Visual Artists' News Sheet - 2012 May June

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet issue 3 May – June 2012

Published byVisual Artists Ireland Ealaíontóirí Radharcacha Éire

:

Photo: Katalin Deér

JOSEPHSOHN 12 May - 30 September 2012

Lismore Castle Arts: St Carthage Hall

Lismore Castle Arts Lismore Castle Lismore Co Waterford Ireland

TJ Wilcox: 1 May - 10 June Corban Walker: 23 June - 19 August

www.lismorecastlearts.ie

Alastair MacKinven: 1 September - 7 October

Image credit: Neil Brownsword - Royal Doulton factory, 2009

BETWEEN ART AND INDUSTRY

182ND RHA ANNUAL EXHIBITION MAY 29 – AUGUST 18, 2012

25 May – 4 July

Featuring painting, print, sculpture, photography, drawing, architectural models / Irelands largest open submission exhibition with 17 artists’ awards.

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

NEIL BROWNSWORD RÓISÍN DE BUITLÉAR MOLLOY AND SONS

RICHARD GORMAN RHA RHA, Rest circle, 2012, Oil on linen, 80 x 80 cm, Image courtesy of the artist.

Admission Free www.rhagallery.ie

GALLAGHER GALLERY / 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 +353 1 661 2558 / info@rhagallery.ie

The

Gallery

at The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh

Submissions are invited from artists for exhibitions for the venue’s Gallery and its Foyer Walls with dates available from January 2013 onwards Submissions should consist of: artist’s artist CV, exhibition proposal [max 200 words], samples of work on CD / DVD [max 10 images], details regarding medium, size and technical requirements, current contact details [including email address], SAE for return of materials. Submissions for solo and groups exhibitions welcomed. All submissions will be assessed by a selection panel.

Market Place Gallery details [including floorplan] can be downloaded from www.marketplacearmagh.com/visual-arts Closing Date: Friday 22nd June 2012. Late submissions cannot be accepted.

Further enquiries to Vincent McCann, The Market Place Gallery, Market Street, Armagh BT61 7BW. Telephone +44 (0)28 3752 1820 or e-mail vincent.mccann@marketplacearmagh.com

4

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

Introduction

May – June 2012

Contents

Welcome to the May / June issue of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet

1. Cover Image. Brendan Earley, A Million Years Later, 2011, bronze and silicon, 20 x 30 x 150cm 5. Column. Emily Mark Fitzgerald.

In this issue, we begin by taking a look at the myriad events and activities happening in Cork, including a

6. Column. Jonathan Carroll.

report on James L Hayes' 'Iron R' project; a look at upcoming festivals in the city; a report from City Arts

7. Column. Mark Fisher.

Officer, Liz Meaney; information from Trish Brennan, Head of Fine Art and Design at Cork Institute of Technology; updates from the Crawford, Glucksman, Black Mariah and the National Sculpture Factory as well as regional reports from the East and West of the county.

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

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

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

Of our regular columnists, Emily Mark Fitzgerald discusses research within the Irish arts and cultural sectors.

Mark Fisher looks at the effects of 'capital realism' on the visual arts and Jonathan Carroll contemplates and compares the current exhibitions at the National Gallery, the Douglas Hyde and the Goethe Institut.

16. Profile. A Red Thread. Joanne Laws discusses 'working.drawing' at the Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon 17. Issue. Audience Development. Dr Ian Fillis puts forward his ideas on audience development in the arts 18. Interview. Bob Collins. Pauline Hadaway interviews Bob Collins about his new role as Chair of the Arts

Also in this issue, Dr Ian Fillis of Stirling University puts forwards his ideas on audience development in the

visual arts, and different approaches to marketing in the sector. In addition, this issue includes a report on

19. Critique. Our 4 page Critique supplement features six reviews of exhibitions, events, publications

the durational performance / live art event 'LABOUR' which took place at the LAB; residency reports from

Council Northern Ireland.

and projects – that are either current or have recently taken place in Ireland.

Keef Winter in Japan, Katie Holten in New Orleans and Claire Muckian in Denmark; interviews with Annie Fletcher, Curator of eva International and Bob Collins, Chair of the Arts Council Northern Ireland; exhibition

23. Profile. The Artist-Led Scene in Sligo. Shane Finan looks at developments in the Sligo art scene.

reports from Anne Cleary of Cleary Connolly, Joanne Laws and Milada Bacik; and our Critique section,

24. Residency Profile. I'm Squatting in Your Condo. Keef Winter describes his recent residency in Tokyo

featuring reviews of recent events / exhibitions.

25. How I Made. Hall of Mirrors. Anne Cleary talks about Connolly Cleary's collaborative exhibition at

On 19 June 2012, Visual Artists ireland will hold an all-day Get Together in Limerick. The day features three

Farmleigh House.

strands of panel discussions and information sessions followed by a networking / social event. Tickets can be

26. Residency Profile. Ebb and Flow. Katie Holten discusses her recent residency at A Studio in the

booked on our website or by phone.

VAI also celebrated the launch of Printed Project 15: Physical Stuff Made Strange, curated by filmmaker Vivienne Dick, at the Galway Arts Centre. Books can be ordered from www.printedproject.com.

Woods, New Orleans.

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

30. Interview. Sarah Pierce talks to Annie Fletcher about curating eva International 2012.

32. Profile. Labour Intensive. Liz Burns profiles the day-long performance / live art event, LABOUR. 33. Regional Contacts. Visual Artists Ireland's regional contacts report from the field.

Membership Form

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

Name: Address:

forms of art outside the gallery.

34. Residency Profile. Fire Away. Claire Muckian discusses her recent residency at Guldagergaard,

Telephone:

Email:

Membership CATEGORY o Professional*

o Associate * To qualify as a Professional member you must meet a minimum ofHREE T of the below criteria. o Degree or Diploma from a recognised third level college. o One-person show (including time based events) in a recognised gallery or exhibition space. o Participation in an exhibition/visual art event which was selected by a jury in which

professional artists or recognised curators participated. o Work purchased by Government, local authority, museum or corporate client. o Work commissioned by Government, local authority, museum or corporate client. o Have been awarded a bursary, residency, materials grant or otherwise grant aided

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35. How I Made. In Vitae Fantastic. Milada Bacik considers her recent exhibition at The Drawing Room.

Production Publications Manager: Jason Oakley; Assistant Editor, layout: Lily Power; News: Niamh Looney; Roundup: Siobhan Mooney; Opportunities: Niamh Looney / Siobhan Mooney; Proofing: Anne Henrichson; Invoicing: Bernadette Beecher.

Contributors Emily Mark Fitzgerald, Mark Fisher, Jonathan Carroll, Ian Fillis, Joanne Laws, Milada Bacik, Aideen Barry, Liz Burns, Sarah Pierce, Annie Fletcher, Pauline Hadaway, Bob Collins, Katie Holten, Claire Muckian, Shane Finan, Keef Winter, Eileen Hatton, Logan Sisley, Fiona Woods, John Gayer, Curt Riegelnigg, Trish Brennan, Mary McCarthy, James L Hayes, Anne Cleary, Irene Murphy, Liz Meaney, Peter Murray, Ian McInerney, Sara Baume, Susan Harrington, Chris Clarke, Catherine Harty.

Contact

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Get Together Project Manager: Fionnuala Doherty Northern Ireland Manager: Feargal O'Malley The views expressed in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, editorial panel or Visual Artists Irelands’ Board of Directors.

Visual Artists Ireland is the registered trading name of The Sculptors’ Society of Ireland. Registered Company No. 126424.

The Visual Artists’News sheet

May – June 2012

5

Roundup

COlUMN

Emily Mark FitzGerald A Formalised Curiosity: Research in Arts Management

InsIde Out, InsIde In

Recalling her experience encountering African American folklore archives for the first time, the American novelist Zora Neale Hurston described the process of research as ‘formalised curiosity’: a method of critical inquiry supporting her own artistic process, and which formed an intensively creative endeavour in its own right. For those of us in academia with research central to our daily working lives (both in practice and pedagogy), Hurston’s description resounds with absolute clarity. Yet for many years research within the Irish arts and cultural sector has lagged behind other areas of social policy, particularly in comparison to other European countries; students pursuing research projects today remain hard-pressed to find valuable, rigourous studies in many areas of cultural endeavour. Reasons for this are varied: advanced postgraduate programmes in Irish policy and management remain fairly young, with PhDs rarer than hen’s teeth. Funding is difficult to access, particularly for a hybrid discipline situated between the humanities, social policy and business studies. In any instance, research has always featured fairly low down on the list of organisational and government priorities, particularly given its expense and often its lengthy duration.

However, with growing demand for public accountancy and increased competition for

Emmet Kierans,Untitled, 2011

The Talbot Gallery, Dublin recently held ‘Inside Out, Outside In’ by Emmet Kierans (29 Feb – 14 Mar). The press release notes “Kierans’ practice is concerned with exploiting the inherent malleability of material, the artist elicits notions of the plasticity of the reality we inhabit. The exhibition utilises elements of sculpture, painting, photography and installation and often uses materials that have a potential to exist in different states.”

resources we have seen a swelling of research projects intended to demonstrate

www.emmetkierans.com

outcomes, impacts and justifications for public investment. Such reports are invariably useful, though must be approached with caution: the tendency to write self-fulfilling

The Kerlin Gallery, Dublin recently THE CROSSING Roscommon Arts Centre recently held ‘The Crossing’ by Gabhann Dunne (20 Jan – 9 Mar). The press release notes “‘The Crossing’ illustrates Gabhann Dunne’s capacity to tell a captivating story through the medium of paint. Cerulean tones enchant, bidding the viewer to explore the underlying tale that this artist delicately treads through his work.

Exploring the tradition of the romantic landscape Dunne considers marginalisation as it occurs in the animal world and its reflection on humanity.” www.roscommonartscentre.ie

exhibited ‘A Room’ by William McKeown (2 Mar – 14 Apr). The press release says of his work: “Through very subtle gradation of tone, a highly refined use of colour, and his enchanting, 'Room' installations, McKeown created moments of exquisite beauty and bliss. He steered our attention not to the distant sky but to the air around us, to the openness of nature, the feeling of our emergence into light, and our proximity to the infinite.”

www.thekerlin.ie

LOVE, TIME AND THE UNIVERSE

THEATRE OF GHOSTS The Signal Arts Centre, Wicklow presents ‘Theatre of Ghosts’ by Ian Keaveny (28 Feb – 11 Mar). The press release states, “Keaveny makes stage sets on which he allows his imagination and the objects collected to act out their dramas based on an enquiry into his own past or that which the objects suggest. The paintings are a record of these plays.” www.signalartscentre.ie

sprIng at the rha

‘research’ reports (often with dubious methodologies and limited critical reflection) persists, with their conclusions often unquestionably accepted.

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS

More generally, what are the current sources for research on Irish arts and cultural

'The God of Small Things' was a group

activity? They include commissioned research issued by exchequer-funded bodies

exhibition that ran at the Rubicon

(Arts Council, local authorities, etc etc) intended to directly reflect and inform policy

Gallery from 25 Feb – 24 Mar. The press

formation; reports generated by organisations focused on specific slices of cross-

release states "This exhibition questions

discipline activity (such as Arts Audiences, Business to Arts, and Create); resource

the social and cultural associations of

organisations concerned with providing useful information and analyses for their

domesticity in contemporary society.

constituencies (Theatre Forum and Visual Artists Ireland); and a shrinking number of

The everyday, commonplace undercur-

print and online publications dedicated to the arts and culture (including Irish Theatre

rent to the exhibition interrogates roles

Magazine and Museums Ireland Journal). Specialised research institutes affiliated with

centred around ideas of anthropomor-

universities (such as the Institute for Non-Profit Management at TCD) have also

phism, tradition and reflections on

produced both quantitative and qualitative studies of varying scales; and with the growth of university and IT departments devoted to arts management (for which a research project is often a degree requirement) larger numbers of academic projects are being generated every year. Individual pieces of Irish research are published occasionally in international peer-reviewed journals (such as the International Journal of Cultural Policy) but have limited readership here and pay walls to breach.

Thus, the present state of research in our sector might be described as a confluence of challenge and opportunity. Challenges include reduced funding for academic

brendan rendan Earley,A Million Years Later Later,, 2011

The spring exhibition at the RHA opened on 15 March and featured 'A Place Between' by Brendan Earley, (until 29 April), 'Remnants' by Sam Douglas (until 29 April) and 'Please Adjust' by Corban Walker (until 29 April).

culture in the media; and the aforementioned problems in resourcing, a phenomenon afflicting most humanities-related disciplines. Nevertheless, there is room for optimism: demand for advanced taught and research degrees in arts management and policy is rising – last year marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Higher Diploma in Arts Administration at UCD (now the MA in Arts Management and Cultural Policy), the longest-running postgraduate programme in arts and cultural management in Ireland, which is now joined by management degree courses at IADT, DIT, NUIG, Waterford IT, IT Carlow and University of Ulster, and cognate programmes in public history and heritage at TCD and UL. Additionally, new journals and cross-disciplinary programmes (such as Artefact, Journal of the Irish Association of Art Historians founded in 2007 and collaborations like Gradcam) are producing new fora for arts research; and greater flows of exchange between European and North American

EMOTIONAL FISH ‘Emotional Fish’ by John Cullen was shown in the Linenhall Arts Centre, Mayo (2 – 24 Mar). The artist states, “My current body of work comprises paintings relating to fish. Rather than illustrating the fish, I use an image of a fish as a template in which to explore the form, colour, texture, and shape of these otherworldly creatures, their sliminess, scaliness, fleshy boniness. The fish I paint are also visual metaphors for emotional states.” www.thelinenhall.com

researchers have led to fruitful partnerships with valuable comparative work undertaken. Added to this, technologies for disseminating research online have exploded in number and accessibility, as the ‘open humanities’ movement seeks to counteract the questionable economy of the traditional academic publishing market.

With this in mind, we at UCD are pleased to announce the development of the online open access Irish Journal of Cultural and Arts Management, with the first issue

www.rubicongallery.ie

PERSISTENCE OF VISION

held in the Kevin Kavannagh Gallery, Dublin (16 Feb – 17 Mar). The press release states “Her works, usually built up in layers, often proceed to juxtapose elements and imagery in such a way as to open up the doors to an alternative manner of perceiving and understanding the subject matter.”

was shown in the Bulter Gallery, Kilkenny (10 Mar – 23 Apr). The artist notes “Layer by layer, week by week, the paintings have grown until they have yielded their hidden rhythms, colours, and textures.

The paintings are finished and ready to be launched into the world, the culmination of quite a journey.” The show consisted of seven large canvases and was Richard Forrest,Persistence of Vision, 2012

accompanied by a set of carborundum

‘Persistence of Vision’ by Richard Forrest

prints.

www.butlergallery.com

was held in the Joinery, Dublin (7 – 12 Mar). The press release states, “This exhibition by Richard Forrest is an examination of how one’s mind and senses respond to imagery – video, sound and sculpture. In turn the work attempts to

www.thejoinery.org

The Hamilton Gallery, Sligo recently (1 – 31 Mar). The press release states

and drawings by Maragaret Corcoran

‘Alpha to Omega’ by Helen Comerford

technologies.”

exhibited ‘No Ghosts’ by Michael Wann

Universe’ was a collection of paintings

ALPHA TO OMEGA

subvert our perceptions of digital NO GHOSTS

‘How to Spend It – Love, Time and the

www.kevinkavannaghgallery.ie

www.royalhibernianacademy.ie

libraries, leading to the cancellation of journal subscriptions; the demise and contraction of arts publications (such as Circa) and a reduction in serious discussions of art and

gender."

Margaret Corcoran,Embarking for Hy Brazil, 2012

LOST IN LUST The Scope, New York, in conjunction with The Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast recently held a group show ‘Lost in Lust: The

Representation

and

Misrepresentation of Woman’ (7 – 11 Mar). The press release states, “Each of the artists involved has a distinct voice in

A ROOM

this debate and each approach the idea of ‘woman’ from different vantage points. A

“Michael Wann observes the remnants

mixture of photography, video, object-

of lost moments, of obscured or discard-

based work, drawing, and performance,

ed memories, of unconscious arbitrary

the project will challenge notions of fem-

participation and community development; artform development and management;

events found in a local landscape […] As a

ininity and representation.”

heritage and cultural tourism; museum studies; creative industries; marketing, audience

draughtsman Wann allows the flawed

development, and philanthropy; and international comparative studies. Thanks to a

elements of markmaking, the drip and

start-up grant from UCD’s Seed Funding in the Humanities, we hope, through this

smudge and simple dirt of his medium,

initiative, to help give voice to the energy and passion for knowledge that underlies the

to form an intrinsic part of the process,

‘formalised curiosity’ of research, connecting theory to policy and practice and

giving each finished work honesty and a

improving standards of critical analysis and engagement.

narrative that adds layers to the subject.”

expected this autumn. Produced by an editorial team comprised of academics from UCD and IADT, it will specialise in publishing peer-reviewed academic and independent research, including analyses of cultural policy at local, national and EU levels; access,

www.artsmanagement.ie/journal

www.hamiltongallery.com

www.goldenthreadgallery.co.uk

SERIES OF NAVIGATIONS The Model, Sligo recently showed ‘A Series of Navigations’ (3 Mar – 15 Apr) .

The press release notes “This group exhiWillie McKeown,A Room

bition presents a number of artists whose

6

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

COLUMN

May – June 2012

Roundup

Mark Fisher

work traverses different dimensions of

‘Shoot the Tiger’ was a group show held

sored by Culture Ireland and supported

reality, identity and reportage.” The art-

recently in Unit 3, James Joyce Street,

by Exhibition A.

The Only Certainties are Death and Capital

ists involved were Oisin Byrne and

Dublin (15 – 29 Mar). The show was pre-

Christopher Mahon, Kristan Horton,

sented by PrettyvacanT Dublin and

Alison Kobayashi, Renzo Martens, Bea

showcased artwork created since 2008

McMahon, Avi Mograbi, Megs Morley

under the new constraints of an eco-

and Tom Flanaghan, Sophie Nys, This is

nomically damaged nation..

Going to Take More Than One Night, and

www.dinoeligallery.com

From this position

www.prettyvacantdublin.com

Jonathan Wells. www.themodel.ie

out of the ordinary ‘Out of the Ordinary’ was a group show

small repair “This isn’t just art that exists in the market, or is ‘about’ the market. This is art that is the market – a series of gestures that are made wholly or primarily to capture and embody financial value, and only secondarily have any other function or virtue.” So wrote Hari Kunzru of Damien Hirst’s work in The Guardian in March of this year. I’m not interested in rehearsing here discussions of Hirst’s merit as an artist; what interests me instead is his symptomatic status as a figure that embodies the penetration of

Australian artist David Rankin recently exhibited ‘Small Repair’ in the Higher Bridges Gallery, Fermanagh (2 – 31 Mar).

This collection explores Rankin’s family’s early roots in Ireland. The press release

held in Lombard Street, Galway (23 – 30 Mar).

This mixed media exhibition

showcased the work of 17 third-year painting students from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. www.facebook.com/OutOfTheOrdinaryArtExhibition

notes “The works are at first a meditation on, and an engagement with, his Irish

as above, so below

family history; but in the process and by

Gallery 126, Galway presented ‘As Above,

Hugh Delap,Untitled, 2011

focusing on the 1987 Remembrance Day

So Below’ by Lucy Andrews and Carl

Bombing in which he lost an uncle and

Hugh Delap recently exhibited ‘From

Giffney (17 Mar – 7 Apr). The press

an aunt, he lifts the personal to a univer-

This Position’ in Monster Truck, Dublin

release states “The title of this exhibition

sal level.”

(30 Mar – 21 Apr). The show consisted of

relates to the idea that for every occur-

a collection of small abstract paintings

rence on our material visible plane there

made during and following on from a

is an invisible, unseen equivalent. For

residency at the RHA, Dublin. Using sim-

while this is ostensibly a site specific

ple geometric shapes, Delap constructs

installation comprising of domestic

images which appear permanent, recog-

detritus, household products and broken

nisable and relate to the real world. The

appliances manipulated and placed

paintings reflect an idiosyncratic explo-

scale of his success, Hirst gives every impression of being perfectly at home at the

about the gallery in a ludic manner, it is

ration of how experiences, ideas and

heart of a vast capital-generating factory.

on another level a field of unseen forces

interests can be visually articulated using

activating a determined space."

an abstract language. Time, or the time it

capital into all areas of culture. As Kunzru points out, Hirst’s own relationship to capital is more than close. He is a “house artist to the 1%”, and the way that value is generated out of his work – a mixture of hype and the exploitation of the poorly remunerated ‘assistants’ who actually produce many of the pieces – is a model of how exchange value is created in late capitalism. Hirst’s notorious auction, ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’, took place at the very moment that Lehman Brothers was

www.fermanagh.gov.uk

collapsing. But while the banks failed, Hirst remains a powerful brand. In fact, some of Hirst’s pieces were among the works that were auctioned off when Lehman Brothers’

praxis

art collection was sold off in order to recoup something for the bank’s creditors. The way that the prices of Hirst’s pieces became not just part of the story of the works, but practically their sole interest, reminds me of nothing so much as Michael Jackson after Thriller. Yet, while Jackson was tragically maddened and destroyed by the colossal

The current Hirst retrospective at the Tate should now look like a reliquary of a

show was curated by Padraic E Moore.

bygone world, but it merely highlights that art and culture have yet to come to terms

www.126.ie

with the traumatic events of 2008. Our imaginations are still dominated (or stultified)

Amanda Rice,No Man's Land, 2011

by work that emerged from the cocaine-buzzy mixture of hedonism, cynicism and

'Now That’s What I Call Praxis’ was a

piety that governed art and politics in the 1990s and 2000s. Hirst is the Warhol of

group show held at Occupy Space,

capitalist realism, but he has none of Warhol’s blank charisma. In place of Warhol’s

Limerick (9 – 31 Mar). The press release

android awkwardness, Hirst offers a blokish bonhomie. Warhol’s studied banality has

notes “Using the open submission model

become the genuinely ultrabanal. Or, rather, the Hirst phenomenon typifies the way

Occupy Space have developed an exhibi-

in which, in late capitalist art and entertainment culture, the ultrabanal and the super-

tion that explores the duality of contem-

spectacular have become (con)fused. Watching Hirst half-heartedly reiterate half-

porary practice as both documentation

baked clichés – death as the antithesis of life, art as religion – while he was being

of the present and a catalyst for future

interviewed in the television coverage that surrounded his current retrospective at the

work.” The artists involved were

Tate, I was struck by the guilelessness of his thinking. But, then again, what is there to

Charlotte Bosanquet, Pamela Condell,

say about this work that it doesn’t already say itself? For all its fixation on death, this

Gillian Fitzpatrick, Orla Gilheany, Joanna

is work that, in its bleak immanence, repudiates negativity, and leaves no space for

Hopkins, Sofie Loscher, Tadhg O’Cuirrin,

commentary.

and Amanda Rice.

It is this obdurate refusal to be more than what it is that makes Hirst’s work flat with what I have called capitalist realism. I have defined capitalist realism as the diffuse ideological atmosphere that has resulted from the belief that there is no alternative to capitalism. Capitalist realism refers to a set of political beliefs and positions, but also a set of aesthetic impasses. ‘Realism’ here does not connote a realist style so much as the inability to see, think or imagine beyond capitalist categories. It’s

www.occupyspace.com

an important aspect of Delap’s work

www.monstertruck.ie

home 'Home' was an exhibition of paintings,

prima materia

sculpture, and installations by Eoin

‘Prima Materia’ featured recently com-

MacLochlainn that ran at The Bourn

missioned work by Colin Gee, Broomberg

Vincent Gallery, University of Limerick

and Chanarin, and Factotum, made in

from 23 Mar – 30 Apr. MacLochlainn

response to the Belfast Exposed commu-

explores the human dimension to the

nity photography archive (16 Mar – 27

economic crisis, looking at notions of

Apr). The exhibition also featured a

'home' and at power relations both in the

fourth wall-based text piece by designer

art world and the wider world.

Keith Connolly. The text work is made

www.eoinmaclochlainn.com

up of edited extracts from a discussion about the new commissions between

lost horizons

curator Charlotte Cotton, artist Anthony Luvera and artist and writer, Daniel

Phil Hession’s works ‘My heart is always

Jewesbury.

www.belfastexposed.org

trembling, afraid I might give in’ for the Context Gallery, Belfast (16 Feb – 17 Mar)

sean lynch

were reflections on and examinations of analogue recording processes, the physi-

of neoliberal domination before the bank crises of 2008. Hirst’s work belongs to a

cal actions involved in performance, and

corresponding development that we might call ‘reality art’. The dead animals in the

the measurable and interpretable aspects

formaldehyde really are dead animals. The skull really is a skull. This inertial tautology

of the human voice. For the perform-

may the real “point” of Hirst’s work, and also the reason it emptily but emphatically

ance, Hession recorded three versions of

resonated in a neoliberal era characterised by political fatalism and the corrosion of

an Irish ballad on various recording

social imagination. Things are as they are; they cannot be re-imagined, transfigured, or

devices. www.contextgallery.co.uk

changed. Is there any art object that better captures this than the diamond-encrusted stand for the decadence and vanity of the pre-2008 neoliberal world? For The Love Of

takes to make and look at a painting, is

phil hession

no accident that ‘reality’ entertainment came to the fore in the unprecedented period

skull of Hirst’s For The Love Of God, the object that, more than any other, may come to

The

shoot the tiger

God makes explicit the guiding logic of much of Hirst’s work: the only certainties are

Catalyst Arts, Belfast recently presented a solo show by Sean Lynch (24 Feb – 16 Mar). The show was based around the bankruptcy of the DeLorean car factory and its aftermath.

notes, “A series of photographs trace a path taken by the artist to find the locaDavid Folan,Salt I, 2012

Dino Eli Gallery, Manhattan, New York recently hosted ‘Lost Horizons’, a solo exhibition featuring the work of Irish

death and capital. But it can tell us nothing about this. It is a mute symptom that

Artist, David Folan (2 – 12 April). The

exemplifies a condition it can neither describe nor transcend.

