a New

West Kerry Gaeltacht begins (or ends). It is here – ar

York context will again place me in both landscapes

an imeall – I am based with my partner Siobhán

and be an intriguing juxtaposition of forms...and

Dempsey and connected to by birth (not my own

therein lies the essence of being an artist here,

but my three children’s). What this means as an

summed up by Declan Kirby as “idir dhá chultúr’”.

artist is to be on the edge (of Europe) where language and landscape are an inescapable influence. It is a place where ‘tradition’ is a continuous and evident lineage found in the everyday. It is a place with strong connections with ‘elsewhere’ in particular with North America. The link is often a harsh reminder of the region’s Diaspora and the realisation of a very possible future ‘re-emigration’.

Thus edge and centre are interrelated – and while they aren’t the subject matter of my work, they are contributing factors particularly in some of the artist led Gaeltacht projects (1). It was from An Ghaeltacht that I went to NYC on the Location One Fellowship where many New York curators and critics told me that “the centre is always interested in what’s going on in the margins...”

And what goes on in ‘this margin’ is predominately supported by Eálain na Gaeltachta.

Eibhlín de Paor is our excellent Áisitheoir Ealaíon/ Arts Facilitator supporting projects and bringing artists in contact with other artists and curators from similar geographical locations with minority languages. Cé nach bhfuil [an Gaeilge] agam, úsáidím í gach aon lá. I am also part of a group studios in an old courthouse, a building which had been generously given to us by Kerry County Council (2). Other key figures in the development, promotion and presentation of visual arts in An Ghaeltacht are Michael Fanning, Susan Callery, Ciaran Walsh, John Holsted, Maurice Galway and Lisbeth Mulcahy.

2011 sees the beginning of a NYC project based on the abandoned cast concrete Irish Handball Alleys and the game’s interesting migration to the

Andrew Duggan notes (1) Selected Gaeltacht Projects: Ó BHALLA GO BALLA- wall to wall. outdoor Projections. Dingle Town. visual and text works; work from artists based in and with a relationship with An Ghaeltacht. urraithe ag Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Eálain na Gaeltachta. oíche Chultúir 2010.

Anseo / Ansuid. A series of on-going inter-Gaeltacht lectures and discussions. Artists from one Gaeltacht give a talk on their work and working practice to invited artists and curators in other Gaeltacht. Facilitated so far by Stiúideo Tigh na Cúirte An Daingean Co. Chiarraí and Ionad Cultúrtha, Baile Mhúirne, Co Chorcaí. Funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Eálain na Gaeltachta.

Aon Áit Anseo/Anywhere Here. Artists gathering. Aon Áit Anseo/ Anywhere Here looked at how visual artists transfer methods and practices from place to place (anywhere) yet pay attention to the micro (here). Three invited artists, Sarah Browne, Ben Geoghegan and Katie Holten whose practice reflect ‘interlocalism’ were invited to participate in this inaugural event in Riasc to discuss, debate and test their practice. Run in collaboration with Visual Artists Ireland. Funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta, Eálain na Gaeltachta and Siamsa Tíre. 2007 10° 06’ ildana. Curated Publication. This publication plots the relationship many artists, writers and composers have with the region.

Contributors include Cliodna Cussen, Anthony Haughey, Rachel Holstead and Clare Langan. Funded by Ealain na Ghaeltachta 2007 (2) The Courthouse Studios Project 2002 onwards. An artists’ studio project in association with Kerry Council Council where the professional career of the artists is developed along side and through a wide range of projects most notably: ‘H2o – IMMA’. Project investigating the relationship between centre, periphery and defining boundaries: contemporary arts practice in collaboration with the North Norwegian Artists Centre, Lofoten and Polish art group Twozywo, Warsaw, The Irish Museum of Modern Art 2006 / 2007 As Laithair-Off Site. Participatory Artists-in-schools project with The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Stiúideo Tigh na Cúirte An Daingean Co. Chiarraí agus oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. Eleven primary schools created work in response to the IMMA collection, the visit to the Museum and the definition of a ‘museum’. Funded by Údarás na Gaeltachta, Eálain na Gaeltachta and the Department of Education and Science.

Bealtaine 2008

Laura FitzGerald and Laura Byrne 'Another Little Land'

Laura FitzGerald and Laura Byrne 'Another Little Land'

as I write, ‘Shorelines’ (Ireland Newfoundland Exchange Project) continues to run at Siamsa Tire with all five installations throwing out evocative imagery and sounds all over the building. The exhibition, co curated by Sean McCrum and Charlotte Jones brings together six artists (three from each country) who examine their respective shorelines in relation to place and community. The exhibition has more or less taken over the venue with installations running in all three of our gallery spaces plus the Round gallery (a space which continues to delight and challenge the most experienced of artists) as well as other public spaces, creating as much scope as possible to encourage participation and interaction, it runs until January 2011.

This will be followed by ‘Another Little Land’ (work informed by personal narratives, memory and nostalgia) by Kerry artist Laura Fitzgerald in collaboration with Kildare artist Laura Byrne.

Together the two will be resident in the gallery for a period of three weeks, creating new site-specific work and exploring new directions, media and parallels in both their practices. ‘Another Little Land’ will be the result of this time spent together and will open in February Late spring sees Steve Valk and Michael Klien (artistic director of Daghdha) collaborate with a number of local artists on Choreography for Blackboards, an installation live art performance that examines the aesthetics of social choreography, the remnants of the performances being a series of blackboards, which contain the subconscious drawings of its participants.

It’s a busy season, (and in addition to this our John Millington Synge, Photographer Exhibition continues as part of ‘The Moderns’ at IMMA until March 2011 before going on a National Tour) but very much a welcome development as all the work is underpinned by our core aim to develop artists and to develop their audiences.

Siamsa Tire will, in 2011 celebrate 20 years of county wide arts provision as both a multidisciplinary venue and home to the National Folk Theatre (NFT).

The Visual Arts plays a special and significant role in the organisation providing artists with an opportunity to broadly explore folk through contemporary arts practice and many have the opportunity to explore this with our resident company the NFT or to explore their own practice in one of our two additional spaces in the county.

In addition to our base in Tralee – and something that is little known about Siamsa Tire – are Teach Siamsa Finuge and Teach Siamsa Ni Carriage, two rural cottages built in the late sixties to encourage the development of traditional arts where there was little provision before.

Despite their basic facilities both buildings, over the last two years, have been used on an ad-hoc basis as residency spaces for artists wishing to develop their practice. There is a magical quality about their remote location and the mystery of the

Kerry coastline which artists find both intriguing and inspiring. It is our aspiration and goal to develop these spaces and return them to their former glory as artist development houses and we are keen to hear from practitioners that wish take part in that journey.

As we look forward to 2011 and beyond the Visual Arts Programme at Siamsa Tire will be making some significant changes to encourage greater participation and support for the visual arts in the county. Traditionally there has not been a culture of ‘open submission’ at the venue and this is one of a number of initiatives that we hope will encourage artists to submit work and engage in a dialogue with us along with open submissions to curate for the venue and awards for emerging artists who are building a catalogue of work. This will be underpinned by talks, seminars and lectures along with an opportunity to encourage the further examination of ‘folk’ through visual arts and live arts practice.

As mentioned, the visual arts has a vibrant and integral part to play in examining folk arts and its role within contemporary society, both urban and rural. Tralee and Kerry provide a fascinating landscape for this examination with Tralee having developed from a small rural town into a large urban conurbation, what once was expressed as ‘folk’ through rural cultural traditions now finds itself expressed in an urban context and the visual arts has a great opportunity to explore this fascinating dichotomy – an urban town in very much a rural county.

Just as Tralee, a town with high unemployment faces the stark reality of another year of financial difficulties so too do we continue the challenge of operating without affecting programming or support for artists. In the last 12 months alone Siamsa Tire has reduced its administration and overhead costs by 18% to ensure that arts programming and the development of artists and their audiences remain the core value of what we do as an organisation and 69% of our total costs are spent on programming and artists alone.

In addition to this our resource as a venue and the space and time that can be offered in kind becomes increasingly more valuable and essential if artists are to be supported locally and in the pursuit of their career development. At times it can be a resource that is often overlooked or under used but we are keen to encourage practitioners to meet with us and use our facilities as part of a new and ongoing dialogue. The door is very much open at Siamsa Tire and we look forward to starting a number of inspiring and exciting conversations and journeys with artists as we look to the future.

Karl Wallace Director – Siamsa Tire Karl Wallace was previously Artistic Director and Visual Arts Curator at the Castle in Northampton and also at the Belltable Arts Centre Limerick.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

12

January – February 2011

Regional Profile

Kerry Arts Services

A Formidable Place

'Synge on Tour' Installation view – Siamsa Tire

Dingle Hoarding Commission.

This dramatically scenic county is the fourth

visiting audience into contact affording great

largest in Ireland, it is mountainous and peninsular;

opportunities to engage and explore. Kerry County

and there is a good arts infrastructure to support

Council’s Killorglin Area Offices host ‘Seven Ages’

visual artists. Kerry is fortunate in that it has a

the permanent collection by Pauline Bewick –

tradition of vibrancy in the practice of the arts –

which the artist donated to the people of Kerry.

which ensures a constant contribution to the

The Carnegie Arts Centre in Kenmare intends to

creative, cultural, social and economic development

expand their Visual Arts programme.

of the county. Kerry local authorities’ arts policy

Kerry also hosts a number of significant art

affirms that the arts are integral to balanced

festivals, many which offer an important platform

development. In line with this, the overarching

to the visual artist based in the county. Further

ambition of our Corporate Plan has been to create

details can be found on Arts Services area of the

an arts service in Kerry that is responsive to and

Kerry County Council website (http://www.

Laura FitzGerald Silage Season

reflective of the needs of the citizens of the county.

kerrycoco.ie/en/allservices/artsculture/festivals/).

In 2007, having graduated from the National

ideologies etc.

The plan outlines five key objectives for the

The private commercial galleries from An

College of Art & Design and mentioning to a

arts service that relate to specific ambitions for the

Daingean, Killarney, Listowel, along the Ring of

colleague, my plans to move to Co Kerry, they

while keeping one eye turned to opportunities

arts along with general objectives to support

Kerry etc are long standing and the standard of the

remarked with a look of grave apprehension;

abroad, I realise what an immense amount of

sustainable, balanced, regional, social and cultural

work they carry is second to none. The visual

“heading down there, you will crawl under a stone

potential lies here. My first encounters with art

development; promote regeneration, for the

artwork in Kerry reflects the broad base of artist

and never be heard of again.” For an artist, Kerry is a

were pre secondary school, having been home

betterment of all the population of Kerry:

based here; work ranges from very contemporary

formidable place in many respects. In terms of

schooled by my parents for seven years – Tralee Art

to more conventional; work that is both exploratory

visual imagery it is a daunting thought to attempt

Group welcomed me as their youngest member

and insightful.

to compete with an almost hyper-real landscape.

back in 1998. I have always found Kerry Arts office

1. To build capacity in the arts office – to create a service that is effective countywide and that

I have only recently returned to Kerry and

The arts office is currently updating its arts

How do you visually compete? How can one

to be approachable, supportive and have pointed

database; and is hoping to make contact with more

position themselves in an almost hostile vision of

me in the right direction as an emerging artist.

2. To raise profile and awareness – to develop

and more artists across the county so as to be in a

natural beauty and continue to make work?

and reflect the profile of both the arts in Kerry and Kerry local authorities support of the sector.

contributes to achieving our objectives for balanced regional development.

I have noticed that the galleries choosing to

position to circulate incoming information

Increasingly artists are considering moving

show more contemporary methods of art making

regarding commissions, exhibitions, awards,

away from the main cities, as the notion of country

have tended not to survive here, therefore I would

bursaries etc to all (email arts@kerrycoco.ie) .

living, with unlimited time, lack of interruption

like to see that the available funding in Kerry is

collaborative partnership projects – to build the

The arts office programmes a number of

and lower costs, makes an attractive comparison. It

sustained for the future. Kerry like anywhere, needs

capacity of existing arts organisations to engage

visual art exhibitions when the opportunities to do

seems fitting, now more than ever, with a supply of

more professional practice opportunities for

with a diverse public so as to develop engagement,

so arise; the most recent being as part of Culture

empty retail units, houses and other structures, that

example workshops, seminars, discussions etc.

participation and audiences of all ages and

Night in Killarney – where all artists on the

a tremendous untapped potential in this county

Over the years Siamsa Tire, the National Folk

abilities.

database in the Killarney Postal area were invited

could be addressed. There is a timely opportunity

theatre, has provided a platform for contemporary

4. To develop the professional arts sector – so

to submit work that celebrated or explored culture.

for artist-led initiatives to take up residence in Co.

art in Kerry, however given the size of this county

as to promote Kerry as an attractive environment

Over 30 artists displayed their work in the foyer

Kerry. Most people are familiar with the Cill Rialaig

– one does wonder is this enough to represent art

for artists to live and work.

exhibition space of the Department of Tourism,

artist retreat in Ballinaskelligs, however the

practitioners who live here and the audiences,

5. To negotiate service level agreements – to

Culture and Sport, Killarney. The exhibition

opportunity now arises for similar initiatives based

which could engage with new media and culture?

develop agreements with all arts facilities and

included sculptural work, paintings, prints, mixed

upon this model to be established. With the deflated

In terms of cultural entertainment, each Tuesday

organisations funded by Kerry County Council and

media and photography.

3. To increase access and participation via

property market offering less expensive spaces on

night at The Phoenix Cinema Dingle, an arthouse

The recent Dingle Commission, where 10

an ever-increasing scale, the opportunity is available

evening is held, likewise St John’s and the Classic

artists were selected to display work on hoarding

to utilise the current economic situation and create

Movieplex in Listowel hold a similar night. Events

Whilst the recession has of course had a direct

near the harbour in An Daingean, has proved

numerous art spaces, residencies and artist-led

happening in Kerry, however the impetus is there

impact on the resources on the arts office, these

hugely successful. The project was the brainchild

initiatives.

for more to be developed, given the size of the

overall aims remain constants, especially of light of

of John Flynn, Area Manager, An Daingean.

with our partners to ensure alignment with the delivery of the arts plan and corporate objectives.

Like anywhere in Ireland, Kerry suffers from

county and the diversity of Kerry’s visitors and

the new circumstances we find ourselves in. The

The arts office acknowledges the need for

symptoms of a naturally beautiful place, this being,

inhabitants. Small initiatives and projects are

county continues to attract artists, as well as to give

studio space and where support can be offered;

the over saturation of local scenes – beautifully

springing up and these need to be fostered and

birth to artists! In the case of visual arts in Kerry,

where opportunities arise we hope to ensure the

rendered depictions of local places which fulfil a

encouraged to grow.

there are a number of vital layers that help attract

arts sector is supported. We are on the look out for

demand but are not contemporary or do not

Perhaps for the future it is artist-led initiatives,

and retain visual artists.

spaces that the Local Authority can offer to artists’

demonstrate new media, work by emerging artists

which could give real cultural impact to the

Síamsa Tire’s Round Gallery exhibitions offers

to develop their work practices. The arts office also

and recent graduates. Being a seaside county, Kerry

county, given the sense of community which these

a wealth of inspiration to emerging artists and the

offers a number of individual artist awards and

people are by and large, well-travelled and open

kinds of organisations emanate. The opportunity

wider community by showcasing the very best of

artist-in-schools schemes.

people. Many have had opportunities to see

to network, share ideas, and imperatively, to attract

Currently, Kerry local authorities are running

contemporary art in larger cites both in Ireland and

graduates and emerging artists to this county is a

Both Síamsa Tíre and St. John’s Theatre and

a number of Percent for Art commissions many of

abroad. There is an opportunity in this era of

valuable one.

Arts Centre in Listowel have launched many a

which focus on visual arts. The arts office sees such

change to create exciting, innovative places of

There is a poetic, almost transient nature to

promising career; and have inspired all ages to

commissions as particularly exciting and

exchange here in Kerry for the enjoyment of local,

Kerry. I feel that it is through the language of

explore and to create visual art. More recently Tech

important projects; in that they offer the

national and international people alike.

contemporary

Amergin in Waterville has proved to be a vital cog

opportunity for the creative vision of artists to be

in the arts wheel by affording a space to exhibit

engaged

work – again by local and national, as well as

communities.

local, national and international exhibitions.

with

specific

areas

and

local

international artists. Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat, close by, has long encouraged artists to explore the South

Kate Kennelly

Kerry land and seascapes as well as to experience

Arts Officer

living in what was a famine village. The standard of

Kerry County Council

work on exhibit in the Síopa Cill Rialaig is extremely high and brings visual artists and the local and

art

practices

and

cultural

In a sense contemporary art in this county is a

engagement that this deeply layered place can be

very new ideology. We have always had a strong

experienced in a richer way, for the enjoyment of

connection to craft, dance, theatre, drama, music

both its own people and future audiences all

and sport. The development of contemporary art

around the world.

platforms, artist led initiatives and project spaces, could provide Kerry with another dimension of cultural engagement. There is more to Kerry and its people behind the façade of tourism – the county in itself is immense, between North and South Kerry alone, lie differences in culture, perspective,

Laura Fitzgerald

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

13

January – February 2011

Regional Profile

Behold the Sign

Art. Location. Money.

Work from 'Shorelines' at Siamsa Tire

Facade by Pat McAuliffe. Farmhouse, off the N69. Photo: S Lynch

vernacular idiom, capable of expressing social, economic and political relations of his craft and time.

Upon the gable end of a large farmhouse off the N69 road sometime around 1900, McAuliffe

Siamsa Tire

rendered a large scroll with the Latin text ‘Ecce Signum’. Somewhat bizarrely, this translates as ‘behold, the sign,’ expressing his interest in using language to comment on the product of his work in the locality. With many similar projects made during his long career, McAuliffe’s use of Latin mottos is reflective of an eclectic knowledge that became part of the culture, “When every boy knew his Virgil and Horace and Homer as well as the last ballad about some rebel that was hanged… when Kerry peasants talked to each other in Latin… they spoke the tongue of Cicero and Livy – the language of the educated world.” (1) This mode of thinking

'Synge on Tour' installation view Siamsa Tire.

KERRY CONTACTS

Facade by Pat McAuliffe. Main Street in Abbeyfeale. Photo: S Lynch

became a dynamic tool and method of expression

I don’t live in Kerry, but I was born and raised there,

when incorporated into McAuliffe’s practice, as

and revisit frequently. Here, I will write briefly

mottos for a facade was meticulously chosen and

about the county’s international cultural influences,

carefully suited to the particular commission.

Kate Kennelly Arts Officer Arts & Culture ,

despite its location at the edge of the European

According to local memory, McAuliffe enjoyed

Rathass, Tralee, Co. Kerry

continent. One example I like thinking about are

staging the drama of installation, as he cordoned off

T: (066) 7183815

the final scenes of Werner Herzog’s film Heart of

the front of a building with scaffold and a canvas

E: arts@kerrycoco.ie

Glass, where a clairvoyant foresees and transposes

covering. He demanded complete freedom in the

www.kerrycoco.ie/en/allservices/artsculture/

the film’s cast onto top of the rock of Skellig

design of each facade, and employed local labour to

visualarts

Michael. After several years there they realise that

help complete his work. He carved out of blocks of

the world might be round instead of flat. They

setting plaster in situ, completing arabesques and

decide to leave the rock, rowing in a direction not

zoomorphic detail, adding larger sculptural

knowing what they will encounter. A more everyday

elements, lettering and embellishment. When all

movement to and from Kerry is a daily Ryanair

was installed, it was revealed to the townspeople by

flight to Frankfurt, which gets you to Germany

removing the scaffold and curtain. His largest work

faster than it takes to go to Dublin. Awareness of

can be seen on the Main Street in Abbeyfeale,

both these scenarios could be important for the area

rendered as an eye-catcher on a building’s upper

to potentially avoid the stiffness of stale

two floors. Freeflowing Celtic interlacing rises up

regionalism.

between windows, while representations of a swan,

(NB: A full listing of galleries and public arts spaces can be found on the arts office webpages above)

Siamsa Tíre Theatre, Town Park, Co Kerry E: info@siamsatire.com www.siamsatire.com St John's Theatre & Arts Centre The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry T: 068 22566 www.stjohnstheatrelistowel.com Samhlaiocht, The Old Presbytery 20 Castle Street , Tralee , Co. Kerry T: 066 712 9934 / 7120925 E: info@samhlaiocht.com www.samhlaiocht.com Cill Rialaig Project Dungeagan, Ballinskelligs T: 066 9479297 Kenmare Arts Centre Shelbourne Street Kenmare Co Kerry T:+353 (0)64 6648701 E: info@carnegieartskenmare.ie www.carnegieartskenmare.ie

A cursory dig into the county’s cultural

pairs of flamingos, elephants, a snow lion, a wolf, a

heritage points to many diversions on this theme.

frog, a peacock, Eve in the Garden of Eden, and a

Pat McAuliffe is one example, a man who lived and

dove all feature. An agricultural fertility charm,

worked in Listowel from 1846 to 1921. In a career as

written in Anglo-Saxon, is prominent.(2) A walk

a builder he applied exterior plaster, or stucco, upon

through the towns of Listowel and Abbeyfeale

shopfronts and townhouse facades in the region.

reveal many of his projects, along with the work of

Over 30 examples can still be seen today. From the

several other plastermasons who subsequently

1870s onwards he began to develop an ambitious

continued this tradition of façade embellishment

and often exuberant style, using a broad range of

until the 1980s. This work, from our viewpoint in

elements culled from the vocabulary of classical

2010, could be viewed as a series of successfully

architecture and ornament while exploring an

integrated artworks into the built environment. In

eclectic mix of art nouveau, Celtic and Byzantine

such a context, McAuliffe, as designer, plastermason,

influences. Much of his formal repertoire was likely

and architectural sculptor, might be identified as a

taken from architectural journals and source

relevant precedent and practitioner.

handbooks available at the time, since all the fashions of late 19th century thinking was there for

Sean Lynch is an artist now based in Paris

anyone who wanted to research it. Knowledge about the avant-gardes of Paris, Brussels or Vienna was found by placing a subscription with the local newsagent. The fascinating aspect about McAuliffe’s practice is how he twists all this information into a

Notes (1) P.A. Sheehan, The Literary Life and Other Essays (Dublin 1921) p.52 (2) ‘Hal, wes bu, folde, fira modor Beo bu grovende on Godes ferfine Fodre grefylled, firum to nytte’ which translates as: ‘Hail to thee, Earth, Mother of men! Be fruitful in God’s embrace, filled with food for the use of men.’

Kerry is a long way from Dublin, or so it seems. In the last six months I have discovered that it is just as easy to ‘do’ meetings in London or Paris. Yet the very idea of having to travel in order to develop art projects establishes an uncomfortable relativity between the ‘regions’ and the ‘centre,’ between us and them. This matters because of the impact it has on the allocation of resources – the money to make art in a particular place especially when that particularity is the source of meaning in the work in question.

It’s simple. Art, location and money come as a package, but these terms have become incredibly fluid in a globalised economy against which the local becomes an act of faith if not resistance. The idea of the local as a potent signifier of identity (personal and artistic) is a key theme in the work of a number of contemporary Irish artists based in Kerry.

Andrew Duggan has interrogated the idea of ‘folk’ in this context. Laura Fitzgerald’s work is all about memory and place. Sean Lynch deals with the retrieval of cultural ‘events’ while Caoimhghin Ó Fraithile posits contemporary identity in remembrance and custom. Denis Buckley uses performance to explore the impact of economic migration on cultural identity. Deirdre O’Mahony (just across the Shannon) created the XPO in Kilnaboy as an expression of a radically reworked understanding of what it means to be ‘local.’ All of these artists share an outlook and practice that is intrinsically international. Being ‘local’ does not mean being ‘provincial.’

As a curator based in Kerry, I have worked on projects in London, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Shanghai, New York and Paris and I am currently involved in a project that will be financed out of LA and will involved three European partners. In January, 2011, Cheng Xixing and Zhang Yunyao of the Don Gallery, Shanghai, travel to Cork as part of an artist / curator exchange that I brokered with Orla Flynn of CIT / Crawford College of Art and Design.

Being based in Kerry does not matter in an international context. The problem lies closer to home.

As we teeter on the edge of sovereign default, the provision of public services in the arts remains heavily dependent of central funding. The Arts Council is faced with supporting an extensive network of local arts organisations from a diminishing public purse as well as discharging its primary function of supporting creative artists and the creation of new work. As institutions cut expenditure, it is likely that programme (artists) rather than fixed costs (buildings, administration etc) will bear the brunt of the adjustment.

This is no different from the funding crisis in other parts of the public service and there is no reason to suspect that ‘frontline services’ will be preferred over administration in terms of local arts provision. As I drove From Dublin to Limerick to attend the closing session of the conference to mark 25 years of local authority arts, the engine of development at a local level. I passed two public sculptures that have been seriously neglected. One was overgrown and the other has been allowed to crumble completely. There is anecdotal evidence of cutbacks elsewhere. I know of one artist who was having difficulty securing a fee that represented .01% of an organistaion’s annual grant from the Arts Council.

The disparity in power between artists and administrators has never been so stark. The project of developing local provision now has to be followed by a correction in the balance between artists and administrators in public sector arts organisations.

Without local artists there is no basis for a local arts infrastructure or representation at an international level.

Ciaran Walsh

14

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

CONFERence

Central & Indispensable Joanne Laws reports on ‘Writing Irish Art History’ a research day held at TRIARC, Dublin 20 November 2010.

Back in the summer months, my attention was drawn to a call for

Dublin (the venue for the event) in terms of its reputation of scholarly

ways, Beckett’s aesthetic theories aimed to challenge the formal

submissions by TRIARC (Trinity Irish Art Research Centre) to a post-

excellence, recognised at a worldwide level for its contribution to

academic apparatus of criticism. For him, art should resist distinctions

graduate research symposium. Thematically concerned with ‘Writing

academic research.

of class, and aestheticization (2) – real art should be prepared to reveal its failures.

Irish Art History’, the event on 20th November sought to ‘highlight

The afternoon session deepened this discussion of ‘canons’, most

current scholarship on the historiography of Irish art, architecture and

noticeably with reference to Modernist painting. Dr Roisin Kennedy

On reflection, 'Writing Irish Art History' did indeed offer a

material culture’. I briefly considered submitting a paper, but opted

(UCD) introduced this section with her keynote address Lost in

fascinating insight into the historiography of Irish art, but it succeeded

instead for the cosier position of spectator, subsequently acquiring the

Translation: Irish Art and Irish At History. Proceeding with a discussion of

in doing more than that. In an academic sense the polarity between art

role of reporting back on my observations to Visual Artists News sheet.

Irish art, with reference to the legacy of the great canon of European

history and visual culture was evident. This was articulated by the

I was curious about a number of things prior to the event; what is the

art, Dr Kennedy highlighted the lack of scholarly analysis of Irish art

researchers who presented, many of whom stated the need for new

substance of this doctoral research, which goes on largely behind the

pre-1990’s and addressed the roles of the art critic and art historian in

contexts and platforms for art, criticism and historical research.

scenes of Irish academic institutions? What makes the PhD brain tick?

this context.

Institutional conservatism and a resistance to shifting definitions of discipline may re-affirm Irish art’s marginalised position outside

And in consistently generating new knowledge, how can research of

Re-visiting notions of Irishness, Jenny Fitzgibbon provided an

this nature allude to cultural production in an Irish context, and a

account of Diaspora or émigré content in Irish art history. The time-

reflection on our present position?

based work of artists such as Anne Tallentire and Nick Stewart directly

This notion of ‘historiography’ relates directly to the actual

TRIARC was formed in 2003 out of a rising interest in the study of

referenced migration as a feature of Irishness in a global context.

scholarly process of studying history. It takes into account the type of

Irish art and visual culture. In her introductory speech, TRIARC

Mobility, displacement and notions of the homeland were features of

historical research being carried out within a particular time and

director Yvonne Scott described the range of post-graduate courses

the 1990’s fetish for ethnicity and studies of identity.

context. Currently in Ireland and the UK, historical research is largely

British and European conventions.

offered by the research centre. She discussed the ways in which their

Jane Humphries probed the topical issue of the DIY ethic within

(but not exclusively) concerned with the social and the cultural. In the

outreach programme aims to access a wider audience through the

exhibition-making of the last decade in Ireland. In direct opposition to

process of ‘writing Irish art history’, it strikes me that the PhD

facilitation of events such as this. Organised entirely by Doctoral

the modernist legacy for the white cube, her paper Crossing the

researchers who presented on the day are involved in a wider, perhaps

Fellows Niamh NicGhabhann and Caroline McGee, the research day

Threshold explored the ‘domestic home as a site for contemporary art

more urgent, inquiry; the re-definition of Irishness, and the role the arts

unfolded as an interesting forum for a critical engagement with a

installation’, illustrating the ways in which private domestic interiors

should take in navigating the present terrain.

range of national, cultural and academic issues.

have been transformed into receptive public spaces. In an Irish context,

As demonstrated through some of the research material presented,

‘Writing Irish Art History’ was convened as part of the

artists responded to the construction boom (and its failure to be

notions of ‘Irishness’ have always been subject to complex and turbulent

‘Reconstructions of the Gothic Past’ research project (investigated by

sustainable), and the propagation of the home as a commodity item.

processes of evolution. The political propagation of nationalism has,

Professor Roger Stalley and Dr. Rachael Moss and supported by IRCHSS

These projects often occurred within marginalised urban communities,

historically, been under-pinned by a recognition of Irish cultural

– Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences). The

such as ‘Superbia’ and the ‘Breaking Ground’ initiative, which formed

uniqueness, communicated through the arts. From the 19th century

research day was supported by TRIARC, Fourcourts Press, and

part of the Ballymun regeneration programme. Humphries considers

onwards Irish identity was defined by a process of separating the Celt

IRCHSS.

that these sites act as spaces somewhere between the art world and the

from the Anglo Saxon. (Rural not urban, Catholic not protestant, Gaelic

The day-long event saw eight PhD students present aspects of

‘everyday’.

language not English language, wild not restrained, poetic not logical

their research, spanning a time-frame from Medieval to the present

Blaithin Hurley’s paper The Wild Irish Girl of La Serenissima

day. The projects were interestingly placed within a schedule of

explored the relationship between art and literature, specifically travel

How can out-dated notions of the ‘Celtic Soul’ (4) offer an insight

thematic groupings, with subtle points of intersection evident across

journals as source material for painting. Quoting from Lady Sydney

into contemporary notions of Irish identity? In his consistently astute

all of the research presented. The morning session was introduced

Morgan’s vivid, poetic accounts of Italian cities, Hurley demonstrated

reflections on the current economic crisis, Fintan O’Toole takes a broad

with a keynote address from Professor Tom Dunne (UCC), raising the

her theory that Irish painter Daniel Maclise must have used them as

perspective on how events of the last decade have impacted on the Irish

question Can there be an Irish art history? Introducing the elusive nature

source material for his depictions of 19th century Venice. Maclise had

psyche – “The twin towers of southern Irish identity – Catholicism and

of Irish identity, he asked the audience to consider how meaningful it

never been to Italy, yet he followed a British trend at this time to

nationalism – were already teetering before the great boom began in

is to use ‘Irishness’ as a criteria for analysing or categorising artworks.

produce Italian-themed works.

1995. The Celtic Tiger wasn’t just an economic ideology; it was also a

(1)

(3)

substitute identity. It was a new way of being that arrived just at the

Displaying iconical landscape painting by Irish artists, he probed

Staying with the discipline of painting, Mary Jane Boland offered

issues of nationalism, colonialism and cultural hybridity; thematic

an insight into ‘genre painting’ of the 18th and 19th centuries, defined

point when Catholicism and nationalism were not working anymore.”

by historians as paintings which depict scenes of everyday life. There

(5)

concerns which underpinned much of the day’s discussions.

Colleen M. Thomas constructed a theory of ‘missing models’ in

has, she claims, been a misinterpretation of this term through incorrect

The on-going National Campaign for the Arts states that the arts

her account of Christian iconography and medieval stone sculpture.

over-use, specifically in an Irish context. Historically, genre painting

are vital to the economy, but more poignantly it highlights that the arts

Two Egyptian hermits (Paul and Anthony) and a raven were depicted

was considered a lesser art form (particularly in France where the term

are what Ireland is known for, most notably in the fields of music,

in Christian scenes from the 8th century onwards, according to certain

was derived), as it generally depicted peasant scenes. In an Irish

theatre, literature, poetry and the visual arts. Similarly, the scholarly

texts, but remnants or artefacts have largely disappeared. This account

context, the use of the term genre was subject to vague appropriation

qualities of the ‘Celtic mind’ (6) have earned Ireland a well established

illustrates the development and transmission of a motif.

by art historians, and applied to artworks in unsuitable ways. In later

reputation for academic excellence.

The interruption of history, and the gaps which occur as a result of absence, was thematically continued by Keith Smith in his research

years, the emerging role of the critic sought to redefine these paintings primarily as artworks, not just documents of historical merit.

From my perspective, education and the arts are Ireland’s two greatest assets. Through inhabiting history, and constructing new

paper Father Donatus Mooney and Franciscan material Culture. Relaying

The presence of art criticism within the creative process was

visions of ‘Irishness’, education must be seen as a tool for generating

the religious upheaval of the 16th century, he presented archival

addressed in Emma Dwan O’Reilly’s paper Contemporary Art Writing in

potential options, and creating new ways of thinking. Similarly, artistic

research and the writings of Donatus Mooney, an archetypal Franciscan

Ireland. Art writing is an emerging discipline, which proposes to resist

practice must be regarded not as a luxurious commodity or a platform

monk, to assess the decline of wealth and material culture of the

the limitations of criticism, replacing it with an interdisciplinary

for cultural consumption by tourists, but as a way of creating new ways

Franciscan order in Ireland.

approach to writing which parallels art making in its capacity for

of seeing. According to Declan McGonagle, “This means describing art

Tara Kelly illustrated The Treasures of Ireland through descriptive

versatility and self-expression. This blurring of boundaries is of course

and design, not as decorative and therefore dispensable, but as central

accounts of the emerging market for facsimiles (specifically jewellery

a post-modern condition, which raises issues of authorship and

and indispensable to a reset economy, a re-imagined culture and a

and metalwork) in 19th century Ireland. Those artefacts, as collected,

classification.

remade society” (7).

inventoried, preserved and subsequently reproduced in a process of

Providing an entertaining conclusion to the day’s events, Dr

propagation, served a cultural movement of the 1800s, which became

Nicholas Johnson presented a compelling adaption and distilment of

increasingly concerned with the political promotion of Irishness

transcribed conversations1 between Samuel Beckett and his friend

abroad. The broaches worn by ‘the daughters of Eireann’ promoted a

George Duthuit, the French critic. Defined specifically as ‘performative

romantic notion of Ireland, popularising jewellery depicting harps and

criticism’, Dr Johnson (Beckett), Nathan Gordon (George Duthuit) and

shamrocks as fashionable items. She alluded to the ‘canon’ of this time,

Marc Atkinson (Assistant) acted out Three Dialogues, depicting a

which described a set of structures imposed through tradition, in

conversation between Becket and Duthuit about the paintings of Bram

accordance with the agenda promoted through antiquarian

Van Velde (1895 – 1981). The content of the performance amounted to

scholarship.

an assessment of Beckett’s radical approach to criticism within the

Any canon, as studied within institutional contexts, constantly

visual arts, conveying a lucid set of artistic criteria, which shed some

re-affirms its position through the production of knowledge and

light on Beckett’s personal artistic aims. Ground breaking in many

discourse. I began to think about the historic campus of Trinity College

Joanne Laws Notes 1. Lady Sydney Morgan (1776 – 1859), was an Irish novelist. She gained notoriety with her book ‘The Wild Irish Girl’ published in 1806 2. The conversations between Beckett and Duthuit were originally published in Transition a French literary magazine in 1949. The artworks of three painters (Pierre Tal-Coat, André Masson and Bram van Velde) were discussed.

3.See Matthew Arnold The Study of Celtic Literature(London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1867).

4. Ibid 5. Fintan O’Toole Enough Is Enough (Faber and Faber, 2010).

6. Richard Kearney (ed.) The Irish Mind: Exploring Intellectual Traditions (Dublin Wolfhound Press, 1985) 7. Declan McGonagle It’s the Culture, Stupid! Irish Times, Thursday, March 11, 2010.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

15

January – February 2011

Profile

Airport Art

concerns in a little more depth. “All of those ideas about different kinds of audiences, local/national, are part of the whole context of the show

Sara Baume introduces ‘Terminal Convention 2011’ – a major project that will place on the site of the former Cork International Airport (17 - 27 March).

and the conference anyway,” John Byrne says, “these kind of issues continually come up if you are going to site it in a place like this.” The idea of having such an integrated symposium is something of particular appeal to me – of being able to put the discussion into context by means of the living, original artworks and events that immediately surround it.

“It’s really important that the conference doesn’t just end up sitting on top of the exhibition like some kind of an alienated dialogue,” Byrne says, “that it works with the space and the issues, that it picks up from some of the things you will have heard before about ‘airport art’ – that kind of bland and ubiquitous art that one tends to associate more with the art market.”

Gorschlüter reflects Byrne’s views when he criticises his own overuse, as a curator, of the word ‘international’ in the writing of press releases, and when he talks about how tired he is of constantly encountering the same type of artwork the world over. He sees the exhibition as an opportunity to create a discussion around “difference and diversity” in a strangely appropriate, almost ironic situation.

In terms of the artists themselves, I got a chance to hear Adrian Williams and Shane Munro talking about their respective practices the following day, as part of a seminar for students in the Crawford College

Production still from Terminal Convention (working title), an experimental documentary by artist and filmmaker Mike Hannon.

of Art and Design. While cautious to reveal specific plans for 'Terminal Convention', both describe examples of existing work that nicely shows why they were invited and how suited they are to the project as a whole.

Back on the window ledge in the decommissioned terminal, soundtracked by the occasional low growl of ascending and descending aeroplanes, I feel it only right - considering the existing economic straits - to bring up the question of funding. Sullivan explains that “funding is coming from a handful of places” – mainly from Static, also from the

Mike Hannon. Production still. Terminal Convention (working title)

Mike Hannon. Production still. Terminal Convention (working title)

What do you get if you cross hundreds of empty baggage trolleys, a

National Sculpture Factory as cultural partners in Ireland and from

especially strange for me to see the escalators stalled, the lifts suspended

couple of stalled conveyors and a dehydrated fountain with a gaggle of

John Moores University in Liverpool and CIT in Cork as academic

in mid air, the fish tanks drained, the check-in desks deserted and

international artists, musicians and speakers - then shuffle them all

partners. He is keen to emphasise that “Static’s model is not to be reliant

everything eerily dwarfed by adulthood.

on public subsidy in any way”, and that “a lot of the money for 'Terminal

together in a tumbledown airport on the outskirts of civilisation across

“The response I’ve got locally,” Sullivan says, “when we talk about

the St. Patrick’s weekend? It may sound something of an obscure joke,

Convention' will come through the music event – revenue generated

the project being in the old terminal, is that people almost seem to

but suspend disbelief long enough and you might well find yourself

from ticket sales and sales of alcohol, with our partners who are

automatically bypass the art bit and think, ‘well how do we get into

revelling in just such an event throughout 11 eclectic days this coming

running the bars.”

the building?!’ They remember it as it was before and want to see it

springtime…

Sullivan isn’t shy to admit “the whole thing is a complex web that

again.” It goes without saying that an event of this calibre will attract

An initiative of Static Gallery in Liverpool, the shrewdly titled

needs to be navigated to get it through to March.” In the aftermath,

members of the art community from further afield, so it’s good to hear

'Terminal Convention 2011' is set to take place in the former Cork

there are plans for a publication, plus re-presentations in CIT Wandesford

that the organisers are just as aware of the inhabitants of its host city

International Airport, which was decommissioned in favour of a shiny

Quay Gallery in April and Static in September. “That’s a whole other

and even those living beneath the flight paths in the surrounding

new facility in 2006. It is the brainchild of Static’s director, Paul

kind of curatorial challenge,” Sullivan says, “how does this huge project

countryside. “The range of events that are happening are going to

Sullivan, who has had links with the city since Cork was European

then move to a space the size of a regular gallery, and not even a large

attract a range of audiences,” he says, “there’ll be people flying in

Capital of Culture in 2005. At the heart of the event will be an

one at that…”

especially for the event, but I presume the majority of the audience are

exhibition installed throughout the abandoned building with Peter

going to be Irish.”

In order to record the challenges at hand, a filmmaker has been selected as one of the participating artists. His brief is to follow the

Gorschlüter (Deputy Director of MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst,

Peter Gorschlüter mentions that they hope to organise a farmer’s

Frankfurt am Main) as curator. 'Terminal Convention' is also set to

project through from its shaky beginnings and make some kind of a

market to run alongside the art fair ­– buttermilk scones and muddied

consist of a symposium co-ordinated by John Byrne (co-director of

documentary-style work to be screened at the re-presentations. On my

turnips meets white emulsion and multimedia installation. This is

Static and Programme leader of Fine Art Liverpool John Moores

way back out of the abandoned terminal, I bump into Mike Hannon, the

sure to attract a more diverse audience – above all other counties, Cork

University), an art fair and a major music event. While the line-up of

appointed filmmaker, and he is happy to discuss some ideas. Although

loves its markets. When asked about his role as exhibitions curator in

musicians was still quite provisional at the time of going to press, the

still in its earliest stages, Hannon is clear that the finished piece will

such a multifaceted event, Gorschlüter stresses that “the art is

confirmed symposium speakers include George Yudice of the University

have more of the art film and less of the straightforward documentary

everything, across all parts of the project.” He describes this weekend’s

of Miami, Charles Esche and Steven ten Thije of the Van Abbe Museum,

about it. He describes, with compelling enthusiasm, his interest in

site visits as something of a “blind date” for most of those present, in

Eindhoven. The list of participating artists is a more concrete cause for

subtle details – in crinkled calendars, strands of drifting spider-web and

terms of both meeting each other and encountering the abandoned

excitement

Imogen

in the pervading ghost town atmosphere. When he uses the term

terminal for the first time. “The main idea was to bring together those

Stidworthy, Frederic Pradeau, Diane Guyot, Juan Cruz, Padraig Timoney,

‘apocalyptic’ in relation to how everything is still modern and familiar,

that had a particular interest in making interventions in the space, in

Becky Shaw, Peter Norrman, Jacqueline Passmore, Ross Dalziel (Sound

yet simultaneously switched-off and abandoned, he captures the place

working site-specifically,” he says, “it’s not about taking art from all

Network), Adrian Williams, Shane Munro and Le Pavillon (Palais de

exactly.

over the world and showing it in this particular place, but about

Tokyo/Paris). In addition, the National Sculpture Factory, as partners of

inviting the artists to respond.”

–

Douglas

Gordon,

Damien

Hirst,

the project in Cork, have selected three Irish artists – Seamus Nolan,

Unlike everybody else I have met who is involved with the project, Hannon is a native of Cork and still locally based. I am glad to have

It’s a risky approach for a curator – one that requires a certain

found someone who actually remembers the terminal as a operating

surrender of control to the spontaneous, ambiguous relationship

entity, with whom I can authentically reminisce about the welcome

between artist and infrastructure.

But Gorschlüter’s calm and

old building had been decommissioned and looking out at it, thinking,

fireplace and the Jack Charlton bronze, about a time before air travel

confident manner give the distinct impression that it will pay off, that

that would be such a great place to do a project,” Sullivan tells me. He

was humdrum and there was still a sense of excitement and anticipation

his trust will ultimately allow for a more interesting exhibition. The

is sitting on a window ledge upstairs in the defunct Departure lounge

about spaces and sights like these, about Baggage Reclaim and Foreign

list of artists is well varied – both in terms of country of origin and

with John Byrne and Peter Gorschlüter on either side, and a picturesque

Exchange. At least we can take solace in the fact that 'Terminal

media of choice. When I ask Gorschlüter about the selection process,

setting of blue skies and runways in the background. It is the first

Convention' is set to bring the building back to life again in such an

he says that “some of the artists were selected through my connections,

weekend of official site visits and the terminal is variously scattered

innovative way, and that we will have the chance to remake our

some through Sullivan’s connections and others through the National

with artists, architecture students and other members of the organising

childhood memories out of an event so unexpected and extraordinary.