The press release

press release notes, “The focus of the exhibition was a set of nine salt print

tion of the tooling once used to make the body of the car. Furthering this investigation of the materiality of DeLorean, the gallery will feature ongoing work by Lynch to produce sections of a DMC-12 car by handmade rather than industrial means.”

www.catalystarts.org.uk

photographs depicting the Ganet […] and

Aoife Flynn,The Irony of Fate, 2012

feature images of the birds in situ, dead

o diamond o diamond

on the sand, as they had misjudged the

April ‘O Diamond Diamond , Thou Little

depth of the water while diving for fish

Knowest What Thou Hast Done’ (18 – 26

and were subsequently killed […] The use

Apr) was a group exhibition held in 4

of salt in the process reflects the sea

James Joyce Street, Dublin as part of the

water that provided and supported the

Five Lamps Festival Visual Art pro-

life of the birds, and subsequently caused

gramme, and in response to Dublin as

their death. The exhibition was spon-

City of Science in 2012 (18 – 26 April).

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

May – June 2012

7

Roundup

COLUMN

The title refers to what Isaac Newton is

High Violet

‘First Impressions’ by Vietnamese painter

thought to have said to his dog, who

‘High Violet’ by Thomas Brezing was

Pham Van Duc was recently held in The

Jonathan Carroll

reputedly started the fire in his lab that

recently exhibited in the Molesworth

Back Loft, Dublin (27 – 29 Apr). The

Group On / Off

destroyed over 20 years of his scientific

Gallery, Dublin (23 Feb – 21 Mar). Of his

show was a reflection of Duc’s first time

research. The press release notes “This

work the press release states, "There is

living in Ireland – an impression of his

exhibition brings together a group of art-

this sense in Brezing’s work, and in the

journey from East to West and how the

ists whose practice embraces and rejects

large canvases specifically, that can be

stimulation of a new environment

Three very different group exhibitions opened recently in Dublin. Each one

scientific methods to produce work that

complex and sometimes difficult to fully

allowed for an exploration of new shapes,

offers an opportunity to observe different curatorial approaches to organising an

explores the uncertainties of the uni-

work out, that everything is happening

colour, light and texture.

exhibition with several different artists under a unifying theme or idea. One features

verse, the ambiguities of scientific evi-

on the surface, but the surface is deep

dence as a way of knowing the world and

like a labyrinth of time.” www.molesworthgallery.com

humanity’s search for its place in the world through the sciences. The exhibiting Artists were Cora Cummins, Stephen Loughman, Aideen Barry, Kathryn Maguire, Fiona MacDonald, Jonathan Hunter,

Cliona

Harmey,

Susan

MacWilliam, Debbie Jenkinson, Tracy Hanna, Sarah Doherty, Marie Farrington and Deirdre Hegarty . Curated By Alison Pilkington and Martin Leen. www.fivelampsarts.ie

www.phamvanduc.com

the living but feels oddly funereal and the most lifeless of the three. The first show brillo

relies totally on the curator to find a frame that holds all the disparate works together, the second exhibition is curated by artists, where a living artist is woven into an

beyond the house of carmen

exhibition using other artists as props within his overall installation, the third

Oliver Sears Gallery is currently showing

exhibition ultimately reneges on any curatorial direction.

‘Beyond the House of Carmen’ by Stephen

The first exhibition entitled ‘Joyce’s Dubliners: The city as character’ (4 April –15

Lawlor (26 Apr – 14 June). The press

July 2012) at the The National Gallery of Ireland is notable for the amount of research

release notes “These paintings are inti-

needed to pair works from the Gallery collection with astute quotations from

mate, poetic, intensely worked and they

Dubliners. Some are simple image pairings of Dublin locations mentioned by Joyce.

embrace the history of European land-

Other couplings have a more serendipitous nature that mutually benefits both text

scape painting. As in the landscapes,

and image in a magical way – often the best thing that can happen when organising

bright light has the effect of placing

group exhibitions. I was particularly taken by one quote about a mother in poverty

Lawlor’s subjects in a series of caught

stricken Dublin: “She had hard work to keep the house together and to see that the two young

moments.”

Greenwood deep

children who had been left in her charge went to school regularly and got their meals

www.oliversearsgallery.com Ken Lambert,Brillo, 2012

Phil McDarby,Into the Greenwood Deep, 2011

The Copper House Gallery, Dublin

live load

‘Brillo’ was a solo show by Ken Lambert

regularly. It was hard work – a hard life...”1 This above extract from Dubliners is matched with Walter Frederick Osborne’s In

‘Live Load’ was a recent exhibition of

held recently in the No Grants Gallery,

a Dublin park, light and shade (1895, oil on canvas) where a mother with her children

photographs by Frank Abruzzese held in

Dublin (6 – 24 April) consisting of over

fits the above quotation perfectly. The overall exhibition is introduced with an apt

Ormond Studios, Dublin (27 Apr – 3

50 selected drawings, animations and

quotation from one of Joyce’s letters, that could so easily be applied to the Dublin of

May). As the press release noted “Frank

sculptures completed in the last five

today:

Abruzzese investigates the engagement

years. The artist writes "The exhibition is

“My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I

between people and place. Through col-

sometimes auto biographical and some-

choose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis. I

our manipulation and a time dependant

times the result of a physical want to

seriously believe that you will retard the course of civilisation in Ireland by preventing

process, Abruzzese’s photographs cap-

create and express [...] I try and under-

the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished

ture the shifting behaviour and engage-

stand and explain to myself a little better

ments that one has with landscape.

my own place in this life. It's never clear

looking glass”2 The second exhibition ‘Farbige Schatten’ (Coloured Shadows) (27 March – 4 May)

www.ormondstudios.wordpress.com

but being creative seems to help."

recently held ‘Into The Greenwood Deep’

by Phil McDarby (18 Apr – 12th May).

McDarby is a digital artist and photographer, whose work is informed by a sense of magic realism. The press release states “At the heart of this work is a desire to capture a feeling of wonder and discovery – something we can lose touch with as adults.” Author and illustrator Niamh Sharkey opened the exhibition. www.thecopperhousegallery.com

www.templebar.ie

tahiti syndrome

at the Goethe Institut allows for a very liberal approach to exhibiting historically important artists that would surely be denied (or not thought correct or desirable) by the curators at the National Gallery. Illustrations by Max Beckman, Savador Dali and

The Joinery, Dublin recently exhibited

Eugene Delacroix for Faust I and II are ‘decoratively’ hung in the Return Gallery. The

‘Tahiti Syndrome’ by Aoibheann Greenan

works are, arguably, not displayed to their best advantage, appearing subservient to

(25 – 30 Apr). The show takes its title

the clever theme which gets its title from a chapter heading in Goethe’s Theory of

from the twentieth-century term that once described the desire amongst societal leaders for a remote or idyllic environment into which they could escape

Get into The Roundup

press release notes that the artist “… reinterprets this utopian idea, applying it within the context of everyday ritualistic

absurdicus

activities such as exercise or recreational drug-use. Drawing on Western exoticism, the show loosely adopts the framework of a tourist trail. Absurd devises are employed allowing for viewing to occur

■■ Simply e-mail text and images

for

the roundup to the

editor (lily@visualartists.ie).

■■ Your text details / press release

should include: venue name,

location, dates and a brief

description of the work / event.

at various vantage points. The environment allows for the viewer to become

■■ Inclusion is not guaranteed,

playfully initiated into the role of the

but we aim to give everyone

shaman for whom transcendence is

a fair chance.

achieved with the use of profane materials, ritual, and mind-altering plants”. An

■■ Our criteria is primarily to

Artist talk with Davey Moor took place

ensure that the roundup

on the 30 April.

section has a good regional

spread and represents a

www.thejoinery.org Sue Morris,Cunae Vacuus, 2012

first impressions

diversity of forms of practice, from a range of artists at all stages in their careers.

held 'Floriibindum Domestica Absurdus'

by Sue Morris, (28 March – 29 April) a

■■ Priority is given to events

multi media installation of drawing and assemblage. In this new work, flora and fauna were appropriated to explore real and imagined scenarios within the domestic space.

Colours. Artist curators Declan Clarke and Paul McDevitt invited contemporary German artist Albrecht Schäfer to show his own work (relating to ideas of colour, light and shadow) amongst and in response to the afore mentioned artists and to the Goethe Institut itself. What we get is a very interesting display of ways to experience art. Schäfer’s work, for example, provides the only light source in which to view the

from the pressures of modern life. The

floribundum domestica

The Model Arts Centre, Sligo recently

only deceased artists, one has all but one artist departed and the third is exclusive to

taking place within Ireland,

but do let us know if you are

taking part in a significant

international event.

other artists’ work. Nowhere in the exhibition is conventional lighting used – we get work that is in itself a light source, to a room that is housed in complete darkness (visited using a candle to light your way).

No such trickery was at play at the Douglas Hyde Gallery’s group exhibition ‘Last’ (4 April – 23 May) featuring 18 artists. A rather jaded (but obviously true) statement provided in the gallery leaflet could apply to almost all group exhibitions: “’Last’ might be said to reflect a mood of anxiety, a struggle for survival, and the possibility of transformation. From another perspective, however, it is a simple exhibition of 20 recent works. [...] that has no particular meaning.”

Oh dear, pop goes the weasle! No need then to search for the imaginative chatter the curators and artists exchanged in putting together this exhibition. A disconnect, between the exhibited work and the curator’s ideas, is evident in the nicely produced exhibition pamphlet. Mark O’Kelly’s painting Leaders and Followers (2010) for example, seems to perfectly illustrate the accompanying essay where an excerpt from Philip Rieff’s The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966) provides the following: “...that in the classical tradition of social theory the sense of well-being of the individual was dependent on his full, participant membership in a community. The other traditional theory [...] was that men must free themselves from binding attachments to communal purposes in order to express more freely their individualities...”

Yet the artists in the exhibition are not mentioned at all in the text. Maybe that is the point: I should connect the dots myself and while I’m at it wait expectantly for a chance to see all these artists’ solo exhibitions “free from binding attachments”. The contrasting refections of contemporary Irish society that ‘Last’ offers can be compared with Joyce’s Dubliners (at the time so controversial that no one would publish it) or the moral messages of hubris and greed in Goethe’s Faust. Worth visiting all three exhibitions on the same day to group them in mind.

www.themodel.ie Pham Van Duc,First Impressions, 2012

Notes 1. Exhibition notes, Eveline, p145 2. Exhibition notes,Letters, vol 2, p134

8

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

News

northern ireland manager

eva international artists

were painter Stephen Chambers RA, crit-

May – June 2012

VAI News

Visual Artists Ireland is pleased to

This year’s eva International, curated by

ic and broadcaster Matthew Collings,

Printed project 15 launch

crawford gallery & AIB

announce the appointment of Feargal

Annie Fletcher, Curator of Exhibitions at

landscape photographer Harry Cory-

The launch of Printed Project 15: Physical

At a ceremony last Monday, Jimmy

O’Malley as Northern Ireland Manager.

the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, takes

Wright, and painter Elizabeth Magill.

Stuff Made Strange, curated by film

Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage

Mr O’Malley will be responsible for the

the title ‘After the Future’, to examine

and the Gaeltacht, officially opened the

implementing and further development

how certain artistic practices provide an

visual arts workers forum

March at the Galway Arts Centre. Printed

new AIB Art Collection Exhibition in the

of Visual Artists Ireland’s Northern

active invocation of the present and

The second edition of VAWF will be co-

Project 15 invites filmmakers, artists

Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place, Cork.

Ireland programme. Speaking on Mr

speculate how we arrived here in the first

presented by the Lewis Glucksman

and critics to approach the image from

The Minister welcomed the announce-

O’Malley’s appointment to the position,

place. This collaborative and multifaceted

Gallery and the National Sculpture

myriad perspectives.

ment last week by AIB to enter into part-

Noel Kelly CEO of Visual Artists Ireland

project takes as its point of departure the

Factory, in Cork on Thursday 17 May

nership with the State in respect of its

said, “We are delighted to have Feargal

media theorist and activist Franco “Bifo”

2012. VAWF is a forum for visual arts

corporate

Minister

join the Visual Artists Ireland team.

Berardi’s book After The Future (AK Press,

workers in Ireland to enable an open

Deenihan nominated Crawford Art

Building on the successes of our previous

2011), considering his admonishment of

conversation and a forum for debate. It is

Gallery to house key pieces from the AIB

regional representative programme,

economic futurisms and advocacy for

for all visual arts workers – artists, art

significant art collection. Legal owner-

Feargal joins us at an exciting time, as we

living slowly in the infinite present. The

writers, curators, art historians, private

ship has now been transferred of these 39

grow and expand our levels of service for

selected artists are: Zanny Begg & Oliver

gallerists, critics, educationalists, art

pieces from its collection to the state. It

professional visual artists in Northern

Ressler, Marcel Broodthaers, Anibal

technicians, students, arts officers, archi-

will also be making available a further

Ireland.” Feargal O’Malley comes with a

Catalan, Fergus Daly and Katherine

vists, studio managers, art administrators

991 works for exhibition by publicly

strong pedigree, commitment and

Waugh, Kate Davis, Luc Deleu, Priscila

and more. Speakers will include Orlaith

funded galleries through the aegis of the

engagement with the visual arts in

Fernandes,

Funder,

McBride (Director, The Arts Council),

Crawford Art Gallery. Gallery Director

Northern Ireland. Formerly, Mr O’Malley

Aoibheann Greenan, Emma Houlihan,

Patrick T Murphy (Director, Royal

Peter Murray said that this donation

was Exhibitions Manager with the

Greg Howie, Sanja Iveković, Sam Keogh,

Hibernian Academy, Dublin), Dawn

marks an important step in the develop-

Ormeau Baths Gallery, where he deliv-

Barbara Knezevic, KwieKulik, Hyewon

Williams (Exhibitions Officer, Crawford

ment of the Crawford Art Gallery as a

ered a programme that celebrated the

Kwon, Art Links Limerick (Mary Conroy,

Art Gallery, Cork), Alex Pentek (Artist),

National Cultural Institution, and as one

wide diversity of contemporary practices

Aoife Cox, Joanna Hopkins), José Carlos

Gemma Tipton (Writer/Guest Artistic

of the foremost museums of Irish art.

both in Northern Ireland and abroad. He

Martinat, Gavin Murphy, Ailbhe Ní

Director, Kinsale Arts Week), Claire

“The works being donated all date from

has also worked with the Millennium

Bhriain, Doireann Ní Ghrioghair, Adrian

Power (Studios Development Manager,

either the late nineteenth century or the

Court Art Centre, Portadown, and has

O’Connell, Sara O’Gorman, Mark O’Kelly,

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin),

twentieth century. Among the 39 works

been a regular contributor to both print

Niamh O’Malley, Sarah Pierce, Alice

Tom Creed (Director, Cork Midsummer

are three paintings by Jack B Yeats,

and broadcast media. Mr O’Malley is a

Rekab, Laura Smith, Faber Studios

Festival), Ann Davoren (Director, West

including his masterpiece The Race on Hy

co-director of Platform Arts Belfast. He

(Caelan Bristow, Marie Connole, Aaron

Cork Arts Centre), Maud Cotter (Artist),

Brazil. There are paintings by Paul Henry,

will take up the position with Visual

Lawless),

Joined-Up

Stephanie Hough (Artist/Co-founder,

Gerard Dillon, William Leech, John Luke,

Artists Ireland on Wednesday 28 March

Thinking (Jacki Hehir, Deirdre A

Basement Project Space, Cork), Josephine

Maurice MacGonigal Walter Osborne,

2012. Visual Artists Ireland would like to

Power),Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor.

Kelliher

(Owner/Director,

Sean Keating, Mainie Jellett, Patrick

acknowledge and thank the out-going

Alongside After the Future are a series of

Gallery,

Dublin),

Collins, and William Crozier. “The dona-

Northern Ireland representatives, Laura

intense collaborations with local,

(Director, Fire Station Artists’ Studios,

tion fills significant gaps in the Gallery’s

Graham and Damien Duffy for the

national and international partners.

Dublin), plus more to be announced. For

permanent collection, particularly in

strength of their contribution during

respect of the fine William Scott, and the

their terms of office. Further announce-

Roderic O’Conor Red Rocks at Pont Aven, a

ment regarding the development of

imma launch

wonderful Post-Impressionist painting.”

Visual Artists Ireland’s services in

At an event at the National Concert Hall

Northern Ireland will be made over the

(Thursday 29 March), Minister of State

artconnect app

next weeks. In the meantime, keep Friday,

Fergus O’Dowd launched IMMA’s 2012

The idea for the application was devised

arch

15 June 2012 free in your diary for the

Programme for the National Concert

during the planning for a professional

Three Northern Ireland visual artists,

first All Ireland Visual Artists Ireland

Hall and Royal Hospital Sites. Some of

development programme for artists

Johanna Leech, Lesley Cherry and Sinead

GET TOGETHER which will take place

the highlights include: An exhibition

called CONNECT. This was developed in

Breatnach-Cashel, were selected by the

in Limerick College of Art & Design,

from IMMA’s Collection engaging with

partnership with the Mayo Arts Office

Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the

with transportation from Belfast and

scientific themes in celebration of Dublin

Public Art Co-ordinator, Gaynor Seville

Golden Thread Gallery to take part in a

Derry (subject to numbers).

City of Science 2012; the famous Ned

and artist Aideen Barry who was

nine-week long Artist in Residency

Kelly paintings by the renowned

employed to help devise this series of

Programme (ARCH) in Washington DC.

Australian artist Sidney Nolan; a mid-

initiatives. The project was further devel-

art

collection.

www.ahg.gov.ie

Soren

Pilvi

Thilo

Takala,

www.eva.ie

www.r-h-g.co.uk

Rubicon

Clodagh

Kenny

further information email: vawforum@ gmail.com. www.visualartsworkersforum.blogspot.com

Each participant will work alongside the

connolly & cleary

career retrospective of the work of lead-

oped in partnership with Visual Artists

prestigious Honfleur Gallery and the

Paris-based Irish artists Connolly &

ing Irish artist Alice Maher, and a series

Ireland. Art Connect is part of a wider

Gallery at Vivid Solutions and will be

Cleary have been awarded the RPA Luas

of lectures on major developments in

public art programme in Castlebar, called

challenged to overcome diverse commu-

Cherrywood Public Art Commission

architecture to mark its tenure at the

Landmark (20 – 22 April 2012) which

nity interaction and cultural differences

managed by Visual Artists Ireland, which

NCH site. The programme also includes

includes permanent and temporary art-

to create new work inspired by their own

arose as a result of the Luas Green Line

a film work inspired by the siege of

work commissions, a residency and bur-

experiences and the locations they have

extension. Anne Cleary and Denis

Sarajevo by Albanian artist Anri Sara; an

sary schemes for emerging artists. The

encountered en route. Commenting on

Connolly will present a major new video

ambitious project by prominent Irish art-

idea for the professional development

the programme, Deirdre Robb, Visual

installation to feature as part of the ‘Hall

ist Garrett Phelan, involving the bell

programme for local artists was to

Arts Development Officer, Arts Council

of Mirrors’ exhibition at Farmleigh

ringers of Christchurch and St Patrick’s

respond to some of queries received from

of Northern Ireland, said: “This is a

Gallery. It will then tour to Limerick City

Cathedrals; and a Neil Jordan film instal-

artists on a regular basis at the Mayo Arts

unique opportunity for our artists not

Gallery, Solstice, and Ballina Art Centre.

lation based on Samuel Beckett’s play

Office, including difficulty finding infor-

only to collaborate with other interna-

Entitled ‘Look Both Ways’ the multi-ele-

Not I. The exhibitions and associated

mation on opportunities and events, lack

tional artists, but also to travel to one of

ment video installation will feature HD

events are being presented across the

of networking opportunities and places

America’s most historic neighbourhoods

film sequences treating images of the

NCH and RHK sites, due to the closure of

to publicise their work. We wanted to

to apply their cultural learning. The Arts

LUAS transformed to explore movement.

the main building in Kilmainham for

address this in a creative and interactive

Council recognises the significance of

‘Hall of Mirrors’, in collaboration with

major refurbishment works during

way. All the entries in the app have to be

residencies as a way to support our art-

CLARITY, Centre for Sensor Web

2012.

submitted through the VAI website, this

ists by gaining inspiration and support,

Technologies

leading to innovative new work.”

Psychologie de la Perception, Université

www.artscouncil-ni.org

and

maker Vivienne Dick, took place on 30

Laboratoire

www.imma.ie

ensures all entries are vetted first so that there is no duplication, that all entries

Paris Descartes & CNRS, opens at

gilchrist-fisher award

are relevant and any companies or indi-

Farmleigh Gallery this Thursday 15

The winner of the Gilchrist-Fisher Award

viduals known to have provided bad

Copies are available in bookshops across

March and will run until 22 July. ‘Look

2012 is John Ryan. The judges’ decision

services to artists can be omitted.

Ireland, the UK and the US and can be

Both Ways’ will open soon.

was announced on Thursday 1 March at

www.connolly-cleary.com

the Rebecca Hossack Gallery. The judges

ordered from www.printedproject.com

The Visual Artists’News sheet

May – June 2012

9

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

Visual Arts Resources andActivities: Cork Crawford Gallery

The Crawford Gallery, exterior

Glucksman Gallery

Simon Fujiwara, fromThe Museum of Incest Incest,, 2008 – present

the Lewis Glucksman Gallery occupies an

we held a one-day symposium on photography

intriguing space in Cork city’s geography: it is located

entitled ‘Developing Pictures’, accompanying the

on the campus of University College Cork while, at

exhibition ‘Out of the Dark Room: Works from

the same time, its position near the front entrance

The David Kronn Collection’. The curatorial team,

gates and proximity to the city centre reaches out

comprising myself, Fiona Kearney, Director, and

to a wider public. The Glucksman sits, therefore,

Matt Packer, Curator of Exhibitions and Projects,

at the crossroads of various audiences – the faculty

invited speakers and audiences to engage in a

and student body of UCC, citizens of Cork city and

discussion on photographic practice, with a keynote

county, tourists and passers-by, practicing artists and

conversation between the collector Dr David Kronn

art students from the nearby Crawford College – and

and Seán Kissane, Curator of Exhibitions at IMMA.

the gallery’s educational programme reflects this

Taking part in a series of presentations and panel

diversity. It addresses a wide spectrum of age and

discussions, the speakers included gallery directors

expertise, from first-time gallery-goers to informed

Peggy Sue Amison (Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh) and

art professionals, from seniors with a desire to brush

Tanya Kiang (Gallery of Photography, Dublin),

up on drawing skills to young children eager to get

academics Trish Brennan (CIT / Crawford College

their first taste of making art. Similarly, the specialist

of Art and Design, Cork), Mark Durden (University

communities that the Glucksman engages with

of Wales, Newport) and Sabine Kriebel (University

WIth its impressive exhibition galleries and

Race in Hy Brazil which has a marvellous dream-like

includes artists, critics and curators, as well as those

College Cork), and editor Caroline von Courten

art collection, the Crawford Art Gallery is a key part,

quality, while Now or Never and Shelling Green Peas,

from other academic disciplines, whose insights

(FOAM Magazine, Amsterdam). ‘Developing Pictures’

not only of Cork’s cultural life, but also of the arts

Moore Street capture quintessential moments of life

offer a fresh perspective on how we understand

provided an extensive discussion on different aspects

infrastructure of Ireland. Located in the heart of the

in 1940s Ireland. John Luke’s tempera panel The Lock

visual art.

of photography, from its curatorial presentation

city, the gallery was designated a National Cultural

at Edenderry and William Scott’s Blue Still Life with

The ongoing ‘In Detail’ series of lunchtime

to ways of interpretation to its distribution via

Institution some years ago, representing a new phase

Knife were also inspired by aspects of everyday life,

lectures invites peers from different departments

publications and exhibitions. It also encouraged an

in the two centuries of its existence. The Crawford

as was Nathaniel Hill’s Goosegirl in a Breton Farmyard

within UCC to discuss a single work of art from the

open dialogue between invitees and audiences, as

welcomes 200,000 visitors a year, and the city centre

and Joseph Malachy Kavanagh’s Cockle Pickers Pickers.

current exhibitions. This has involved individuals

sessions were arranged to provide plenty of time for questions, comments and debate.

location is a great asset in terms of making art

The AIB collection records the struggle for

from a wide range of disciplines – paediatricians

political independence, and the equally arduous

demonstrating diagnostic procedures in relation to

The emphasis on how we read and understand

road to making Ireland a viable modern nation state.

photography, a chromatography scientist reflecting

artworks is integral to the Glucksman education

exposure to both new and established artistic talent,

Sean Keating’s On the Run, War of Independence recalls

on Josef Albers’s use of colour, a psychoanalytical

programme. It demonstrates that art isn’t simply

as well as originating shows of historic interest. The

the 1920s, when ambushes, raids and reprisals were

take on a drawing by David Shrigley – and has not

for those who make work or who are already active

Crawford is somewhat unique in often showing

an everyday occurrence. Yet, during this same period

only introduced visual art to new audiences but has

in the arts community but that it can act as a point

historic and contemporary artworks side by side in

artists such as Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy and Evie

offered our regular visitors a fresh and unexpected

of conversation or connection. This is realised in

thematic shows such as ‘Terror and the Sublime’ and

Hone could still travel to London and Paris to study

view on artworks that they might have already been

the interaction between our different audiences –

‘Gravity’. ‘A Question of Attribution: The Arcadian

art. Returning to Ireland, they avidly promoted

familiar with. As well as scholarly discussions that

artists, academics, experts and beginners – who are

Landscapes of Nathaniel Grogan and John Butts’,

Modernism, including Cubism, to somewhat

reveal new ways of thinking about and looking

able to trade their respective experiences within

featuring eighteenth-century views of the River Lee

blinkered art world, dominated by male academic

at art, the Glucksman also invests in family and

visual art, exchange ideas and, in the process, find

and Cork, also included a contemporary installation

painters.

schools programmes with creative workshops that

shared common ground.

accessible to the widest possible audience.