Sculpture Factory.” It seems fitting that he expects “a lot of the work

team – each absorbed in their own explorations – taking photographs

will be about communication, one way or another.”

Nevin Lahart and Martin Healy.

“I remember coming through the new terminal, knowing that the

and making drawings as they go.

Communication certainly is not something of a problem between

Airport Property Manager, John Bruen, seems happy to let me

the three main organisers – it’s clear from our conversation that

roam the strangely familiar building. Unlike mostly everybody else, I

'Terminal Convention' is being driven by their overlapping interests

can remember when it was a functioning airport, when as a child, I was

and shared ideas. The symposium, set to take place over a few days at

brought on annual visits to pick up my English grandmother. It is

the start of the event, will be a great way of examining these driving

Sara Baume www.nationalsculpturefactory.com www.statictrading.com

16

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

Profile

Polyphonic Public Conversation

DC2011 publicity image.

RachAEl Thomas and Oliver Dowling talk to jason oakley about the background, aims & ambitions of Dublin Contemporary 2011 Jason Oakley: Tell me about your respective roles and ambitions in relation to the development and delivery of Dublin Contemporary 2011.

Oliver Dowling: Dublin in particular – and Ireland in general – has always had a very strong link to visual arts activities outside the country. I first proposed an international exhibition for Dublin in 1999 when I was Visual Arts Advisor to the Arts Council. But the general feeling was that we did not yet have the sufficient vision, experience and knowledge to organise an exhibition of our own. I looked at the possibility of a Manifesta in Dublin and visited Manifesta 3 in Ljubliana in 2000. However, at that time Manifesta wanted total control over all aspects of the exhibition, and for the host city to provide the cash.

So the idea lay dormant until 2005 when Rachael Thomas approached me, having heard that I had this idea. Rachael believed that the time was now right for a Dublin Biennial. We got together and discussed various ways of doing this – and eventually agreed that the Biennial format was pretty well close to exhaustion; and that we should concentrate on an exhibition along the lines of a Documenta.

We want to present art of our own time; and to acknowledge the huge excitement in Ireland in both the making of art and the sophistication and risks taken by the various galleries, museums, arts centre and private galleries. The excitement generated by the ROSC exhibitions (1967 –1988) at home was extraordinary – controversial, new and visionary. The impact on Irish audiences was incalculable and reflected in the numbers of people who were influenced to make art or pursue their interest in other ways.

My vision was for a pathway through Dublin – along the river from the Custom House through College Green / Temple Bar and to James Street in venues not ordinarily used for art. And also utilising the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and the Irish Museum of Modern

Rachael Thomas: I saw the history here and wanted to signify the current exciting art scene here. I wanted to build on established structures of art practice and institutions, to reflect the healthy and exciting artistic community here; and that’s why I approached Oliver when I had the idea of a major international exhibition for contemporary art in Dublin.

I had already had experience with Biennales such as the Pavilion for Wales at Venice with the artist Cerith Wynn Evans and the Lyon Biennal with Hans Ulrich Obrist. This idea for Dublin was subsequently supported by Enrique Juncosa Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. My role is Artistic Director of Dublin Contemporary 2011. I would like to achieve an exhibition that encapsulates the best of Irish and international art practice – one that will platform the architecture of the city itself; and to show the vibrancy of contemporary art in Dublin.

JO: How did the specific idea for Dublin Contemporary 2011 originate?

OD: Rachael and I discussed the idea with several agencies and the response we received was positive all round. The Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport decided to back the idea and commissioned a business plan which Rachael and myself worked and presented to the then Minister in September 2008. We had great help from Maeve Butler who worked with us in keeping everything together and Maeve is now part of the team bringing the vision to reality.

RT: The concept was researched, developed and resourced by Oliver and myself with the support of Enrique Juncosa and the Irish Museum of Modern Art back in 2008, this was re-visited in 2009 – 2010 period to further articulate the economic, social and cultural impact of an event of this nature. Oliver and I then worked very closely

benchmarking the exhibition internationally. We also spoke with artists, curators and academics for advice on how to develop a new model here in Dublin. Barbara Dawson and Patrick Murphy were among the supporters and academic institutional representatives such as Declan Long, Francis Halshall, Sarah Glennie and Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, Daragh Hogan and Fionola Jones in providing feedback, to name but a few.

JO: Could you briefly sketch out the conceptual framework / theme for Dublin Contemporary 2011?

OD: The theme of silence was Rachael’s concept. I backed it, as I really liked how Rachael arrived at the theme in terms of an Irish context.

RT: The theme of silence has been chosen because it is a concept that holds a central place in the social, philosophical and artistic life of Ireland. This goes back nearly 1,000 years to when the monastic communities on barren promontories along the Irish seaboard first tolled the Angelus to mark a time set for contemplating the mysteries of life and death. Silence fell when the Angelus bells rang, a ritual that persists to this day. In this silence, the limitations of time and space diminish, an effect that similarly occurs with the contemplation of art.

The exhibition’s title is taken from John Cage’s revolutionary book Silence: Lectures and Writings, first published in 1961, which continues to provide inspiration to visual artists in its discussion of chance procedures and its revolutionary ideas about Zen, sound, silence, form and time.

The exhibition concept also registers an Irish history of silence, as reflected in the writings of both Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.

Cage, Beckett and Joyce wrote with a deep awareness of the ancient

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

17

January – February 2011

PROFILE and modern philosophical and theological traditions of silence and its correlative states – negation, absence. Dublin Contemporary 2011 features a tribute to these artists by leading academics who respond to their radical, discursive conceptions of silence in a series of happenings around the city, such as new musical compositions to be premiered during the duration of the exhibition.

This exhibition departs from the more familiar art experience centred on visuality and materiality, tending rather toward the verbal and the immaterial. Registering a turn, or return toward an oral, storytelling tradition Dublin Contemporary 2011 presents a constellation of historical and contemporary works of art that celebrate and explore the dynamics of silence, as well as that of its opposite and inseparable companion, noise. Through installations, happenings, performances, films, readings, texts, an evolving online venue, and other events ‘Silence’ will change our conception of both exhibitions and sound alike. The landscape of the city lends itself to this project, which interrogates culture at that nexus where the physicality of nature, the urban environment and our own bodies meets that of the sounds that surround us.

JO: Do you see the exhibition as a kind of re-animation and re-connection to the achievements of the ROSC exhibitions?

OD: I am always very conscious that ROSC, which was conceived in the mid 1960s – and in particular the first ROSC in 1967, played a big part in putting Ireland on the international map – at a time when there were few such exhibitions; the other main ones being the Venice Biennale, Documenta and the Sao Paolo Biennial. We were up there with the best of them and recognised as such.

But apart from that, we always looked outwards; and although the audience for contemporary art may have been small, it was strong and visionary. The people involved achieved great things in very different times.

Besides ROSC I can recall many international exhibitions visiting Dublin and going out as well. But when ROSC ended it left a big gap.

Although there have been great strides in academic research, publications and in the possibilities for artists and gallerists to take risks – I believe that an event such as Dublin Contemporary will form a focus for all to further develop and create excitement all round.

JO: Connected to the above question – is there a sense of responsibility that Dublin Contemporary 2011 serves to showcase not only current Irish and international visual art practice, but also to historicise and platform (in an international context) important developments that have taken place in Ireland since ROSC? OD: My vision is to present contemporary visual artworks.

RT: The vision is to offer a portrait of Dublin now, in all its forms – from public to private narrative, art to literature, from music to the community of Dublin. I also want to make a stand for the current history of curators, artists and academics and put them in a time-line in the publication. We will show who is making art, curating and writing here and now – and why Dublin Contemporary happened.

The visual arts community really paved the way for this project to happen – including important curators such as Vaari Claffy, Noel Kelly, Tessa Giblin, Sarah Pierce, Grant Watson, Georgina Jackson, Sean Kissane, Sarah Glennie, Patrick Murphy, John Hutchinson, Declan McGonagle. And artists /curators such as Jaki Irvine, Padraic Moore and Val Connor, Pallas studios, Mark Garry, Dorothy Cross, Mick Wilson and Paul O’Neill. These are just some of the collectives and individuals who are changing and contributing to shape the awareness of the visual arts.

JO: Could you give an overview of the types of processes that have been involved in putting together such a project?

OD: It took Rachael and myself four years to develop and gain funding for Dublin Contemporary 2011. Originally we planned it for 2010, but big events such as this take a lot of time.

RT: The process of a biennale event as you would imagine demands a considerable effort and expertise to deliver an event of this scale. The Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport has been very supportive, along with many stakeholders and partners. I won’t attempt to list them all. But suffice to say that the city and its cultural, educational, tourism, business communities and the domestic audience will be pivotal in the development and ultimately in the success of Dublin Contemporary.

We also have secured international funding through the LUMA foundation which is enabling us to develop our education / conversations series.

The curators who have supported this exhibition, signed up as they were immediately inspired not only by the artistic practice here

Oliver Dowling

but also by the landscape of the city itself. They wanted to contribute to the first Dublin Contemporary and help to become internationally respected. Importantly I feel they were excited about the City of Dublin and its past strong visual art legacy.

With regards to the venues, this has had to be adjusted in line with a tight budget; and also to connect with the theme of the exhibition.

OPW, IMMA, Hugh Lane, Trinity and many others have been fantastic in giving their support. The artists that we have been in conversation with similarly responded to the city and the theme of the exhibition.

As for the staff of DC2011, we recruited a committed and talented team that embrace the vision and practicalities of delivering such an exhibition.

JO: Could you give a brief account of the conversations that have taken place between Dublin Contemporary 2011’s panel of curatorial advisors?

OD: As the whole process is not yet complete, I can’t to go into too much detail right now. However, I must say that the engagement of the international members of the curatorial panel; and the meetings with them have been very exciting and rewarding – their input has been great.

RT: The panel is crucial in locating Dublin Contemporary in the discourse around the global contemporary art scene. The panel members support the Irish art scene and have been promoting Dublin Contemporary 2011 oversees. For example Christine Macel, has mentioned in the current edition of Art Forum her support for Dublin Contemporary. This expands interest in art here and the city of Dublin.

JO: In your opinion, what have been the biggest challenges so far?

OD: There have been many, but gaining funding was the first big hurdle to overcome.

RT: Definitely, funding was the hardest part, because it was hard to match it to the vision. We have to be intelligent and flexible and adapt to the now, yet not compromise on quality. This is a challenge everyone across the board is facing. This is why we are especially grateful to the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, for their great support and goodwill in enabling us to making this ambitious project happen.

JO: What in your view are the key benefits Dublin Contemporary 2011 will bring to the contemporary art world in Ireland?

OD: We already have a very exciting and inquisitive visual art scene in Ireland – Dublin Contemporary 2011 is an opportunity for everyone working in the visual arts to take advantage of it and hopefully take risks as Dublin Contemporary 2011 is doing.

RT: And the rigour and excellence of the exhibition will have an enduring effect on the landscape, actively driving public consciousness of art in Ireland and placing Dublin on the international art calendar and map, to showcase prominent Irish and international artists, collectors, curators, and institutions. The benefits are many, building on the reputation as the artists, curators, academics, gallerists and institutions such as Visual Artists Ireland. We are inviting international collectors and press to look at Dublin now.

Education is key as well; we have planned a symposium at Trinity

Rachael Thomas

College, which will feature key International and Irish curators and artists who will discuss the potentiality of the arts in this time of austerity. For the exhibition, Silence is also a portrait of Dublin now, reflecting on how we will build the future upon the fragments of the past. The very social fabric of the city, with its possibilities, renders possible polyphonic conversations between artists, poets, musicians, curators and spectators and allows alternative ways of seeing.

All these complex ambitions create new junctions in the visual arts, and involve new value systems. The value of the conversation Dublin Contemporary 2011 will bring about here in Dublin cannot be taken lightly. A conversation such as this can be radically egalitarian.

And now, more than ever, we need a truly inclusive conversation. Only this can mirror the plural and polyphonic city that Dublin has become.

JO: Besides the focus that will take place during the exhibition, what do you see as the immediate and extended legacy for the art scene here – both in Dublin, nationally and internationally?

OD: Both locally and nationally it will be part of the ongoing conversation of contemporary visual art networks; and hopefully it will help focus and expand wider public interest. There is already excitement from the Irish arts community around Dublin Contemporary 2011 – which is very encouraging. Internationally, many artists and gallery directors have and continue to develop an interest in contemporary Irish abroad and that can only be further strengthened.

RT: We are still at the beginning, but the support from both national and international curators, media and last but not least artists has been very positive. And I hope that we will also create a healthy controversial discussion – as Dublin Contemporary is trying to engage in a true conversation, which does not hold back on excellence. We also want to stimulate, debate and initiate an international platform of a unique format through the artistic programme; and to build on the foundations of artistic excellence and the rich Irish culture.

JO: Finally, does Dublin Contemporary 2011 have aims in terms of benefits to the city and Ireland’s international profile in terms of attracting and retaining investment in Ireland?

OD: In terms of audiences there are many studies and projections that indicate that promotion of the arts is very positive and attracts audiences both locally, nationally and internationally.

RT: Our objective is to enhance Dublin and Ireland’s reputation as a cultural centre. Dublin Contemporary 2011 is following in the successful tradition of major international art platforms such as those held in Venice, Berlin and Liverpool. We envisaged numerous benefits to the city – not least a significant increase in international and national cultural visitors to Dublin, which will greatly enhance the profile of Dublin, reminding this audience that this city is a thriving, creative place to live and do business in. For example, our recent launch in New York with Minister Mary Hanafin echoed this positivity and we are certainly contributing as much as we can to the profile of Dublin and Ireland.

Further information: www.dublincontemporary.com The list of artists participating in Dublin Contemporary 2011 will be announced in March

18

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

PROFILE

Ghost Modernism Katherine Waugh reports on ‘Unbuilding’ (21 August – 17 October 2010)

Cliona Harmey The idea of Distance

Shaffrey Architects intervention / exhibition design for 'Unbuilding'

Jesse Jones City of Mahogany

James Merrigan Fonts for Television

Bray, a town of bandstands and pavilions, Victorian hotels and stately tea rooms overlooking the sea – a town whose faded grandeur renders the past as palpable as the salty air, proved to be the perfect location for ‘Unbuilding’, an expansive and experimental project (21 Aug – 17 Oct 2010). Modernist literature had an intensely romantic relationship with the ‘seaside’; it represented a pre-war state of innocence seemingly lost forever. Seaside architecture meanwhile had a penchant for indulging itself in flights of fancy; a more baroque vocabulary associated with pleasure and the carnivalesque. But it is the almost Venetian melancholy of these historical traces, which seeped into the foundation of ‘Unbuilding’, like the stagnant pools of Tarkovsky’s Stalker revealing abandoned detritus and charms. Morrissey’s lament to seaside melancholia in Every Day is like Sunday “Hide on the promenade, Etch on a post card ‘How I dearly wish I was not here’ ” also reminds us of the tidal flow between presence and absence, contemporaneity and history, in such places.

Reflecting a ‘hauntology’ that may well define the zeitgeist of the moment, Bray’s ambivalent existence hovers between its ghostly past and fragile present. It is now known more for its film studios at Ardmore (and the transient narratives and constructions contained within this world of cinematic fantasy), and its commuter residents. If ‘to haunt’ (in Old English ‘Hamettan’) originally meant to ‘provide with a home’, then Unbuilding with its many layers of association with the Unheimlich sought to give a home to an extraordinarily challenging curatorial programme.

Initiated by Cliodhna Shaffrey as part of her curator in residence role with Wicklow County Council, which was instigated by arts officer Jenny Sherwin, Unbuilding was developed over the course of a year with Shaffrey’s signature curatorial generosity and intellectual breadth.

Working in collaboration with the curators Rosie Lynch (bringing her experience from Berlin and Iceland as well as nearby Kilruddery House) and Eilis Lavelle, who facilitated this complex project in the Mermaid, Shaffrey managed to balance 11 new commissions, a striking architectural intervention in the Mermaid, off-site events, discussions, and an astonishingly rich programme of rotating exhibitions.

Derrida’s interpretation of Heidegger’s concept of “unbuilding” hovered in appropriately ghostly fashion over the project; unbuilding in this sense the “inhabiting of a traditional structure in a way that exploits its metaphoric resources against itself” (1) – in effect revealing the conditions of possibility within a structure, in this instance the Mermaid space and the conceptual parameters of the project itself.

The architectural intervention designed by Grainne Shaffrey and Tomás O’Connor of Shaffrey architects, established itself as a powerful and extremely popular construction, not only challenging the public to reconsider the spatial dynamics of display in the building, but on its own terms establishing an intriguing choreography with each exhibition which set up residence within it.

Almost inevitably the rather more substantial ghost of 9/11 haunts any project with architectural ideas such as unbuilding intrinsic to it, and with it ‘ghost-busting’ theorists such as Baudrillard and Virilio. 9/11

became in many ways the sight of mourning, the symbolic wake for a process of lamentation for the death of modernism in architecture and other art forms. But where do we stand now in the face of a revivalist nostalgia for the crumbling walls of the Modernist ruin? These were issues invoked, albeit in elliptical form by a number of the artists involved in Unbuilding.

James Merrigan’s Fonts for Television installation in an unused office block adjoining the Mermaid drew instinctively from its material context; the nearby Neo-Georgian ‘ghost-estate’ built at the height of the Celtic Tiger, (and now resembling a film set), parking lots, and the town of Bray itself. His timber ramp, a gangway to his cultural ‘ark’ led one into a seemingly post-apocalyptic space where culture pulsed arbitrarily.

Dominique Gonzalez Foerster’s TH2058 installation for the Tate Modern, in which she sought to “produce a strange effect reminiscent of a JeanLuc Godard film, a culture of quotation in a context of catastrophe” (2) explored similar territory to Merrigan here. His fostering of elusive narratives, and destabilisation of our perceptual sense of ‘groundedness’ through positioning screens at angles requiring one to lie down on deck chairs provided, conflated effectively with B movie sound effects to suggest, (to me at least), the fin de siècle melancholy of Death in Venice (Dirk Bogarde on his deckchair and the death of Romantic Idealism), and Bray’s film studio alter-ego. The installation was cinematic, hinting at Chris Marker’s La Jetée and Tarkovsky’s Solaris (and I have to admit in more plebeian terms Inception) and philosophical, echoing the serious engagement with philosophy shown by Merrigan in his in-depth blog accompanying the entire Unbuilding project.

Cliona Harmey’s project for Unbuilding, The idea of distance situated inside Shaffrey and O’ Connors timber structure (as were all the onsite exhibitions for Unbuilding), combined sculpture, photography and filmic work in a spirit of Romantic Conceptualism, paying homage to modernist sculptural forms which were in turn haunted by a Victorian sensibility. As with artists such as David Claerbout and John Gerrard, she uses the latest computer software programming against its dominant function: the acceleration of time. It is harnessed instead to draw attention to the temporal ruptures we experience which can create states of considerable poignancy. Inspired originally by the story of Robert Halpin, the Wicklow man responsible for laying the first transatlantic cable in the 1860s, Harmey develops a response wherein the names of ships entering and leaving Dublin bay are transmitted in a live feed to a monitor which, when combined with her sculptural forms, becomes an elegiac testament to the relationship between textuality, memory and space.

Tamsin Snow’s Inventaire des oeuvres démembrées célebres, evolved out of a fortuitous curatorial match between her fascination with the Baroque (as read through Deleuze) and a residency allocated to her in Kilruddery House artist’s studio. Her installation was staged around a series of fractured portraits of The Dying Gladiator a Neo-Classical statue in Kilruddery gardens, and culminated in an exploration of the trompe l’oeil of baroque aesthetics. Felicity Clear and Sinéad Ni Mhaonaigh both insured that a highly intelligent painterly investigation of

‘Unbuilding’ was present, and Bea McMahon’s off site project Field managed to interweave so many interesting conceptual and material elements that it seemed to resonate successfully with all the other exhibitions and discussions taking place.

Unbuilding culminated with a series symposia entitled ‘Double Bills’, demonstrating the same inspired level of curating found throughout the project: two Irish writers whose art criticism is noted for its broad literary and philosophical palette, paired with artists whose work differed substantially; yet all resonated in a fugue like manner creating a polyphony of conceptual counterpoints harmonizing throughout the day. Brian Dillon, writer and UK editor of Cabinet magazine, was paired with artist Jesse Jones, after a screening of her film The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany, and Francis Mckee, writer curator and director of the Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow, was programmed with Welsh artist Heather Morrison.

Both Dillon and Jones conjured up the spectral; Jones with her exploration of the spectres of ideology present in earlier work such The Theramin and Zarathustra as well as City of Mahogany, and Dillon with his recent research into the ruins of Modernism, but also framed by his exquisite writing on the ‘hauntings’ which confront us in our personal encounters with space and memory as found in his award winning book In the Dark Room.

Jones fascination with Brecht (an interest shared by many from Godard, Straub / Huillet and Lars Von Trier to Gerard Byrne) becomes a reflection on cinema’s relationship with ideology and Modernist Idealism, but also, inevitably, with Brecht’s own desire to “force society to confront itself and thus bring art back into a relationship with the process of living”.(3) Jones spoke eloquently of her decision to “evacuate architecture” from her recent film, and her ongoing preoccupation with the relationship between art and politics. Dillon’s presentation segued gracefully through the phantom terrain of the modernist ruin, drawing on his prodigious artistic knowledge to reveal (with his distinctly Barthesian eye), an intriguing lineage for our present ‘ghostmodernist’ concerns.

Heather Morrisson spoke about some of the major projects she has worked on with her partner Ivan (most notably their 2007 Venice Biennale work Fantasy Island); how they combine the architectural with both nature and the fantastical, and the way in which they engage in a form of trajectivity (in Virilio’s terms) which accentuates the role of migration and movement in contemporary culture. Morrisson’s revelation that their large-scale public sculpture Luna Park had been burnt to the ground shortly before her visit to Bray provided a timely reminder of the vicissitudes and varying temporalities of destruction: that which can be swift and intentional alongside the more gradual melancholy disintegration of most ruins.

Francis Mckee was a conundrum of sorts; gentle and self-effacing in his style of address, he proceeded to draw the audience into the baroque web of his exposition with his labyrinthine visual presentation (and with some irresistible ‘asides’ such as that on the blind librarians of Argentina), ultimately disclosing a substantial political bite. The short film Tame Time, by artist Stena Wirfelt, which he chose to show before speaking, accentuated, with its focus on urban development in Glasgow, his refusal to separate art and architecture from important political issues. One of the more subtle themes to emerge both from his and Dillon’s talks was a new approach to the possibilities (both artistic and conceptual) found in nature; Dillon’s lyrical divagation on the rosebay willow herb, or ‘bombweed’ which flourished in post war sites of urban decay, and now seeing a second renaissance, found a striking onsite synchronicity with Ronan McCrea’s photographs of the ‘weed’ for Bea McMahon’s multi-layered installation.

The strength of ‘Unbuilding’ lay in its fostering of such tangential relationships and in its promotion of conceptual as well as artistic experimentation; its curators desire to side step issues of melancholy and nostalgia and stimulate a radical dynamic between art, architecture and the local community. If ‘Unbuilding’ as a project could have an architectural metaphor, it might perhaps be the ‘dry stone wall’ of Deleuze “Concepts are centres of vibrations, each in itself and everyone in relation to all others. This is why they all resonate rather than cohere or correspond with each other. As fragmentary totalities, concepts are not even pieces of a puzzle—for their irregular contours do not correspond to each other. They DO form a wall, but it is a dry stone wall, and everything holds together along diverging lines” (4) Katherine Waugh Notes (1) Wigley, Mark The Architecture of Deconstruction: Derrida’s Haunts (MIT 1995) p42 (2) Artists Statement Tate.Org (3) Walsh, Martin The Brechtian Aspects of Radical Cinema (BFI 1981) p7 (4) Deleuze, Gilles What Is Philosophy (Polity Press 1994) p23 ‘Unbuilding’ culminated in five site-based works by Bea McMahon, James Merrigan, Pauline Cummins, Tamsin Snow, and Kate Minnock – and eight studio-based works by Felicity Clear, Mary Kelly, Cliona Harmey, Kate Warner, Damien Flood & Alan Butler and Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh.

For detailed descriptions see www.unbuildingproject.com. Supported by The Arts Council, Mermaid Arts Centre, Wicklow County Council and ArtsLinks.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

19

January – February 2011

ART IN PUBLIC: FOCUS

The Post Room

Postcard Drawing 15'x10'

Return to Sender

Patient viewing the animations in the letter box

Claire Meaney Talks to Emily Robyn Archer about ‘the Post Room Project’ at Waterford Regional Hospital.

The Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is an arts and health organisation based at Waterford Regional Hospital. One of the organisation’s aims is to create professional development opportunities for artists – specifically to create new work and engage new audiences in healthcare and community contexts. Our artist-in-residence programme is one way in which WHAT offer this context and platform to artists.

Following a selection process artists-in–residence are provided with a studio space for a period of six months, in order to develop a body of work to be displayed in the hospital. The studio is a large purpose built space, located in the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health – the first dedicated arts and health building in Ireland – based in the grounds of the hospital.

The residency programme has been in place since the early 1990s.

In more recent years, an integral part of the residency has been the requirement that resident artists engage with the hospital community – both staff and patients – in a creative way. Many of the artists who apply for this programme are artists that have experience of working in social contexts; or they wish to expand their work into more collaborative modes of practice.

Waterford Regional Hospital is a busy place with approximately 2,000 staff members, on average 122,837 outpatients and 23,367 inpatients per year; not to mention all the visitors, so there are vast and varied communities to engage. Artists may choose to focus on a small sector of the hospital or ambitiously try to reach as many people as possible.

The staff team at WHAT provide support. They can function as a sounding board for ideas or help artist navigate the hospital’s physical and organisational structures. Ultimately however, it is the artist’s responsibility to build relationships with the hospital community – be that staff members, a patient group or a specific department – in order to develop their work.

The artist’s concept for their work must be appropriate to the setting; by being sensitive to the needs of patients who are often too unwell or don’t want to partake in an art experience. Artists must also understand the busy nature of the hospital and that staff members are not always free to participate either. WHAT stress that the creative invitation must give participants the choice to both opt in and opt out.

Although WHAT has been based at the hospital for almost 20 years, due to a high turnover of staff and patients, blank faces can feature frequently when the word art is mentioned in this context. It can also be quite challenging in an acute setting to develop projects with patients that requires more than one meeting. Patients are often discharged quickly or moved to other wards.

In 2010 Emily Robyn Archer, a recent graduate from NCAD, was awarded a WHAT residency. When Emily arrived on her first day, I brought her on a quick tour to the main hospital. I needed to post some letters so we stopped by the Post Room on our way. Emily was immediately inspired by the hub of activity in this tiny room. She went back there again and shadowed one of the staff members on an afternoon postal round. This provided Emily with a great way to get an overview of the hospital’s various departments and meet a range of staff members.

Claire Meaney

Claire Meaney: What motivated you to apply for a residency with the Waterford Healing Arts Trust?

Emily Robin Archer: My biggest motivation was to expand my own arts practice outside of the studio. I wanted to work with a community and do something a little bit different. Also I’ve been interested in arts and healthcare in general for a while; and I had some previous experience working with people with mental disabilities, and also with the Open Window Project in St James’s Hospital in Dublin. I first came across the Waterford Healing Arts Trust while researching for my thesis and thought it seemed like a really interesting organisation.

ERA: It varied, but the majority of people who received a package participated, some people who hadn’t received a package but had heard about the project got in touch requesting one. It’s difficult to determine levels of engagement as so many of the interactions took place out of sight and feedback was never immediate.

The main problem I encountered was packages getting ‘stuck’ with people. The recipient had either forgotten to send it on, was on leave from work or felt they couldn’t contribute for some reason.

In the end, to avoid packages getting lost or ‘stuck’ I began my own rounds hand delivering the packages and found that a personal introduction to the project made a huge difference.

CM: What prompted you to develop a project based around the Post Room in the hospital?

ERA: When I first arrived in the hospital, everything seemed so foreign and strangely intimidating in a way. The Post Room is the opposite; it’s not too different from your local post office, an everyday and familiar place in the otherwise unfamiliar surroundings. On closer inspection, I found it to be anything but ordinary, its daily deliveries include an array of medical samples, x-rays, test results, even breast milk!

But what really interested me was that it physically connects all of the many different wards and departments of the hospital, literally, from the laboratory to the laundry.

You and I had talked in the early stages about a collaborative drawing project involving the hospital community, so this seemed like a really interesting opportunity, a pre-existing network and a medium through which we could engage people and initiate a collaboration.

CM: Acute hospitals can be challenging places for artists to navigate.

People are often busy and distracted. What challenges did you face in implementing your project and how did you overcome these challenges?

ERA: When I was preparing to mount the first of the animated letterboxes in a hospital corridor I wasn’t used to the amount of background paperwork and organization needed to complete a relatively simple install.

I think it comes down to a clash of priorities really, you’re an artist trying to do something inventive in a new territory where everything has to be clinical, safe and washable; foreign concepts really…

With the Post Room Project I wanted to introduce an element of playfulness and creativity into this environment. Of course, along the great learning curve, the project changed constantly and my approach to the environment was also altered.

CM: And how did this collaboration work?

ERA: Basically I infiltrated the hospital postal system with a series of special internal mail packages, each containing a different drawing, story or other collaborative work. A letter introduced the project and invited each recipient to contribute to the artwork and then post the package on to someone else in the hospital – like a chain letter artwork.

When the package returned to the post room between recipients, I recorded each new contribution, this allowed me to document the drawing process and also meant I could keep track of where each envelope was at any given time.

CM: Why did you document the process?

ERA I documented the work as it progressed because I was making animations of the artwork – growing from start to finish. I wanted staff and others in the hospital to see how the artworks were developing so I photographed each and every new mark made on the page. Each of these photographs became a new frame in the animation. The finished animations where hidden in special letterboxes installed in the hospital corridors so passers-by could stop and peer into the letterbox opening and see the animation playing inside.

CM: You initiated the project, photographed the development of the drawings and prose and sent on the letters/ packages to others. How willing were people to take part? Did you use any other methods to engage participation or did the letters alone suffice?

CM: And how do you think you were perceived by the hospital staff members?

ERA: Because Waterford Regional is such a progressive hospital in terms of Arts and Health and because WHAT provides them with such a colourful and varied arts programme, I honestly think they viewed me as part of the furniture in there. Sometimes they seemed puzzled by my presence in the wards but once I explained the project and my involvement in it, staff couldn’t have been more accepting and helpful.

CM: At the same time as initiating this project you were also exploring a body of work without a collaborative element. Were you influenced in any way by the hospital context in the making of this work?

ERA Definitely. I hadn’t intended that there would be cross-referencing between the community project and my own studio work but inevitably each did inform the other. As a result of my early research for the Post Room Project I became preoccupied with all things postal and began working on a series of postcard sized paintings and drawings. The idea was that a painting can say all the things that a postcard or a letter does about a specific event or place in your life, and I felt that as I was working on these postcard drawings, I was effectively corresponding with my past-self on the subject of a certain memory or event.

Emily Robyn Archer’s exhibition ‘The Post Room Project’ was displayed at the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health and the post-room corridor of the hospital during October and November. The exhibition featured works made by the artist alongside collaborative pieces.

The Waterford Healing Arts Trust will be recruiting an artist-in-residence in 2011. For more information please see www.waterfordhealingarts.com. www.emilyrobynarcher.com

North St, Skibbereen, Co.Cork t: +353 28 22090 e: info@westcorkartscentre.com www.westcorkartscentre.com

Cutters / Cork curated by James Gallagher 7 February – 12 March In Cutters / Cork American artist James Gallagher has brought together over 50 international artists to illustrate the range and depth of contemporary collage. This exhibition is the third in the Cutters series (Brooklyn in 2009 and Berlin in 2010) and will continue to showcase the art form of collage.

The exhibition will also link to a series of lens based events taking place in Cork and Cobh over the same period

Clockwise from top left: Jason Rosenberg, Dennis Busch, Bill Zindel, Max o Matic

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

21

January – February 2011

Art in Public: Profile

Art or Social Engineering?

Aisling Prior reports on Jochen Gerz’s 2 – 3 Streets project for the Ruhr Valley In October last, I was invited by Ruhr 2010, (the European Capital of Culture which comprises all the major cities in the Ruhr valley) to experience and review Gerz’s latest public/social commission 2 – 3 Streets. Best known for his anti-monuments, Jochen Gerz’s work has prolifically contributed to the discourse on public art / socially-engaged practice here in Ireland through his on-going amaptocare work, commissioned by Breaking Ground (1) in Ballymun in 2002, and on which I worked with him for over a period of six years.

Jochen Gerz’s work defies easy categorisation. His recent work, with its imperative of duty and civic obligation, places his practice within the socially engaged genre. His large-scale socially oriented works are provocative, divisive, and inconclusive. Belonging firmly to the German canon of literary figures and artists such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Hannah Arendt, Joseph Beuys, Hans Haacke and Gregor Schneider, Gerz’s work is resolutely produced towards exerting varying degrees of socio-political agency.

The terms “care”, “contract”, “terms and conditions” and “contribution” pervade and distinguish all of his works, and his obsession with contracts, writing and signing off on commitments references Seth Sieblaub’s seminal 1968 work The Artists’ Contract (2). In fact the contract, his own and particularly the contract which the participant enters into with him, can be considered the work itself.

His earlier work, from the late ‘60s and 70s, predates Bourriaud’s definition of audience / collaborator generated work –‘Relational Aesthetics’. Gerz’s insistence and dependence on co-authorship in order for the manifestation of an artwork – see The New Paris Phone Book 1968 to 1970, Paris – was ahead of its time. And the concept of what is public and what is an audience, contested by artists such as Francis Alys, Santiago Sierra, Adam Chodzko and Alexsander Mir, was also proposed

by Gerz way back in 1968 where he placed ads in daily newspapers to enlist participants in order to enact Is There Life on Earth? Paris, 1968 – 1970.

Jochen Gerz was commissioned by the Ruhr 2010 European Capital of Culture to produce a new work. The project, 2 – 3 Streets, is the product of this invitation. Simply put, Gerz conceived of the idea to extend an invitation to individuals – Germans and others – to come and live for a year-long period, in one of five cities, which make up the Ruhr conurbation. The invitation was advertised in property rental websites and art magazines. Interested candidates had to prove their commitment over the ensuing six months, by entering into an email exchange with Gerz before being accepted as a participant in 2 – 3 Streets.

Criteria for inclusion was based on the premise of candidates being able to prove their commitment to the principle of the project; “Participants should be motivated to influence and shape their new living environment and the lives of those around them” and to write a daily blog on a discrete off-line website. The possible accusation of ‘artists’ benefiting from any preferential housing terms and conditions (see Rosalyn Deutsche’s Evictions; Art and Spatial Politics) is countered by the project literature, which refers to participants as ‘creative heads’.

However, over the course of my two-day visit I met seven participants, all of whom had no problem with claiming the nomenclature of ‘artist’.

The question of faith, belief and trust in the innate integrity and

Jochen Gerz. Photo. A Prior.

inherent morality of ‘creative heads’ or ‘artists’ is of particular interest here. How could Gerz assume that a prospective applicant and subsequently accepted participant – so long as they are considered creative – would have an incontestably appropriate, well-considered influence? Furthermore, was it because of the unreliability of such a supposition that resulted in some participants being dissuaded by the project management team from attending certain local community activist meetings, according to one of the Duisburg participants? (All participants met with insisted on anonymity.) And, most conspicuously of all, what exactly did Gerz consider missing in the lives and capacities of the existing residents?

Roughly 1,450 people expressed an initial interest in relocating to the Ruhr Valley, 78 of which were finally selected by virtue of the sincerity of their application. Since January 2010, the participants have been living in hitherto unoccupied flats, in three of the five originally suggested cities; Duisburg, Mulheim and Dortmund. Though rent-free, participants do pay utilities and electricity charges. It’s interesting that rent in Germany for a one bedroom flat is very low, typically about €200 euro a month, so a participant’s motivation could hardly have been to re-locate chiefly to save on rent. In fact, the participants I met, while expressing some reservations about aspects of the project in practice, wholeheartedly subscribed to the ethos of the project, and wished to contribute locally in personal and individual ways. They were also enthusiastic about their interactions with Gerz, with whom they’d have liked to spend even greater amounts of time.

The artwork, which Gerz refers to emphatically as an exhibition, is in ways redolent of aspects of Seamus Nolan’s 2007 Hotel Ballymun (3).

Chiefly it comprises of the year-long residency, some cultural events, a visitors’ school and participant-led interventions and workshops, The participant-led projects included a small and slightly neglected community vegetable plot in Hochfeld (Duisburg) and the attempt by one of the participants in Mulheim to invite other members of the project and existing tenants to a weekly dinner in his flat by ringing a bell through the building. Unfortunately, only one old neighbour, Klaus, turned up a few times and then lost interest.

2 – 3 Streets will culminate in the collation and publication of the participants’ and the occasional existing residents’ allegedly uncensored and unviewed texts. However, in conversation with a young participant who’d been uploading South American fables onto the site as his daily written contribution, it transpired that there was a Big Brother element of surveillance in operation within the context of the on-line writing.

outside inside New Work by Suzannah O’Reilly

On posting the proverbs, the participant was notified by the project administration that such writing was invalid and was asked to desist from posting these types of contributions in the future.

Gerz’s work has a bravura about it, spectacular yet non-ocular, expensive but non-commercial in the currency of buying and selling.

The logistics of producing 2 – 3 Streets are significant, with several government departments and regional agencies, major construction and property companies, and several art institutions all digging deep to fund and support the project. According to the American philosopher, John Dewey, “German civilisation is a self conscious idealism with unsurpassed technical efficiency and organisation.” That 78 participants are serviced by over 15 curators, managers, administrators and publicists is somewhat baffling.

The project presented another concern – that of a mans perceived, or expected potential for creativity, and that this potential is serviced and facilitated, for the most part, by team of dynamic and hard working women. (The male members of the management team are a couple of tecky guys who look after the laptops provided to residents, and the off-site Chief Curator.) Of the two sites I visited, Mulheim and (Hochfeld) Duisburg, all of the participants I met with were men, and the managers – one might even say ‘carers’ – women. Curiously, within the first few minutes of my one to one meetings with the participants, each one of the men, ranging in age from eighteen to sixty, volunteered that they were in fact recovering from a broken heart. It would seem that 2 – 3 Streets has offered them a sort of comforting, maternalistic refuge.

The problem of integration and acceptance that the “gastarbeiter” (guest worker) is a German citizen – and that home is Germany and not Turkey or the Lebanon – is also brought into focus by aspects of 2 – 3 Streets. The majority of participants are multi-generational German.

Some of these participants expressed reservations regarding the Gerz’s invitation to the Duisburger Philharmoniker to perform in Hochfeld, a predominantly Turkish neighbourhood in the suburbs of Duisburg. On arrival one pleasant Saturday afternoon in October, members of the orchestra changed into full concert hall attire, black tuxedos, white bibs and bow ties, took up position in alternate windows of the apartment block and performed works by Benjamin Britten and other classical composers. According to some of the 2 – 3 Streets participants present, the performance was well intentioned but somewhat ill-judged as the street audience did not include any of the Turkish residents of the neighbourhood. It was strongly felt that an equivalently highly resourced event involving and celebrating the local demographic culture would have been more meaningful, more inclusive and ultimately more successful.

Devastated by World War 2, and, more recently by the decline in the once thriving mining and associate industries, the urban landscapes of the cities of the Ruhr Valley are remarkable for their architectural banality and monotony. The effort to imbue re-constructed neighbourhoods and public spaces with character and identity by placing large-scale public sculptures in every corner and platz, (which they are), is understandable. Within this landscape, it is therefore easy to understand how Gerz’s ‘invisible’ work is subversive. However, to aspire to instil ‘nondescript’ streets (as they are described in the project literature) with imported bohemia and creatives is hardly so terribly different in aspiration is it?

Aisling Prior www.2-3strassen.eu / www.gerz.fr Notes (1) www.breakingground.ie (2) The Artist’s Contract Maria Eichhorn. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König, Köln, 2009 (3) www.hotelballymun.com

Irish Bronze Kilmainham Art Foundry Ltd

T/A

IRISH BRONZE

for sculptors seeking the perfect cast

10 March – 8 April 2011 Civic Offices, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.

telephone: e-mail: website:

Willie Malone 01 4542032. irishbronze@eircom.net www.irishbronze.ie

Winner of the 2010 North Tipperary County Council Solo Exhibition Award Further information: Arts Office, North Tipperary County Council Tel: 067-44860/44852 e: artsoffice@northtippcoco.ie www.tipperarynorth.ie/arts

Death of Cuchulainn. Oliver Sheppard RHA (1865 – 1941).

Oliver Sheppard sculpted this exquisite world-renowned piece In 1911/12. The original work in plaster was exhibited at the RHA in 1914. Purchased by the State in 1935, the work was cast in bronze (commissioned by Eamon de Valera to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising) and placed in the GPO Dublin.

Commissioned by The Office of Public Works in June 2002, the second Cuchulainn was cast in bronze at Griffith College Dublin by Willie Malone. This picture shows the new work on permanent exhibition at the Custom House, Dublin.

PERCENT FOR ART CALL FOR ARTISTS Mater Campus Hospital Development Ltd is overseeing the redevelopment of the Mater adult hospital in Dublin, due to open early 2012. We are looking to form a panel of artists for a series of commissions under the percent for art scheme.

To apply to be part of this panel, please submit a covering lettering, an up to date CV, as well as 6 – 10 images of your work as either photographs or on CD. Submit to: Arts and Environment Manager Mater Campus Hospital Development 70 Eccles Street Dublin 7 Submission deadline Friday 4 February 2011 Further Information: www.mchd.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

23

January – February 2011

Opportunities

SO I’M AN ARTIST?!

This is the rescheduled Visual Artists

Ireland

event

in

partnership with Dublin City Council Arts Office including: Information; Talks; Networking,

Opportunities

for Undergraduates and Recent Graduates, and launch of the Visual Artists Ireland Student Pack.

This is a free event which

Telephone

COMmissions Commissions

will be held at The LAB, Gallery,

061 311806

Foley

Email CUIDIÚS

limerickprintmakers@gmail.

Cuidiú (Irish Childbirth Trust) is

com

seeking tenders for the provision

Website

Cuidiú (Irish Childbirth Trust), Head Office, Carmichael House, North Brunswick Street, D 7, Email: annmariesmith58@gmail.com Website: www.cuidiu-ict.ie

Supported

by

Dublin

1.

Dublin

City

Council Arts Office, ‘So I’m an Artist?!’

of a suite of photographs showing www.limerickprintmakers.com images of breastfeeding in LIFE DRAWING CLASSES familiar contexts for use in Life drawing Classes with artist campaigns, information Sinead Rice will commence at materials etc. The suite will Dun Laoghaire College of Further comprise approx, 20 – 25 Education on Monday 31 January. photographs of specified content.

The classes will run from 6 to 9 for The prospective photographer ten weeks and would suit both needs to be experienced in beginners and advanced students photographing families and of life drawing.Enrolment babies. For further information December onwards. Classes please contact Commence Monday 31 January Email Telephone annmariesmith58@gmail.com 087 2207331 (Susan Henry) Closing Date Website February 2011 www.dlcfe.ie Telephone www.sineadrice.com 01 872 4501 Address

Street,

is

part

of

VAI’s

Festina Lente will be held by

members). Places: 10.

promptly

Yanny Peters every Thursday 2 –

Website

possible, please provide an email

4 pm from 27 January 2011. Each

www.visualartists.ie

address with your application.

course will have a different theme and the gardens will be the inspiration. Participants may attend single sessions or sign up for

4.