The gallery’s exhibitions programme gives

by Stephen McGlynn, devised as part of the Art Trail,

A key work by Mainie Jellet is Composition

relate to exhibitions. At the core of the Glucksman’s

in which the artist interviewed people about changes

with 3 Elements Elements, while Evie Hone’s Landscape, Co.

exhibition and education programmes is this

Chris Clarke is Curator of Education and

in the urban fabric of the city. Art in the Crawford

Wicklow is an early and fine example of her work.

willingness to approach art from different angles,

Collections

Gallery often involves a conversation between

William Orpen, represented in the collection by

and to encourage the ability to understand and

University College Cork.

past and present. The recent series of sound art

The Boxer Boxer, inspired a later generation of realist

appreciate art among the widest possible set of

performances entitled 'Strange Attractor' took place

painters, including Maurice MacGonigal, whose

audiences.

in the historic settings of the Long Room, the Gibson

Races at Ballyconneely is delightful evocation of

This desire to look closer at artworks informed

Galleries and the Sculpture Galleries, enhancing

windswept Connemara. Walter Osborne had also

a recent event at the Glucksman. In February 2012,

the experience for both artists and audience. In the

studied on the Continent, and when he returned

forthcoming exhibition ‘Photographs from the War

to Dublin, he concentrated on intimate portraits

in Afghanistan by John Burke and Simon Norfolk’,

and quiet landscapes, such as A November Morning,

curated by Dawn Williams, nineteenth century and

an evocative late-Impressionist work. Paul Henry

modern day images are juxtaposed, while Simon

also eschewed abstraction, and instead painted

Fujiwara’s installation The Museum of Incest reflects a

many West of Ireland landscapes, a fine example

contemporary artist looking at the dawn of mankind

being Lough Altan, where the carefully built-up

in Southern Africa.

tonal values reflect his studies in Paris under James

The gallery’s permanent collection focuses

MacNeill Whistler. Grace Henry’s artistic vision,

mainly on Irish art from the eighteenth century

gentler and more intimate than that of her husband

to the present day. There are works by James Barry,

Paul, has always found favour with art lovers and her

who trained as an artist in Cork, and Daniel Maclise,

paintings Dublin Port Scene and Flowers are superb

one of the first students at the Cork School of Art,

examples of her work.

founded in 1819. Among recent acquisitions are

These works, along with other paintings in the

the Great Southern Art Collection, the Cooper

AIB collection, complement the Gallery's existing

Penrose collection of eighteenth-century art, and contemporary paintings by Hughie O’Donoghue.

holdings of twentieth-century Irish art, with works

by William Scott, Roderic O’Conor, William Leech,

The gallery also recently acquired the video

Colin Middleton, Patrick Collins, Harry Kernoff,

Presentation Sisters by Tacita Dean and the sculpture

Gerard Dillon, Daniel O’Neill, John Lavery, Michael

Each Day by Eilis O’Connell.

Farrell and William Crozier. This fine collection of

However, it is the most recent acquisition, a

some of the best works of Irish art will become part

magnificent donation of 39 works from the AIB

of the Crawford Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

at

Lewis

Glucksman

Gallery,

Artists' Talk with Nick Miller, Glucksman Gallery

art collection, which has attracted widespread attention, and confirmed the growing reputation of

Peter Murray is Director of the Crawford Gallery

the Crawford Art Gallery. The AIB collection has few

of Art, Cork.

parallels in terms of quality, and collection highlights include three paintings by Jack B Yeats, particularly A

Glucksman Gallery, exterior

Developing Pictures Symposium, Glucksman Gallery

10

The Visual Artists’News sheet

May – June 2012

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

National Sculpture Factory

Triskel / Theblack Mariah SINCE The Black Mariah opened in 2007 its

begin when plans change; initial failures can lead to

location has changed three times, moving from a

resolution, hopeful continuation through to

renovated office space on Washington Street to a

consequent success. Sometimes it is the limitations

disused ESB substation on Caroline Street and finally

that seem to allow for limitless possibilities.

to our current space in the Triskel building on Tobin

The majority of people that I have worked with

Street. All three locations have varied radically in

have all demonstrated an ability to be flexible in

form and scale, dictating how exhibitions were

whatever situations arose or were thrown at them.

installed and how we worked with artists. Each

This dexterity is a talent in itself, developed having

space also had its own very distinct social function

to live and work within other more obvious

and went beyond just being a gallery. Looking back

limitations.

Johanna billing, illing, still fromProject for a Revolution, 2000, courtesy of the artist

Maddie leach, Evening Echo, 2011, photo by Clare Keogh

over the numerous exhibitions, performances,

While writing this I am preparing for two

events and offsite projects that have taken place, I

events that will mark The Black Mariah's fifth year:

2012 is well underway and the National

articulated architectural interventions, internally

think about why The Black Mariah began, what its

a performance by Lydia Lunch and a commission by

Sculpture Factory is open, busy and productive. We

and externally, coupled with Tom De Paor’s enduring

initial impetus was and about its current purpose

Dutch artist Marc Bijl. In the coming months I am

remain optimistic (we have to) and are inspired by

and extraordinary mezzanine ‘The Van’ are key

and potentially indefinite future.

looking forward to our continuing collaboration

the productivity, resourcefulness, intelligence and

contributors to the ever-evolving and fluid identity

In the beginning, The Black Mariah was about

with Crawford College of Art and Design; a new

engagement of the artists and colleagues that work

of the NSF. These architectural alterations are

being actively involved, trying to put in place a

offsite project, ‘Brinks Helm’, to take place during

with us. We are also heartened by the public’s

constants, in a building where artists’ projects and

project that had longevity, that could be consistent

Midsummer Festival in June; a gallery exchange

interest in and support for working artists. We

residencies are temporal. The reaction has been

and unique within the city. Now, the more I think

between Static, Liverpool and The Black Mariah; the

continue to plot and plan with artists, fellow curators

extraordinary and has increased public curiosity,

about this, it seems that an awareness of an uncertain

instigation of an event in a domestic setting designed

and institutions about how to realise ambitious

with more people coming by, engaging with and

future is the reason to continue on – in some form

by A2 architects; and solo exhibitions from Carl

creative ideas. There is no shortage of stimulating

generally expressing support for us. All very

– regardless. After five years and so many changes it

Giffney, Jim Ricks and Donough Mc Namara.

artists and great projects awaiting development and

positive!

seems that trying to figure a purpose for The Black Ian Mc Inerney is Director of The Black Mariah.

realisation. Of course, our collective appetites are far

As funding shrinks, we are challenged, like so

bigger than the resources available to us. We live

many others, to maintain our activities. With our

a future and a reason is what impedes upon its

within a 12-month balance sheet and the reliable

Arts Council support, we are committed to

development. Working with people contingently is

sources of funding are under severe pressure so we

supporting artists and their practices and we aim to

the exciting part of curating The Black Mariah. Ideas

manage what we have with even more care.

provide supports that are open, flexible, relevant

Mariah is a problem in itself. To be concerned about

Cork is a resilient place, yet, like other cities, it

that are made buoyant and possible sometimes

is facing significant challenges in retaining and

In 2012, we are focusing on the creation of an

maintaining a cultural ecosystem that is functioning,

expanded programme of residency packages. The

efficient, creative and adaptable. Despite this, many

NSF has always been actively engaged with

positive inter-organisational collaborations are

international residencies through the Pepiniere

happening; the Crawford College of Art and Design

Programme and others with Static in Liverpool,

have embarked on a new MA Art and Process; and

Australian and Tasmanian exchanges, as well as

Enclave Review (ER), a new contemporary art review

offering annual graduate awards from the

sheet based in Cork continues to thrive.

nationwide degree shows. These packages include

That said, the real threat of further cultural

critical mentorship, curatorial and project supports,

funding cuts, plus the emergence of a more

studio and equipment / material benefits. In 2012

conservative mainstream entertainment agenda, are

these will be extended beyond graduates with new

highly problematic for the visual arts sector. This is

packages and collaborations initiated.

all keenly felt by the NSF and we continue to

We will also deepen our connections with

advocate, with others, for increased public and

various festivals such as Cork Mid Summer Festival

private understanding and support for visual artists

and the Corona Cork Film Festival, and commission

and their work.

visual art projects at their core. These structures

As a sector, we must identify what our priorities are and ensure that we advocate collectively so that

Alan Phelan, installation shot fromBlind Private Party Party,, 2011

Rian Coughlan, Difficult Walking, 2011, oil on linen

Rian Coughlan, installation shot, 2011

and supportive.

create new audiences, resources and possibilities for artists.

our messages are communicated clearly. The loosely

Since 2009, through these relationships, we

formed Visual Arts Workers Group (VAWG) is a

have worked collaboratively with the following

great platform to explore such matters, contribute

artists, Superflex, Johanna Billing and Jesse Jones.

to and shape that conversation. It is vital that we

These partnerships enable us to support artists in

now make visual arts in Ireland a key part of the

the creation and production of new works and

national conversation. The NSF, in collaboration

contexts for engagement with wider audiences.

with the Glucksman Gallery, is organising the next

This year we are working with Irish artist Mark

VAWG meeting in the Glucksman Gallery on

Garry, in partnership with the Cork Mid Summer

Thursday 17 May. All details on www.glucksman.

Festival and West Cork Arts Centre, to realise an

org or www.nationalsculpturefactory.com

extraordinary site-specific work on Sherkin Island.

In recent weeks, the NSF revealed a new

Keep an eye on our website for more details on this

workshop entrance and signage system. This has

project. The NSF has also commissioned Swedish

been in development for over three years as part of

artist Johanna Billing to make a new work in Cork

an ongoing capital upgrade. Commissioned a decade

and we remain committed to supporting the

apart, both projects were funded by National and

creation of new works.

local government funding through the Access II

Furthermore, we are developing an exciting

programme. Robin Lee Architects have created an

new programme of interactions where artists will be

extraordinary new, confident yet finely tuned,

invited to devise scenarios and situations so they

entrance to the NSF and two spectacular signs on

may engage with other artists or professionals via

the external facades of the building. These

seminars / workshops / lectures. This programme

adjustments clearly mark the building as a place of

(which begins in autumn 2012) aims to stimulate

cultural occupation and activity: confident, bold

artistic practice and discourse as well as create

actions in a time of fear and supposed shrinkage.

employment opportunities for artists. These

The capital project was a collaborative process

initiatives will run parallel with our annual talk

between Robin Lee Architects, the NSF and our

series and our ongoing professional development

builders MMD, where we worked through many

workshops.

options / materials. We are grateful to Robin Lee and

Alan Phelan, A Skull Perhaps, 2011

Rian Coughlan, Green Mile, oil on linen, 2011

Oonagh Collins’ patience and commitment to

Mary McCarthy is Director of the National

organisations like ours. Their thoughtful and well

Sculpture Factory.

The Visual Artists’News sheet

May – June 2012

11

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

and anybody we could think of. Whatever they wanted to do – and it wouldn’t be about art particularly, it could be about gardening – it would be an expression of the people of Cork and their culture. If that meant taking their dogs for a walk on a Sunday we’ll take dogs for a walk on a Sunday. The idea is that we skill-share and help each other. There are people from the South Presentation doing a gardening project, there are writing workshops, there’s a knitting group in Mayfield and some film projects. There are completely different people involved; they’re not in the arts, and they just want to do something.

Trash Culture happens at the end of it with about 15 events, all art based. Some of the things happening as part of Trash Culture include talks on hedge schools and on NAMA, a documentary on Antonio Francis heery performing with Claire Guerin video, Avant, 2011

Negri, a cabaret, a standup comedy workshop, two exhibitions, theatre shows, eight gigs and DJs. Our final conversation was with Vicky Langan and Rachel Warriner. Vicky is the creator of Black Sun, which she describes as a ‘weirdo music event’, and Rachel is an organiser of the Soundeye Poetry Festival. Together they help coordinate The Avant Festival, which was initiated by Fergal Gaynor as a way of scheduling events supportive of avant-garde practices, and takes place in July.

Rachael: I approach The Avant as an organiser of Soundeye and I want to see things that are similar and interesting. We have this influx of people and all this great stuff; it’s nice to be able to share the audience and to share ideas. I approach it more as a practitioner. I’m not very

Nina Tanis, Newspaper Room, The Guest house, Art Trail 2011

DIY festival poster, 2012

The Cork Festival Scene

good at the over- arching organisational aspect.

Vicky: We’re encouraging everyone to jump in the air at the same time and there are a lot of people who don’t feel like jumping at that time, or think, why should I? I really like seeing everything come together, and then it’s great if I can work in something like a small Black Sun gig. The

IRENE RENE MURPhY AND CAThERINE ERINE hARTYPROVIDEAN UPDATEON VISUAl VISUA ARTSFESTIVA FESTIVAlS IN CORK. CORK

best thing about the festival is that not everyone has to do a big show.

It’s nice to drift through all this stuff for a week, wander up to the The Guesthouse and down to the Sculpture Factory.

Traditionally, festivals were a vehicle for telling stories and

Irene: Could you describe how you curate Solstice?

imparting knowledge, as well as providing low-cost, accessible

Rachael: And remember how much really great stuff there is in Cork,

entertainment. Contemporary festivals have a dual purpose: to

Ruairi: There’s a core team of four curators; we are all working artists.

and how much energy all these individual places have and how much

showcase particular modes of practice and to generate spin-off income

I’m a choreographer; there are two creative producers and a theatre

they are creating in the city. There is a lot of stuff which complements

for the surrounding economy. They can be seen to embody the tension

director / maker. Two years ago the Midsummer Festival piloted the

each other and builds on each other and there is something for being

between ‘instrumentalisation’ and ‘autonomy’ that runs through the

Young Curators Programme, which brought together young people

reminded of that and its not like we change anything, we just put it all

management of culture from a macro to a micro level.

who were interested in the arts, and from that came the four people who

together.

We set out to speak with the key organisers and curators of artist-

are curating Solstice. Last year there was an open call for submissions

led festivals in Cork. Fuelled by their genuine interest in sustaining

from which we curated the visual arts exhibition. This year we felt

Catherine: What has been coming out in our conversations with

the city’s vibrant arts culture they are creating new strategies – gift

that, in terms of our development and expansion, it was important

other people is there seems to be more of a cross over between

economies, crowd funding, skills exchanges and networking – to

to take on someone whose practice is visual arts curating. We are

different disiplines in the last three of four years, are you finding

sustain activity.

working with Aoife Flynn who will curate the event in partnership

that with Soundeye?

Our first meeting was with Kevin Tuohy, artistic director of

with us. Last year it was important to make the event as accessible as

the ArtTrail festival, and the main driving force behind this annual

possible; combining a social and visual arts space worked well to create

Rachael: Since I’ve been involved with it there has always been a big

contemporary arts festival since 2008. ArtTrail began in 1996, motivated

a different engagement.

drive to be connected to different kinds of disiplines. In general there

by the desire of many to open artists’ studios to the public. Over the

seems to be much more interest in meeting each other and The Avant’s

years, this evolved into a festival of events, exhibitions, projects and

Irene: You seem to be interested in expanding beyond the festival

point was always to be interdisciplinary. There is a massive interest

workshops, utilising numerous venues throughout the city. 'National

event into the development of practice?

in the way language works performatively; visually, I don’t think its

Interest' was the title of the 2011 ArtTrail, which posed questions

any kind of moving into, its part of the community, of the ongoing

around the topic of national identity as well as questioning the role

Ruairi: I think those within the different disciplines seem to be

conversation. And its what we are interested in going to see and I really

of art within society. An Art Work Embassy was set up at the Elysian

discussing more with each other. We’re really interested in developing

in addition to debates, lectures and exhibitions in a variety of spaces.

a conversation about the work, developing dialogue around the context

like a lot of the performative poets, its a natural progression. I don’t know whats going to happen this yearwe got our small festival funding

The ArtTrail organisers are currently engaging in a period of reflection

in which the work is being presented. We had a really interesting

cut by the Arts Council, we are lucky to have funding from the City

regarding the form it will take in the future, partially provoked by the

symposium event in 2011 about what it means to be given the keys to

Council and are trying to grab at other things.

cut in their Arts Council funding.

the city, what it means to be given empty retail units. How do we make

Kevin: Maybe a positive for not being given the money is that it forces a

that a sustainable engagement? or are we interested in making that a

Catherine: There seems to be a big cross-over between audience

sustainable engagement?

and practitioner?

new way of doing it, rather then being tied into another year of working Rachael: That certainly seems to be true with a lot of the things, there

to a plan. I think it is good to have a break to evaluate, to see if something

Following on from meeting with Ruairi we met with Moray

else comes along. There is much more going on now in the city than

Bresnan, creator of Mutant Space and the DIY festival. Mutant Space is

there was four or five years ago, so the need for something like ArtTrail

an online free skills exchange database through which the DIY festival

as a festival is different. It needs to respond to what is going on. It might

is put together. The initial motivation behind Mutant Space’s expansion

Vicky: “ That’s certainly true of Black Sun, with every Black Sun I have

be more relevent now to have a whole series of activities, or a regular

into the world of festivals was to prove that the online creative economy

programmed its not been about an audience who turn up to have a good

monthly or bimonthly information-sharing newsheet that’s specific

it nurtured could work offline. The next DIY festival takes place from

time. There is a crowd of makers and the night is to blow peoples heads

to Cork. It would start from information sharing between artists, and

the 14 – 20 of May and incorporates ‘Trash Culture Revue’.

to really leave an impact and an influence on Cork’s way of creating.

seems to be a community of people who are making and looking.

work as a more immediate, direct form of communication.

Moray: Three or four years ago I decided I didn’t want to get funding

Irene Murphy is a visual artist based in Cork. She is a founding

We then had a meeting with Ruairi O Donovan, curator of Solstice

and wanted nothing to do with funders. I wanted to do DIY, be

member of the Cork Artists Collective and The Guesthouse.

– a multi- disciplinary event supported and mentored by the Cork

autonomous and not have to fill out forms or deal with bureaucrats.

Midsummer Festival. Solstice is in its second year and will take place

I met up with Artlink: they are getting very little funding and trying

Catherine Harty is an artist, researcher and member of the Cork

from 21 June – 1 July.

to work with communities but are not being recognised for the work

Artists Collective.

that they do. The idea was that we do DIY in May and invite everybody

12

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

May – June 2012

REGIONAl PROFIlE

East Cork Profile

West Cork Profile West Cork Arts Centre (WCAC) based in Skibbereen, is a publically funded organisation

Pottery by Orla O'Rourke, Shanagarry Design Centre

Interior of the Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh

Exterior of the Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh

Cormac Boydell, Nealie O’Sullivan, Rachel Parry and Charles Tyrell.

providing a community-based arts facility and arts

'out there' is the entirely apt title of a distinctive

programme for the West Cork region. It serves a

exhibition taking place on Sherkin Island, off the

large area that stretches from the Beara peninsula in

coast of Baltimore in West Cork, from Saturday 19

the west, to Clonakilty in the east, from Dunmanway

– Sunday 20 May. It features the work of the 19

in the north, all the way to the islands of Cape Clear

students about to graduate from the BA (hons) in

and Sherkin in the south. Over 300 artists and

Visual Art programme based on the island. The BA is

craftspeople live and work in the area which has an

fully accredited, managed and delivered by the

approximate population of 96,000. WCAC has an

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in partnership

annual visual arts programme that includes Irish

with Sherkin Island Development Society (SIDS)

and international artists and provides a range of

and WCAC. It is specifically tailored to allow access

education and community programmes for adults

to third level education to geographically

and children. It places education at the heart of its

disadvantaged, mature students, who would

activities with a wide range of arts workshops,, film

otherwise have to leave their local community. 'out

screenings, seminars, artist talks, poetry evenings

there' brings new meaning to ‘art in the community’.

and gallery tours on offer throughout the year.

Visitors will have the opportunity to view paintings,

There are also several commercial galleries,

drawings, sculpture, projections and installations at

artists’ studios and collectives in the West Cork area.

various locations throughout Sherkin Island – in the

Working Artist Studios is an artist-managed venue,

old ruined Abbey, on the pier, in the Community

open all year, based in Skibbereen, and is a workplace

Hall, the Jolly Roger pub, the Islander’s Rest, in

for a group of painters and sculptors whose eclectic

people’s houses and gardens and on Silver Strand –

From the point of view of topographical

funding also means that Amison and her colleagues

mix of visual art is displayed across the three floors

to form an Art Trail showcasing not only the work of

splendour, the beet fields and pebbly beaches of East

are free to devise a complex and perceptive schedule

of the building. They also host regular open evenings

the students and this innovative and unique

Cork are somewhat overshadowed by the rugged

which is as equally stimulating for the enquiring

where visitors can view the artworks and listen to

programme, but also Sherkin Island itself as a hub of

hillsides and breathtaking peninsulas of the wild,

minds of the East Cork community as for the footfall

poetry readings and live music. The Doswell Gallery

arts and cultural activity. Home to a large number of

wild west. Yet, in conversation with Cobh-based

of cultural tourists from summertime cruise liners.

in the village of Rosscarbery is managed by Chris

artists, it attracts many others who visit and gain

artist and Curator, Sarah Iremonger, she tells me it’s

Living directly across the harbour from Cobh,

Dowell and exhibits contemporary art from Irish

inspiration from the stunning scenery and peaceful

a tremendously nice place to live and make art. It

my own experience is that most of East Cork’s

and international artists from April – December.

ambience.

isn’t a very highly populated area, the rents are low

cultural activity is small-scale and community

Catherine Hammond runs the seasonal Catherine

Our current exhibition at WCAC is 'Difference

and the summers are quiet. Unlike most places in

focused: pottery groups and camera clubs, farmer’s

Hammond Gallery in Glengarriff and regularly hosts

Engine' – an evolving, touring exhibition and a

West Cork, nowhere is much more than a half-hour

markets and maritime festivals. The local library is

exhibitions featuring artists such as Mary Canty,

model of autonomous artist curation by artists Mark

drive away from the city and it’s perfectly feasible to

regularly the place to go if you are looking for an

Bernadette Kiely, Eilis O’Connell and Jacqueline

Cullen, Wendy Judge Gillian Lawler and Jessica

be involved in a contemporary art scene whilst

exhibition.

Stanley.

Foley, featuring Gordon Cheung and Paul Green.

maintaining a work-base beyond the reach of

Most medium-sized towns in the area have a

Further west on the Beara peninsula there is

The intention of this project is to elaborate upon the

commercial gallery of some description, usually

no shortage of galleries and exhibition spaces. The

dual meaning of the term jamming – in one sense

Iremonger has long been involved with Cobh’s

above a bookshop or below a framers. The Courtyard

Mill Cove Gallery outside Castletownbere, opens

‘jamming’ signifies stasis, shock, or rupture, and in

Sirius Arts Centre and its many collateral projects.

in Midleton is over a restaurant and shows

from Easter onwards and has ongoing exhibitions of

another, opposite sense, it signifies a kind of fluid

Founded in 1988, the Sirius sits on the rim of Cork

predominantly paintings of a traditional nature.

paintings and ceramics. It also has Sculpture Gardens

and changing improvisation between players.

Harbour in a beautiful building, formerly the Royal

This is a market which, the manager tells me, has

on four acres of mature grounds overlooking the sea.

'Difference Engine' acknowledges the challenges of

Cork Yacht Club. The ground-floor galleries look

shrunk dramatically in recent years. Not far away,

This year they present their fifth Annual Irish

our time and folds these into imaginative

straight out onto water and downstairs there is a

there is The Mall Arts Centre in Youghal and The

Contemporary Ceramic Awards in June. The Sarah

representations and gestures. The project concerns

four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for the

Grain Store at Ballymaloe. Both are remarkable

Walker Gallery can be found nestled on a quiet

itself with science and the unparalleled marvels

centre’s international programme.

edifices, the latter a converted seventeenth century

corner of the pier with the water lapping alongside.

which human curiosity, perseverance and bloodymindedness have brought into reality.

distraction.

Artist

in

Residency

farmyard building and the former a renovated

This comprises Sarah Walker’s working studio and

Under the directorship of Peggy Sue Amison

230-year-old town hall. Both are described as multi-

gallery. As well as exhibitions of her own work,

for the past 11 years, the Sirius is the only

purpose venues but are more often used for concerts

Sarah regularly presents exhibitions by artists with

Susan Harrington is Director of the West Cork

multidisciplinary, non-profit centre for the arts in

and weddings, and when it does have exhibitions,

Beara connections and her Summer Shows often

Arts Centre.

East Cork. The dynamic programme of exhibitions,

the preference is for craft. It’s the same story down

feature a selection of graduate artists from the

residencies, workshops, concerts, lectures, readings

the road in the Shanagarry Design Centre. The

Crawford, NCAD and IADT. The village of Allihies,

and seminars reach far beyond the breadth of its

ground floor is partitioned into studio spaces and

located at the end of the Beara peninsula, has long

www.mariecullen.com

elegant nineteenth-century walls for creative

shoppers can buy direct from the resident

been associated with visual art. Several of Ireland’s

www.millcovegallery.com

influence and projects often come about as a result

craftspeople.

best-known artists reside there, inspired by its

http://www.sarahwalker.ie

www.westcorkartscentre.com

of collaboration with neighbours such as the

Perhaps the most exciting project to happen in

peerless location. The Allihies Copper Mine Museum

www.acmm.ie

Crawford Art Gallery, the West Cork Arts Centre,

East Cork over the course of the past year was

opened a few years ago and also houses a small art

http://www.dit.ie/study/undergraduate/programmes/

Cork Printmakers and Camden Palace Hotel. As part

commissioned by the County Council for the

gallery. They have hosted a series of two-person

visualartsherkinislanddt589/

of the Sirius’s community engagement initiative,

Casement building in Fort Camden. Originally

exhibitions throughout the summer featuring local

workshops are developed involving participants

dating from about 1550 and positioned on Ram’s

artists including Jenny Richardson, Tim Goulding,

from schools, different community groups and day

Head, near Crosshaven, the fort has been undergoing

centres with practising visual artists, photographers

restoration since 2010. At the beginning of last year,

and musicians. Residencies last four to six weeks on

four artists and a poet were invited to create pieces

average and are decided by a process of open

specifically for the fort. The finished works, which

application to a curatorial panel or by invitation.

ranged from drawing to written word and cast iron,

Renowned for its facilitation of new works by

took a period of seven months to realise before being

international artists, the programme allows for

installed. Although still undergoing elaborate

practitioners to live and work right on the harbour,

renewal, such is the fort’s atmospheric and majestic

engaging directly with the place and its people.

potential as a space for visual art, I hope it will be the

The Sirius receives funding from the Arts

site of many projects to come.

Council, Cork County Council, and other local authorities. Public funding means that the centre is

Sara Baume is an artist and writer based in East

constrained by a tight budget and the board of

Cork.

directors have recently been forced, like many other

www.sarabaume.wordpress.com

arts institutions, to develop additional ‘creative fundraising’ methods for essential repairs to the historic building and programming. But public

West Cork Arts Centre

'Difference Engine', 2012

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

May – June 2012

13

REGIONAl PROFIlE

CIT Crawford College of Art

Studio image CIT

Degree show night, Cork

New Realities

the National Sculpture Factory in recent projects

No one would argue that these are not hard

such as 'Iron R'.

times for education. CIT Crawford College of Art

Teaching delivery across the college has also

and Design is currently facing the same challenges

been greatly enriched by a dynamic visiting lecturers

as every other third level institution. Namely, new

programme, including Lewis Biggs, Gavin Delahunty,

funding structures and the retirement of valued

Linda Quinlan, Mark Garry, Thomas McGraw, Dallas

members of staff with deep knowledge and expertise.

Sietz, Gareth Clarke, Maud Cotter, Seamus Hanrahan,

And yet, strangely, the college is not just coping but

Kane Do, Jesse Jones, Deirdre McLoughlin and

going through a period of revitalisation, evidenced

Clodagh Emoe.

in the increase in student numbers, the growth of

Such active external engagement can lead to

new programmes, expansion of college space and by

the wonderfully unexpected, such as the experience

a renewed sense of direction for the future.

of 'Terminal Convention', a major art event held at

This renewal is reflected across the cultural

the disused terminal at Cork Airport, initiated by

sector in Cork, which remains dynamic despite

Paul Sullivan of Static Gallery, Liverpool and

unprecedented funding cuts. To a great extent this is

partnered by NSF and CCAD. But most importantly,

due to support and collaboration between the

this form of engagement embraces the openness

various cultural groups and institutions in the city

and risk-taking associated with art-making. In times

who realise the importance of working together, not

of economic depression, artistic activity has

as an option, but as a necessity. This has kick-started

flourished in an unexpected way, ‘making do and

new ways of working, and great things have begun

getting by’ being the leitmotif of the younger,

to happen against the odds.

hungrier generation of artists who forge new ways of working out of thin air. Use of cheap, empty

new spaces

spaces and fewer distractions from the demands of

The ‘odds’ are themselves partly responsible for

an art market gone slack have been acknowledged

CCAD acquiring an exciting additional college site,

for the particular sense of energy and urgency felt in

located within the former government buildings on

Cork. However, this re-energised activity is not

Sullivan’s Quay. The site was due for demolition to

sustainable in the long-term without secure

make way for a hotel but was left standing and

funding.

unoccupied. Two years ago the third-year students identified this vacant building to hold their end of

Looking Back and Looking Forward

year show and CCAD has since acquired spaces on

CCAD started this academic year hosting, aptly,

three floors of the building, which have needed

the Paradox symposium – a European forum

minimal adaptation to become generous city-centre

focusing on third-level fine art education and the

studio spaces overlooking Grand Parade.

role of the art college in the wider cultural and social

The new site is currently home to final year BA

arena. The year will close with an exhibition in the

Hons Fine Art students and a number of postgraduate

college’s Wandesford Quay gallery space, curated by

courses. CCAD has been actively developing new

recent graduates, mentored by Cliodhna Shaffrey,

programmes in recent years, with a focus on creating

which celebrates the centenary year of the Crawford

a strong research culture. Alongside the Fine Art

building on Sharman Crawford Street as a place of

Masters by Research and H-Dip programs, CCAD

education. And, of course, there will be the Degree

now offers seven taught masters programmes

Show of the final year BA Hons Fine Art and Ceramic

ranging from New Media, Art Therapy, Art Education

students. There is nothing quite like the evening of

to the most recent addition, the MA in Art and

the degree show opening. In Cork, the energy

Process.

permeates the whole city, as the students with their friends, parents, partners and kids join the astute,

new Collaborations

the curious and the dedicated from the art

This new course is an intensive 12-month

community. What they see is the work of the next

taught masters in Fine Art that configures material

generation of artists who will challenge, inform and

and theoretical investigations together, breaking

inspire us, illustrating the important place of art

down the traditional binaries between studio and

education in these times. There are still alternative

academic research practices. To llustrate the

ways of doing things – new and creative ways to

collaborative spirit currently invigorating the

solve problems and to forge new paths to a different

college, students benefit from programme delivery

future.

by the Glucksman curatorial team; a new Summer School on Sherkin Island developed with Philosophy

Trish Brennan is the Head of Fine Art and Design

Department at UCC, Fine Art at DIT, and the West

at CIT.

Cork Arts Centre; film projects planned with the Cork Film Centre; symposia with The Glucksman and The Crawford Galleries; and engagement with

www.cit.ie

MA in Art and Process Process; pro’ses, action, advance, course, development, fashion, growth, measure, mechanism, mode, movement, operation, performance, practice, procedure, progression, routine, system, technique, transaction, trial, unfolding, working.

http://media.cit.ie/maap

For further information and details on application procedure Email: admissions@cit.ie / ccad.enquiries@cit.ie Phone: 021 4335200

CIT CRAWFORD COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN, SHARMAN CRAWFORD STREET, CORK.

14

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

Regional Profile

'Iron R', image courtesy of Peter J Owens and the National Sculpture Factory

Image courtesy of Peter J Owens and the NSF

Image courtesy of Jennie Moran

Image courtesy of Jennie Moran

Image courtesy of Peter J Owens and the NSF

Iron Age

forming an inclusive, supportive network. His talk, ‘Iron Fever: The Metallurgy and Magnetism of Cast Iron’, was a fantastic introduction to all who were taking part and really set the tone for the week. We then gave demos in the CO2 sand moulding process, and artists and students

james l hayes discusses his 'iron r research project', which took place at the national sculpture factory, cork, in march 2012, bringing together artists, students and specialists to engage in the unique cast-iron process.

began to mingle and discuss their intended projects.

During the next couple of days, everyone wrestled diligently with their newfound mould-making techniques. On Wednesday evening, Professor Matt Toole gave his keynote address ‘Ferrous Communitas – The IRON People’ on the people and histories of the movement and the

Have you ever wondered how to turn a ton of rusty scrap iron

Part of my proposal included working with former colleagues

generation of its performative sphere, in which Matt is the leading

consigned to the scrap heap into 50 unique artworks in under a week?

Andy Griffiths and Bob Booth, who run the Sculpture Department in

light. He spoke about some of his monumental performative iron pour

During the last week of March 2012 at The National Sculpture Factory

Coleg Sirgar, and are also dedicated to developing underused iron

works dating back to early 2001, which are not for the faint of heart or

in Cork, eight contemporary Irish Artists and 18 Fine Art Students from

casting technologies. I then opened up the project to the wider

the overtly diligent health and safety officer.

CIT Crawford College of Art and Design and the Coleg Sirgar (formerly

community. Through an open call, artists were asked if they would like

Thursday morning arrived very fast and preparations began to fire

the West Wales School of the Arts), did exactly that, over a period of

to work with this largely forgotten medium and process in new and

up the furnace for the production of iron: pour teams were assembled,

five days. The project was part of a research project funded by CIT

contemporary ways. We were looking for artists who would engage

tools gathered, leather aprons, jackets and helmets were put on. We

Crawford College, and facilitated and hosted by the NSF.

with our students in the hope of encouraging a cross pollination of

loaded our furnace full of foundry coke, prepped our charges of smaller

I began developing the 'IRON-R Research Project' a number of

ideas between artists of differing stages in their careers. Dawn Williams,

foundry coke and broken scrap iron. After three hours of heating up the

years ago after an invitation was extended to me by Professor David

Curator at the Crawford Gallery, assisted myself and David ‘Dobz’

furnace with a propane gas blower we were able to run it with a double

Lobdell at The New Highlands University in New Mexico. David

O’Brien, Programme Manager at the NSF, with the selection process.

initiated the celebrated ‘Iron Tribe’ happening, during which artists,

We selected eight artists from a number of disciplines, from recent

air blower – this being enough to take the internal core temperature to approx 2500oc – and we could begin to charge the furnace and produce

students and university professors collaborate to produce small

graduates to more established practitioners, and also involved eight

our own iron. 30 minutes after the first charge, we cracked the spout

festivals around iron pours. These gatherings explore aspects of ritual,

students from Wales and 10 students selected from the undergrad and

and, with much delight from an assembled audience, began to decant

performance and communal participation, whilst producing often

post grad programmes at CIT CCAD.

120 lbs of molten cast iron.

Next, we needed to build our cupola (furnace) and procure the

Filling all the participants moulds took us seven hours of hot and

Captivated by the level of enthusiasm and energy surrounding

enormous amount of materials required to supply 30 plus artists

heavy work. By the end, we had produced a total of 1400 lbs of molten

this almost obsolete process of iron casting, I began applying for

making moulds and iron sculpture for five days. Ordering some of the

cast iron and filled 50 plus moulds. Amazingly, we achieved a 98%

funding from the Arts Council, my local authority (CCC) and my own

specialist materials was complicated: finding borosilicate lenses to

success rate of casting into the moulds. The next day (Friday) was spent

Institution (CIT CCAD) in order to research these events and their

attach to the cupola, and finding someone in Europe to sell us the small

knocking out the sculpture from the sand moulds, and tidying them up

related sculptural practices. In 2007, I attended the US / UK International

amount of foundry coke we needed to run our furnace proved

a little. Then came the monumental clean-up that only iron pours

Iron Sculpture Symposia in New York, and in 2008 I was invited to take

particularly difficult. In addition, we needed two tons of silica sand, a

require. In the afternoon we organised a quick review of each work in a

part in the 2nd Biennial Western Cast Iron Conference in Denver,

ton of foundry coke, 1.5 tons of scrap iron (which needed to be broken

‘pop-up’ style exhibition at the back end of the NSF.

Colorado. I always envisaged the construction of my own furnace here

up and sorted by hand into usable sizes for melting!), two large-scale

The previous Monday we had four tons of sand, some coal in a

in Ireland, with the hope of joining Ireland up with this global iron-

industrial fans to act as blowers, ladles, shanks, refractory, a bespoke

huge sack, and a large metal tube on legs with some really big fans

casting movement that began in the US over 30 years ago.

tool kit, parting powder, sodium silicate etc. I also needed to design and

attached. Somehow (after an intense few days that went by in a blur)

hundreds of cast iron sculptures over a number of days.

The iron casting process had also found its way back into my

construct a furnace. The nervous anticipation began to build as I tried

we had an engaging collection of sculptural objects in a makeshift

practice. I received a commission from Cork County Council in 2010

to ensure it would work as intended. The contacts and connections I

exhibition. Everyone was in a bit of a daze, both fatigued and euphoric,

and was asked to respond to the former military installation at Fort

had made while in the US, alongside my colleagues in Wales, were a

due not only to the tiredness and sense of achievement brought on by

Camden in Crosshaven. I created a series of works that involved the

great support during this period. In January 2012, we began the

the epic weeks work, but from the unique style of artistic ‘alchemy’ that

removal of found, disregarded scrap iron from the site. I re-melted it

construction of our furnace, the bulk of this work being done by the

only iron pouring can bring.

down to produce a series of dinner plates and objects that were then

Technical Manager of the NSF, Donal Dilworth, who constructed the

returned to the site and installed alongside some remaining furniture

shell of the furnace in no time at all. It was then that we felt the entire

The selected artists who took part in ‘The IRON-Research Project’

in Fort Camden’s kitchens and barracks building. With that project

project coming together.

were: Caoimhe Kilfeather, Alex Pentek, Rachel Fallon, Mary Mackey, David Upton, Trisha Moore, Jennie Moran and Laura

firmly in mind, and after taking a number of years to concentrate on

I wanted to involve a number of colleagues I had met in the US

other large-scale projects within my practice, I applied for a research

over the last five years. I Invited Professor Matt Toole from Savannah

grant made available by the CIT Research Office and supported by

College of Art and Design, Georgia. I met Matt on numerous occasions

CCAD. I secured enough funding to build a furnace and possibly hold a

while at events in the US and had recently been invited to work with

James L Hayes is a contemporary visual artist and lecturer in fine

small iron-casting event in Cork. I then proposed collaboration with

him on a project in Savannah after completing an exhibition in New

art at CIT Crawford College of Art and Design. Hayes has recently

The NSF, whose working ethos and dedication to sculptural practice

Orleans. Matt came over as an advisor to the project and worked

been awarded a number of significant commissions for large

can be aligned with my own. ‘IRON-R’ was an ambitious and rewarding

tirelessly with our students. He brought with him a contagious energy

scale, site specific public artworks across Ireland and has exhibited

project that could not have been achieved without the full and spirited

and enthusiasm for iron pouring.

both nationally and internationally.

support and funding of CIT, CCAD, the Head Of School Orla Flynn and

On 25 March our event began. Andy Griffiths opened the morning

the great support and encouragement of the NSF Director Mary

by giving a profound lecture on the history of the international iron

McCarthy, who saw the depth and dimension of the project from its

cast movement, its aims and objectives. This movement has no barriers

inception.

in terms of the sharing of information and knowledge and is all about

Mangan.

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

May – June 2012

REGIONAl PROFIlE

15

Visual artists ireland membership serVice benefits

Cork City Arts Office

John Kelly, Cow Up a Tree, Cork, 2011

Professional Recognition

Equiptment and Facillities Hire

Registration on the Visual Artists Ireland database and access to our discount scheme as well as free or reduced rates on our services and those of our partner organisations.

There are times when artists require pieces of equipment such as projectors, cameras, etc. to complete their work, but the costs of buying or commercially hiring are prohibitive. VAI’s rates are aimed directly as being affordable and of good value.

CORK ORK City Council is committed to culture as

collaborative exchange. Triskel Art Centre itself

Advice

one of the key pillars of our city. Since 1974, Cork

programmes visual artwork in other spaces within

City Council has been committed to the delivery of

the complex. New works by artists such as Vivienne

support to the arts.

Roche and Angelo Garoglio have been commissioned

Visual Artists Ireland provides members with a high-quality, free, independent, impartial and confidential advice and information service.

Our team of experienced professionals offers advice on a wide range of topics such as: contracts, commissions, copyright, licensing, materials sourcing, social welfare, and other areas of concern to visual artists.

In excess of 100 organisations and individuals

for Christchurch itself.

are funded by the Arts Office in a typical year, and

Cork City Council seeks to address the gaps in

the overall budget of the office is in the region of ˆ 2

provision in the city. The recently renovated St

million annually. Professional, voluntary and

Luke’s will serve as a new gallery space for emerging

community-based activities fall within our remit.

artists, managed by Tigh Fili Arts Centre. Again, this

We are committed to all art forms, with equal

project was funded and managed by Cork City

standing given to the contemporary and the

Council at a cost of ˆ 1.1 million.

traditional.

Our community programme also offers support

Financial support is given to create new work

to the visual sector. We offer training for individual

through our Project Scheme Award and support to

artists and arts organisations throughout the year

travel is offered through our Voyage Awards.

and this year has seen training in the area of arts and

Individual Artist Bursaries enable training and

disability for staff of venues, galleries and artist

mentoring or facilitate a significant shift in the

resource organisations as part of Arts and Disability

direction of an artist’s work. Artists who wish to

Network Cork. It involves a creative partnership

work with particular groups in the realisation of

between the Arts Council, Arts and Disability Ireland

projects can apply for funding to the Arts In Context

(ADI) and Cork City Council in association with the

Scheme. All these awards are offered annually, and

arts and disability sectors in the city.

are assessed by independent peer review panels.

A range of training programmes are offered to

Cork City Council houses the Triskel Arts

artists. This year, in partnership with Bealtaine, we

Centre, the National Sculpture Factory, Wandesford

sent a visual artist and musician to the Tyrone

Quay Gallery, the Backwater Artists Studios, Cork

Gyrthrie Centre in Annamakarrig to meet, reflect

Printmakers, Tigh Fili and The Guesthouse Project

upon and share experiences and practices with

Space. In addition, we house both the Cork

other artists who work with older people.

Midsummer Festival and the Cork Film Centre, both

Furthermore, maintaining a strong relationship

of whom are involved in a visual arts programming

with our sister city Shanghai has led to a number of

and resource support. Our activity in this area has

residencies and exchanges between Cork-based and

been targeted, as we recognise the need for artists

Chinese artists.

and organisations to have space in which to create and show work.

The John Kelly sculpture Cow up a Tree was installed in Emmett Place, in November 2011, and

Visual Artists’ News Sheet The Visual Artists’ News Sheet is the industry standard newspaper. It contains articles, commentary as well as listings for events, exhibitions, and opportunities for artists, as well as operating a rotating regional focus on organisations and groups around the country. The VAN also contains a critique section that looks at exhibitions and events that are taking place in Ireland.

Clinics

Insurance

Our clinics take place on a regular basis across Ireland. Each clinic is hosted by a representative of Visual Artists Ireland. The purpose of the clinics is to provide a space for artists to come and meet each other, chat about various experiences or find help on potential issues that they are experiencing.

Visual Artists Ireland has negotiated with O’Driscoll O’Neil special rates on insurance cover to protect your art practice. Insurance covered includes, public liability, goods in transit, employers liability, equipment, property damage and more.

Professional Development

This service allows visual artists, anywhere in the world, to safely and securely negotiate studio and apartment exchanges online.

Visual Artists Ireland’s Professional Development Workshops are a result of many years of experience in the field of training and knowledge sharing through conferences, workshops and discussion groups. Aimed at professional visual artists of all levels of experience, the workshops focus on an interactive, face-to-face, and hands-on approach that enables participants to gain valuable skills. The workshops take place in easily accessible locations.

Street, Shandon, is a visual artist-led initiative whose

has been exhibited all over Europe and is

objective is to create a place for production, meeting

permanently installed in the Melbourne Docklands.

Members receive 50% discount on VAI workshops and discounted rates on partner workshops

and cross-practice peer exchange that includes

As a temporary installation, the piece has attracted a

Student Pack

various forms of public discourse and encounters.

great deal of attention and interest from the public.

They are engaged in creating social and discursive

The visual arts exhibition ‘United States of

activity in the context of a residential setting. The

Europe,’ a partnership between the Cork Vision

space was developed by Cork City Council in

Centre and the National Sculpture Factory, supported

This pack has been put together for the benefit of visual and applied arts students and recent graduates making the transition into professional practice.

partnership with the Cork Artists Collective in

by City Council, is part of Cork’s programme for

response to the identification of the need for a

Irelands Presidency of the European Union in 2013.

project space for visual artists within the city

‘Voices of Shandon’, a major inter disciplinary

following our tenure as European Capital of

community project managed by Cork Community

Membership entitles you to inclusion on the Members’ Contact Area – publish your contact details and description of your practice on our website.

Culture.

Art Link and supported by Cork City Council, will

Discount Scheme

also culminate during the Presidency.

Our discount scheme for members is constantly expanding. With a wide range of services and supports being provided by organisations across Ireland, the discount scheme offers our members preferential rates and services.

We are expanding the Creative Cork initiative

budget of ˆ 4.6 million, the building was funded by

this year, which offers vacancy rates to landlords

the ERDF and City Council and project managed by

who house non-profit arts groups and will

Cork City Council. It has subsequently grown as a

incorporate a series of advisory talks for those

vibrant interdisciplinary arts centre at the heart of

involved in creative projects in the city.

the city, with many major festivals and events using it as their base.

There are many individual artists, groups, collectives and organisations in Cork city. We seek

Since May 2011, the renovated Triskel

to support them, provide them with opportunities

Christchurch has housed The Black Mariah gallery.

and to address the gaps in current provision so that

As an artist led project and exhibition space, The

their work can continue to develop.

Black Mariah is focused on cultivating new audiences for contemporary art in Cork by facilitating and presenting innovative practices through forms of

Liz Meaney is the Cork City Arts Officer.

The eBulletin is the primary email news service for the visual arts in all of Ireland. The service is free to members and non-members, and contains information on jobs, opportunities, events, and exhibitions both locally and internationally.

The help-desk is branded as one of the central services of the organisation. Issues dealt with include – public art commissioning, sourcing artists, artists’ rights, costing proposals, insurance etc. Those requesting information include members, professional artists, local authorities, the public, commissioners and arts coordinators. The help-desk is branded as one of the central services of the organisation.

will remain until the end of April 2012. The piece

Christchurch, opened in May 2011. With a total

Ebulletin

Help Desk

Open since 2007, The Guesthouse, in Chapel

A recent major renovation project, Triskel

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Smart Phone App Coming soon, in partnership with Mayo Co Council Public Art Office, a smart phone app that will allow you to find resources and events in your area and in locations around the country.

VAI at DAS The new competition for professional visual artists to win a residency at DAS, Northern Ireland’s leading new media organisation for the arts. The award is part of the new partnership programme between Visual Artists Ireland and DAS. IAA Card The IAA issues an artists card through its national committees, which can be used to gain reduced or free entrance into some of the major museums and galleries around the world. The card is only available to professional members, its costs €5 and is valid from date of issue until the end of the current year.

16

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

profile

Eamonn O'Kane, Deadwood, 2006, charcoal on paper and wall

A Red Thread

Magnhild Opdøl, A Different Song, 2011, pencil on paper

Tinka Bechert, Installation Shot, 2012, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and Humanities

or space-filling material. The drawing manifests an internal dialogue

curious eye of the viewer, the fearful eye of the escaping animal, and

which can then develop in material form.

the playfulness of the hunter. Working in a highly detailed manner, I examine and render the surface and structure of fur, bone and insides.

in this article joanne laws discusses the recent exhibition 'working.drawing', at the dock, carrick-on-shannon, and talks to the artists involved about the medium.

Eamonn O'Kane: Drawing for me is a tool, a way of thinking, and the

As I investigate the detail I get past the grotesque matter. Even though

artwork itself.

the drawings are viewed as representational, I also see them as an

Curated by Alice Lyons and Claire McAree, ‘working.drawing’

JL: How is drawing manifested within your work? Describe the

abstraction. The drawings offer a fractured and restructured reality – a Magnhild Opdøl: Drawing is a poetic, honest, and challenging way to

subjective synthesis of information, reality and death.

work. It hides no mistakes.

JL: Do you think there is a current revival of drawing within

was a group exhibition that proposed to examine the "diverse ways in

contemporary practice?

process.

which drawing is used as a navigational tool", evident in the work of

TB: I do not see drawing as a counter-position to anything; it is just

artists Tinka Bechert, Úna Burke, Gordon Ryan, Fergus Byrne, Magnhild

TB: My visual interests express themselves not just on paper but also in

another material, which can have conceptual motivations like any

Opdøl, Sharon Kelly, Eamon O Kane, Brown Bag Films, Glenn Leyburn,

other media, which may be classified as installation, but I tend to think

other medium. However, an awareness of the media’s associations and

Fergus Delargy and Olivia Irvine. The exhibition functioned as a survey,

of these works as continuation of drawing into surrounding space. In

inherent qualities can determine the impact of an artist’s inquiry.

examining drawing as a mode of "thinking through making", activating

German there is an expression, ‘the red thread’, which describes the

performative, functional, nationalistic and pedagogical dialogues.

process of making tangible connections between diverse elements,

FB: I don’t really think there is a particular revival of drawing. This line

Employing a curatorial strategy reminiscent of the ‘Drawing Now:

identifying a common reoccurring theme. During my recent residency

is often trotted out in the promotion of drawing shows, but I feel that I

Eight Propositions’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New

in The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and Humanities, I

have heard it so often that it can’t actually be a revival but a recurrent

York, (2003), ‘working.drawing’ engaged with a range of disciplines,

installed one kilometre of red line throughout several storeys of the

commentary.

from the visual arts to architecture, design and animation, re-activating

Academy, creating a site-specific response to the building. In creating

the discourse surrounding classification of the medium. Whether some

a three-dimensional visualisation of a line drawing done almost two

E.O’K: I think there are many reasons for the current revival of drawing

of these disciplines belong in a gallery context, or what might actually

years earlier, the site-specific work investigates chronological ordering

within contemporary practice. Some of these are to do with the uncertain

constitute a drawing were questions put to the viewer.

systems which transcend a linear perception of history in favour

times we live in; drawing has the capacity to transcend perceived

‘Drawing Now’ articulated a distinctive contemporary shift away

of a multi-dimensional perspective of time, past and present. The

boundaries within different disciplines. It is a very mobile medium

from the ‘performativity’ developed in experimental drawing from the

installation echoes the original sketch, demonstrating how drawing

both practically and conceptually. There is a freedom to drawing, it

1960s onwards, which celebrated the ‘perpetual state’ of art in reaction

can inform and determine my entire process in developing a body of

defies categorisation, its relevance has never been questioned.

to the materiality of the art object. The exhibition rejected the tendency

work.