Single

session

€3. Set of 4 €120.

01 2819282 or text: 087 3111620 Address Yanny Peters, Old Connaught Ave, Bray, Co. Wicklow

Working with Public Galleries with Seamus Kelly and Florence Derieux. This VAI training session at our Dublin offices, is confidence and knowledge to build strong relationships with curators and to get the most out of their experience when working with public galleries.

Email

The seesion will focus on

yannypetters@gmail.com

the do’s and don’ts in approaching

IVARO AND COPYRIGHT

or presenting work to public

Alex Davis will discuss the work

galleries. Topics will include;

of IVARO the Irish Visual Artists

being clear on why you want to

include: Aideen Barry (artist / VAI

Rights

a

exhibit, clarity of the artist’s

Western Contact); Rosie Lynch

workshop coming up in February,

intention for the artwork, clarity

(curator),

Lavelle

held at the VAI offices in Dublin.

of

(curator), Ben Readman (artist/

His session will look at: your

outcomes for an exhibition, roles

curator), Maria McKinney (artist),

intellectual property rights as a

and responsibilities of the artist

Gavin Murphy (artist / Director

visual artist; how best to exercise

and gallery, the elements of an

of PCP), Alan Phelan (artist) with

your rights under copyright law;

exhibition (time-line, budget and

contributions from Visual Artists

and

copyright

production value) as well as the

Ireland and Dublin City Council

royalties that IVARO collect on

expectations and motivations for

Arts Office staff.

behalf of artist members. In

an exhibition from both the

addition Caroline Campbell will

gallery’s

discuss copyright issues relating

perspective.

Professional

Development

Training Programme.

Sp e a k e r s

will

Eilis

As places are limited early booking

is

advised.

Organisation,

the

various

and

the

expected

artist’s

–

Séamus Kealy and Florence

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Rescheduled to February 2011

Derieux will host the training

(14.30-16.30)

date

session. This session is funded by

TBC

Date

and

to

to

internet.

ambition

Places: 40 per session Session 1 open

the

in

(10.30

–

16.30)

undergraduate artists. Session 2

Cost €60 / €55 (VAI / NSF

the

COMPENDIUM

Wednesday 2 February 2011

members) Places: 10.

Champagne-Ardenne, the DRAC

The Arts Council of Northern

(17.15 – 19.15) open to recent

Ireland has compiled a user-

graduates & early career artists

PRICING YOUR WORK

friendly compendium of training

Email

This Dublin session held by

and the city of Reims. Cost: €60 /

events, taking place between

education@visualartists.ie

Patricia-Clyne-Kelly

an

€55 (VAI / NSF members)

October 2010 and February 2011,

Telephone

introduction to basic financial

Date: 10 Feb 2011 (10.30 – 16.30)

which will be relevant to the arts

01 872 2296

accounting, simplified into a

Location: Dublin

sector in Northern Ireland. The

Regional

Council

of

Champagne-Ardenne – Ministry of Culture and Communication is

structure that will assist artists

compendium contains the dates,

CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

costs, locations and booking

The

in

The workshop, which will

details of many of the courses

Cultural Project Management is a

take place at the VAI offices, will

PRIVATE BURSARY

Centre for Contemporary Art &

offered by organisations such as Shaw Arts & Business, Audiences NI, Theatre are pleased to announce NICVA, Labour Relations Agency,

pan-European

training

look at developing a day rate for

The award will be made to a

The

programme developed to foster

your work as an artist, factoring

professional visual artist with

cultural diversity as well as trans-

in ongoing overheads for projects

recognisable artistic merit and

an MA Scholarship in Curatorial

CIPFA, ECORYS and Volunteer

regional

of

workshops,

demonstrable financial need,

Studies (by research) in a joint

Now.

cultural exchanges. Supported by

commissions, exhibition fees and

whether professional, personal

Initiative with Limerick School Website of Art and Design, Limerick w w w. a r t s c o u n c i l - n i . o r g /

the Council of Europe, the course

individual works of art.

or both. The award is to provide

Institute of Technology. Please

from

COURSES / workshops Courses/Workshops/Training CURATORIAL PROGRAMME George

Bernard

news/2010/new14102010.html

consult the VISUAL & LIT LSAD

European

and

Diploma

FUNDING / AWARDS Funding / Awards / Bursaries

with money matters.

trans-national

all

kinds;

a

assistance to those individuals

private

commission proposal, working

who have worked as professional

organizations who are actively

within a project’s budget or

artists over a significant period of time.

is aimed at cultural managers public

and

Whether

submitting

websites for further details. Please

OLD RECTORY STUDIO

involved in the management of

selling your work, it is essential

note that applications will only

The Old Rectory Studio is hosting

cultural and artistic projects in

to know how to calculate costs.

be received by LIT.

a range of Saturaday workshops

their region, with at least 2 years

The ability to calculate costs is

encourages applications from

Deadline

through 2011. Life Painting

experience.The application form

essential in order to ensure that

artists who have genuine and

14 January 2011

Workshops 22 January – 26 June

is available on the website.

the price you ask for is enough to

immediate financial needs. The

Web

26 2011. €90 inc vegetarian lunch

Deadline

cover expenses as well as to

panel will consider need on the

www.visualcarlow.ie

and all materials Tutor: Sahoko

15 January

generate income and funds for

part of an applicant for all

www.lit.ie

Blake.

Address

future research and developments

legitimate expenditures relating

Professor Jean Pierre Deru,

during the quiet times.

to his or her professional work

Level:

Advanced.

Intermediate/

Screen

Printing,

The

award

process

PRINTMAKING

Textiles. 29 Jan – 19 Feb. E95 inc

Association Marcel Hicter pour

This Dublin workshop will

and personal living, including

Weekend and evening courses in

vegetarian lunch and all materials

la Démocratie culturelle, 27 rue

benefit artists at any career stage

medical expenses. The size of the

printmaking Tutors: Stephanie Sloan, Joanna techniques, photo-etching, Sloan Level: Intermediate / silkscreen, t-shirt and fabric Advanced

du Belvédère, B-1050 Brussels.

and those in artist led initiatives

grant

Telephone

who have responsibility for

The Foundation does not make

+32 2 641 8980

budgeting and grant writing.

grants to students or fund

printing, collographs, monoprint,

Email

a

variety

of

Telephone

drypoint, etching and lithography 086 8970868 are now being offered at the Email

The

session

is

also

is

If

This is our preferred means of

Public Galleries

designed to give artists the

Telephone

acknowledged.

€ 500.

academic study.

acknowledgement.

The

assessment process will be 4 weeks from receipt of application.

Final selection will be made by a confidential panel.

Please

do

not

send

application forms by fax or e-mail.

It is recommended that while representative examples of your work over a period of years may be included, it is important to emphasize your most recent creative effort. We recognise the expense incurred in the provision of images, and therefore will accept colour print outs, copies of catalogues, or digital images provided on a CD. Artists

interested

in

applying should provide the following: a cover letter; a current email address (if possible); a current résumé; images of current work; evidence of a professional art practice.

Deadline 1 February 2011 Address Artists Private Award, Visual Artists Ireland, 37 North Great Georges

Street,

Dublin

1

(For the attention of Niamh Looney) ARTS COUNCIL BURSARYS The deadline for the next round of Bursary Awards is Thursday 20 January, 2011 at 5.30pm.

The following awards are available: Architecture Bursary Award; Arts Participation Bursary Award; Dance Bursary Award; Film Bursary Award; Literature Bursary Award; Music Bursary Award; Theatre Bursary Award; Traditional Arts Bursary Award; Visual Arts Bursary Award.

The Arts Council provides Bursary Awards in order to assist individual artists in the development of their arts practice. The award emphasises the value and benefit to an artist’s development that is derived from an extended process of engagement with their practice Please note that applications will only be accepted through the Arts Council’s online services website. Applicants who have not previously used this system must register in advance of making an application. It is recommended that applicants allow five days for registration prior to making an application.

Please note that there will be no registrations between Friday 24 December 2010 and Tuesday 4

contact@fondation-hicter.org

complimentary to other VAI

Artists are required to

Website

workshops such as Preparing

submit a brief letter of application

January 2011.

Limerick printmakers Studio and info@theoldrectory.ie Gallery. They now have courses Website

www.fondation-hicter.org

Proposals and Public Art Proposals.

(no more than one page), a

Deadline

There are no complex equations;

professional résumé, evidence of

Thursday 20 January 2011

in painting, drawing and life www.theoldrectory.ie drawing. All levels are catered

PAINTING WITH YANNY

please bring a calculator. Date –

a professional art practice and

Website

Painting Workshops in the

Monday 7 Feb 2011 (10.30 –

images of current work. All

www.artscouncil.ie

for.

Victorian walled garden at

16.30). Cost €45 / €40 (VAI / NSF

completed applications will be

24

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

Opportunities Job Vacancies JOB VACANCIES TBG&S INTERNSHIP The Temple Bar Gallery & Studios invites applicants to their spring internship

programme,

beginning in late January 2011.

This is a part time 3 month internship,

with

interns

working 3 days per week with the administrative team at Temple Bar Gallery & Studios.

The Internship programme is designed to extend the intern’s knowledge and understanding of how a visual arts organisation functions, and is aimed towards graduates of fine art, art history or related degree programmes or arts management post-graduate programmes who are interested in starting or developing a career in

arts

administration

or

exhibition curating.

Duties will include assisting with general administrative tasks across a range of areas including development, arts programming, education, outreach, studios, marketing and fundraising. The small team at TBG&S is looking for a self-starter, a highly motivated person with excellent administrative

and

communication skills who can work well within a team as well as under their own initiative. The successful candidate(s) will need to be fully committed to the internship for the full duration of

and/or arts administration to

consider that the 7th Berlin

enhance the creative professional

Biennale is not able to send back

marketing team of Dublin

any received material, but that

Contemporary 2011.

everything will be integrated

The internship will support

into the public research archive

the Sponsorship & Development

of the Berlin Biennale. A short

manager by researching and

explanation by Artur Żmijewski

generating leads of potential

can be found on the website

sponsors and partners for its 2011

www.berlinbiennale.de. Please

event. Ingenuity, tenacity, and

do not send any original artworks.

attention to detail are required

Please

for intelligent prospecting and

statement or presentation as a

creative

hardcopy via regular mail, via

research

skills

to

send

your

artistic

strengthen and deepen the

e-mail or fax.

arsenal of warm leads. Sensitivity

Deadline

to the specific nature of this event

15 January 2011

and the brand fit possible is key

Address

to the overall strategy.

Berlin Biennale, – Open Call –

Business acumen is a must.

The

internship

offers

the

KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Auguststraße 69, 10117,

Website

Telephone

www.templebargallery.com/

0877809887

studios.htm#curator

Email

Deadline

reflect@helium.ie

5pm Tuesday 25 January 2011. rayne@templebargallery.com

Website

Telephone

Deadline

01 671 0073.

TBC in January

projects in the subsequent year.

MART PRODUCTIONS

THE HELIX

Applications are invited from

MART is launching an exciting

The Helix has opened a new

curators and art critic/writer(s)

new

exhibition area in its venue and

who are actively engaged with

Productions’ in 2011, which shall

is

contemporary visual art culture

promote emerging Directors,

submissions for its exhibition

Ireland and internationally. The

Designers, Visual & Graphic

programme from April 2011

Curator/Art Writer’s Studio is set-

Designers

Event

and beyond. The Helix is looking

up to support independent

Managers. If you or the group

to encourage artists at the early

curators and art writers in

you work with would like to be

stages of their career who are

extending their enquiry and

shown on the new site in 2011

looking for a platform to exhibit

research into the contemporary

please

productions@

their work. They are also

visual art culture.

While

martgroup.org with your CV,

welcoming established artists

welcoming projects that focus on

images and links to any of the

and groups with new work.

an individual’s curatorial or art

projects you have worked on. We

Where possible, artists are

writing practice, collaborative or

shall be selecting up to 6 people

advised to visit the exhibition

joint

also

or an ensemble for each category

area

welcomed. Similarly, proposals

and launching the site in early

submission. The timeframes for

WRITER/CURATOR CALL Each year, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios allocates one of its project studios for specific and dedicated use by a visual art curator(s) and/or art writer(s) to support the research, planning and development of new creative

project

called

and

email

‘MART

Art

www.helium.ie

currently

welcoming

opportunity to be part of a

Berlin

dynamic team and to be actively

Email

involved in the development of

call@berlinbiennale.de

one of the most exciting cultural

Fax

events ever to be held in Ireland.

+49. 30. 24 34 59 88

The intern will gain specific

Website

experience in the grassroots of

www.berlinbiennale.de

made on the basis of public

2011.

exhibitions vary from 3-6 weeks

projects, collaborative projects or

Website

which is agreed at the time of

Ireland Opportunities Ireland

education

www.mart.ie

contract of exhibition. Please

ICCL AWARDS

In 2011, the successful candidate

REFLECTLab

guarantee

The 2011 ICCL Human Rights

will

with

REFLECT Lab have announced a

Please include the following in

Film Awards invites individual

opportunities for travel and

co-mentoring opportunity, a

your application:

film students, filmmakers, and/

research

potential

dynamic, collaborative learning

lettering

or those with a strong interest in

collaborations with the curatorial

process for people across sectors,

experience and an up-to-date

human rights to submit an

panel and programming team at

developed by The Sage Gateshead

CV; An indication as to the size

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios

(UK). People taking part are given

of your exhibition, how many

sponsorship and development including strategy planning and presentation development as well as networking opportunities, career development and general marketing experience.

Email louise@dublincontemporary. com www.dublincontemporary.com INTERNATIONAL Opportunities International

and

are

community

be

presented and

prior

to

making

a

note that a submission does not

activity will also be considered.

original short film focusing on a

website

applications

an

exhibition.

A cover

outlining

your

particular human rights issue in

The Curator and / or Art

the opportunity to pause, reflect,

pieces are included in the

or related to Ireland. The aim of

Writer’s Studio will be awarded

reconnect, and reappraise their

exhibition, dimensions of the

the Human Rights Film Awards

on a project basis for 1 year.

professional practice from a new

work, a description of the

is to provide film students,

Applications will be assessed on

perspective. REFLECT Lab in the

exhibition and the time of year

the 3 months. Please note that

BERLIN BIENALE

filmmakers and those working in

the basis of a specific proposal(s)

Northwest will aim to develop

you wish to exhibition; 6 – 10

the internship is unpaid. To

Within the framework of the 7th

human

an

that should be accompanied by

skills, confidence, and knowledge

good quality images of your

preserve

only

Berlin Biennale for Contemporary

opportunity to contribute to

an outline work plan for the use

by bringing artists and healthcare

work on either a photograph or

for

Art in 2012, curated by Artur

human rights discourse in

of the studio.

workers together in co-mentoring

CD. Applications must be sent

interview will be contacted.

Żmijewski, artists from all over

Ireland, grappling with issues

The successful candidate

pairs. Previous co-mentors have

via post. Online Submissions

Interviews

shortlisted

the world are requested to send

which affect some of the most

must be available to take-up the

shared values, explored different

will not be accepted.

candidates will be held after 14 January 2011. Please send your

in their artist material for a

vulnerable members of Irish

offer of the Project Studio from 1

points of view, and re-focused

Address

research investigation, following

society through the medium of

April 2011. All applications will

their work with children and

Darran Heaney, Events Manager,

CV and a cover letter to Rayne

the conditions below.

film.

be placed before a selection panel

young

the Helix, DCU, Collins Avenue,

resources

applicants

successful with

rights

with

people

as

a

direct

Booth:

We accept artistic material

The Awards jury boasts such

comprising a sub-committee of

consequence of exploring their

Dublin 9

Email

in hard copy formats not bigger

names as actress Victoria Smurfit

the Board and an independent

own creative practice.

Deadline

rayne@templebargallery.com

than A3 (297 x 420 mm or 11.69

and filmmaker Kirsten Sheridan.

external adjudicator.

Address

x 16.54 in.), printed images,

Director of hit Irish film His and

The panel relies on the

with children and young people

Email

Temple Bar Gallery & Studios

digital data, as well as DVDs.

Hers Ken Wardrop has also been

material you submit in your

in the Northwest and would like

exhibit@thehelix.dcu.ie

announced

application to make the decision.

to participate in this professional

Telephone

It is important therefore to ensure

development programme with

01 700 7138.

that your application follows

healthcare

5–9 Temple Bar

PDFs in A4 (297 mm x 210

Dublin 2.

mm or 11.7 x 8.3 in.) or fax will

Deadline Friday 7 January 2011 at 5.30pm.

also be accepted. We welcome all

DC2011

as

the

newest

addition to the Jury.

Over the past two years, the has

produced

If you are an artist working

from

February 2011 – January 2012,

RHA POP UP SHOP

form.

The

please contact Helium with an

Calling all aspiring designers

will

give

expression of interest at reflect@

and young creatives, the RHA is

helium.ie.

launching the RHA POP UP

possible languages of your artistic

competition

closely the guidelines set out in

comments and explanations.

shortlisted films of outstanding

the

However there should equally be

quality which cast light on a

selection

an English version.

range of human rights issues in

consideration to the proposal,

application

workers

30 January 2011.

panel

Dublin

Contemporary

2011

seeks

Sponsorship

and

As the research also focuses

new and creative ways. The 2011

quality of work and CV /

Development Intern. Dublin

on the question whether artists

competition aims to continue

experience.

approximately 8 days within this

submissions of interest to

Contemporary is a major city

consider

be

this trend, while also widening

The studio size is 4.6m

time-frame and there is no fee for

operate from a retail unit in a

wide platform of International

political, please inform us about

its reach to younger people in

length x 4.3m width. The rent for

this course. Full details of the

prime location in the gallery for

and Irish contemporary art

your political inclination (e.g.

second-level

education,

the studios is considerably

application process will be

periods of between one and two

running for eight weeks in the

rightist, leftist, liberal, nationalist,

incorporating a new “Human

subsidised at €156 per month,

available in January.

weeks. The POP UP is open to

autumn of 2011. It will be the

anarchist, feminist, masculinist,

Rights in Under a Minute

inclusive of overheads and

REFLECT Lab is funded

largest event of its kind to

or whatever you identify yourself

Challenge” and Human Rights

internet access. This is not a

under the Arts Council of Ireland

craft,

happen in Ireland and will

with) or whether you are not

Film Awards Schools Project

residential studio. The successful

Local Partnership Scheme with

businesses, and any innovative

showcase an exceptional roster

interested in politics at all.

Deadline

applicant will be notified in mid

additional funding and support

retail ideas. The POP UP offers

Friday 15 April 2011

February 2011.

from Sligo County Council and

the opportunity for small

the HSE.

businesses or start-up projects

Website

to test out their ideas in a retail

of art and artists in a dynamic

themselves

to

This open call does not

Commitment

is

shop.

We

are

inviting

designers of fashion, furniture, creative

start-up

city wide exhibition. Dublin

guarantee an invite to take part

Website

Contemporary are looking for a

in the 7th Berlin Biennale. Please

www.humanrightsfilmawards.

should

highly

be aware that your submission

org

application. Application forms

http://www.reflectco-mentoring.

unit for a concentrated period.

com/hom

The footfall through the gallery

motivated

interested

in

candidate

a career

A processing fee of €20 accompany

the

in

might be used and published

are available from the gallery –

sponsorship and development

within its framework. Please also

contact Rayne Booth,

is consistently high with an

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

25

January – February 2011

Opportunities average of 2000 visitors per

by contemporary artists. All

com is Ireland, the UK’s and

sustainable projects to benefit

gives all artists and architects the

week.

video pieces will be considered:

Europe’s first daily t-shirt store.

our members and communities.

opportunity to show their work.

video art, short films, animation,

Every day one t-shirt is sold for 24

For more information about Fab

A wide range of awards is open to

meters and is fitted with 6

video

of

hours (or until it sells out) for

Labs see here:

fine artists at every career stage,

adjustable shelving units. The

performance art, and so on. The

£8/€10. Qwertee launched 25

Website

from immediate graduates on.

RHA is not in a position to offer

sole restriction is that individual

November 2010 with the shirts

h t t p : / / w w w.y o u t u b e . c o m /

Artists who have been at the BSR

any additional outfitting or

pieces are required to be no

for sale submitted by both local

watch?v=nOPGJ2VBCPo

recently

modifications to the unit.

longer

minutes.

artists and designers around the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Billingham, Adam Chodzko,

The unit is shared with a

Please send a DVD of your video,

world and chosen by the Qwertee

Fab_lab

William

small, separate bay of shelving of

along with CV and artist

community. While they already

Contact Jules

Counsell, Lucy Gunning, Chantal

RHA publications and catalogues.

statement

Empress

have a number of designs lined

Telephone

Joffe, Hayley Newman and Mark

The cost of the unit is €100 for

Gallery. DVDs can be returned

up to use from international

0860878401

Wallinger.

one week or €175 for two weeks;

upon request. Alternatively, if the

designers they are looking to get

Email

the install and removal period

video is available to view online,

more

fitzsij@gmail.com

should be factored within this.

you could send an email with the

involved.

You will be responsible for the

relevant link and with artist

staffing of the shop and the

statement and CV as email

print

opening hours must coincide

attachments. Further information

temporary rights (24 hours unless

with the gallery’s hours.

is

otherwise agreed) to sell your

The unit measures 3.8 x 3.8

To submit an application for

documentation

than

20

to

available

The

upon

request.

Irish

artists/designers

If your design is selected to you

grant

Qwertee

Email

design. They will pay you €1 per

the RHA POP UP, please send in a

stephen@theempressgallery.co.

shirt sold (you will be paid a

statement for your intended use

uk

minimum of €25 regardless of

of the space, some sample images

Address

how many shirts sell) for the

of your work or a reference to

Empress Gallery, Citigolf, Forsyth

duration of the time on sale. We

your website. Art exhibitions will

House, Cromac Street, Belfast,

will also send you a free shirt of

not be considered. Please indicate

BT2 8LA.

your design in your chosen size.

whether you would like to take

Telephone

You will be paid within 24 hours

the unit for one or two weeks and

07921 769 270

of your shirt finishing being on

what is your preferred month.