MO: I don’t know if there is a revival of drawing, it is always there, and

within drawing towards ‘process’ in art, privileging instead the medium’s capacity to be descriptive, representational, and complete, a stance that

Fergus Byrne spoke in detail about the month he spent as artist in

it always will be. It depends on what you’re looking for, and what’s

gained momentum in the 1990s in a drawing revival not seen since post-

residence in The Dock, where he conducted life drawing classes, and

fashionable. An artist can’t change with the seasons; we just gotta get

minimalism. With contributions from popular illustration, fashion,

spent time developing new work in response to the architecture of the

on with it.

animation, and architecture, ‘Drawing Now’ portrayed contemporary

building. Using drawing as a means of transcription and an analogue

drawing as autonomous, less connected to process and informed by

to his activity (walking, pacing, measuring) Byrne made visible his

other disciplines, resulting in the ‘emancipation’ of drawing from the

ephemeral actions, stating that the “drawing was in the making”.

Evidently, artists are divided on whether there is a ‘revival’ of drawing, but a renewed curatorial interest in the medium may be attributable to the intimate and enduring qualities of drawing, which

designations of fine art and the avant-garde.

Returning to the current Irish context, it seems significant

FB: In a more abstract manner, the mark making aspect of drawing has

provides a counter-position to sculptural or multi-media environments.

that ‘working.drawing’ convened in concurrence with several other

been the departure point for the ‘Skip Drawings’ made over the last

Alice Lyons, co-curator of ‘working.drawing’ described drawing as a

drawing exhibitions in galleries across the country, most notably in

three years. In a spacious studio I put paper beneath me as I skipped

“deep-structure activity” which is “alive to us at a moment of steady

The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire, The Wandsford Quay Gallery,

rope to keep warm / do something. The ‘parabolic’ mark of the rope

and increasing clarity about the conjoined nature of visual and verbal

Cork and Ormston House, Limerick. Does now seem a pertinent time to

appealed to me.

activities”. Alluding to the relationship between text and image, and referencing the literary translator David Bellos, she described drawing as

wonder whether another ‘revival’ of drawing is taking place? And if so, many other questions persist. What is the substance of this artistic or

Byrne also described previous engagements with drawing in

“akin to the process of translation” where the “mind is engaged in multi-

curatorial ‘return to drawing’? How does it differ from previous revivals

response to sound-scapes, which produced a very different range of

level pattern-making pursuits”. Current curatorial interest in drawing –

of the medium? Is it still relevant to classify drawing as a noun or a

mark-making in response to the external stimulus of sound and its

from the expressive and poetic to the conceptual and cinematic – does

verb (ie a thing or a process of doing)? With these questions in mind,

acoustic.

not appear to envision drawing in outmoded binary terms, negotiating instead a site for the ‘performative’ and the ‘autonomous’ to co-exist

I interviewed (via email) four of the artists participating in ‘working. drawing’, Tinka Bechert, Fergus Byrne, Eamon O’Kane and Magnhild

E O’K: For me, drawing is a way of thinking and can take many forms.

within the gallery space. As a means of transcription, preparation or

Opdøl, to examine a range of current approaches to drawing.

Like Bruce Nauman and Gabriel Orozco, I approach all of my work as a

documentation, contemporary drawing embodies a process which

form of drawing. My approach is very open ended and I use drawing on

leaves behind a thing: an act of doing translated into a visually and

a daily basis to test out new ideas and to solve problems within various

conceptually cohesive end result, transforming even the simplest

projects. A drawing may be complete when it begins to provide clues

image into a powerful and enduring archetype.

Joanne Laws: What constitutes a drawing?

Tinka Bechert: I have come to see the term ‘drawing’ as a very open

about where to go next. Conversely, it is perhaps never finished, as it

enquiry. It is perhaps the most immediate investigation, which shows

could be said that drawing continually describes its own making.

Joanne Laws is a critical writer based in Leitrim. Her writing has been published in a variety of Irish and international contexts

very clearly the artist’s initial interest in the subject. Drawing can also be (as expressed in the English ‘drawing together’, ie uniting, or

MO: My art practice is a constellation of different media such as

including Afterimage Journal of Media, Arts and Cultural Criticism

bringing together in a common cause) a site for the convergence of

drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation, but they all

(US), Axisweb (UK) , Cabinet (US) and Variant (UK).

disparate elements, sources and materials. Drawing is always a form of

evolve from drawing. I started drawing because it was convenient,

wondering, thinking and figuring out.

as I had little space at the time, but it has become an important part

http://www.tinkabechert.com

of my work, and I find a lot of energy in drawing, both working with

http://www.visualartscentre.ie/fergus_byrne.htm

Fergus Byrne: A drawing is a means of channelling and focusing

it, and looking at other artists who use it. My drawing and sculptural

http://www.eamonokane.com

thoughts or observations in a physical engagement with mark-making

works that build installations evolve around the poetics of death: the

http://magnhildopdol.blogspot.com

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

17

issue

Audience Development in the Visual Arts Dr Ian fillis of stirling university puts forward his ideas on audience development and marketing practice within the visual arts.

creating the market versus following the market. The former market versus following the market. The former orientation can be viewed as innovative and even entrepreneurial while the latter is more to do with fitting in with mainstream perceptions and taking fewer risks.

Hirschman suggests that the marketing concept does not match the behaviour and philosophy of the artist as a producer of products because of the personal values and the social norms which impact on the artistic production process.11 We need to also relate to the aesthetic values of the audience too. Artists create mainly to express their subjective conceptions of beauty, emotion or some other aesthetic

While most current research on arts marketing promotes the

A further issue to consider is whether the museum or gallery

ideal. Aesthetic creativity is the central influence in the process, and is

adoption of conventional or mainstream approaches to marketing,1

should follow its own instincts or adopt a market orientation approach

expressed or experienced purely for its own sake rather than responding

there is a growing consensus that this also has its limitations.2

to audience development. This raises the issue of either following their

to customer demand. The notion of the producer and consumer as

Cultural organisations in general may practice recognised forms of

artistic ideals or continually offering what the audience expects. The

distinctly separate entities does not necessarily hold within the art

marketing but their overall aim is not necessarily to satisfy market

creation of demand through innovative programming introduces

world. The subjective interpretation of issues relating to value are perhaps much more subtle than in other sectors.

needs. Any audience development activity should acknowledge

an element of entrepreneurship and risk-taking into the equation. A

its role in social, as well as economic terms. This can be achieved by

gallery or museum could, however, develop a balanced programme

focusing on relationship marketing and the exploration of existing

containing both orientations in their offering. Although galleries and

Some conclusions:

and development of new networks. Creative input into the process is also needed, rather than continual reliance on step-by-step processes.

art museums must consider particular marketing strategies in order to either broaden or deepen their audience,8 it is how they go about doing

market sectors is that art as a product has little or no functional or

In other words, if particular context-specific thinking is required due

this, which is of interest here. Today’s environment is a challenging

utilitarian value. There is also a close link between artistic practice and

to the needs of the venue and / or the audience, then this should be

one where galleries must clearly communicate the correct messages

entrepreneurial thinking, with links between art making and intuitive

embedded in the process, rather than slavishly adhering to textbook

with their audiences when vying for our leisure time in an increasingly

vision. The artist can also be viewed as a risk taking entrepreneurial

forms of marketing planning and strategy. In other words, we should

crowded marketplace.

owner / manager, as can the audience development manager. The

3

A differentiating factor between the visual arts and other

Rentschler neatly summarises how arts marketing has evolved over

philosophical clash of ‘art for art’s sake’ versus ‘art for business’ sake’

three periods of development, and how we can formulate programmes of audience development from this.9 The Foundation Period (1975–1984)

should not be viewed as an inhibitor of the visual arts marketing

Audience development involves three groups: the producers of the art (the artists), cultural intermediaries such as galleries and museums,

describes the era when arts organisations realised that an alternative,

perceiving philosophical clashes as problematical, they should instead

and the audience. When considering the involvement of the audience

more strategic, approach to ‘doing marketing’ was needed, rather

be viewed as opportunities for developing new solutions to audience

in addressing future needs, this can be thought of in three ways:

than focusing on audience research alone. The Professionalisation

development.

consideration of the utilitarian or physical value of the exhibition,

Period (1985–1994) identified a time when formalisation of marketing

the meanings generated by the audience about the exhibition, and the

practices and the setting up of marketing departments within arts

hedonic or pleasurable sensations acquired during and after visiting the exhibition.4 This would suggest that a combination of qualitative

organisations was occurring. More recently, the Creative or Discovery

(face to face individual meetings or focus groups) and quantitative

within the industry must acquire and practice creative, entrepreneurial

(questionnaires) methods should be used to acquire feedback from

marketing in order to successfully differentiate their businesses in the

audiences on, for example, why they came to the exhibition, rather

ever increasing cultural industries marketplace.

design audience development programmes fit for the purposes of the venue’s audience.

than just who they came with.

Period (1994 – present) focuses on the realisation that those working

For centuries, artists have existed in a world which has been

Slater and Armstrong identify a number of audience involvement

shaped in part by their own attitudes towards art but which also co-

characteristics which can be used to drive visitor numbers: centrality

exists within the confines of a market structure. Many artists have

and pleasure; desire to learn; escapism (spirituality and creativity); sense

thrived under the conventional notion of a market with its origins

of belonging and prestige; and the physical and motivational drivers of involvement.5 It is also the quality of the experience which drives

in economics and supply and demand, while others have created a

audience numbers,6 which of course then raises a further question: How

Existing marketing frameworks often fail to explain how and why

to measure quality? If the audience deems the experience to be of high

the artist develops an individualistic form of marketing where the

quality, then this can have a positive impact on driving higher levels of

self and the artwork are just as important as the audience as customer

loyalty in the longer term. Another way of looking at the relationship

and consumer. Little account has been taken of the philosophical clashes of ‘art for art’s sake’ versus ‘business’ sake’.10 Visual art has

between the audience, gallery or museum and the artist, is that the audience is the consumer and co-creator of the experience.7 Therefore,

market for their work through their own entrepreneurial endeavours.

long been a domain where product and artist centred marketing have

it should be directly involved in shaping future audience development

been practiced successfully. We should consider the motivations of

strategies.

the artist in making art. It may be useful to think of this in terms of

Printed Project 15: Physical Stuff Made Strange Curator / Editor: Vivienne Dick Assistant Editor: Treasa O’Brien Printed Project 15 invites filmmakers, artists and critics to approach the image from myriad perspectives: film as material, as phenomenological experience, as rendered or discontinuous image.

Through interviews, essays and images contributors have explored themes such as: image and difference, image and rhythmn, sound image, video and live performance, and the auratic power of the projected image.

Cover price: €10

Founded in 2003, Printed Project is a curated contemporary art journal, published twice a year by Visual Artists’ Ireland. Each issue is compiled by invited curator / editors.

progress, but rather as a catalyst for creative change. Instead of

Notes 1. L Hill, C O’Sullivan and T O’Sullivan, Creative Arts Marketing, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003 2. R Rentschler, Innovative Arts Marketing, Allen and Unwin Academic, Melbourne, 1999 - I Fillis, ‘The theory and practice of visual arts marketing’, in Arts Marketing, P Fraser and F Kerrigan Butterworth (eds) Heinemann, 2004, pp 119–138 - R Rentschler,‘Museum marketing: understanding different types of audience’ in F Kerrigan, P Fraser and M Ozbilgin, Arts Marketing, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, London, 2004 3. F Colbert, J Nantel, S Bilodeau and J D Rich, Marketing Culture and the Arts, Chair in Arts Management, 2000, Montreal 4. C Lange, ‘Visibility and involvement in effective arts marketing’, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 2010, vol 28, no 5, pp 650–668 5. A Slater, and K Armstrong, 'Involvement, Tate and me' Journal of Marketing Management, 2010 vol 26, nos 7-8, pp 727-748 6..J Radbourne, K Johanson, H Glow and T White ‘The audience experience: measuring quality in the performing arts’, International Journal of Arts Management, vol 11 no 3, 2009, pp 16–29 7. J Radbourne, K Johanson and H Glow, ‘Empowering audiences to measure quality’, Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, vol 7 no 2, 2010, pp 360–379.

- A Osborne and R Rentschler,‘Conversation, collaboration and cooperation. Courting new audiences for a new century’, in D O’Reilly and F Kerrigan (eds), Marketing the Arts: A Fresh Approach, Routledge, London, 2010 8. Lange, 2010 9. R Rentschler, ‘Museum and Performing Arts Marketing: A Climate of Change’, The Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society, vol 28 no 1, 1998, pp 83–96 10. I Fillis, ‘The theory and practice of visual arts marketing’, in Arts Marketing, P Fraser and F Kerrigan Butterworth (eds) Heinemann, 2004, pp 119–138 11. E C Hirschman, ‘Aesthetics, ideologies and the limits of the marketing concept’, Journal of Marketing

Vivienne Dick is a filmmaker artist who lives and works in Galway. She moved to New York in 1975 and became a key figure of the 'No Wave' movement. Her films have been screened at cinemas, museums and film festivals interntionally, including Reine Sofia, Filmhaus Vienna, Moma and the Whitney in New York. Festivals include: New York, Edinburgh, Berlin, and Oberhausen. A retrospective of her work was shown at The Crawford Arts Gallery in 2009, and at Tate Modern in September 2010. She has received a number of Production Awards from The British and Irish Arts Councils, and has had work commissioned by Channel 4, BBC and RTE. She was elected member of Aosdána in 2007. Her work is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Archives, New York, and the Irish Film Archives.

With contributions from Bev Zalcock, Abigail Chil, Agnes Varda, Austin Ivers, Ed Halter, Jo Ann Kaplan, Margaret Fitzgibbo, Aine phillips, Lucy Reynolds, Sarah Pucill, Maria Klonaris, Katerina Thomadaki, Sherry Millner and Ernie Larsen.

www.printedproject.com

18

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

Interview

Returning to the question of priorities, it is important to ensure this richness and variety is sustained, so that when the economic upturn arrives, the arts are ready to benefit and be included in the bounty of the better times.

PH: What are your hopes and ambitions for the visual arts within Northern Ireland in the longer term (activities, resources, facilities, etc)?

Education plays an important role in raising awareness and understanding of the arts. There will be an important role for the Arts Council to engage with the Educational Skills Authority to ensure that the arts are a priority for schools. Also, the development of new media provides fertile ground for future public engagement with the arts, because it allows for wider access to production and creativity. New technologies are emerging which allow young people to discover their individual capacity for creativity in ways that would have been inconceivable a few years ago. This encourages a greater understanding of what is possible.

With my background in broadcasting, I see parallels between what is

Bob Collins at Robert Thierrien, No Title (A Table and Four Chairs), The MAC, Belfast, 2012

happening today in the arts and the way television was democratised in the 1970s. The media were, in the main, vehicles by which content

The New Chair

was consumed. New media offers the real possibility for people to create content and develop self-expression. Young people are already vigorously engaged. That is a source of promise and potential.

Pauline hadaway talks to bob collins about his new role as chair of the arts council northern ireland

Staying with the question of education and the arts, the spoken word is very much a part of children’s lives from the earliest age. From the moment they start to engage with the spoken and written word, they are encouraged to develop a critical faculty, which means discriminating

Pauline Hadaway: What are the Arts Council’s priorities for the

The two Arts Councils on this island have achieved a great deal

between the well written and the poorly written, whether poetry, plays,

visual arts in Northern Ireland over the next five years?

working together, not least putting together a survey of the living and

or stories and books. Unfortunately no parallel process of engagement

working conditions of artists. The word ‘elite’ is often thrown about, as

exists in relation to visual culture. Without experience or access to

Bob Collins: The Arts Council has a broad remit across art forms and

if those who engage in the arts are a privileged group. In fact artists

knowledge of visual literacy, the imagination remains undeveloped

the priorities for the visual arts are formed within this wider framework

enjoy an average income of £7,500. One of their most striking qualities

and it becomes very difficult for people to distinguish between what is

of support. We will be designing a Five Year Plan, setting out our overall

is their level of personal commitment. We can do a lot to support

well presented or poorly presented. Not looking at the visual world as

priorities for the arts. The Five Year Plan is important, not in a

professional development and career enhancement. All the policy in

critically as we might, we are in danger of assuming a passive

mechanistic way, but because it will help to shape the intellectual

the world won’t make a difference without the work of artists.

relationship to the world more generally. The disparity between our

space for future decision-making. So we genuinely need the planning

familiarity with text and visual culture is a problem, which many in

process to be consultative, which means hearing from and responding

PH: What qualities distinguish visual arts practice in NI from

the visual arts recognise. I recall Declan McGonagle pointing out this

to the sector. We want to find out what you see as your main priorities.

other parts of the world?

out recently, that the visual dimension of experience too often remains

I think we are all agreed that we’d like to see steady development of the

undeveloped.

arts, especially now, at a time of great economic uncertainty. To achieve

BC: I don’t support ideas of ‘exceptionalism’. Of course the individual

this, we will all have to work together to persuade those who direct

artist is a product of his or her own local, historical context and in

The schools have a role to play in helping to develop a critical and

public policy of the vital contribution the arts are making to society.

Northern Ireland, over the years, visual artists have made very particular

discerning audience for the visual arts. The task will be to provide as

The arts are not detached from society, but situated right at the centre

responses to the violence and the conflict. One can’t leave the past

many people as possible with an opportunity to realise their capacity

of personal and social experience, expressing society’s sense of itself

aside, but if we were to simply stand still in relation to that particular

to fully understand visual culture. I think that this capacity exists in all

and how it imagines the future.

history, we would run the risk of producing clichéd responses.

of us, in one way or another, unfortunately it is too often undiscovered.

PH: What are the greatest challenges facing the Arts Council in

There is an intimacy about Northern Ireland – as a place and a

terms of supporting future development of the visual arts? And

community, that gives rise to close and supportive relationships. This

quality that emerges, quite often, in the most unpromising situations.

We need to encourage people to enjoy and appreciate what is around

what are the main opportunities offered?

is of great benefit, although close relationships may sometimes give

them and to discover and realise their capacity to imagine. That means

rise to “an intimacy that excludes affection”. That’s something that

making visual art, architecture and public art a key issue for public

BC: All of us, across society, are facing serious economic problems

needs to be guarded against. I’m quoting Hubert Butler, a somewhat

policy.

through on-going public sector spending cuts, and inevitably there will

neglected but nevertheless significant Kilkenny writer. What he’s

be further cuts. We are clearly operating in a very different economic

talking about is the way that small communities may run the risk of

We are building upon significant public investment in new

context now than we were, say, 10 years ago, but that shouldn’t have to

turning in on themselves. I think, however, in Northern Ireland, visual

infrastructure like the MAC, and talking about ways of improving the

mean the end of ambition or expectations for future growth. When I

artists have developed a capacity to look beyond themselves and their

range and quality of studios for artists, and there are some in the arts

was with the Equality Commission, I used to say, ‘equality is not a fair-

immediate environment. Perhaps this is because artists here don’t

community who are currently exploring the possibility of developing

weather friend’, or something to be discarded when times are tough. It’s

enjoy a sense of being self-sustaining, by having everything they need

a Centre of Contemporary Arts. There are significant grounds for

exactly the same with the arts. They are integral to a fully functioning

on their own doorstep, as they might in London or one of the larger

optimism and an increasing self-confidence in Northern Irish cultural

society. That means engaging with the public, not simply to persuade

metropolitan centres. I think artists here have learnt to reach out to the

life, alongside a growing appreciation of the need to sustain investment

them of the importance of the arts, but because we acknowledge that

international dimension and this gives their work a particular quality

in the arts. The challenge will be to maintain and resource these new

the public have an entitlement to access and enjoy them. We all make

and appeal. Another striking quality is the variety and range of arts

projects in the future. While recognising the breadth of the visual arts,

a contribution to society and have the imaginative capacity to enjoy or

activity, which provides a rich mix of experiences.

I think we need to look at the entire range of the arts in all their

The ability to express oneself through art is a remarkable human

diversity, and to build on the richness of our cultural environment.

be affected by the arts, so there is a real obligation to maintain public access and to encourage public engagement.

Certainly a lot of people on this island have demonstrated exceptional ability on the international stage, from Nobel Laureates to Turner

Pauline Hadaway

Public galleries and exhibition spaces play an important role in making

nominees. While this isn’t a question of ‘something in the genes’, there

Photography since 2000.

has been director

of Belfast Exposed

art widely accessible, which is why the closure of the Ormeau Baths

is clearly a local context and artists can often lead the way. Increasingly,

Manifesto Club report, 'Policing the Public Gaze: the assault on

Gallery was such a disappointment. It’s also disappointing that

in Northern Ireland more generally, we are starting to see a greater

citizen photography' and has had articles published in Printed

Northern Ireland still hasn’t achieved its own national gallery space.

engagement with the wider world. Understanding the value of a rich

Project, Circa, spiked on line, Architects’ Journal, Forth.ie and

On the other hand, there is cause for optimism, because we are seeing

artistic life will help support a general lifting of our horizons as a

Forthwrite.

the opening of the MAC. Of course there will be challenges in terms of

society, by encouraging us to lift our gaze beyond the here and now.

how to resource and programme these new spaces into the future, but

This idea expresses a social value for the arts, but I don’t believe it

we need to consult and plan to meet those challenges.

reflects an instrumental view.

Pauline is the author of the 2009

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Critique Supplement Edition 5 May / June 2012

Paul Doran 'An idea for something better' Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon 8 March – 14 April 2012 13 compelling objects made up ‘An idea for

the centre of Transformer forms a second, tension-

something better,’ Paul Doran’s latest exhibition.

inducing incongruity. Painted to visually blend with

Described as paintings, these small, intense

the design on the panel, it nevertheless stands apart

compositions actually defy distinction, containing

from the pictures and also intimates a cross brace

attributes that also enable them to be seen as

that serves no practical purpose. The element

drawings, assemblage or sculpture. Doran produces

references the under-structure of many canvases, but

these using pencil and crayon, scraps of fabric, fake

also subverts it. The cross brace motif also appears in

fur and off-cuts of plywood or other types of wood.

at least two other works: some mottled pink

The components of some works project off the

brushstrokes form a painted vertical beam that

surface of the picture plane; in others the picture’s

emphasizes the symmetry in Armchair and a central

frame has been subsumed into the image. Surveying

wood post accompanied by a quartet of disoriented corner brackets that have been fixed to the panel with shiny new screws feature in the ominous Night Birds. Stretcher keys – integrated by a generous application of paint – also decorate the latter work’s frame.

On the surface Doran’s works come across as roughshod constructions. Made from what appear to be discarded components, one finds isolated staples protruding from select surfaces, crudely assembled frames and passages of paint whose integrity has been disrupted by the presence of screw holes. An overt drabness pervades certain compositions.

Fragments of fake fur and a palette weighted toward black, umber, ochre and white relay vapidity. The application of design elements, whether they comprise brush strokes, pencil marks, pieces of paper or strips of fabric frequently seem tentative at best.

But if one keeps looking, an alternate reality emerges. The tenuousness of the works dissipates and they show themselves as tough little compositions that offer a wealth of visual information. They are playful, intelligent and convey an enticing tactility. The compositions Garden, Cloud and Night Sky stand out as prime examples of this.

Exhibiting a complex interplay of media, they also bristle with energy. A sly sense of humour informs many of the titles and factors into the process of interpretation. They offer clues, which together with the specific characteristics of each work, bring about conflicting associations that keep us speculating about the depictions and their prospective meanings.

The arches in An idea for something better, for example, may be seen as a symbol of optimism and timelessness – think of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch – or a disparagement of a global fast-food chain’s logo. Such fascinating anomalies instil wonder and cause to question whether these manifestations happen to depend more upon coincidence, intuition or plan. The extended

Paul Doran, An idea for something better, 2010, 18.8 x 25cm, images courtesy of the artist and Green on Red Gallery

consideration of Doran’s output suggests it has little the presentation raises a host of questions. What is

to do with happenstance, but is rather the result of a

Doran’s aim here? He seems to be playing with the

carefully considered and open process of

idea of what a painting can or cannot be by exploring

development. Doran is an artist firmly in touch with

the technical language of paintings in a variety of

his materials. He possesses great skill at picture

ways. Or is he delving deeper; tapping into something

making and a strong awareness of its technological

innate to forge a unique and very personal visual

aspects. Working with capability and determination,

vocabulary?

he reshuffles and flips its structures to create startling

Much of the impact of Doran’s work derives

variety and pushes painting into new territory.

from the use of conventional materials in unconventional ways. Looking at any these works one encounters staples of the painter’s profession – canvas supports, wood panels, staples, screws, size, gesso, drawing media and paint. Their deployment produces

numerous

inconsistencies.

Take

Transformer, where Doran converts a strainer with its tacked canvas edges into a picture frame. He accomplishes the transformation by hanging a stretched canvas the wrong way round and then fills the window of the strainer with a panel painting. A second canvas is turned front to back in Secret, but here its canvas has been slit several times to reveal the presence of a second, right-way-round painting sandwiched between the first canvas and the wall.

Paul Doran, Transformer, 2011, 30.7 x 39cm

Paul Doran, Armchair, 2011, wood, acrylic, paint, 26.7 x 33.7cm

A vertically oriented length of wood attached to

John Gayer is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and the University of Toronto. Currently based in Dublin, his writing has appeared in Sculpture, Framework – the Finnish Art Review, Art Papers, and other publications.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIqUE SUPPlEMENT

Gee Vaucher 'lost for Words' Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda 2 March – 21April 2012

'spiders From Mars' The belltable Arts Centre and Occupy Space, limerick 5 April – 11 May 2012

Oswaldo Ruiz, Askeaton Idle, 2011

Mark McGreevy, Chungle, 2012, oil on canvas, 50 x 40cm

May – June 2012

Andrew Dodds, New Horizons, 1999 (ongoing)

thIs “retrospective of sorts” by Gee Vaucher,

As a member of Crass you might not expect

organised in association with Drogheda’s Nexus

anything other than a blunt approach that ignores

Arts Group, reveals the artist’s commitment, over

polite sensibilities. Yet there is some subtlety – and

several decades, to varied causes. From an anti-

humour – in Vaucher’s work, alongside the direct

establishment stance, Vaucher has addressed war,

communication of outrage. This is evident in the

gender politics, international relations and religion

works on paper in the Animal Rites series, in which

through visual forms ranging from collage and

elements from human faces are fixed onto the heads

assemblage to printmaking and painting.

of animals. The series also exists as a book, subtitled

Vaucher was a member of the punk band Crass

A Pictorial Study of Relationships Relationships. Vaucher has a keen

and many of the works exhibited were created as

eye for formal analogies which she uses to create

cover art for the band’s releases. The Feeding of the

strangely plausible creatures. Less subtle are the

5000 album depicts a dystopian view of late 1970s

combinations of dolls heads on toy animals, unified

urban life, with soldiers occupying derelict streets

by the consistency of their plastic fabrication and

while children play amongst the flames. The artwork

huddled together on a plinth.

for the album Best Before and for the single Bloody

Dolls appear again in the Icons series: gold-

Revolutions depict Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul

framed transfer prints from 1997 fusing classical

II, Margaret Thatcher and the Statue of Liberty as a

and renaissance sculpture, photographs of girls’ and

group of punks.

women’s faces and nude bodies. Their composite

All four characters re-appear in works from the

nature is made obvious with body parts of differing

1970s and 80s. The Queen and the Pope feature in

scales combined in a mix-and-match fashion. More

International Anthem 4, with its Irish theme. Vaucher

striking is the 1982 Nude Nude, in which a dramatically lit

‘spIders from Mars’, curated by Michele

containing found objects and animal parts that have

compiled five issues of this “nihilist newspaper for

woman reclines, her face masked by a crumpled

Horrigan, is presented as two exhibitions, linked by

been manipulated or refashioned by the artist. There

the living” and illustrations for the paper feature

photograph.

theme but physically separate. Horrigan has chosen

is a delicate orchestration of beauty and horror in

strongly in the exhibition. While no print copies of

The works on paper and the sculptural

to use David Bowie’s 1972 concept album, Ziggy

these works, a contained violence that calls to mind

the International Anthem are included, which would

assemblages are all small in scale and are physically

Stardust and the Spiders from Mars Mars, as a curatorial

a Victorian aesthetic of pretty brutality.

have provided the original context for their

dominated by several large scale paintings. Two of

frame within which to present this group of works,

Manifold’s work links visually to that of

distribution, the illustrations do give a sense of the

these – portraits of children – are hung in sequence

or “contemporary art positions” as they are termed

Mexican artist Oswaldo Ruiz. Askeaton Idle and Das

vigour and energy of the project. Issues dedicated to

with an additional blank canvas onto which a video

in the exhibition leaflet. This choice lays down at

Zeil are two large-format inkjet photographs, each

domestic violence, education and war featured pop

is intended to be projected. On first encounter the

least two layers of storytelling, prior to anything

showing a night-time landscape at the centre of

collages with a satirical bite.

presentation of ‘Lost for Words’ seemed a little

generated by the constellation of works themselves:

which Ruiz has turned spotlights onto ephemeral

While the title of the exhibition may imply

forlorn, given that the video was not being screened

the fiction of Ziggy Stardust, an alien from a distant

constructions, formed from found or waste materials.

that the artist is “lost for words” Vaucher frequently

and the lights were only turned on part way through

galaxy who arrives on earth in the last five years of

These “islands of light” contrast with the intense

uses word-play in her titles. In Don’t Get Court Court, spray-

the visit. On closer viewing, Vaucher’s works on

its existence to give a message of hope to humanity;

darkness surrounding them, their apparent stillness

painted placards are inserted into what appears to

paper provide a fascinating document of an activist

and a sort of re-enactment in which the curator

pregnant with a sense of impending or abating

be a nineteenth-century print depicting a destitute

art practice from the 1970s to the present day. Its

appears to step into Bowie’s role as the author of a

group waiting outside a courtroom. In a sense,

partisan nature means that much of the work will

fantastical scenario, imagining the selected artists as

action.5 Like other artists in the exhibition, Jeronimo

Vaucher is presenting moral lessons for modern

elicit reactions dependant on the political stance of

“a loose cohort of reactionaries [who] twist and

Hagerman makes work that explores the relationship

times. The shift in meaning embodied in puns is also

the viewer. While some works may resonate less

contort the environments around them”.1 Andrew Dodds presents two works, one in each

between ‘nature’ and the individual, testing the

used visually, as in Great Scott Scott, where birds flying

strongly when the issues represented have passed

physical and conceptual limits of both terms. Two

over a pastoral scene morph into warplanes.

into history, many demonstrate a deft ability to

venue. Games and Decisions (Video) and Games and

works are shown here: Invasion behind the camera, a

Many works exploit shocking contrasts – an

Decisions (Book) read as a single work, consisting of a

photograph of vegetation swamping a surveillance

emaciated baby at an opulent banquet, a mother and

video showing the artist burning an image of an

camera on a building in Limerick; and Wire Frame

child in a war zone – and this is one of the strengths

“Enlightenment landscape”, by means of sunlight

Planet System, a sculptural construction made from

of photo-collage. Images can be cut and reconfigured

Logan Sisley is Exhibitions Curator at the Hugh

through a magnifying glass, onto the cover of the book Games and Decisions.2 The same book is

wire hanging baskets, placed in the centre of the

with the scars of photographic surgery left visible. In

Lane Gallery.

gallery floor.

a number of works, Vaucher takes the process a step

presented on a shelf in the gallery. New Horizons is a

Horrigan has assumed a curator-as-artist role –

further, employing collage techniques in the

video work in which paintings of rustic landscapes

an approach that is becoming more prevalent in

composition, but using painting or printmaking to

by Gainsborough and Constable have had their

curatorial practice. It strikes me as similar to the role

produce the final image, thus smoothing out the

skies digitally removed and replaced with home

of the producer of the Kunstkammer (‘art-room’), a

surface.

videos of tornadoes and lightning storms, featuring

Renaissance form to which the contemporary

a piercing, white noise soundtrack sampled from a

practice of exhibition-making is kin. The use of

horror movie. These works demonstrate Dodds’

Ziggy Stardust as a curatorial frame is a risky strategy;

repeated use of fracturing and deconstruction to

as an already loaded cultural signifier, it threatens at

challenge cultural representations of nature /

times to drown out some of the quieter moments in

landscape, but they also amplify the alien and

the exhibitions. Where it works, it generates a

apocalyptic elements of the curatorial theme.

playful tension between creation and destruction,

Mark McGreevy shows nine paintings across the two exhibitions, which read as a single series despite being physically separated. Each of these small works has a heavily laboured surface that contrasts with the apparent frivolity of the imagery.

The chaotic piling-up of elements and layers of bright colour has a quality that McGreevy himself termed “camp”,3 which was recently defined as an “unexpectedly intense commitment to the seemingly trivial”.4 McGreevy’s work seems to articulate an alternative cosmology that resonates with the otherworldly theme of the exhibition.

A darkened side-room at Occupy Space is the site for a physically and conceptually self-contained installation by Louise Manifold. Five black plinths are topped by glass domes lit from below, each

create new critical images out of the flood of media imagery.

between hope and apocalypse, fragility and violence, in keeping with the ambience of our time.

Fiona Woods is a visual artist whose practice includes curating and writing. She is one of the 2012 artists-in-residence at Leitrim Sculpture

Gee Vaucher, Bull, 1997

Gee Vaucher, Children, 2007

'lost for Words' opening night, image courtesy of Droichead

'lost for Words' opening night, image courtesy of Droichead

Centre and will produce a solo exhibition there in the autumn. www.fionawoods.net Notes 1. 'Spiders from Mars' exhibition leafletaccompanying the exhibition at belfast Exposed 2. Andrew Dodds, artist talk at Occupy Space, 6 April, 2012 3. Mark McGreevy, artist talk at Occupy Space, 6 April, 2012 4. 'CAMP/ ANTI-CAMP, A queer Guide To Everyday life', curated by Susanne Sachsse and Marc Siegel, http://www.hebbel-am-ufer.de/en/kuenstler/ kuenstler_23099.html?hAU=2 accessed April 6th 2012 5. Juan Antonio Molina, Fearful Anticipation: Poetics Of Space In The Work Of Oswaldo Ruiz Ruiz, http://www.oswaldoruiz.com/texts/fearful_anticipation.html

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIqUE SUPPlEMENT

May – June 2012

Viewfinders Film Festival Newtown Castle and burren College of Art, Clare 30 March – 1 April 2012 the inaugural Viewfinders Film Festival

universal. Through candid commentary and at times

screened a diverse selection of 23 documentary films

uncomfortably personal revelations, Dixon and

pertaining to visual arts. The three-day programme

Lange’s extended family relay the complexities of

included films created on a range of budgets from the

their troubled family life. Although later in life Daniel

seemingly limitless to the shoestring: a film previously

and Dorothea developed a professional relationship

screened at Cannes, one produced through the Reel

and through it a warm friendship, much of the film

Art Scheme as well as archived films from the Irish

focused on the emotional damage and trauma

Film Institute. This lineup also included a series of

suffered by Daniel, his brother Paul and subsequently

short films and a panel discussion alongside question

their children. At times, lamentably, the film seems

and answer sessions with a number of film directors

preoccupied with revealing the careless, destructive

including Sophie Fiennes, Se Merry Doyle, Jane

and oppressive personality traits of the artists Lange

Crawford and Tom Ropelewski. Out of the notable

and Dixon. However, it does feature an extensive

and intriguing selection of films, a few were

series of rare and never-before-seen photographs and

particularly remarkable.

paintings from the collection of the Dixon-Lange

Tim Robinson: Connemara is a film centered on

family and the Oakland Museum of California.

the works of Robinson, a visual artist turned

Ultimately, it is this retrospective cinematography of

cartographer and writer. Specifically, the film explores

sorts that transcends the imperfect lives of the artists

the connection between his labouriously detailed

and which creates the lasting impression in the

maps of the West of Ireland and his trilogy of

viewer’s mind.

Mary Kelly 'A Father and Child' Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf 30 March – 5 May 2012

Connemara books. Through this documentary,

Screened at Cannes in 2010, Over Your Cities

director Pat Collins creates a visual and acoustic

Grass Will Grow gives privileged access to German

interpretation of Robinson’s 30-year experience of Connemara.

artist Anselm Kiefer’s studio estate, La Ribaute, in the

The film is interspersed with snapshots of local

years of Kiefer’s 15 year project, during which he

people, multiple views of the natural environment

designed and built a bizarrely industrial and post-

and footage of Robinson walking through the

apocalyptic city of ruins. Spread out over 45 hectares,

landscape. The seductive imagery and hypnotic slow

Kiefer’s labyrinth of tunnels, monumental columns,

pans are overlaid with Robinson’s voice as he reads

lopsided towers and almost 50 individual buildings

excerpts from his books that detail Connemara

house and display his paintings and sculptures. The

folklore and history, as well as Robinson’s personal

film is comprised of two distinct perspectives: La

reflections on walking the landscape. It becomes

Ribaute with people and without people. A portion of

apparent that walking is not only the fundamental

the film records the practicalities of and activity

component of Robinson’s methodology but also the

within Kiefer’s large-scale studio as he builds and

underlying connection between the processes of

paints with materials such as lead, concrete, ash, acid,

map-making and writing. Robinson states, “While

and glass, while the larger portion of the film is

Mary A Kelly has an educational background

with the image of his child, is the father also

walking the land I am the pen on the paper; while

dedicated to a private and immersive viewing of

in psychology and philosophy, in addition to fine art

attempting to internalise as well as externalise his

drawing this map, my pen is myself walking on the

Kiefer’s world through Fiennes’ graceful and sublime

and experimental film. Remaining in Ireland, this

relationship? Are the tattoos signifiers of a sense of

land.”

camera work. The documentary is a visual and

small green island has also served as a source of

loss or belonging? Is it the symbolic creation of some

narrative gem.

inspiration for her photographic and cinematic works

sort of altar within a human temple?

Integral to the translation of Robinson’s

Mary Kelly, Parlour Parlour, 2011, 180 x 180cm, photographic lambdachrome print, acrylic mount

south of France. The film documents the last two

Mary Kelly, Guns, 2012, 100 x 68cm, photographic lambdachrome print, acrylic mount

Mary Kelly, Galatians, 2012

Connemara experience is composer Sue Stenger’s

Viewfinders Film Festival provided rare and

of art. Kelly seeks to understand and make visible the

The art form of tattooing uses the human body

accompanying immersive soundscape. It is a skillful

informative insights into the studio practices,

language of everyday life and what lies beneath. Her

as its canvas. As a system of communication it

and fluid combination of sound recordings: rustling

methodologies and lives of established artists as well

work is beyond any pleasing taste or trivial depiction

provides a crucial databank of beliefs, values and

grass, crashing waves, wind whipping around

as the world of visual arts-based documentary

of reality. Even though reality may be considered her

history of individuals, groups and cultures.”

headlands, birdcalls, synthesized sounds and

filmmaking. Compliments to festival director Roisín

client, the psychologist's trained look behind the

traditional instrumentation. This documentary is a

McGuigan for assembling and presenting this

scenes is her true artistic achievement.

beautiful and poetic interpretation of experiencing

inspired, niche festival. Here’s hoping that next year’s

The artist's impulse to explore what lies

between mother and child. She later moved to the

the Connemara landscape, namely through the eyes

Viewfinders Film Festival will receive the funding to

underneath is determined by her interest in the

subject of father and child and, at the same time,

of Tim Robinson.

screen at larger venues and to a wider audience.

people she meets. For example, a video workshop

found another topic: the art of tattooing. Engraved

held at a high-security prison turned into an analysis

skin ornamentation, signifier, irremovably attached

Directed by Tom Ropelewski, Child of Giants

Her previous work, ‘Mother and Child’ (2003), was concerned with the elemental relationship

documents the life of Daniel Dixon, the eldest son of

Eileen Hutton is an environmentally-based artist

of privacy within impenetrable walls. After she had

to its bearer. Mary Kelly studied tattoos and captured

two iconic twentieth-century American artists,

who lives and works in the Burren. Her work has

won the prisoners' confidence they allowed her to

them in detailed photographs. It was the father and

painter Maynard Dixon and photographer Dorothea

been shown at (e)merge Art Fair in Washington

have a look at their cells. Human accommodation,

child relationship that left the deepest impression on

Lange. As the title indicates, the film is not the story

DC and SamsØn in Boston, Massachusetts.

limited to those few square metres of floor space,

her. In her quiet, meditative video, a father and his

changes into individual honeycombs. Accentuated

baby are sitting in front of a blue wall. Both father and

by identically ‘framed’ photographs – identical

son are turning their eyes to the camera. In Kelly’s

because the pictures were all taken through the open

photographs, the artist does not portray the face of

door and always show the same structure: shelf, bed,

the protagonist yet that does not mean they are

alongside the private embellishments and personal

reduced to his tattoos. The artist focuses on the tattoo

tastes of the inmates. They are the signs of what keeps

as an icon placed on the skin. These are pictures that

the individual alive.

speak for themselves.

of the everyman or even of the personal-made

Still from Gerhard Richter Painting, 2011

In her latest work series, Kelly scrutinizes the

The psychologist within the artist cannot help

often-complex relationship between father and child,

looking behind the façade of the ‘human comedy’.

which is – also with regard to paternity leave for

The images run counter to a highly aesthetic

fathers – an explosive topic. She writes:

photography in popular culture. Kelly’s questioning

“This new body of work is an exploration of the image of father and child. The image of the mother

is subtle, yet the viewer may feel unsettled or disturbed. This, it seems, is the artist’s intention.

and child is one of the most iconic images in the western world. Imagery of father and child is not so

Marianne Hoffmann is an art critic based in

enshrined."

Germany.

The corporeal attachment of the mother and her child takes place during gestation, giving birth and in some cases breastfeeding. Her child is marked on her body internally and hormonally and is an inherent burren College of Art during the Viewfinders Film Festival

Still from Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow Grow, 2010

part of the bonding process. By piercing his own body

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet Critique Supplement

May – June 2012

Maria McKinney 'Somewhere but here, another other place' The MAC, Belfast 20 April – 21 June 2012

Maria McKinney, Somewhere but here, another other place, 2012, image courtesy of the artist

Posterity owes a debt to mad kings. Henry

(by one hand, we would conceive), can be abstracted

VIII, in his wild-eyed fixation on a male heir, defied

to an examination of a psychological state – some

the supremacy of papal authority and precipitated

sort of introverted, putteringly obsessive neurosis of

one of the most ubiquitous drinking tunes there is.

the type insinuated in the work of Mark Manders,

Caligula supplied the bar by which all depravity is

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, or Mike

judged. And Ludwig II of Bavaria, patron of Wagner,

Nelson.

built a castle whose historically confused design and

Yet it seems that the person who assembled the

majestic superfluity would inspire generations of

puzzles stayed at home, while a less agoraphobic

scintillated daydreamers. In her inaugural exhibition

friend went and inserted them into an art exhibition.

at the MAC in Belfast, Dublin artist Maria McKinney

Ultimately, McKinney transforms quirkiness and

coaxes us to consider, and then reconsider this castle

disarray into structural deliberation so tightly that

and the substantial Sunday fantasising it has

the closure it achieves seems almost premature. Her

provoked.

staging is immoderately moderate – playful without

In McKinney’s ‘Somewhere but here, another

being overtly amusing, large without being

other place’, assembled in the gallery next to the

imposing, physically tenuous without straining the

new building’s entrance, the Neuschwanstein Castle

bounds of our trust in its integrity.

recurs around 30 times in illustrated reproductions

But ‘Somewhere but here…’ wears its eeriness

from all angles, distances and meteorological

lightly, like a half-finished sketch, which lends it a

temperaments – hot, close, at a climb, snowy, distant,

soft-impact, a lingering inquisitiveness. Similar to

from the bird’s eye – producing a multitude of

the late Mike Kelley’s legion of versions of the

variations on a single icon. That multiplicity is then

shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor from the

echoed in the configuration of the puzzles, which

Superman comics, it seems born out of compulsive

are also in a range of sizes, on a plethora of tables

basement-lodged obsession, yet feels in its sober

arranged and stacked on top of one another, as many

repetitions perfectly sane. In spite of being a stack of

as five high, in pell-mell precision.

tables, the vertical gaps of which are bridged by

There is an architectural sensibility to this

stacks of coasters, the structure looks perfectly

offset stacking that parallels the structural play of

sound, and the puzzles themselves complete and

the unveiled MAC building – an irregular, disjunctive

attentively arranged. Kelley fashioned plastic and

space with a lot of partial rises and descents. The

acrylic representations of a fictional city like

visitor enters a gallery like the sunken one in which

prototype set pieces for a film that was never made,

McKinney’s work is displayed, or the Upper Gallery

but in its dewy and sun-streaked portrayals

that now houses the work of American sculptor

Neushwanstein appears no less fictional. There was

Robert Therrien, feeling like the movement into the

a reason Walt Disney based his logo on its turrets.

space is at once easy and deliberate.

In the Sunken Gallery, the viewer muddles

kitschy and saccharine, but these multiple representations seem somehow more respectably

hand furniture, wrapping around the perimeter

wishful, even vaguely utopian – an effort to mould

before arriving at a staircase at the far end of the

in reality an implausibly noble, otherworldly thing.

space. In subdued mimicry, it plays on the hackneyed

The viewer’s sympathies are tugged into a collision

aerial approach used in many of the castle’s

between the concreteness of the castle that exists,

renderings. Moreover, as the gallery is indeed a

and the abstraction of the impossible world to

sunken, semi-subterranean space, even the pointed

which the castle appears to belong. Amidst a forest

climb up the staircase only manages to get the

of table legs, a kind of naïve longing sneaks in

viewer a foot or so above street level. McKinney has

undetected.

shown this work before under different conditions, for the heavens or slouching towards Bethlehem.

One jigsaw alone is an understated meditation

and publications, most recently Art Papers and annuals released by Project Arts Centre and The

sheer amount of time they represent, is a

LAB.

fantastic opulent place, which by rights has no reason to exist, is being recreated again and again

April 20 – June 30 Simon Norfolk (b.1963) Kabul ‘Pizza Express’ Restaurant behind the Municipal Bus depot (2011) © Simon Norfolk In partnership with Sirius Arts Centre

Simon Fujiwara: The Museum of Incest until June 27 Simon Fujiwara, The Museum of Incest, 2009 - Mixed media installation, Courtesy of Neue Alte Brücke, Private Collection Kortrijk, Belgium

Curt Riegelnegg is a writer and critic living in Dublin. He has contributed to various catalogues

on the passage of time. Upwards of 30 of them, in the straightforward vanitas. The fact that this one

photographs from the war in Afghanistan by John Burke and Simon Norfolk

One image of Neuschwanstein Castle seems

though this collection of fantasy scenes and second-

but here it’s hard to know whether we’re reaching

Burke + Norfolk:

Admission Free opening Hours Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10 am - 8pm Closed Sundays & Bank Holidays

guided Tours Guided visits for groups and schools see www.crawfordartgallery.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

23

Profile

re-establish the space and then allow it to act organically as a self-run venue that encouraged social interaction – not just through art, but through community-based projects and meetings. Over the last three years these projects have had mixed results.

The Trades Club Revival has held art and craft fairs, music gigs, exhibitions and private gatherings, but the club was forced to relocate in 2011 as a result of problems with the building management. Artist Adam Burthom is the current chairperson, and he and the committee chose to retain the name and idea of The Trades Club Revival despite their relocation. Their mantra is to keep the idea of a socially conscious, community-based group: an active movement based on the people involved, not on the venue. They have since operated from several spaces, staging pop-up events sporadically in Sligo town. This is a conscious choice, reflecting their attempt to establish a broad dialogue with a large community base throughout Sligo.

Push Remote Art Studio closed in early 2011 due to financial The Trades Club

The Model, atrium

constraints, concluding with an exhibition of the resident artists’ work.

The group continues to operate online as an information pool, and further events are planned for 2012. After this closure and the exodus of The Trades Club Revival from their central location, the Artmart remained the only artist-led space operating within the town that offered consistent exhibition opportunities to emerging artists.

Throughout 2011, the Artmart struggled to continue putting on regular art shows in the voluntary space. The organisers were put under increased pressure to continue an exhibition programme and maintain a building that was in poor repair without any financial aid and with limited voluntary assistance; in early 2012 the space also closed.

ArtMart

The Model, interior

The Model, studios

The Artist-Led Scene in Sligo

The lack of available funding has repeatedly been the key factor in the difficulties faced by artist-led spaces in Sligo. Certainly, the Artmart and Push Remote would not have closed if more open local funding existed to assist programmes such as these. The Trades Club Revival operate with no funding and as a result often struggle to secure venues for events.

In 2011, €60,000 of funding was pulled from Sligo Arts Office to

shane finan looks over devlopments in the sligo visual arts scene since 2009.

be used in conjunction with Sligo’s upcoming centenary celebrations this year. This loss threatened the existence of two of Sligo’s most successful art and music festivals, and also the local youth theatre group. After a successful intervention including a protest organised by

The artist-led scene in Sligo town has celebrated successes and

public installation. Plans were put in place for two of the spaces to

The National Campaign for the Arts, the funding was reinstated. The

lamented failures in the last three turbulent years. The town hosts a

remain open after the exhibition finished. Over 60 artists featured in

ongoing struggles with funding for emergent spaces is a constant

Fine Art Degree course (in Sligo Institute of Technology) and there has

what became one of the highlights of the inaugural Sligo Culture

barrier for artists wishing to engage in artist-led activities in Sligo.

long been an annual output of young visual artists, but opportunities

Night, and both Artmart Studios and Gallery, and Push Remote Art

in the town post-art college were consistently hampered by the absence

Studio were established in the wake of the exhibition.

Despite this, the result of the resurgence of artist-led projects in Sligo did have a visible effect on the established art community in the

of any artist-led studios or galleries. As a result, many of the art

The Artmart proceeded to develop an exhibitions programme

town. The former art space within the Yeats Gallery began to rent their

graduates from Sligo tended to drift away from the town. The graduate

under coordinators and artists Lisa Cannon, Sophie Murray and

exhibition rooms for a fee, but the gallery no longer has an exhibition

and self-taught artists that remained in the capital of the North West

Siabhra O’Brien, who were involved in the initial establishment of the

programme. In 2011, The Model responded to requests from resident

often found themselves trapped in an inanimate scene that appeared

space. Four studios existed on-site, allowing for the development of

and on-site artists (predominantly local) who rent their studio spaces

not to bolster their growth or development in any meaningful way.

work. The lack of available studio space in Sligo had been a key issue

to allow work to be exhibited in two spaces at the front of the building under an initiative named Room.