Website

sale by PayPal.

The slots will be scheduled

www.theempressgallery.co.uk

during the months February,

Deadline

you retain full rights to your

March & April. It is hoped that

15 March 2011

design and may chose to use it as

following this pilot programme, the POP UP will be offered on a continuing basis so applications not chosen on this occasion may be referred to later slots.

you see fit. Qwertee will display

ARCHIPELAGO Archipelago is a young company with the aim of promoting young Irish creative entrepreneurialism.

They are looking for 30 second

Email

web shorts to promote the ethos

Ciara@rhagallery.ie

of the company in any medium

(Ciara Timlin)

(film, animation, whatever), with

Telephone

a view to the best 6 being shown

01 6612558

in ad slots on Setanta .|Archipelago

Deadline

are looking for film makers to

14 January 2011.

work with them rather than for

Website

them, now and in the future.

www.royalhibernianacademy.ie

The theme is “Do Something

THE LANDFILLART PROJECT

Amazing on a Shoestring”.

Call

Email

for

Artists

At the end of the sale period

The Landfillart Project is a not-

sweetnessiwasonlyjoking@

for-profit entity that has been

gmail.com

successful in establishing an

turtle@archipelago.ie

international artist initiative

(Tara)

your shirt in the Previous Tees section and you can link to another site (Redbubble etc) if you wish to sell the same design elsewhere.

Qwertee has the most generous submission guidelines of any daily t-shirt site. There are no restrictions to submitting your work. You can submit a design that is up for voting elsewhere, you can submit a design that you have for sale elsewhere (just make sure this doesn’t

break

any

other

agreement you have). There are no rules limiting you in this regard.

Website www.Qwertee.com/create

involving over 1,000 artists

Queries

include

Richard

Cobbing,

Melanie

Applications are invited for a number of residencies in the visual arts. They offer an en-suite

NEW BROW Initiated by artist Kas McMahon, New Brow Ireland is a new group for all artists and lovers of New Brow, New Contemporary, Pop Surrealism,

Urban

and

Underground Art. Ireland is rich with very talented artists working hard in this genre. New Brow Ireland has been started with the aim to evolve this burgeoning art scene into a more unified and better known subculture, with a view to holding a strong group exhibition in 2011 showcasing the best of The New Brow Artists of Ireland.

Please email registrations of interest or join the facebook page.

This is a huge project and all feedback, support and suggestions will be warmly welcomed

studio and bedroom, meals taken together in our communal dining room, 24-hour access to our historic library collection, a research grant, and at least one group show; they are tenable for three, nine or twelve months.

The awards available for 2011–12

include:

Abbey

Scholarship and Fellowships; Australia Council Residencies;

Website

Registrar

Gill

Clark,

bsr@britac.ac.uk Deadline mainly January 2011 COW HOUSE Cow House Studios is now

New-BrowIreland/11897659482

accepting applications for the

8198?v=info

2011 residencies. Applications

Email

are open to Irish and international

newbrowireland@yahoo.ie

artists. For 2011 Cow House Studios will partner with both

BRITISH SCHOOL AT ROME

Wexford Arts Centre and Monster

The British School at Rome has

Truck Gallery & Studios, offering

for over a century provided a

two

unique

opportunities following the 10

excellent

exhibition

environment for the pursuit of

week

excellence in the visual arts,

exhibitions will take place the

architecture and the humanities

following autumn in both

generally. Fine Arts residencies at

Wexford and Dublin, and will

the BSR offer artists and architects

include all 4 residency artists

access to Rome and Italy as an

Deadline

exceptional repertory of the

28 February 2011.

visual culture of the past, and

Website

encourage

www.cowhousestudios.com

programme.

The

Landfillart

Project

have

announces an open invitation to

completed

artwork

old

visual artists to submit statements

discarded automobile hubcaps.

of interest for participation in the

FAB LAB

innovative responses to that

The home base of the Landfillart

gallery programme. Submissions

A group of people are currently

cultural heritage. They offer the

corporation is in Pennsylvania,

will be considered for inclusion

being gathered to set up a Fab Lab

superb opportunity to research

USA. The country with the 2nd

though

exhibitions,

in Dublin. Fab Labs are springing

and focus upon work away from

GALLERY TO LET

greatest amount of participating

projects or solo shows in the

up all over the world and the

normal pressures, and to use the

Old Crow Gallery Space is

artists is Ireland with about 20

latter half of 2011. Occupy Paper

hope is to establish the first of its

BSR as a base to explore Rome

available for rent for a short or

professional artists participating.

is also open to submissions from

kind here in Ireland. People who

and Italy.

long lease. The space is 200 Sq

To date, over 700 projects have

artists, curators and critics for its

can give their time and technical

been completed with hundreds

regular

publication.

and artistic skills in setting up

support,

including

more

Please forward all submissions to

the Fab Lab are now being

language

lessons,

worldwide

submissions.occupy.space@

Website

gmail.com together with a

www.landfillart.org

being

worked

on

THE EMPRESS GALLERY

group

and

Studio / space Studios / Space

of

foot on the 1st Floor in Temple

Italian

Bar, Dublin. It is a bright, cheerful

practical

space with a small kitchen and a

recruited. These people will in

support and dedicated staff, give

separate toilet. Open 24 hours.

exchange own the Fab Lab on a

residents the ability fully to

The rent is €450.00 per month

selection of jpeg images.

co-operative basis, and can use

exploit their time at the BSR. The

Address

Website

the facilities however they see fit.

regular programme of events

1st Floor, Crow Street, Temple

occupy-space.blogspot.com/

Fab Lab Dublin will be a space for

enables them to meet and interact

Bar, Dublin 2

online

A

strong

provision

innovation and creation. A

with others in their own and

Telephone

submissions as part of their plans

QWERTEE.COM CALL

special focus will be set for using

other disciplines, both from the

677 4234

to arrange an exciting one-off

Qwertee.com are Looking for

the space as a platform for job

BSR and the unique cluster of

Email

evening

a

Submissions for Ireland/Europe’s

creation, and there will be

foreign academies in Rome.

copyprint@eircom.net

compilation of video pieces made

1st Daily t-shirt store. Qwertee.

streamlined,

The Empress Gallery invite

screening

of

commercially

A programme of exhibitions

Telephone 086-2259909 Website www.artturas.com PRETTY VACANT A vacant shop along with display space and workrooms above for artist or artists wishing to sell their work is available in Lisburn, Antrim. The space is near Market Square and the Linen Centre Address 6, Castle Street. Lisburn, Co Antrim. BT27 4XD Telephone 07989583332 or 028 437 51287 Email janetmhackney@yahoo.co.uk

Email

http://www.facebook.com/pages

informed

in Galway City.

Don’t forget

www.bsr.ac.uk

Occupy Space Limerick wishes to

Other Other

industrial unit with other artists

Sculpture.

countries have embraced the on

workshop or to share an

Scholarship in Painting and

OCCUPY SPACE

&

looking to rent a garage or

Scholarship; and the Sainsbury

worldwide. Artists from 52

obert@qwertee.com

An artist working with bronze is

the Derek Hill Foundation

Website

interdisciplinary

SEEKING SPACE

Do look at the advertisments in this VAN, also check our web site & subscribe to our e-bulletin for further opportunities.

WATCH OUT! We strongly advise readers to verify all details to their own satisfaction before forwarding art work, slides or monies etc.

Thanks VAI sources information for the Opportunites section in partnership with: A-N: The Artists’ Information Company; The International Sculpture Centre (New Jersey / USA) and the National Sculpture Factory Cork.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

27

CONFERENCE

Liam Lenihan speaking at 'Making in Two Modes'

Joining the Dots Sara Baume reports on ‘Making in Two Modes’ a conference on the cross-overs between the visual arts and writing, that WAS held at University College Cork and the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork 15 – 16 September 2010 For two unusually summer-like days in the middle of September, I sat in the darkened lecture theatre of Cork’s Crawford Municipal Art Gallery with my reporter’s notebook flipped open on my lap and my scribbling-pen hovering at the ready. Then, for the next seven hours of that day and seven hours all over again the following day, I struggled to keep pace with a billing of art historians, literary scholars and philosophers. I dosed my sluggish brain with complimentary coffee. I phonetically spelled out words I had not formerly known to be words.

Script-o-visual, I spelled, all-o-tropic, it-er-able, self-exe-ge-sis…

The conference in question was entitled ‘Making in Two Modes’ and was organised by Dr Liam Lenihan (English and History of Art, UCC) and Dr Ed Krcma (History of Art, UCC) in association with University College Cork and the Crawford Art Gallery. The first line of the event’s synopsis defined it as ‘an interdisciplinary conference exploring the work of practitioners, from the Romantic period to the present day, who both write and make visual art’, but with the exception of the opening session by Prof Graham Allen of English in UCC – who talked about the major Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley – there was little mention of writers who make art. Instead, the spotlight was on visual artists who write, or who use language in some form as an important facet of their practice.

I feel it is appropriate to mention that my background is as a practitioner, and while I am extensively interested in both visual art and literature, it is not from a scholar’s point of view. I entertain no illusions with regard to my own smartness, and I have no intention of pretending to understand things that I actually don’t. Thus, I apologise in advance if the article that follows is disappointingly low-brow. My appreciation, as a practitioner, of ‘Making In Two Modes’ was derived from the artworks used as case studies and examples during the course of each session. These were what, during the event, helped to make the speaker’s points most clear, and what stuck in my head afterwards.

In order to demonstrate Shelley’s tendency to doodle, Graham Allen showed slides of the poet’s surviving notebooks. Sometimes Shelley would fill a whole page with a detailed scene, but most of the time he was just fashioning an inkblot into a shape – an eye or a star, a tiny sprawl of foliage or a pattern of concentric circles. I would have presumed that these were just the idle twitchings of the poet’s quill as his mind lingered over the next line of verse, but Allen’s talk proposed that Shelley’s pictures were as essential in their own right as his words, vital to the meaning of the poetry.

Liam Lenihan’s session drew the discussion away from poetry and into art criticism. I’ll admit I got a little lost in the details of his

‘Miltonic sublimes’ and ‘Godwinian paradoxes.’ What I do remember is his emphasis of Immanuel Kant’s ideas around taste and genius, about how producing beautiful objects requires genius, but judging them - or writing about them afterwards - requires only taste. It sounded a lot like something Gauguin would agree with, according to Dr Linda Goddard of Art History at the University of St Andrews, who spoke about the art writings of the great Post-Impressionist painter. During Gauguin’s time, most of the critics were young literary men – writers who did not paint but had plenty of opinions. Gauguin was dubious about the ability of words to do full justice to the power of painting, but if anyone could do it he believed it should be the experienced practitioners themselves.

His own approach was deliberately unacademic, differing significantly from that of his peers. His stated intention was to emphasise an intuitive way of writing to reflect the intuitive way in which he made art, to remain as close as he could - through all of his practices – to the most basic truth of things.

In the session that followed, Ed Krcma made the jump from PostImpressionism to 1973, but stayed close to Gauguin’s belief in the importance of a childlike, spontaneous approach to art-making and the difficulty of quantifying this in words. 1973 was the year American feminist artist, Mary Kelly, began her durational artwork Post-Partum Document – a project fundamentally examining the mother/child relationship. For the first six years of her son’s life, Kelly collected everything from soiled diapers to dead insects to be displayed as art objects and assessed as a whole. The part of the project that most interested Krcma was the documentation of the child’s journey to acquire language - beginning with his hand imprint and ending with the spelling of his name.

The first keynote address, at the close of day one, was delivered by Prof Graham Parkes of Philosophy in UCC. Parkes began by talking about how he had never been a fan of audio-visual aids to lecturing, but in recent years, he had decided to take them on for himself. His aim was to find a way of articulating philosophical ideas through video, and during the course of the session, Parkes showed a number of short films he had made. In each, the camera moved across altering scenes or rested on details - spider-webs, climbing ivy, rooftops and broken glass.

Sometimes the films were accompanied by music, voiceovers or subtitles. Parkes mentioned how, as he walks around the picturesque UCC campus every day, he always notices the way in which the students around him are so enthralled by their mobiles or iPods that they fail to see the flowers and trees and river beyond their tiny screens, or to hear the birdsong and the rustling leaves above their headphones.

I was underwhelmed by the actual films, but impressed by the idea of combining words and pictures through video as a better means of communicating with the coming generation of attention deficit screen gazers.

On day two of the conference, Lucy Dawe-Lane of Visual Culture in NCAD and the Crawford College of Art and Design concentrated her session on the pioneering conceptual artist, Mel Bochner. She showed slides of his word-based artworks and talked about his driving objective to ‘test the boundary between writing-as-criticism and writing-asvisual-art.’1 Dr Gerhard Schoeman of Art History and Visual Culture in the University of the Free State focused on the South African artist, Willem Boshoff. He placed particular emphasis on a sculpture from 2009 entitled Penelope’s distaff – a 3.5ton slab of black, Belfast granite decorated with a pattern of sandblasted text strung around the stone as though woven into its surface. Olga Smith of History of Art in the University of Cambridge took the French photographer and writer Édouard Levé, who died by suicide in 2007, as the case study for her session. She talked specifically about a series of his work entitled Homonymes (1997) in which he sought out and photographed a number of ordinary men still living today with famous names such as Yves Klien, Fernand Léger and André Breton, then presented the portraits with each name captioned below the face. For another piece, Angoisse (2001), he took a sequence of grey and ordinary views of a French village called Angoisse, meaning ‘anguish.’ Levé’s interest lay in the tiny but significant discrepancies between image and accompanying text, between picture and caption.

At the lead into lunch-break, just when my attention was beginning to waver in the direction of my grumbling stomach, the session shared by Prof Marsha Meskimmon and Phil Sawdon of the School of Art and Design in Loughborough University came as a jolt to the senses. Back-dropped by projected visuals and recited in sing-songy script – it was presented as a proper performance. I was generally baffled by its theory, pretty much right from the title – Making in Multiple Modes: An Allotropic Dance in Three Parts for Two Players. I understood that the point was to bring forth that which the topic addressed into its presentation format, but that was about where it lost me. I was also very diverted by the two different instances at which Meskimmon and Sawdon paused, turned to one another, and kissed – slowly and emphatically. I risked a glance about me, on the second kiss, and noticed that I was not the only member of the audience squirming uncomfortably, clearing my throat, uncrossing and re-crossing my legs.

Yet in the Q&A session that followed, no-one brought up the kissing and so its embarrassing occurrence loomed in the air above us – perhaps more significant by virtue of its passing unmentioned.

The closing keynote address was by Prof Michael Newman of Art History, Theory and Criticism in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Art Writing in Goldsmiths College. He looked at the work of Tacita Dean – most specifically Still Life (2009) and The Friar’s Doodle (2010) – examining how Dean creates her own form of language through drawing and film. The most enjoyable session of the day was that of Dr Susan Morris, the only practising artist to speak at the conference, the only contributor not representing a university. It came as a breath of fresh air, after all that had gone before, to hear someone talking about their own artwork firsthand. Morris manipulates things like calendars, diaries, graphs, diagrams and other types of recordings from the world around her. She is interested in patterns and signs, in the way we make language without words. She talked often of ‘a kind of meaninglessness’2 that she tries to achieve through her work, or perhaps it could be better described as a new kind of meaning which falls somewhere between the cracks of pictures and sentences, between conventional forms of articulation. I was intrigued by how Morris maligns language in such a way as only visual artists, and rarely writers, can truly get away with.

In many ways, it was the gap between Morris’ session and that of virtually every other speaker that gave me the most food for thought.

As a practitioner, Morris was able to talk about art in accessible English, to express ideas in three words as opposed to three paragraphs, and to do so with emotional sincerity for her subject.

Revisiting my reporter’s notebook in the aftermath of the event, I admit that I have found it difficult to join the dots between each session – to present it as a whole with a tidy thread of context running through - but I suspect that this is my own failing as much as that of the conference itself. The best conclusion I can draw from those two summer-like days in September is that gatherings like ‘Making in Two Modes’ are not designed to speak to the actual artists and writers, but about them, that they are not so much aimed at people like me, but at the scholars of this world – at the academic students and fellow professors of the speakers themselves.

Sara Baume

28 Stockwell Street Drogheda Co.Louth T: + 353 041 9833946 www.droichead.com

Laughism

Laughism

By Borislav Byrne

Then and Now A mixed media exhibition by Brian Hegarty

12 January – 25 February 2011

The Living Line Field Studies An exhibition of drawing and watercolour by Yanny Petters

20 February – 26 March 2011

Nuala O Sullivan, Watching Girls Go By, Oil on Canvas. 30X40

Amharc Fhine Gall VII – the cloud Ella Burke & Aoibheann Greenan.

Recent Graduates from Fingal.

Curated by Susan Holland.

Until January 22 Ella Burke Artist Talk Ground Floor Gallery 1pm.

January 15

Nuala O’Sullivan Surfacing Jan 28 – March 26 Sarah O’Brien A Circle Dance Jan 28 – March 26 Artist Studio Programme 2010 Garvan Gallagher

Blanchardstown Centre Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 T: 01 885 2610 F: 01 824 3434 www.draíocht.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

29

January – February 2011

FOCUS

United State Maeve Mulrennan, Galway Arts Centre’s Visual Arts Officer reports on THE artist-led movement in Galway City.

Adapt are also interested in the redevelopment of the old Connaught Laundry building in the west of the city. This building suffered fire damage and ceased operation. It now has planning permission to become a hotel, which means that large parts of the structure will be knocked down. A proposal for it to become a Centre for Arts Practice was submitted to the City Development Plan this year, but was turned down as it would involve the procurement of the space by the Council – which frustratingly the Development Plan does not cover.

Adapt argue that there would be more than enough space in the laundry premises for two large galleries, residential studios, workshops and other teaching spaces. The plan also includes the site hosting existing organisations such as Lorg Printmakers, who are currently housed in the Ballybane Enterprise Centre. The latter is a good facility, but it located nearly 5km from the centre of Galway. Artspace and Groundworks studios face similar problems – they are running good spaces but in industrial estates on the edges of the city, not in the centre.

Perception vs. Reality

Opening Night at 'To Let' an exhibition facilitated by AVERAGE Arts Initiative. Galway, 2010 image courtesy AVERAGE.

There is a surge of artist-led activity in Galway city. It is being driven primarily by a coalition called Adapt, whose main aim is to create a united vision for the development of visual arts practice in the city. A key goal is to make use of prime – but vacant – real estate in the city, as spaces for the making, teaching and exhibiting of contemporary visual art. While this article is specific to Galway; it addresses in broader terms what artist-led organisations should be looking to achieve in other parts of the country.

Why Now? Organisations such as the Galway Arts Festival, Macnas and Druid established the idea of Galway as a cultural centre in the 1970s and 1980s. While some areas have developed, there is now a new generation of arts practitioners (not only in the visual artists) who are looking for different kinds of space and resources. This change in outlook began when Galway was turned down for the European Capital of Culture in favour of Cork. One of the reasons given was that there was a lack of large venues for presenting different cultural activities. This need has not yet been met.

Visual art graduates do want to stay in this city after graduating from GMIT. But there is a shortage of studio space; and not much room for experimentation outside the standard format of an exhibition in either Galway Arts centre or 126. These are the two main spaces in Galway, and they are struggling to meet demand.

When the country was not in recession, something like a municipal gallery and arts practice facility – a place with studios, workshop space, rehearsal rooms, editing suites, equipment and a programme for mentoring and professional practice – was something that could have happened. Since 2002 plans for a municipal gallery have been part of development plans for the city. Now that we are facing the biggest financial crisis since the founding of the state, practitioners are now very frustrated not only that these opportunities were never taken; but also that now it seems unlikely that they ever will be.

None the less, our graduates are staying and battling for the right to practice in Galway. For example the AVERAGE initiative is aiming to source unused spaces for graduate artists to show their work. Their first exhibition was earlier this year, just before the degree show. It was in a space owned by Fine Gael TD Pádraic McCormack. They are now taking a national approach, with their next project planned for Dublin.

AVERAGE work on the basis of getting spaces for one euro and using them for short-term exhibitions and events. The idea of being spontaneous, responding to site (both physically and socially) and not being in an institution could also have an affect on what kind of work is made by artists.

A-Merge is another new collective in Galway. Their primary aim is to find a suitable space in which to make work. They are currently seeking a space that will have both studio and workshop space, catering for multi–medium artists. Their current members are sculpture and painting graduates, so the priority at the moment is to accommodate their needs. They are looking to pay a reduced rent, but this is also proving difficult, with estate agents still looking for top rents.

Creative Galway?

Many artists in Galway were hoping that the city could follow the lead of the Creative Limerick initiative. The catalyst in Limerick was the council, auctioneers and landlords all being concerned to invest in improving their city –rather than just looking at financial gain. Limerick City Council staff member Lise-Ann Sheehan headed up the Creative Limerick Initiative. Although Sheehan’s contract has now come to an end, what she put in place in Limerick is still there: some visual art as well as design collectives are running studio and exhibition spaces in prime city centre locations, paying only utility bills.

Sheehan recently gave a presentation to Galway city Councillors, Directors of Services and Galway City Estate Agents. Members of the visual art community were present, and there was hope. However, while our Limerick equivalents were met with commitment and enthusiasm for this project, nothing has moved forward in terms of a Galway city Council member of staff taking on the role of instigator and facilitator.

Gordon Kearney is a Galway based auctioneer who is interested in getting a ‘Creative Galway’ type initiative off the ground. He has been arguing that artists and designers who are looking for space could be a good match for many of his clients. He expresses the following positive points to his clients – Their premises would be secured and looked after; Windows would be cleaned and any fly posters removed; The unsightly vacant look is removed; Occupied units create a vibrant street; It shows you care about your city.

At present, another key motivator, a reduction in rates for property owners offering their spaces to artists, as has happened in Limerick. is not available in Limerick.