Before 2009, three art spaces, The Cat and The Moon Gallery (now

raised numerous times by artists during SLAM meetings. The Artmart

the Hamilton Gallery), The Yeats Gallery and The Model Arts and

became a hub for emerging artists, hosting exhibitions by recent Sligo

Room is one of a number of schemes that The Model have put into

Niland Gallery (now The Model) were the only established exhibition

graduates, current students and other young or emerging artists both

place over the last 12 months in an attempt to engage local artists in a

spaces in Sligo town. All three exhibited mid-career to established Irish

from Sligo and from across Ireland.

more meaningful way. This has become a higher priority for the venue,

and international artists in their programmes.

Push Remote Arts is a project established in Leitrim and Sligo to

with local artists invited to participate in projects such as the May Day

However, the post-recession landscape altered the Sligo art scene

act as an information pool to assist emerging artists from rural areas in

celebrations last year, and an invitation for artists to become involved

significantly, and in 2009 an artist-led scene developed in the town

developing art opportunities. The group has operated online since

in the redevelopment of an outdoor area beside the gallery earlier this

offering new opportunities to early-career artists who lived in Sligo and

2007, offering information and exhibition opportunities to emerging

year. There has been an ongoing rotation of exhibitions in Room since

the north-west. That year, long-running art venue within the the Yeats

artists from the area. In 2009 the establishment of the Push Remote Art

its establishment, and this has provided opportunities for an array of

Gallery, often locally criticised for establishing a coterie, closed. The

Studio gave studios to three emerging artists and served as an occasional

artists to showcase current work alongside the internationally

Model, which programmes an enviable calendar of internationally

recognised exhibitions programme of the main gallery.

established visual art exhibitions, changed its name and moved off-site

exhibition venue showcasing emerging artists’ work. It became a common meeting point for local artists.

from its usual location in a nineteenth-century former schoolhouse, as

The collaborative engagement encouraged by Elliott-Harris that

exhibit in a well-established gallery space. This is paramount to the

developments were made to the building. Rebranding became a central

helped guide the establishment of these projects fell into line with the

development of early-career artists and has already proved valuable to

aim of many Irish art institutions who were now fighting to retain

theme of social collaboration which garnered support following the

several past exhibitors.

their place within the changing make-up of urban centres.

financial crisis. Many involved in Irish art movements and projects

At present, plans are in place to stage a follow-up exhibition to the

In late 2009, an ongoing artist-led project to establish studios and

discovered the necessity of competitive engagement in order to justify

2009 ‘Artcrawl’ to celebrate the end of this three-year period, and to

a gallery in Sligo town that began in 2005 came to fruition. A group of

their continued existence in a hostile economic landscape, and

analyse the successes and failures of the recent artist-led scene in Sligo.

local artists were given the opportunity to stage a large-scale exhibition

collaboration was a strategy used to help projects thrive by involving

The primary goal of this exhibition is to act as a resurgence for the

of artwork for the inaugural Sligo Culture Night, with guidance offered

and engaging larger groups.

emergent scene, and will give an impetus for a new voluntary space to

by artists and facilitators Elliott-Harris, who work on collaborative

In 2008, artist Seamus Nolan was commissioned by The Model to

development projects. The work of Elliott-Harris brought about the

establish a socially collaborative space using the Trades Club, an old

formation of a local art network, Sligo Local Artists Movement (SLAM).

building in Sligo town centre that had operated as a respite for

SLAM was formed as a community of artists from Sligo and Leitrim

tradespeople for generations, but closed midway through last decade.

who wanted to be involved in a self-directed art movement.

In 2010, The Trades Club Revival celebrated its reopening as an

The SLAM-organised Culture Night 2009 exhibition, entitled

interactive art, music, and events hub. The new venue began with a

‘Artcrawl 09’, involved the occupation of disused commercial properties

social gathering and moved swiftly into electing a committee to

in Sligo town, the use of a space in a community centre, and an off-site

co-ordinate events and run the club. Nolan’s goal for the project was to

This

opportunity provides local artists with a meaningful opportunity to

be established with more permanence in Sligo town.

Shane Finan is a visual artist and event manager based in Sligo. He founded Push Remote Arts and writes a regular blog. http://moonunderwater.org

24

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

Residency profile

Keef Winter at the door of the condo, image courtesy of the artist

Keef Winter, Demolishers, image courtesy of the artist

Keef Winter, Rear Wall, image courtesy of Taro Hosogawa

I'm Squatting in Your Condo keef winter discusses his recent residency and exhibition at 3331 arts chiyoda, tokyo.

proportions) for the opening night, where I served whiskey sours to any visitors who made it through. The illusion of the white-walled space being impenetrable meant only the most curious visitors opened the door and explored further, though once the word ‘whiskey’ got out there were many more. Inside this corridor I had covered the floor with rescued scraps of 2x4 timber pieces to make a sort of jigsaw platform so the visitor didn’t trip on the box frames. The Condo Squat Bar was

From Belfast to Tokyo

Dionysus Lives in the Heart of Capitalism

soundtracked by the filthy disco tunes of Tonetta.

In 2010 an opportunity arose for me to make some work for a solo

I called the show ‘I’m Squatting In Your Condo’ in reference to the

exhibition in Tokyo with the help of a NI Arts Council ACES award.

idea of illegal occupation, a kind of urban renegade that might be

The invitation came from Masato Nakamura (Director of 3331 Arts

found in a Zamyatin, Ballard or Burroughs novel. This follows on from

On the last evening of the exhibition I gave an artist’s talk

Chiyoda and the Japanese artist for the 2001 Venice Biennale) with

the story of one man I met in Otemachi who had created a home on a

followed by more whiskey sours (by this point I had become very

whom I had worked at the 2007 Liverpool Biennial. As the award

traffic island beside a main metro exit. He had sequenced his collection

skilled in the making of this drink). I then invited people to take part in

period progressed into 2011 it was clear that with my style of practice

of timber, plastics and cardboard into size, weight and value along the

the demolition of the back wall by dressing up in foil-wrap costumes,

and a recommendation from Masato, it would be best to undertake a

side of a concrete wall where, at the end, under a clever arrangement of

dust masks and forcing themselves through the black plastic (the

short residency period in preparation for the exhibition. In the build-

umbrellas, he slept. He let me take photos in exchange for cigarettes

results of this can be witnessed on keefwinter.com). This destruction

up to the residency dates I kept in communication via Skype, with the

and loose change.

process led to a collective feeling of liberation, a tattered wall and what

residency coordinator Emma Ota, an informed, bilingual young curator who works with both 3331 Arts Chiyoda, as well as Youkobo Artspace.

Demolition

Naoko Horuichi calls “Future construction”. One of the largest The Job of a Wall

challenges of this project was figuring out what to do with the material

I flew to Tokyo on October 9 and settled in to the residency flat close to

Very simply, my installed work was a wall constructed across the

once the exhibition came to an end. The question of preserving such a

the arts centre in the district of Akihabara (known as the ‘Electronics

middle of the gallery to create three volumes, one that is publicly

large-scale ‘work’ was quickly dismissed in the context of Japan’s

City’ due to its abundance of electrical shops).

visible, one inside the wall and one behind the wall. With a loose

recycle-intensive culture; what I used and how I used it had to be

reference to the ‘Peace Walls’ of Belfast, I attempted to create a diaspora

planned from the very beginning. This raised the question ‘where is the

effect, bringing the separation tactics of a fractured society into a

boundary between raw material, artwork, and waste?’

Sterile and Dissonant Space The first day I scouted around Tokyo’s hardware stores, intrigued

culture where everything is seen and the population is homogeneous

by the cultural differences in the material they stocked and eager to

(98.5% of Japan’s population is Japanese). Belfast is divided due to

find the right softwood to begin building. I had brought tools and two

religious and political conflict and my interest lies in the actual

By the end of the exhibition period I had met with some curators

smaller works but needed to buy a lot of wood to begin building in the

apparatus of this division, not the direct politics but rather the story of

from prominent spaces in Tokyo (AIT, Ongoing, Youkobo, and also

residency studio. In the next few days I began to take some derivé, the

the material.

Yokohama Art Museum). Emma Ota had helpfully arranged to be

type of city walking invented by Guy Debord and the Situationists, where one wanders off the beaten track and begins to navigate a way

Side Effects

present at some introductions in order to translate the conversation I’m Drinking in Your Condo

and allow a dialogue. I swapped one of my smaller works to AIT (Arts

through the city using unconventional means such as cracks in the

On the public face of my wall stood large right-angular boxes

road, reflections in glass, or some sign that provides a direction. In

painted white, parodying the purity of modern high-rise. This space

Tokyo I was specifically searching for what I’ve coined ‘sterile and

was brightly-lit and offered only the suggestion of more accommodation

dissonant’ spaces in the city. ‘Sterile spaces’ are privatised areas most

via a tarpaulin-panelled door usually left open by the gallery staff.

Keef Winter is currently undertaking a visual arts Phd at the

often found in the shiny steel and glass-clad financial centres – in

(Anytime I visited the show I would close the door because I liked the

University of Ulster. He works in sculpture, performance, and

Tokyo this is particularly potent in a high-rise district called Otemachi.

idea that the casual visitor would enter into the first space and then

independent publishing between London and Belfast. He founded

‘Dissonant spaces’ are those that are out of harmony with their

walk back out.) On the other side the wall was cloaked in black-plastic

Space Delawab, Not Squares, Allotrope Press, and Rubashov.

surroundings, untamed and unruly but more honest and unique. As I

film stretched over triangular frames connected to a larger primary

Recent exhibitions include ‘Monkey Wrench’ at Ormston House,

walked, I searched for traces of subversive urban lifestyles in an area

beam. This back space was lit in pink from red gels I had placed in the

Limerick (2011), ‘Hide Those Dirty Hands’ at The Joinery, Dublin

called Sanya, known for its high numbers of homeless men living on

light fittings. The pink signified the colour of the sex industry that

(2011).

the streets and under arcades. Documentation of these areas then

dominated the ‘Love Hotel’ districts of the city, where receding porches

formed the basis for a process-led catalogue for the exhibition but also

and back-alley window displays would come alive at night.

to inform the geometrical and atmospheric conditions for my installation.

On both sides of the wall a panel was hinged, allowing access to a kind of interstitial space that signified the squat and provided me with an opportunity to make a small mini-bar (in typically narrow Japanese

Initiative Tokyo) for a review, an artwork in exchange for critical feedback.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

25

How I Made

Children from Ardfert National School working on 'Dot-Movies'

Inverse-Universe Headsets at 'Hall of Mirrors' opening

Hall of Mirrors

Prototype for On Sight, Farmleigh House

or in hue (negative). An adjustable setup with a fixed focal-length lens allows the screen to be viewed comfortably by left or right eye (no stereo-vision for the moment). Greg Keeley, a model-maker, adapted a bicycle helmet as a support for the device. By the time he had

Anne cleary describes how connolly cleary's collaborative exhibition 'hall of mirrors', at farmleigh house, was was developed.

counterweighted the front-heavy device and encased it in a smooth white shell, our headset resembled something that storm troopers might wear in a galaxy far away. Once he added the CLARITY logos to the sides, it was more like a formula one racing car. We almost called it the ‘Turbo-Reality Helmet’. Almost.

We first met Sally Duensing, Patrick Cavanagh and Pascal

“Well, yours might,” he said, examining my nose.

The final chapter of our conversation with scientists brings us

Mammasian in 2009 at a conference in the Sorbonne that brought

“What if we gave each eye a slightly different picture of the landscape?

right back to where we started: Patrick’s ‘anorthoscopic’ video.

together scientists and artists around the theme of visual perception.

The same point of view, but one eye sees the frozen lake in winter, for

Anorthoscopy means visual distortion – what you see in a fairground

Patrick is a perceptive psychologist from Harvard, now a visiting

example, and the other sees people swimming in summer; or one eye

hall of mirrors. Patrick was interested in how video can offer more

professor at Université Paris Descartes; Pascal is a researcher in the

sees a woman walking in the landscape, the other sees a man riding a

challenging distortions involving time (as opposed to the merely

same field from the French National Research Institute, the CNRS; and

bicycle?”

optical distortion of mirrors). Once again we started with history: a

Sally is a specialist in art-science collaborations, currently a visiting

“That might be interesting,” Pascal said. “If the two pictures are similar

photograph taken 100 years ago by Jacques-Henri Lartigues showing a

professor at King’s College London. Far from looking down on visual

enough, the brain will try to converge them.”

distorted racing car. The ‘rolling-shutter’ of early cameras exposed

artists they are interested in how a less methodical – even playful – approach to visual phenomena might shed light on areas that rigorous science had left in the dark.

photographic plates from bottom to top and so the photograph shows Throughout 2011, we visited Lough Lannagh and filmed at four

the speeding car leaning forward while the stationary pedestrians lean

locations, the chosen sites for the installations. Fifth-year students from

backwards. (This tells us that Lartigue took the photo from a moving

Saint Joseph’s School and the Castlebar Youth Project helped us

vehicle.)

“Ever done anything with anorthoscopic video?” Patrick immediately

compose the scenes, with much help from Gaynor Seville of Mayo

Could we apply this temporal distortion to live video? Imagine

asked us.

County Council, who even managed to borrow a giant swan-shaped

video as a series of two-dimensional frames stacked one on top of the

“Ever considered playing with stereo vision?” prodded Pascal.

pedal boat from Westport House for one scene. We set about making a

other, in sequence, with the last frame on the top. The stack makes a 3D

“Well, erm…”

‘video-stereoscope’ based on the nineteenth-century ‘Wheatstone

object, but the third dimension is not depth but time. To view the video

Stereoscope’. Lenses, front-surface mirrors, LCD screens, a weatherproof

normally we look down on the stack and very quickly remove frame

Sally had more experience of dialogue between artists and

housing, power supply – everything needed to be researched and

after frame (like with a flip-book). If we want to emulate Lartigue’s

scientists and brought us up to speed, inviting us to events at the

sourced. Given the extremely damp conditions, the outer housing was

rolling shutter, we need to cut through the stack diagonally, but we

Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception and suggesting what we

our biggest concern. Neil McKenzie, a coachbuilder more used to

could also cut through it vertically and look at the stack from the side.

should look at on the web. By early 2010 we had a few ideas, inspired by

reconstructing fenders for vintage cars, built four elegant and robust

two classic experiments in visual perception: George Stratton’s late

marine-grade stainless steel viewing posts (and a fifth for the ‘Hall of

A process like this has been used in cinema post-production as far back as Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey, and the opening sequence of the

nineteenth-century perceptive adaptation experiment with inverted

Mirrors’ show), while Castlebar’s Town Engineer, Sean Higgins, took

original Doctor Who series. If the stack is made of live video, the task is

vision, and Gunnar Johansson’s experiments with biological motion

charge of the foundations and the electrical supply. 'On Sight' goes on

more difficult to imagine because we are constantly adding frames to

from the 1970s, reducing human figures to dots.

site this month, with the prototype already up and running at

the top of the stack. However, if we take away a frame at the bottom

Farmleigh.

every time we add one at the top, we still have a 3D object, but one that

In spring 2010, Vincent O’Shea proposed the project for the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011. We were shortlisted and this

In January 2011, we were awarded a second commission by Kerry

is moving through time. If we slice through this diagonally, we have an

was the impetus we needed. Within days, the team had come together,

County Council to develop the 'Dot-Man' project. With choreographer

interesting and challenging addition to our ‘Hall of Mirrors’: a mirror

everyone committed to making ‘Hall of Mirrors’ a reality. Vincent

Cindy Cummings and Phil Kelly from CLARITY we set about making a

which renders the unchanging environment normally while anything

introduced us to Noel O’Connor’s team at CLARITY in DCU, who had

series of ‘dot-films’ with children from Ardfert National School. The

moving will be distorted like Lartigue’s racing car. In other words, time

the hands-on expertise with electronics and live video that we needed

final films are made up only of moving white dots on a black

is shown to us as geometry, a dimension like any other.

to take on the technological challenges. Like our Parisian mentors,

background, which a spectator might take for stars or particles, until

The Railway Procurement Agency have just commissioned us to

Noel and his lieutenants, Phil Kelly and Dave Monaghan, saw this as an

closer observation reveals human forms in movement (the Ardfert

develop this ‘time-slice’ installation along with a series of film-studies

opportunity to shake off the rigors of hard research and view things

children running, walking, dancing, swimming).

of the Luas Cherrywood Extension using the same principle. An initial

from a different angle. We talked about making a headset to explore

The final film – Joining the Dots, which is now projected on the

prototype for the installation – along with the first two tramway films

Stratton’s inverted vision, and about using the Kinect – a gaming

pavement in front of the Kerry County Museum in Tralee, superimposes

(Look Both Ways) – is presented at Farmleigh, but we will be developing

camera developed for the xBox console – to reboot Johansson’s

layer upon layer of dot-figures, all at different scales, giving our canvas

the project with CLARITY this summer. We hope to present the final

biological motion project, which by this time we were calling ‘Dot-

scale and depth, like a universe of constellations come to life. How

Time-Slice installation in September when ‘Hall of Mirrors’ is launched

Man’.

many dot-figures can the dot-cloud contain before they become

at Limerick City Gallery of Art, as well as a new smartphone App that

Although Venice came to nothing, it was in Ireland that we found

impossible to read? We were amazed to see that even when we turned

we might run on our Turbo-Reality helmets.

the support we needed to keep the project afloat. The Arts Council

the canvas into a veritable schoolyard, we could still pick out each

awarded us a project grant when the idea was still in its infancy (and

figure.

Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly live in Paris. Patterns of

later with a touring fund). In autumn 2010, Mayo County Council

In Summer 2011, CLARITY developed software to allow us to

movement, in cities and within our institutions, are the central

commissioned four permanent ‘binocular’ installations exploring

vectorise a human body use the Kinect (a simple line skeleton which

preoccupation of their work, and they examine these through

stereo-visual perception for the banks of Lough Lannagh.

the software could then turn into a dot-figure). Because the process was

narrative and interactive video, photography, light, and text. They

immediate, it gave us a sort of ‘dot-mirrror’ in which a person could

have both been published widely and are regularly invited as

“What use is it having two eyes when you look at the landscape?” we

examine their own body reduced to 13 dots. A Masters student at DCU,

external lecturers to art and architecture schools all over France.

asked Pascal.

Áine Ní Óbáin, re-ran some of Johansson’s experiences using the

“None at all,” he assured us. “Both eyes see the same thing beyond seven

installation.

meters or so.”

Later in the summer, we tackled the Inverse-Universe headsets

"Doesn’t your left eye see more on the left and the right more on the

with the same team from CLARITY. The core of the device is an android

right?”

phone with an app inverting live video either spatially (upside-down)

www.connolly-cleary.com

26

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

residency profile

A Studio in the Woods, New Orleans

Katie Holten, Sediment Drawing (Bayou Cantelle), sediment collected from the Missisippi River, water, graphite on paper

Delta (Research Notes), NASA image, US Geological Survey

Ebb and Flow

Katie Holten, Shadow, 2012

steadily moved in, claiming thousands of acres of land every year.

During my residency, I had a palpable sense of the tragedy unfolding throughout the state. Some experts say that within 50 years there will be no land south of Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get up

Katie holten discusses her recent residency at a studio in the woods, new orleans, and the work she subsequently created for the new orleans museum of modern art.

in a plane during my residency.

At a time when ‘peak water’ is increasingly an issue, the Ebb and Flow Residency (as they call it) is an important programme for looking at this fundamental problem. It is vital that we have places such as

I’m always thinking about time and how there’s never enough of

My residency came with a stipend and supply budget. Not only

ASITW where people can spend focused time investigating these

it to go around. But during my residency in New Orleans I was able to

did I have a beautiful space to work in, but I also had funds to support

issues. It was the ideal location for me to contemplate water, the river,

really lose track of time.

myself and my research. Most of my supply budget went into books

the city and our place within it, the relationship between natural and

Last year, Susan Taylor, director of the New Orleans Museum of

and, as I can’t drive, the hiring of local artist, Monique Verdin, to take

man-made, the geological history and the future.

Art (NOMA), visited my studio and invited me to develop a public art

me out on little expeditions. Monique is a native and her knowledge of

During my residency I gave a talk on my work at NOMA and out

project for NOMA and the City Park of New Orleans. Specifically, she

the place and its people goes back generations, so she graciously

of that came two exciting projects: NOMA’s curator, Miranda Lash,

invited me to make a new work addressing the ecosystem of the city

introduced me to aspects of the city that I never would have found on

invited me to create a new work for the Great Hall – the main lobby of

and its relationship to water.

my own.

the Museum; Rebecca Snedeker invited me to make drawings for the

As part of my working process I do on-site research, so I needed to

The other luxury of working at ASITW was the opportunity to

forthcoming book that she’s editing for Rebecca Solnit entitled

find a space in New Orleans where I could spend some time in the city

split my residency between quiet and active research. Quiet Research =

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas (a companion to Solnit’s

to begin researching and developing the project. Susan suggested A

reading + drawing + writing + reading some more. I spent most of the

Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas). Over a Valentine’s Day dinner with

Studio in the Woods (ASITW) and I was thrilled to be awarded a six-

time on the porch swing outside my studio. It was one of the most

the two Rebeccas, we talked about the infinite ways that water is

week residency from 5 January – 16 February.

beautiful places that I’ve ever worked. Mostly it was completely still

connected to life in the city and, as a special treat, Rebecca Solnit

Lucianne and Joe Carmichael bought the 7.7 acres that make up

and silent, but the gentle chatter of birdsong and gurgle of river-boats

showed us her beautiful photographs from a recent trip to the Arctic.

ASITW in 1969 and built a house and studio, with their own hands, in

was my soundtrack, while the little anole lizards were my reading

My residency overlapped with the start of Mardi Gras season, a

the early 1970s. It has been their home and studio, as well as an

companions. During this quiet time at ASITW I made a lot of drawings

month-long party that locals spend the rest of the year planning for. For

environmental preserve, ever since. In 2000, they started a residency

and organised my research – focusing on the city and its relationship

one week of my residency, I stayed in an apartment on the edge of the

programme, and in 2004 ASITW was donated to Tulane University in

with the river, both through the slow processes of geologic time and

French Quarter. I went from the quiet solitude of the forest to the

New Orleans as a way to formally preserve the land. They are kind and

the rapid changes of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. But of

charm of $5 Bacon Bloody Marys, free crayfish and jazz. Before I went

gracious hosts and with their intuitive understanding and appreciation

course there’s no way to completely remove yourself from reality, so I

to New Orleans I’d heard about the large parades of Rex and Proteus,

of the local environment they have created a beautiful haven right on

had to spend some time on all my other projects. I tried to limit that as

which are also the oldest, but my favourite parade was T-Rex, one of the

the edge of the Mississippi River. While their neighbours have replaced

much as possible.

newest and definitely the smallest parade. The floats are the size of

magnificent oak trees with insipid lawns, the Carmichaels have let the

Active Research = site visits + meetings + expeditions around the

native hardwood forest do its thing. After Christmas in Ireland it was a

city + expeditions further afield. ASITW introduced me to several

lovely shock to the system to arrive in the forest, bursting with lush

specialists in different fields who were gracious enough to meet with

Now I’m back in my New York studio and busy with all my other

vegetation, palmettos, turtles, lizards, armadillos, racoons and all kinds

me. Daniel Etheridge (geographer, Tulane University) brought me on

projects. I’m making three new works for a group exhibition at the

of colourful and chatty birds.

an ecosystem tour of the places where architecture and ecology meet

Storm King Art Center and I start installing tomorrow. After that opens

shoeboxes and are pulled through the streets on strings with fairy lights illuminating their tiny stages.

The on-site staff members: Ama Rogan, Director, and Cammie

in New Orleans; Alex Kolker (scientist, LUMCON) gave me a tour of his

in May I’ll fly south to prepare for my solo exhibition at NOMA. I’m

Hill-Prewitt, Programme Coordinator, are as sunny and down-to-earth

research facility in Cocodrie and, using Google Earth, we flew over his

excited to get back to New Orleans and can’t wait to get up in a little

as you could hope to find. David Baker, the Environmental Curator, is a

research sites in the delta before he sent me out into the salt marsh in a

airplane to fly down the river and see Google Earth come to life.

botanist who spends Mondays working the land, mostly removing

canoe; Captain Richie Blink brought me out in his flat-bottomed boat

non-natives and hacking through the undergrowth, and the rest of his

for a tour of abandoned forts along the Mississippi River and oil and gas

Katie Holten is an artist currently based in New York. She

time participating in triathlons and traveling to faraway places like

fields in Venice, Louisiana. Richie grew up not far from Venice, in a

represented Ireland at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. Her

Peru to study other disaster landscapes.

town called Empire. He’s seen first hand how the land is disappearing,

exhibition will run in NOMA from 15 June – 9 September 2012.

ASITW hosts writers, filmmakers, poets, musicians and visual artists. The residents, one at a time, share the main house with Joe and

and has undertaken coastal restoration work in an effort to try and slow the inevitable.

A Studio in the Woods is currently accepting applications for residencies in 2013.