Adapt: Moving Towards Change The Adapt coalition consists of representatives from Engage Art Studios, Knee-Jerk Collective, 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Tulca Festival of Visual Art, Ground Works Studios, Lorg Printmakers, A-Merge, Average Arts, MART, Féach Steering Committee and Artspace. There is also a creative community hacker space called 091 Labs. Their aim is to develop an inclusive creative community interested in innovation, science, technology and creative arts, with an emphasis on shared workspace, knowledge and ideas.1 Adapt has four main aims – the first being to use vacant space in the city for cultural purposes, an aim shared by all in the visual arts community in both the city and county. The second and third aims are for the creation of a temporary 'kunsthalle' type visual art space on the docks (Feach); followed by a more permanent space in the old Connaught Laundry building. The final ADAPT aim is to create a ‘Festival of Independent Practice’, with a focus on artist led groups in the area.

An initiative such as Féach, the proposed Centre for Visual Art, in the dock area of the city could be something that could easily fit into the remit of encouraging cultural tourism. This public space would be temporary and a fraction of the cost of a permanent space. However as there is not even Council support to take over small, pre-existing empty spaces for once off events, it is hard to be enthusiastic of support on this major level.

There is a perception that because there are well-considered and detailed proposals going into the City Development Plan, there will be action. However a Municipal Gallery space has been in the Development plan since 2002, with no sign of serious commitment from Galway City Council.

This reflects what has gone before. Major organisations such as Galway Arts Centre, Galway Arts Festival and Druid Theatre Company all started as artist-led initiatives and lobby group initiatives, rather than City Council led projects. Not only does there need to be a vocalised campaign, the lobby groups and artists also need to do the major work.

This is also how Galway’s forthcoming Picture Palace came into being, with a lobby group working for years. Lelia Doolan was part of the campaign, a figure well regarded in film and theatre. She was also part of the group that established Galway Film Fleadh.

In October of this year a new three year plan entitled ‘Failte West’ was established. Its aim is to encourage overseas visitors to the West of Ireland, and has John Crumlish, manager of Galway Arts Festival and Arts Council member on its Board. Arts festivals in Galway have benefited from Failte Ireland funding, however the paperwork and match funding required often discourages smaller festivals from applying.

There is an emphasis on Galway as a tourist destination, for both Irish and overseas visitors. However, this funding and policy focus does little to encourage artist-led groups and experimental works that need financial support and a place to develop in. While the perception is that Galway is a city of culture, from arts festivals to horse racing, the reality is that home-grown contemporary work is in the shade of bigger, business oriented policies.

What Now? What will happen to our recent graduates now? Will their determination to stay in Galway instigate change? It has been done before: Lorg Printmakers, Groundworks Studios and Engage Art Studios were all established in recent years by artists.

We are at a stage now where a lot has been achieved. Emerging artists are more politicised and engaged with how their city is run. They are forming alliances in order to bolster their impact and secure spaces.

The aim for a united vision is the first step towards procuring spaces in prime locations.

The National Campaign for the Arts’ recent campaign, the National Day of Action on the 24 September 2010 was particularly strong in Galway city, with TDs being encouraged to take on artistic activities for the afternoon. TDs and Senators from all parties were present, and a large number of arts practitioners attended. It is hoped that by being vocal and visible the aims of the Galway arm of the NCFA will dovetail with Adapt, A-Merge, Feach etc and become part of this united vision.

It may be inspiring to artists living in other cities and towns to know that some change is happening. On a broader level, if this can happen in Galway, it can happen everywhere. The artists are united; all we need now are united politicians, property owners and businessmen and women.

Maeve Mulrennan

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

30

January – February 2011

CONFERENCE REPORT problem may lie in Margaret Archer’s theory of morphogenesis (4) – which states that within the present conditions of late capitalism individuality can no longer be fixed to one state. Our labour skills, education and social categories and geographical locations are in a state of constant flux therefore the identification of otherness through traditional lens of class, social economics and culture becomes less readable.

In this phase of late modernity we can no longer issue the same rules of collaboration and encounter, but instead are faced with an enormous challenge and opportunity – which is can we through our social encounters with each other produce a new reality? Yuan argued for a form of encounter between ourselves and other, which SIGNALS from BURMA, 2007 - 2008 Chu Yuan and Jay Koh

Artist Chu Yuan in conversation with Mick Wilson,

fundamentally opens up new shared, and conflicting understandings of the world. That we are, in the moment of encounter, in pull between our intra-relative personal world and the inter connectivity with the other. This dialectical social encounter Yuan believes, has the potential to open up and broaden our perspectives and thus shape the production of knowledge that emerges from this encounter in a new way. She articulated that the encounter must be both autonomous and collective, acknowledging the individualism of both artist and participant, as well as the shared space they inhabit.

Yuan also proposed that theory itself, in particular philosophy, is the other of practice – which allows a “second sight” to our “seeing ourselves see”. She argued that this parallel process of inner-reflection

Arthur Zmijewski Them 2007

Men's Circles from project Portraying Ourselves, Rauma, Finland 2005, Chu Yuan and Jay Koh

Things could be Otherwise Jesse Jones reports on ‘Approaches to Collaborative Arts Practice’ a conversation between Malaysian artist Chu YuanAND Mick Wilson of gradcam, an event held at Dublin Civic Offices (30 Sept 2010)

and theoretical framing of the work by practitioners, could in many ways liberate the work from the specific encounter. In other words, theory can often anchor these practices within a wider set of global questions – which allows for this ‘second sight’ that Yuan describes.

Mick Wilson in his response to Chu Yuan presented compelling and immediate ‘second sight’ when warned of the academisation of philosophical practice, claiming that in many ways that philosophy / theory has become a “blunt instrument” relegated to the tenured academic position, incapable of shaping reality and contained from the world.

Wilson warned that the “operationalisation” of collaborative

‘Approaches to Collaborative Arts’ , a conversation between Chu

so much so to know how to weave in an out of time with each other

practice to a series of rules and methodologies might actually, while

Yuan and Mick Wilson of Gradcam, held at Dublin Civic Office (30 Sept

rhythmically and melodically.

presenting a model of good practice, may also restrict encounters.

2010) was the last in the series of three events for Art as Research

Although useful as ways of describing alternative modes of

Wilson proposed that the theoretical obsession with ethics in

Practice – a project by curated by Jay Koh in partnership with Create

encounter, Yuan’s initial analysis, in my view failed to recognise

collaboration might in fact be a restrictive force in how we ultimately

and the Red Stables studios (1).

differences in these collaborative practices and social framing. For

produce representations, stating “if we become too absolute and pure

Chu Yuan is a Malaysian visual artist and cultural worker. Since

example, the practice of an orchestra collaborating on a piece of music

in our notions of the ethics of representation and fairness we actually

2000 Yuan has been project director of IFIMA, a not-for-profit

or an artist working with an economist, is distinctly different to the

blunt our ability to critically think the world”.

organisation focused on forging intercultural and context responsive

work of an artist being adjacent to a social process in order to make an

At the heart of Wilson’s speculation was a Debordist doubt (5) – in

collaborations and knowledge sharing, and has been active in

artwork. Although I feel that some of the methodologies of peer-to-peer

our eagerness to professionalize and create a qualitative language and

researching and proposing new approaches in collaborative and

artistic collaboration may present interesting working models, they

methodologies, have we indeed become absorbed into the spectacle of

participative art practices. She is currently undertaking a PhD research

often neglect to acknowledge the vast inequities of experience that are

managerial capitalism? Can ‘art’ practices have an oppositional position

a Gray’s School of Art at the Robert Gordon University, Scotland, how

the heart of social collaboration – and thus can mute the politics of

to this broader corruption of the social encounter? It would seem that

art as a form of knowledge can be constructive in the imagining,

collaborating with communities. This begs the question as to whether

the historical struggle for recognition of this type of practice as art has

exploring and realising of alternatives to what is possible today.

‘collaboration’ is even adequate to describe such a wide corpus of

ironically neglected to ask a fundamental question – should this work

working methods.

be merely categorised as art or is it in fact a far more important societal

Yuan’s talk presented a compelling definition of the many and complex facets of a working methodology for a collaborative approach.

Collaboration as a term has arguably arisen in tandem with the

and political practice? Indeed a practice, which animates abstract

She proposed a powerful model for collaborative art practice and its

professionalisation of socially engaged practices in recent decades –

philosophical questions about who we are and how we chose to be in

critical framing –citing critically trajectories such as Margaret Archers’

motivated in part by a desire to distinguish itself from the sloppy

the world into tangible experiences and may point to useful survival

as well as Tim Ingold’s

worthiness of what had previously been described as community art.

and subversive strategies of resistance to the script of late capitalism

improvisational methods of “wayfaring”(3). The agenda was in many

The longstanding aim of the field, whatever the terminology, has

Mick Wilson also claimed that in the present mode of capitalism,

ways, to present and share operational models, which both she and Jay

always been fundamentally embedded in the project of radical social

the soft relationships of our lives such as friendship and our social

Koh have adopted through their own practice and reflect on the wider

and artist practice– to create heterotopias (or temporary spaces) of

world have now entered into the field of commodity. Through the

philosophical and sociological repercussions of this work.

equality, under the utopian belief that engagement with art could, for

process of social networking we are constantly required to surrender

By way of introduction Yuan outlined five typical modes of

the socially marginalized, create powerful modes of self-representation.

our personally autonomy to the network, a web of performed virtual

collaboration. Firstly, she cited the inherited mode of the modernist

In turn, this could afford entry at whatever nominal level to the

inter personal relations.

avant-garde – that is the artist as director and messianic leader, guiding

institutional frame of reality production.

theories of critical realism and reflexivity

(2)

Wilson wondered whether this moment of wider corruption of

the participant through his or her expertise and skill to the altar of high

However, Yuan proposed a further model, that of ‘horizontal

the relational sphere – a blurring of the public, private, commercial and

art. As Yuan observed, this model is most often instigated by institutions;

collaboration’, that was much more compelling and could be seen a

non-commercial – might lead us to a new understanding of various

and represents a top-down application of expertise. The second model

more affective means of addressing the inequalities of power and

critical possibilities within collaborative art practices? Perhaps one in

Yuan identified, was more of an NGO-style, bottom-up operation, in

expertise embedded somewhat in the other methodologies she had

which we are well and truly cast off from the aesthetic framing of the

which the community sources the artistic expertise and hires them in

previously outlined. In ‘horizontal collaboration’, the power of

relational as spectacle? In relation to this notion, Wilson observed

a client directed model.

authorship is spread evenly among collaborators. This model is deeply

“maybe the really interesting issue is not what is happening in a given

The other three models Yuan elaborated upon could be described

rooted in Tim Ingold’s ideas about ‘wayfaring’ – a process by which all

community, not the output, not even the set of relations that are built

as existing within ‘professionalized peer situations’. These were as

collaborators are journeying in tandem toward an un-disclosed final

– but the utopian ambition for some other sociality, some other way of

follows – ‘plug in” in which an artist may collaborate with a musician,

location. In such projects, the production of knowledge is in a process

being together in the world?”

scientist, architect, sociologist etc, to plug-in to their knowledge in an

of constant improvisation and negotiation between ourselves and the

inter- disciplinary way; in order to expand the research base of the

other.

project. A ‘serial arrangement’, whereby the passing on of a collaborative

Discussing the horizontal model in more depth, Yuan carefully

processes take place through a series of professional encounters, such

and justly described the danger of the ‘essentialisation’ of the other as

as a script becomes a set design, becomes a performance etc. And

an almost performative category. She asked; “do we in our art-framed

finally, the ‘tacit’ collaboration – one that is most common in music –

encounter with the other, risk through our representational strategies

where two or more collaborators may have a long standing collaboration

to fix otherness itself in some way”. A theoretical counter point to this

Jesse Jones Notes (1) www.create-ireland.ie/projects-and-initiatives/art-as-research-practice.html (2) Margaret Archer, Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility, Cambridge university press 2007 (3) Elizabeth Hallam and Tim Ingold Creativity and Cultural Improvisation, Berg publishers 2007 (4) Margaret Archer Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach, Cambridge University Press 1995 (5) Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, 1967

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

31

January – February 2011

Art in public: Roundup

Art In Public: Roundup public art commissions, site-specific works, socially engaged practice and other forms of art outside the gallery.

POLICING DIALOGUES

The project was made possible with the support of the Regional Cultural Centre / Donegal County Council Public Art Office; in partnership with Leonardo / Olats; Met Éireann; the Marine Institute of Ireland; Aquafact International Services Ltd; Killybegs and District Chamber of Commerce Ltd; the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation Ltd; Mooney’s Boatyard; and the Marine & Heritage Centre, Killybegs. www.softday.ie http://www.donegalpublicart.ie/58-publicart.htm

Memorial Court housing development, which is documented in The Unveiling.

‘Creating the Common’ was conceived and realised by Clodagh Emoe in collaboration with the residents of the Memorial Court, and Colin Carters, Sean Moffatt, Hélène Montague, abgc design, Sean Breithaupt, Yvette Monaghan, Roomthree Design, Bláthnaid Ní Mhurchú, Thomas McGraw Lewis, Traolach Ó Murchú, Cormac Browne, Alexis Nealon, Killian Sheridan, Diana O’Connor, Niav Cartwright, Jefferson Osorio and Paulie Quinn. http://www.gradcam.ie/unveiling.php

Right Words…

CHERRIES

‘PolicingDialogues:AnExplorationofNeighbourhood Relations of Power’, (15 Sept – 23 October) was a sixweek residency project at The LAB, Dublin by the What’s The Story? Collective. The project included a public exhibition of film and installation based works that focused on young people’s experiences of power and policing in Dublin South Central District.

In addition the project included an extensive programme of workshops, dialogues and meetings.

An Garda Síochana also agreed to participate in the programme and, crucially, the learning from this process will directly inform the content of a new training scheme for Gardaí, aimed at more constructive interactions with young people.

in detail in the registration form and displayed together with the list in the showcase. In this way, they were visible for all and, simultaneously, under public control.

Commenting on the project the artist noted “the private became public with personal belongings becoming exhibition pieces in a temporary, contemporary cultural museum showcase”. Theis is currently undertaking a PhD research with the University of Ulster, Belfast.

MARBH CHRÍOS

www.section8.ie www.thelab.ie

Floating World

The artists of the Floating World collective presented two site-specific installations at Fermanagh County Museum, Enniskillen (29 September – 31 October 2010). The installations displayed work by members of the public alongside works by the Floating World artists.

In the run up to the show, Andy Parsons the initiator of the Floating World project, worked with members of the public to make artists’ books onsite at the museum, and at his Book House project in Cavan. As the press release noted “this part of the project aimed to provide everyone with a voice to relate ideas, share images, thoughts, insights and memories”. www.enniskillencastle.co.uk www.floatingworldbooks.com

LEFT LUGGAGE Artist: Andrea Theis Title: Left Luggage Commissioner: Self-initiated Installed: 4 Oct – 9 Oct 2010 Budget: £2200 Description: For a week in early October, passers-by on Fountain Street in Belfast were given the opportunity to avail of a ‘left luggage’ service provided by the artist Andrea Theis, assisted by two guards.

Left Luggage, functioned as “a temporary storage facility, a showcase and a research into everyday luggage”.

Participants could unburden themselves with their bags and briefcases by leaving them with her in return for their permission to have the contents of their luggage displayed in a glass case. The objects were taken out of the backpacks and pouches, listed

On Saturday the 16 October 2010 Softday (Sean Taylor and Mikael Fernström) presented the world premiere of Marbh Chrios (Dead Zone), a live performance of a multimedia sound artwork, in Mooney’s Boatyard, Killybegs, County Donegal. The work was presented as part of the ‘Lovely Weather’ residencies, an art and science project focused on issues of climate change in Donegal.

Taylor and Fernström’s work addressed the subject of the discovery of ‘dead zones’ – areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life.

Marbh Chrios (Dead Zone) was specifically inspired by the 2008 findings Virginia Institute of Marine Science Professor Robert Diaz, who had demonstrated such zones had increased by a third between 1995 and 2007 and tallied up a total of 405 dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles – about the size of New Zealand. It is currently estimated that there are 20 such ‘dead zones’ in Ireland and two ‘contested dead zones’ – including sites Killybegs Harbour and Donegal Bay. The artists’ computer generated soundwork was composed via algorithms devised from scientific data on dead zones, provided The Marine Institute of Ireland, Met Eireann and Aquafact Ltd. The work was performed with the Donegal Youth Orchestra, the Softday Céilí Band and St Catherine’s Marching Band from Killybegs.

James Haye’s In an attempt to find the right words... was unveiled on Friday 22 October 2010 at Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet. Co Mayo. The work was commissioned by Mayo County Council and funded by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government under the Percent for Art Scheme In an attempt to find the right words... comprises over 2000 bronze cast pencils, embedded into the walls of the building to create an undulating patterns and clusters. As the press release notes “the pencils are poised, yet no mark has been made and the pencils remain frozen in this position”.

Among the 2,000 cast pencils are a number of donated pencils. The public were invited to submit ‘significant pencils’ to be cast and included in the project. Many of the stories behind the donated pencils are poignant, the objects donated are remnants of past experiences, remembered for their significance, each carrying fingerprints and marks made by their owners. The work brings together various expressions of creativity, including ideas, written memories and aspirations from a number of participants. Hayes also conducted drawing workshops that utilised digital technology with young people in the Belmullet area. The participants were invited to leave a mark on the pencil they used and these were also cast and included in the final work.

THE UNVEILING Clodagh Emoe’s film The Unveiling was created as part of a collaborative public art project, entitled ‘Creating in Common’, with residents of Memorial Court, Island Bridge, Dublin. The project was commissioned by Dublin City Council under the Per Cent for Art Scheme with funding from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The film, which documents the project, was screened at IMMA on 19 Nov 2010.

‘Creating the Common’ commenced December 2009, its chief aims being to provide the residents of the Memorial Court Housing Trust with a purpose that would bring them together to share a collective arts experience. The outcome was a theatrical performance, on the site of a garden space for

Artist: Martin Lyttle Title: Cherries Commissioner: Wexford Co. Council Awarded: September 2008 Installed: June 2010 (trees to be planted in November 2010) Budget: €26,905 Commission Type: Percent for Art Location: Cherry Orchard, Phase II Housing Scheme (Cluin Charman), Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.

Description: The central piece of the sculpture is a group of three of black ‘cherry’ forms, over 1.0m high, carved in Kilkenny Limestone, surrounded by three fruiting cherry trees with other fruiting trees in the vicinity. Also as part of the work the artist produced a print-on-demand artist book that documents the project. This was distributed to all the households in the area.

Commenting on the work the press release for the project notes “Cherryorchard – what is in a name? It is not a name picked by a developer but, is in fact the townsland name – which has been in existence before 1829. Thinking about the history of the site and the original cherry orchards that may have been present, Enniscorthy’s association with fruit growing (the strawberry fair) and today’s growing interest in sourcing local food, such as seen in the growing popularity of the Enniscorthy local farmers’ market, the artist developed his proposal to contain and respond to these ideas. He wanted the commission to look to the future of the Cherryorchard community while referencing the past”. http://cherryorchard2.wordpress.com www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1561668

YOUR WORK HERE !

If you have recently been involved in a public commission, percent for art project, socially engaged project or any other form of ‘art outside the gallery’ we would like you to send us images and a short text (no more than around 300 words) in the following format: Artists name Title of work Commissioning body Date advertised Date sited / carried out.

Budget Commission type Project Partners Brief description of the work

32

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

regional contacts

Regional Perspectives visual artists ireland's regional contacts report from the field.

West of Ireland Aideen Barry

Antrim Laura Graham

Arts Workers & Welfare

The Switch Project

The Arts Community in Galway City and County has recently undertaken several meetings with Minster Éamon Ó Cuív (Minister for Social Protection) and Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin (member of the Green Party and Senator at The Oireachtás). These meetings arose from consultations which took place as part of the National Campaign for the Arts with Senator Ó Brolcháin about the problems arts workers face with the social welfare system.

On average, arts workers earn €14,676 as artists per year (1). A staggering 67% of Visual Artists in Ireland earn less than 10,000 euro per annum (2), leading to most artists working additional jobs to support their income. Many arts workers – artists, artist teachers, curators etc – work on a contract basis for short periods of time. They are either: put through the books of the employer (PAYE and PRSI are paid); or contracted as a self-employed person (often arts companies are too small to be registered as PAYE employers). The arts worker in this case is responsible for their own tax, PRSI payments, etc.

Many arts workers sign on social welfare when they are out of employment. Depending on means testing, many arts workers are also entitled to rent allowance and additional benefits while claiming social welfare. Visual Artists Ireland has recorded a number of difficulties faced by artists and arts workers who have dealings with the department of Social and Family Affairs and have worked tirelessly in the past to resolve issues and communication difficulties; and are trying to grasp a larger picture of the problems that artists face when dealing with the department or its affiliates. As such, the difficulties arts workers face in relation to signing on and off social welfare, relate to not only to social benefit, but also to rent allowance (administered by the Health Service Executive) and other supplementary support services.

There also appears to be a lack of information in social welfare offices on the work patterns of arts workers, and how this relates to their social welfare entitlements. Responses in relation to queries on entitlements are often met with different replies depending on different locations, different personnel and different levels of the hierarchy of social welfare centres in the country. There also appears to be a lack of information in social welfare offices on the work patterns of arts workers, and how this relates to their social welfare entitlements.

As an attempt to resolve these concerns, and to highlight the extremely complex nature of being an arts practitioner, these meetings were set up as a way of addressing such issues. Currently a core group of representatives from the NCFA (3) let by Mairead Ni Chroinin (An Independent Theatre Practitioner), plus representative from VAI, have met with members of the Social Welfare Department in Galway and further meetings are scheduled for early 2011.

One of the key aims of these meetings is to develop a more open and communicative relationship between advocative organisations and the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the HSE (4). One of the most crucial ways to communicate the entitlements of visual artists and arts workers will be through the websites and literature of these organisations.

Early agreements from the first of these meetings include providing a number of ‘Artist-Centred Case Studies’ on the DSFA(5) website, highlighting the extremely un-stable nature of being an arts practitioner and how best the social welfare system can accommodate that individual. Some of these case studies should be online as soon as March 2011.

The long term aim of these meetings will be to create a Pilot Programme, that will best cater for the needs of the arts worker, while also making the whole business of being an artist practitioner more transparent to both artist and institution alike. I will update you on the progress of these discussions during the year.

Aideen Barry

Although there is a popular and not entirely unjustified view that in order to see art in an unusual context, one tends to have to go to larger urban centres, such ideas can be self-fulfilling and put a damper on the energy required to launch new and distinctive visual art installations in outlying venues; so when an event occurs in a small town, bringing an edgy, international flavour in a style that would enthral the passing mass of humanity of any inner city, it is worth comment!

Such an event occurred consecutively in Nenagh, County Tipperary at the start of November followed by Bangor, County Down mid to the end of November. To paraphrase the pocketsize handbook “Imagine you are walking down the road, the same road you always walk on your way back from work, or taking the dog for a walk, your collar turned up against the chill, minding puddles. It is a dark autumn evening… you pass a shop window – only it’s not just a shop window! It’s a temporary back projected screen, images are moving in front of you, it’s November and you are at 'Switch', an international showcase of contemporary visual art”.

I walked the route after 9pm in the evening. It was cold, blustery and wet, and although I was aware of the weather, it caused me less discomfort than I would have expected. The experience was enjoyable.

The films were intriguing, assisted by the setting and accessibility, as the concept was site specific in making use of empty disengaged or disused shop windows; it brought the street to life.

Notes 1. (Report, 2010: ‘The Living and Working Conditions of Artists in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland’, commissioned by the Arts Council of Ireland, and Arts Council of Northern Ireland.)

2. The Social, Economic & Fiscal Status of the Visual Artist in Ireland 2008.

3. National Campaign for the Arts 4. Currently the HSE manage all other supplementary Incomes such as Disability Allowances, Rent Allowance etc. Plans for 2011 include the amalgamation of the Community Welfare Offices with those of the Social Welfare Offices as a means of improving communication and speeding up application procedures for individuals applying for supplementary support from either organisation.

5. www.welfare.ie

There is a meditative quality to standing on an empty dark street watching a film of light bulbs eventually falling from a tree, and in that there is a queer beauty in the event stretching across time and space for the viewer and the artist. On the opposite side of the street I could see a waterfall falling interminably; watching it was interminable; water was falling on me; it was surreal and engaging.

Each of the films represented talking points for passing pedestrians, and in general for the population of Bangor. On such a dark wintry night it felt strangely reassuring despite 5 feet tall plastic figurines being moved by a giant hand in the window next to the curry house.

I was left with a strange sense of familiarity, which I don’t normally hold for that particular place at that time of night, but there is an unnerving truth that we are comforted more by the moving image than we would care to admit.

That night Bangor had a different light, it became a living contemporary art venue, thanks to the vision of Triona Ryan and Harald Turek, the artist / curators behind 'Switch 2010'.

It seemed to be continuing a general feeling of possibility around visual art in the town, for earlier in the evening I had attended the second meeting of a newly formed collective. Two artists Inga Hamilton and Andy Hamilton began the group on Facebook, and via an emailed monthly letter and regular meetings have initiated a forum for artists. Although not exclusive to those artists living in the area, as it is internet based, the actual meetings are in Bangor and offer a chance to meet for a drink and a chat every first and third Thursday in the month, with the aim of building a community of artists in an area where people tend to live and work in isolation. The monthly newsletter Firsty will be collated and edited by different members of the collective to give it a rounded flavour, and a wider practice and opinion base. The mix of people is eclectic and interesting and offers a positive, proactive opportunity to meet up regularly. I hope it succeeds.

Laura Graham laura@visualartists.ie

33

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

January – February 2011

PROFILE

Honouring Creativity & Craft Anne Callanan talks to Deirdre Quail, acting Curator, FE McWilliam Studio & Gallery.

AC: Can you tell us more about FE McWilliam and his family origins?

MQ: FE McWilliam was born in Newry Street Banbridge, the son of a local doctor. Frederick was the youngest of the family and went to school in Campbell College Belfast. From there he went to Art College in Belfast, then the Slade School of Art in London. (My particular interest is that his grandfather built the house in which I live. His uncle Frederick, a local solicitor, inherited it and he in turn left it to FE McWilliam. So he owned my house and played in it as a child. I met him and he told me stories about his childhood there. It came up for sale in the 1930s and as he was living in France and then London, and didn’t want to return to Northern Ireland at that time, it was sold.

Perhaps we both slid down the same banister. He was a lovely man a real David Niven character.

FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio

FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio

Tucked away between Newry and Belfast, it can be easy to drive past the FE McWilliam Gallery without even being aware it is there.

Though easily missed, once visited, it is never forgotten. As well as the striking architectural layout, the permanent and temporary collection are sure to lure you back. The Gallery and Studio is dedicated to the memory of the renowned sculptor, Frederick Edward McWilliam, born in Banbridge in 1909. After his death in 1992 the sculptor’s studio and its contents was gifted to the town of his birth. The gallery and studio houses this collection in a superb exhibition facility of gallery, sculpture garden and reconstructed studio. It also provides a tourist information centre, café and craft shop. I spoke to the acting curator, Ms. Deirdre Quail, who very kindly answered my questions, but added many little anecdotes from her talks with the McWilliam family.

Anne Callanan: What was the aim of the building / business / community / art display / gallery?

Mary Quail: The purpose of the building was to house the McWilliam bequest. He died in 1992 and in lieu of death duties his family gifted his workshop and its contents to the state with the proviso that it would come to the town of his birth. The Council’s transporters went with the trucks and equipment and packed it all up at his home in Holland Park, London and brought it to Banbridge. There it rested, while there were deliberations as to where it would be housed. Sufficient funding and support was provided by Peace 11 funding and it was decided to locate the gallery on the site of the then Tourist Office just off the main Dublin-Belfast road at Banbridge. The gallery opened on the 26th September 2008.

AC: How do you involve the community at large?

MQ: We try to arrange a programme that suits everyone. Some of the exhibitions will be challenging, while others are more accessible. For

tools etc. they moved all the material into the carport next door and glass partitions allow one to see how he would have worked. The studio itself houses a large collection of maquettes which are the preparatory works for the sculpted bronzes. The works can be seen from the earliest stages of construction, from wire armature to sculpted plaster.

There was a concern about soundproofing the space allocated to the garden as it is sandwiched between two busy roads. This was successfully carried out. The main gallery exhibition space takes up most of the building and stores at the rear allow easy access to trolleys carrying large structures.

The gallery area includes four large glass permanent structures resembling cabinets, known as the Armour cases. These provide excellent visibility to view works in the round. The cabinets can be covered by panelling to form walls which allow extra hanging space, depending on the needs of the exhibition. In addition, there are hanging areas on which to display two-dimensional works and an extensive open floor space to accommodate large pieces.

FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio

example, many members of the local community seemed to be more comfortable with the recent exhibition of the landscapes and art of TP Flanagan, as opposed to previous displays of very contemporary sculpture. Both exhibitions, in general, were very well received. We want to build interest and to challenge, and to develop the whole idea of this as an exciting exhibition space. So we have members of the local community on the programme committee, and involved in the educational programmes.

AC: Who was responsible for the building and layout of the gallery?

MQ: Building design commenced in 1995, by the Belfast architects Kennedy & Fitzgerald. They worked very closely with Denise and Brian Ferran, artists and art historian friends of FE, who were engaged as consultants by the Council. Denise curated the first exhibition.

Banbridge Council members accompanied Denise and Brian to St. Ives, Cornwall to look at the Barbara Hepworth studio, as she was a contemporary of FE. Another contemporary of McWilliam was Henry Moore. The difference between these artists with regard to their legacy is that Moore was instrumental in setting up his own foundation and part financed his Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, and Barbara Hepworth created the St. Ives garden and studio in situ. McWilliam’s studio and contents was gifted by his heirs.

The Sculpture Garden was designed in such a way in order to replicate the spirit of the garden in which his studio was situated at his home in London’s Holland Park. Efforts to recreate his studio at the bottom of the garden, as in London, were curtailed by the existing layout and planning issues. In an innovative twist, the footprint of the original London structure is there but was turned around and reinvented. The studio is a facsimile of London. When the actual studio was transferred to Ireland and examined, asbestos was revealed, so a replica had to be made. Rather than occupy the studio with his

AC: How do you decide on exhibition and arrangement of space?

MQ: When the programme committee was set up we stipulated the type of exhibitions we were going to have in relation to FE. So for example in the course of the year we always have one exhibition which is directly related to his work or may have a looser connection such as one of his contemporary like TP Flanagan or William Scott.

Direct relationship may be in terms of themes or materials as McWilliam was quite innovative in his use of materials. The current exhibition in the garden is presented by the Sculptors’ Association of Mourne and many of the works pay homage to McWilliam.

We are very keen to exhibit as much as possible. An interesting exhibition coming in January called ‘Another Dimension’ by Seacourt Print Workshop will relate print to 3D forms which should be interesting. Also the exhibition entitled 'Forest' will see young people from schools, colleges and the university responding to the theme of the forest in sculpture.

AC: How the about the day-to-day running of the gallery?

MQ: Tourist information and gallery guides assist in the day-to-day running of the gallery and exhibition space and deal with the public in a most helpful manner. Information about the current exhibition is limited in the viewing space to allow for full immersion and appreciation of what is being exhibited. There is a large information board at the entrance introducing the exhibition and small information card is placed close to the artwork.

AC: Is the gallery funded privately or publicly?

MQ: Banbridge District Council sought out a suitable site for many years, eventually settling on the site of the Banbridge Tourist Information Centre, adjacent to the main A1 Dual Carriageway. The project became a joint venture with Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda in the Republic of Ireland, who were developing a gallery space to house the Drogheda Corporation art collection. A Cross-Border Arts Partnership was formed which successfully drew down substantial funds from the EU Interreg III to develop both galleries. Both galleries have been completed to a high standard thanks to a total funding package of €3.388m from the European Union’s Interreg IIIA Programme, which was administered by the East Border Region Interreg IIIA Partnership. A sum of €2.18m was awarded to Banbridge District Council while the balance (€1.208m) was awarded to Drogheda Borough Council.

Gallery Opening Hours: September to Easter; Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm; Closed Sundays FE McWilliam Gallery & Studio, 200 Newry Road, Banbridge, Co. Down BT32 3NB: +44(28) 4062 3322 E: femcwilliam@banbridge.gov.uk W: www.femcwilliam.com

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

34

January – February 2011

PROFILE

Commonage exhibition Old Co-op, Callan

Rhona Byrne Model Village installation shot

Lisa Cassidy Prologue zine for Commonage

Architectural Essence CliodHna Shaffrey profiles ‘Commonage’ a project merging art and architecture (JULY – 8 AUGUST 2010 Callan, Co. Kilkenny The Arts Council recently published a study into public engagement with architecture in Ireland, written and researched by Alan Mee and Richard Wakely. The authors acknowledge that public engagement with architecture is a relatively recent phenomenon in Ireland and must therefore start from “a low base”. The study identified a range of actions, which the Arts Council might wish to consider as a means of enhancing the level of supports for engaging the Irish public with the art form of architecture. Mee and Wakely recommend the facilitation of a broader approach encompassing the wider built environment and giving opportunity for the public to be exposed to, become aware of, appreciate, and participate in the creative endeavour associated with architecture. Commonage – curated by Rosie Lynch, Tara Kennedy and Jo Anne Butler for the town of Callan, County Kilkenny was funded under the Arts Council’s Touring and Dissemination Architecture Award, 201. It was an exemplar of a broad approach – as well as being a beautifully pitched and curated experience.

Commonage was conceived as a distinct strand of the Callan Abhainn Rí Festival – a community festival based on inclusion and participation, initiated by Patrick Lydon of Camphill and organised by Callan Community Network. It was devised as a week-long event, which provided opportunities for a small group of artists and architects to undertake “a radical exploration of the built environment of Callan”; and as a basis to make new work and situate it throughout the town.

The curators also selected a number of existing artworks.

The spaces used (both inside and outside) were back lanes, hill tops, public spaces and empty buildings – the Co-op building on the main street, the Pumphouse at the end of Clodeen Lane, The Moat, Fennelly’s bar on Bridge Street. The project involved major clean ups of large and vacant spaces, undertaken in collaboration between the festival staff, curators and local people. For Commonage these spaces were either re-opened to the public or opened up for the first time. The sites in combination with the works situated in, offered visitors a very particular experience of the town of Callan. The works, in a sense, offered a means to connect people with public spaces and architecture, and in turn to link up more the architecture of the town and its public spaces. The impressive – and little changed over the years – urban structure of Callan acted as ‘frame’ for the commissioned and selected artworks.

I began my own visit at Fennelly’s on Bridge Street, where HURL (Home University Roscommon Leitrim) had presented a series of audio recordings made with local people about their town’s histories and imagined futures – voicing an odd mix of knowledge and idiosyncratic information from several residents’ perspectives and passions inclusive of that for the local rustic loaf. HURL is Ireland’s newest university and was set up by a group of individuals dedicated to the exchange of soft knowledge so the subject matter that is of interest to them is wideranging dealing in current and critical material to methods and rituals for living that are quickly disappearing or easily lost.

Fennelly’s house and pub combined the remnants of a farmhouse out the back. It is the sort of building that was one time very common in towns throughout Ireland, but very few of them now remain in their original form. Its new owner Etaoin Holahan is giving it a new lease of life by using it as place for ‘pop-up’ events as well as her home. We were allowed to ramble around the house, freely – up and down ladders and through empty rooms and downstairs to the little pub – where the audio recordings were set up for listening and Gerry Cahill’s picture postcard sketches of the town could be bought. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the Workhouse Test – another ambitious project space in Callan in which Etaoin is involved. Curated with Bridget O’Gorman

Culturstruction Glittery Embrace Pumphouse, Callan

and Kate Strain, 'Kinetoscope Parlour' showcased video works by Matt Calderwood, Eilis McDonald, Tessa Power and Brad Troemel.

Culturstruction (Tara Kennedy and Jo Anne Butler) built a viewing platform of charred timber at an overlooked place on the river – presenting the possibility for a picturesque moment in a nonpicturesque site. It’s a place where a lot of local kids hang out and to get there you have to walk down a small back lane and, when you get there the river is small and shallow and the landscape is overgrown and weedy. Culturstruction’s interventions often operate at the intersection between art and architecture and offer a small-scale improvement for better social environments. Their bespoke platform for the teenagers was beautifully crafted - with the help of local skilled labour - its geometric form was built firmly to jut out into the river.

In the Co-op building – an impressive agricultural and industrial complex and a key building on the main street that is no longer in active use – I saw Rhona Byrne’s video Model Town, – commissioned for Commonage and made earlier this year while on a residency in the Mattress Factory, Pennsylvania, USA. It was projected onto stacked bed heads making a unique installation space for this projection. The video focuses on the miniature village made by Laurence Gieringer from Pennsylvania, who made a model village over a 60-year period.

Documenting this lifetime of work, Byrne illustrates how ‘one man’s passionate commitment to envisioning a bigger picture than the world he knew and how, with a do-it-yourself mentality, he shaped a dream into a sustainable reality’.

Also in this complex was a work by Gabriella Kiss, 15 people swinging and more (2005) a video installation celebrating how people come together and enjoy themselves. Katie Managan, exhibited her a recent graduate work from NCAD – including a kinetic sculpture made out of strips of film reel and a spinning wheel. This impressive modernist sculpture glistened as it whirled – witty and surreal. Firstyear architectural students from UCD were set the task to design a house and garden for Camphill Callan as part of their course work. This was exhibited alongside Dominic Lavelle’s graduate thesis of a similar theme. Models and drawings from a selection of the students were upstairs in the loft and presented using the building’s structure and found furniture for their display. There was an immediacy in the pragmatic and cosy way the architectural models were displayed in this spacious agrarian interior that seemed to aid readings of architectural proposals for Camphill and underline a desired connection or rootedness to place.

Camphill – for which the young architects proposed their interventions, is an organisation and charitable trust working with people with special needs. The Camphill Communities, of which there are quite a number now in Ireland and around the world, was established first in Scotland, by a group of Jewish refugee doctors, who after the Second World War wanted to do something positive for the

most vulnerable people in society. Their vision inspired by the philosophies of Dr Rudolf Steiner advocated for becoming creative with one’s own human potential. KCAT Art & Study Centre, another organisation in the centre of Callan is established as an environment in which artists and students from different backgrounds and abilities can work and create together. These two organisations seem to have seeped into the very spirit of Callan. Tony O’Malley also had his home and studio here – now a facility for artists’ operated by the RHA. Perhaps there is something in this mix of the 19th century vernacular architecture (agricultural and industrial buildings) built on medieval foundations, farming communities and presence of artistic and alternative communities and the feeling that the Celtic Tiger only tinkered at its fringes that combines to make Callan the place it is today. Credible and appealing, because it is authentic and not clichéd or a facsimile, nine miles outside the sophisticated Kilkenny city, Callan is not over polished and is simple enough. But all over Ireland, we might say there are towns like this, what sets Callan aside is that the people here sense an essence of architecture in their immediate surroundings; it’s not as if it has a hotlist of architectural highlights, but that somehow the streetscape and buildings add up and it is, as the curators and so many of the local community, so astutely considered a good place to start a conversation about place and thereby get to the root of what might be considered the most profound ambition for architecture – to create place. And, it is perhaps, as the curators suggest that small towns like Callan, “away from the bustling cities and the hubs of the global financial industry, where ordinary residents experience the vagrancies of the global economy and the impact of global changes…. [is] where we can learn to develop a sustainable future”. (1) At night-time the moat in Callan was lit by the Good Hatchery artists Carl Giffney and Ruth E. Lyons. Their installation Missionary 52 – 7 comprised of temporary architecture and high-powered lights and was ambitious – romantic and dreamy – staged between the trees, drawing our attention to the skies above. Their research uncovering the Callan motto ‘Keep Watching the Skies’ suggesting a greater connection to the celestial influences on the world around us.

While a week can be a short time in the life of any project, especially where so much hard work is invested in its realisation, the curators took good care to document Commonage by commissioning artist and documentary photographer Henrietta Williams. William’s tracking of this event has produced a particularly original series of photographs, which certainly bring another dimension to revealing the experience through her camera’s lens. Lisa Cassidy’s Prologue was a small printed zine, also presented as a personal response to Callan where she set about “pulling things out of context, like a tiny museum made just from my point of view”. It responds to Callan with ‘total delight’ picking up in outline sketches and small texts details that have captured her. “To dwell is to leave a trace” – she writes, quoting Walter Benjamin, and we sense this everywhere in Callan, a town that hasn’t changed that much, where traces are everywhere.

Cliodhna Shaffrey www.commonagecallan.com Notes (1) Small Town Sustainability, Heike Mayer and Paul L. Knox, Birkhauser (2009)

VISUAL Insurance for Artists O’Driscoll O’Neil are pleased to offer property & liability insurance for artists.

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QuOTeS FrOM: brokersubmissions@odon.com Covers Available Public / products liability only Property damage &public / products liability Property damage & public / products liability & employers liability Option 1 Artist engaged solely in retail sale & exhibition of own paintings Public / products liability only. ˆ 103 Property damage & public / products liability. ˆ154. 50 Property damage public / products liability & employers liability. ˆ 206 Option 2 Artist operating from a studio & including exhibition Public / products liability only. ˆ 154.50 Property damage & public / products liability. ˆ206 Property damage public / products liability & employers liability. ˆ 257.50 Schemes also available for: Artists studios & collectives, galleries, art centres and exhibition spaces and exhibitions.

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Centre for Contemporary Art & The George Bernard Shaw Theatre Old Dublin Road, Carlow

Ma CuRatoRial PRogRaMMe @ ViSual With lit VISUAL – Centre for Contemporary Art & The George Bernard Shaw Theatre are pleased to announce an Ma Scholarship in Curatorial Studies (by research) in a joint Initiative with Limerick School of Art and Design, Limerick Institute of Technology.

Deadline for applications: 14 January 2011.

Further details www.visualcarlow.ie www.lit.ie/departments/artdesign.html nB: applications will only be received by lit.

Michael Warren, Caryatids,1– Vi, Main Gallery, 2010, from the exhibition ‘unbroken line, new and Retrospective Work’ September 2010 – January 2011.

Photo: Ros Kavanagh.

Open Art January – June 2011 A pRoGRAMMe oF FRee eveNTS pReSeNTING CoNTeMpoRARy vISuAL ARTS pRACTICeS, TAkING pLACe AT BuLLoCk LANe ARTS SpACe, CAvAN. The open Art programme aims to showcase an extensive range of contemporary visual arts practices by inviting arts professionals to share insight into their work through public talks and to impart expertise through additional professional development sessions.

The LAB Gallery & Red Stables Artists Studios

John Byrne Michael Fortune Niamh O’Connor Christine Mackey Jennie Moran Oliver Comerford

Brought to you by Dublin City Council Dates: January 29, February 26, March 2, April 30, May 28 and June 25

T: 01 2225455 E: artoffice@dublincity.ie

Times: public Talks 11am – 12pm, professional Development Sessions 12pm - 1pm For further information and to register to attend please contact

www.thelab.ie

www.redstables.ie

yvonne Cullivan e: ycullivan@gmail.com M: 00353 + (0) 86 884 8540 W: http://www.yvonnecullivan.com/openart or http://www.cavanarts.ie

The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1

Red Stables, St. Anne’s Park, Mount Prospect Avenue, Dublin 3

open Art is devised and delivered by visual artist yvonne Cullivan in association with Cavan Arts office supported by The Arts Council and Cavan County Museum.

All forms of Metalwork and Sculpture commissions undertaken

Bronze Foundry New works recently finished at the foundry

Paddy Campbell Lar na Pairc

Chris Wilson Oceans Edge

CAST BRONZE FOUNDRY Located in the Liberties area of Dublin, we provide a total sculpture service to artists and commissioning bodies. We pride ourselves in providing a comfortable, welcoming working environment. Our multi-skilled team brings personalised attention to every bronze casting project.

Cast Ltd, 1a South Brown St, Dublin 8. www.cast.ie  info@cast.ie  Tel: +353 (0) 1 453 0133 Contact Leo or Ray for your next project