Lucianne and have their own private studio. Located on the bend of the

Almost as soon as I arrived, I realised that I needed to see the

Mississippi River known as English Turn, ASITW is 30 minutes east of

landscape from the air. After visiting the water’s edge with Monique

the city centre. The seclusion and quiet was just what I wanted and

and Richie I realised how fundamental an aerial view was to my

www.katieholten.com

needed, although the residency itself wasn’t as isolated as I’d expected

understanding of what was happening. The land is literally disappearing

www.astudiointhewoods.org

as the main house and kitchen are shared with Joe and Lucianne and

in Louisiana. Since the 1920s, oil and gas companies have been

www.noma.org

the staff members during the week.

dredging access canals without any foresight, and the salt water has

28

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Opportunities competitions competitions student art awards The RDS announces their call for entries for this year’s Student Art Awards Competition. With a prize fund in excess of €16,000, the Awards encompass the Taylor Art Award, which is one of the most prestigious art awards in Ireland. The RDS Student Art Awards is open to full and parttime registered art students of award-bearing courses in Ireland.

Entries are open to students whose artwork ranges from digital film and animation to the more traditional disciplines such as drawing, printmaking and sculpture. The Awards have been in existence for over 152 years and many previous prizewinners are high on the list of the great Irish Artists of the twentieth century. This year the awards and prizes will include the Henry Higgins Scholarship Award, presented bi-annually and created by a bequest from Chief Justice Higgins in 1929. This award will enable an art student of outstanding ability to avail of the advantages of travel and study abroad in order to assist them in their transition from study to professional practice. A new Residency Award at Ireland’s leading contemporary art centre, The Model, County Sligo has also been introduced. The Model’s acclaimed

theory based on their own interests. In addition to this they are provided with the facilities to present and defend their work in front of an audience of their peers. This year, ‘Off The Shelf’ will also accept work from final year photographic students based on their thesis work as well as graduates at any level of up to three years. Please send a summery of no more than 200 words accompanied by any relevant imagery to donna.kiernan@ gmail.com for consideration. Also include contact information.

Deadline 10 May Lavitt gallery The Lavit Gallery are trying to select a shortlist of artists for a possible exhibition in 2013 focusing on artists who originate from European countries, (excluding Ireland and the UK) but who are currently living here. We would be delighted to receive emails from interested artists who meet these criteria. Entrants should send us up to five images of their artwork as pdf or jpeg files, along with a current CV, while also stating their country of origin. All images should be accompanied by details ie medium and dimension.

Deadline 12 May Email thelavittgallery@eircom.net

contemporary art programme features several major exhibitions of noted national and international contemporary artists.

The Model Residency Award offers the successful RDS Student Art Awards entrant a one-month residency in 2013.

Website www.rds.ie/studentart Deadline 15 June

opportunities ireland off the shelf ‘Off The Shelf’ Grad Talks are currently accepting proposals for presentations on photographic and related theory by recent graduates of all levels. We are particularly interested in presentations relating to PhotoIreland’s theme of ‘Migrations: Diaspora & Cultural Identity’, although all presentation topics will be considered. Grad Talks are held annually in July during PhotoIreland Festival in Dublin City Centre.

The aim is to provide emerging graduates with the opportunity to engage with photographic

Limerick printmakers Artists are invited to submit work to Limerick Printmakers Open Submission Print Show 2012. The exhibition is open to artists working in all areas of print eg digital print or mixed media works with an element of print as well as traditional forms such as etching, lithography, silkscreen etc. 3D works as well as installations are encouraged provided a detailed proposal is included in the application. 2011 saw over 200 individual artworks sent from all over the world, making the job of selecting the work extremely hard. Cork-based printmaker Andrew Boyle was invited to select the show in 2011 with 56 artists exhibiting from Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Slovenia.

Andrew was thrilled with the quality of the work and the response from so many artists.

This year’s selector will be announced shortly. Exhibition opens Thursday 14 June at 8pm and runs until Thursday 5 July.

Deadline 4pm 25 May Web www.limerickprintmakers.com

Finglas artsquad Finglas Artsquad are looking for community artists for August onwards. This is a Community Employment Project, so those interested must be eligible under the Department of Social Protection rules: they must be over 25 years of age, have been unemployed for one year or more, and be in receipt of social welfare payment. It is a 19.5-hour week spread over five days. You will have the opportunity to work with children from seven years of age through arts and crafts, and with adults through the various classes we have run both within the centre and in outreach centres. We are also involved in exhibitions and murals from time to time. If interested send your CV with a covering letter stating your experience by post only to Bobby Borwick.

Deadline 11 May Address Unit 14b, Main Street, Finglas, D11

copyright protection will enable creative artists and theatre companies to stage adaptations and re-enactments. Artists may submit three digital images of 2D work to be considered for the exhibition. Works to be no larger than 70 x 90cm. Submitted work must have been completed within the last two years. All works will be for sale and the exhibition will run from 16 June 16 –27 July.

Deadline 5pm 10 May Email aoife@milltheatre.ie

Courthouse The Courthouse Arts Centre’s programme consists of yearround visual arts exhibitions. Our visual arts and performance activities co-exist in the same space; we host wall-hung pieces between September and May each year; during the summer months of June through August we suspend live shows to accommodate larger installations, mul-

the upset art event We are communally organising an arts event for June 2012 with an environmental theme entitled ‘The Upset – Our Awareness and the Freedom to Express It’. We want to activate artists across Ireland in response to environmental concerns and draw attention to the crossroads we as a nation are at in regards to our political decisions. The exhibition is to be hosted in the town of Drubshambo in County Leitrim, Ireland: a town on the shore of the legendary Lough Allen that in a recent upset has been the focus of a large-scale gas extraction project. Our goal is to motivate environmental activism through art or any other medium.

Your involvement may be a submission of art in any medium including visual art, film, poetry, writing, dance / performance or music. We are also interested in hearing from volunteers who would like to support this motion Deadline 31 May Email the_upset_leitrim@hotmail. com Web ww.facebook.com/ events/382365395136909 the mill theatre To coincide with Bloomsday celebrations at The Mill Theatre, Dundrum, we are holding a group art exhibition inspired by James Joyce and his work, entitled ‘In the Particular is Contained the Universal’. 2012 is an exciting year for Joyceans and for Dublin, since all his texts published during his lifetime have now come out of copyright. The end of

timedia, sculpture and other three-dimensional works in the main space. We welcome sitespecific proposals / ideas for engaging with and outreach to the local community and its surroundings. Artists are selected through an open submissions process. Submissions should include: Biography, CV, a short

May – June 2012

researchers outside of an educational system. To enter please create your account at www.studentszine.com (enter the library and upload your text to the relevant section).

Deadline 21 June

residencies residencies / studios studios

and

imma residency During 2012 IMMA is introducing a new online application system for those applying to the Artists’ Residency Programme.

The online system will be open to prospective applicants for six weeks from Friday 18 May until Friday 29 June 2012 and will be accessible through IMMA’s website along with supporting application guidelines. Successful applications will be scheduled to participate on the Artists’ Residency Programme in 2013 when it resumes fully at IMMA. For 2012, due to the refurbishment at IMMA’s RHK site, ARP activities will be limited.

However, the full provision of facilitating art professionals living and working on-site at IMMA will recommence once the Museum returns to its permanent location in 2013.

Deadline 29 June Web www.imma.ie

proposal on the project presented, examples of the artist’s work – preferably on cd-rom, high resolution images (images going to

courses / training / courses / workworkshops shops / training

print must be supplied, as print ready images at 300dpi or above).

Please send to the Courthouse Arts

Centre

FAO.

Director.

Deadline 1 June Contact Deryn O'Callaghan, Director

Artistic

Artistic

Telephone 0402 38529 Address The Courthouse Arts Centre, Main Street, Tinehaly, County Wicklow title award The TITLE Award is an award issued by studentsZINE Publication, Network and Resource for Contemporary Visual and Sonic Art for an outstanding piece of writing / research. The award is issued to one recipient per issue of the publication, where the successful recipient’s research / paper will be published in the upcoming issue of studentsZINE. In the past we have received submissions of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral dissertations as well as other independent papers by

€140 for two days tuition, including lunches and all materials.

Accommodation also available.

Email botanicalart@hollysomerville. com Web www.hollysomerville.com/ courses

workshops, sligo 4 – 7 May 2012, 1 – 4 June 2012, 30 June – 2 July 2012. Staying on Coney Island for three nights, accommodation, meals and tuition. Suitable for professional or amateur artists. Drawing and Painting workshops using a variety of mediums: oil and acrylic.

Located in the scenic surroundings of Coney Island in Sligo Bay. Learn new drawing and painting techniques from professional artist Neal Greig. Maximum six people per workshop.

Email eileenferguson5@gmail.com Web www.neilgreig.com Telephone 087 620 7967

watercolour weekend Beginners botanical watercolour weekends start on Saturday 19 May, and improvers on Saturday 26 May. They will be held in artist Holly Somerville’s newly renovated millhouse studio, at Mount Slaney, Glen of Imaal, West Wicklow, just one hour from Dublin, overlooking the beautiful Wicklow Mountains. Price

Drawing classes New Perspectives Through Drawing held at the Hugh lane Gallery, Dublin: 10am – 12pm (€110). Saturdays, 12 May – 7 July 2012 (excluding June bank holiday weekend). Life Drawing: 12.30pm – 2.30pm (€110).

Saturdays, 12 May – 7 July 2012 (excluding June bank holiday weekend). Aspects of Drawing 10.30am –12.00pm (€85).

Tuesdays, 15 May – 3 July 2012 led by artists Felicity Clear and Beth O’Halloran. Places cannot be booked without payment of full course fee. Payment for all courses is strictly non-refundable.

Web www.hughlane.ie Telephone 01 222 5553 digital arts & humanities Digital Arts and Humanities Programme Applications invited for Ireland’s digital structured PhD programme (four years fulltime, six years part-time). A structured doctoral research training programme designed to enable students to carry out research in the arts and humanities at the highest level using new media and computer technologies. The Digital Arts and Humanities programme (DAH) is an innovative inter-disciplinary structured PhD programme co-ordinated by an all-Irish university consortium, funded through Cycle 5 of the Government’s Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions. The programme is open for registration with Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Galway and National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

Teaching resources are also provided by the Royal Irish Academy, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Ulster.

Deadline 15 May Web www.atrl.ie

INternational OPPortunities 126 gallery 126

Gallery

is

pleased

to

announce a new partnership with the Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, USA. As part of this new partnership, the galleries will exchange exhibitions during the upcoming programme year.

126 Gallery will travel with a show to New Orleans in August

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

May – June 2012

29

OPPORTUNITIES Web www.artscare21conference.co.uk

2012, with the Good Children

iMOCA

Gallery bringing a show to

IMOCA is pleased to announce

Galway in June, 2013. 126 would

the call for applications to its

like to welcome submissions as

fifth annual Graduate Residency

CReAti A NG A NeW Old Ati

part of its exchange programme

Award. More information and

‘Creating a New Old’ is a major

with the Good Children Gallery.

online application can be found

global

The exhibition will be a solo

at http://the.imoca.ie/news/

together leading experts in a wide

project and take place from 11 –

imoca-graduate-residency-

variety of fields to discuss key

25 August 2012, during the White

questions raised by demographic

Linen Festival. This is a unique

award-2012-2013. deadline

opportunity to showcase work

5pm 11 May

The event is an initiative of Age

conference

bringing

ageing from the 8 –10 May 2012.

on an international scale during

and

the busiest period in the New

Bealtaine festival. The interna-

Orleans art district. This exchange

COMMISSIONS

nities for future projects and collaborations. Submissions should include the following: a specific proposal, an artist statement and biography / CV, images of work / links to video files, submission fee: ˆ 10 to 126 members / ˆ 20 to non-members. deadline 1 June email contact@126.ie Web www.126.ie www,goodchildrengallery.com Address 126 Gallery, Queen Street, Galway

and

the

FUNDING / AWARDS

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

tional conference will explore

hACKetstOWN Hacketstown National School wishes to commission a work or works of art for the school. This commission is the result of an extension and refurbishment project and is funded under the Per Cent for Art scheme. The budget for the design supply and fix of the completed work will be ˆ 15,842 inclusive of all costs, expenses, VAT, insurance and other costs. Artists are invited to submit outline of proposal and outline costs. deadline 25 May

to help people maintain dignity,

Web www.hacketstown.ie/pages. downloads.php

quality of life and independent

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

NORTHERN IRELAND

living throughout older age. It

DUblIN

NEWTOWNARDS

also asks how to harness the crea-

Visual Artists and The Law

tive powers of older people to

Positioning your Practice in Challenging Times with Gwen Stevenson Wed 9 May (10.30 – 16.30) This session will look at how artists might develop work opportunities that support their practice and livelihood Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX DAS Members) @ Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards 12 places

JObS

Thurs 17 May (15.00 – 18.00) Visual Artists Ireland in partnership with The Bar Council of Ireland – learning and exchange event for artists and the legal profession. Keynote speaker: arts lawyer, Henry Lydiate from The Henry Lydiate Partnership.

Also,artists providing case studies on contractual issues, copyright, dispute resolution and intellectual property rights. @ The Bar Council of Ireland, Church St, Dublin 7 FREE 50 places

CReAti A NG A NeW Old Ati

Common Room Lunch Time Talk with James L Hayes

make a positive contribution to society. The conference will be a unique gathering of specialists in health, culture, arts, science, education, gerontology, social policy and tourism.

Web www.bealtaine.com

Cork Printmakers are seeking an Assistant Director for maternity cover, the Start Date is 4 June

FutuRe Cities ‘Future Cities – Planning for the 90%’ is a call for visual projects in any media capable of transforming our urban spaces. Artists, photographers, designers and architects are invited to reflect on issues facing people in private and public spaces around the world such as housing, transport, environment, leisure, overcrowding etc etc, proposing low cost, low tech solutions. ‘Planning for the 90%’ is an invitation to take a harder look at the real city wherever you happen to be, making time to think about the very important improvements that can be made through creative and thoughtful solutions to everyday problems. 10 projects will be selected for exhibition during the upcoming XIII Architecture Biennial in Venice. ‘Planning for the 90%’ is an open call for projects designed and curated by Connecting Cultures and is a collaboration between Connecting Cultures and Celeste Network’s First Future Cities Award. During the exhibition ‘Planning for the 90%’, an international round table will be organised with the participation of artists, architects, designers and urban planners. deadline 31 May Web www.celesteprize.com/futurecities

Visual Artists Ireland and our partner organisations are pleased to announce a series of professional development training workshops and events that will take place across ireland and Northern irelandduring summer 2012.

the potential for creative activity

aims to bring new talent to new audiences and to create opportu-

Opportunity

professional development training & events summer 2012

st PAt PA RiCK's CAVAN St Patrick’s College, Cavan, in association with the Department of Education and Skills, wishes to commission an artwork to be sited within the Central Courtyard of the New School Building. This project is to be funded under the Per Cent for Art Scheme operated by the Department of Education and Skills. Submissions are invited for a visual artwork that should be substantial and durable. The preferred scheme will be innovative and original while maintaining the highest levels of artistic excellence. The chosen art work should have lasting significance and may also interact and develop with the activities of the school. The budget for the design, supply and fixing of the completed work will be a maximum of ˆ 60,000. deadline 11am 12 May

2012. Duties include: providing-

Web www.stpatscavan.com

would be an advantage. For fur-

support to the Director in relation to the administration of Cork Printmakers and to manage the range of activities the workshop provides for members and the public. The Assistant Director will report to the Director. The ideal candidate should possess two years experience working in admin, background in arts administration / education preferable.

Experience in fine art printmaking preferable but not essential.

Must be willing to learn printmaking processes and techniques.

Excellent organisational and

Wed 30 May (13.00-14.00) James L Hayes will discuss his current research interests and more specifically his recent IRON –R Project which was in collaboration with CIT CCAD & the National Sculpture Factory in Cork. This presentation will focus on the overall aims of the research project, the nature of the process and its relevant history.

Free Event @ Visual Artists Ireland Meeting Room 18 Places Common Room Lunch Time Talk with City Artsquad Wed 16 May (13.00 – 14.00) Artists from City Artsquad will present a talk on the various projects they have been involved with and how you can develop your practice through community art projects.

Free Event @ Visual Artists Ireland Meeting Room 18 Places

interpersonal skills are essential,

lIMERICK

as is an ability to work on inde-

Get Together 2012

pendent initiative. The candidate

Friday 15 June 2012 Visual Artists Ireland's first All Ireland GET TOGETHER 2012 offers professional visual artists and the visual arts sector: panel discussions; an extensive variety of information sessions; and a key opportunity for networking. @ Limerick College of Art Design Full details: and booking: http://visualartists. ie/education-2/current-programme/?ee=76

must be proficient in Microsoft Office and have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Experience of accounting procedures and packages ther information and / or a

The Art of Collaboration Thurs 24 May (10.00 - 15.00) Seminar and Artists talks on collaboration between literary and visual art forms.

Confirmed speakers: Gregory McCarthy and Alice Lyons - others tba @ Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards Cost: £5 30 Places

bElFAST Developing Proposals with Marianne O'Kane Boal artist Jill McKeown

Wed 20 June (10.30 – 16.30) This session will look at how to target opportunities relevant to your practice and outline issues that you may need consider when approaching different opportunities such as Arts Council /Local Authority bursaries or Public Gallery calls for submissions.

Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX DAS Members) @ Belfast Exposed, Belfast 12 places

detailed job description please

lECTURES / TAlKS

use the contact telephone and email below. Application by CV

ARts CARe Northern Ireland’s leading arts in health organisation, Arts Care, celebrates its 21st anniversary with an international participatory conference (Lyric Theatre, Belfast 16 –18 May 2012), ‘Sustainable Creativity in Healthcare’, involving all elements of arts and healthcare practice, includes showcase performances, art exhibitions, presentations and master-classes.

with two referees. Interviews to take place Monday / Tuesday 21 /22 May 2012. deadline 5pm 8 May email clare@corkprintmakers.ie Web www.corkprintmakers.ie t telephone 021 4322 422

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

C

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Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

GALLERY 1

EXPERIMENTING 12 MAY WITH CLOUDS 9 JUNE RUA RED SOUTH DUBLIN ARTS CENTRE, TALLAGHT D 24

01 451 5860 WWW.RUARED.IE INFO@RUARED.IE

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

31

interview

works from the Van Abbemuseum’s collection – a series of slide works from Marcel Brodthaers, for example, and other ‘older works’ along side newly produced works.

SP: So the ‘present’ isn’t necessarily about the latest or even newest form or idea. It is a place where we can suspend Pilvi Takala, installation shot, The Trainee, 2008

ourselves, for a while. You seem to be wondering what it would look like to do so without trying to solve, innovate, recover and quickly move on.

AF: Exactly. I think it is one of those things that sounds tedious but to live with the difficult – ‘staying with the trouble’ as Donna Harroway says.2

Anibal Catalan, Morphological Zone, 2011

Mona Vatamanu, Florin Tudor, Rite of Spring, 2010

One of the other things to talk about in relation to that idea of culture is the Occupy movements all over the world. People actually just

After the Future

adopted strategies that have been in existence forever, but were clever with them; they have been thought through and reused. This reuse and rethinking is really interesting right now. That is why I suggested that three young Irish-based curators might go to Holon to look at this

Sarah Pierce talks to annie fletcher about her role as curator of eva international 2012.

digital art archive based on work from the Balkans and the Middle East. I wanted to share the eva platform with others who have interesting things to say and show.

Sarah Pierce: Annie, I’d like to start by asking you about the

SP: That raises a question: When we recuse ourselves from

future. How are you formulating an idea of the future in relation

performing in relation to the future, does it change the way we

to eva International?

produce in the present?

Annie Fletcher: I have been thinking a lot about the time we are in,

AF: Yes, definitely, and this also infuses us with a new energy to

especially coming back to Ireland after not working here for several

reinterpret the past and to take responsibility. That is really vital as

It is a really exciting collaboration with Project Arts Centre. For me,

years. I mean, the last time I worked here was 2005, in Cork, and the

well. There is something within visual culture, and many sorts of

that archive seems interesting as a particular legacy or history to dip

energy levels feel extremely different now. But it is also the reality – it

cultural practice, that is about digestion – digesting information,

has really changed in terms of what is going on economically. There is

uprooting the past, looking at how we got here and where we are now.

into and see what we share, or to provoke thinking about our visual histories, our visual repertoires and how they connect. Again, there is

a different perspective from five or six years ago, when we were talking

It is fine to speculate about the future but this process of actually

no need to reinvent the wheel but simply to tap into all kind of

about a much more obviously economically secure sort of future. This

allowing ourselves to digest the past and join the dots together, and to

interesting activities that already exist. I also invited Vaari Claffey to

is not exclusive to Ireland at all but for me it was just interesting to see

not necessarily accept the logics that have been given to us is important.

curate Gracelands this year at eva and Static, Liverpool to develop a

how it was articulated here

I suppose it is about a kind of contingent look at the present but I am

critical writing project called Exit Limerick.

SP: Who are the curators?

AF: Kate Strain, Padraic Moore and Megs Morley.

also interested in the ability to re-digest the past or look at it again and Despite the economy feeling rather disastrous and hopeless, and very

think about its relevance to the present.

SP: This pull towards the future that you identify and are trying to pull against, includes solutions to problems in the present.

familiar to me from the 1980s and early 1990s, what artists are doing and their engagement with what is happening both locally and on a

SP: What you are saying reminds me of a text that we have

Beyond the obsessive commentary, this focus pulls us towards a

political level seems more directed. There just seems to be a lot more

shared and read with others several times, Walter Benamin’s

false sense of community and a false consensus – as though we

artistic activity. I think that is the result of several factors: there are

'Author as Producer'. He was writing at a time of emergency, or

all recognise and agree about what problems exist and even

many more post graduate programs, more spaces for showing art and a

urgency, and yet he calls for thinking as a kind of action in itself,

where the solutions might lie. How can we address, through the

lot more discussion going on in the artistic field in Ireland. I was drawn

as opposed to something that will lead to action. Thinking as

exhibition platform, a complexity of demands that are not

forcibly to the idea that things had changed quite dramatically and I

doing. Perhaps what we need most in an emergency is time: time

easily reconciled?

am interested in how artists perceive and interpret these changes

to think together, time to digest, time to reflect.

AF: It is our role as human beings to try and find solutions together but

today.

AF: This is extraordinarily important, and I think this is what we are

our job as cultural practitioners is to unleash complexity in smart and

That made me very interested in looking at somebody like Franco

not allowed to do. You can see this in the privatisation of the humanities

accesible ways – to spark the imagination and reveal other stories and

Berardi who states that the current economic system, which has failed,

in Universities and the complete denigration of thinking and

other possibilities. It is about a moment of imagining but also, as I said,

propels us towards a false notion of progress and an unreachable

intellectualism in contemporary life, because it is not perceived as

a moment of digestion. As a human being you have certain obligations

future. He suggests that we need to stop looking toward this fantasy

productive.

in society: solidarity, to be together and to try and think through things. As an artist, your role is to be the artist.

future and instead dwell in the complexity of the present. He proposes that artists have a direct role to play in this process. I like this idea very

SP: Because thought takes time…

SP: My last question then: what is the role of the curator right

much. You could say that politics, culture and economics formulate AF: Yes. And you can’t automatically you can’t monetise it.

now? Perhaps answer in relation to your own practice.

SP: With the proliferation of biennials and triennials in recent

AF: There are many types of curators, but the way I see my job is to

years, there is enormous pressure right now to produce and act

stage an encounter between art and the public. Sometimes that

What seems to have happened within the last 20 or 30 years – in the

on a large scale. We have become accustomed to seeing hundreds

encounter might need hardware like a building or a specific

face of a lack of alternatives to neoliberalism and the intense

of artworks over a short span of time. It seems that you are

constituency of viewers, or, it might be to let a long-term conversation

monetisation of society – is that both politics (which you can see

checking this activity in order to rethink how an international

build up. Sometimes it might just be about working with particular

within the EU very clearly) and culture have become completely

exhibition might actually allow us time to pause and slow down.

artists, thinking about what that practice needs to be best articulated

powerless. It seems that the economy has become the absolute measure

How is it possible to change the tempo of a large-scale

to the public, always keeping engagement with the audience in mind.

of how we dictate development. It’s not rocket science, but once

exhibition?

It is an encounter between the practice and those who might experience

our spheres of influence in the world and perhaps these three paradigms regulate a regime of truth or the traditional construction of modern democracy.1

somebody says that so clearly it becomes really interesting to think

it. For me, if I can think about curating like that then I can answer the

about what roles and expectations we used to have about how society

AF: I think one of the problems within contemporary art is its endless

question in different conditions and scenarios, depending what the

worked, and how these have disappeared: the notion of a public

obsession with fashion and its general amnesia. Given the times we are

need is in a particular situation.

intellectual, or the concept of shared cultural expression as a kind of

in, maybe we need a kind of modesty and precision rather than a

glue within society. What Berardi starts to spell out is the potential and

cacophonous circus. Even the rhetoric around a lot of biennials and big

Sarah Pierce is and artist based in Dublin. Since 2003, she has

possibilities for culture. It is very romantic in a way but it is also

shows is ‘new work’ and ‘the latest work,’ as if something that was

used the term The Metropolitan Complex to describe her project

interesting to listen to somebody like him who has been an activist

important 20 years ago isn’t important now. Working in the museum

– a broad understanding of cultural work, articulated through

since the 1970s but looks really carefully at information technology

and thinking through notions history and the importance of the

working methods that often open up to the personal and the

and media. It just seemed smart to suddenly say ‘well let’s stop

collection means I don’t think solely about commissioning new work

incidental.

analysing the future and actually look at the now’. Artists and the role

or engaging only with work that is immediate in it’s ‘up to date-ness’.

of culture in general could be useful in doing that. The complexity that

For example, we are reconstructing Luke De Clerks’ X Construction X,

artistic practice can bring is increasingly important.

which is a direct part of eva’s incredible history. I am also including

Notes 1. Franco Beradi's most recent book is After the Future, AK Press, 2011 2. Donna Harway, 'Staying with Trouble: Xenoecologies of Home for Companions in the Contested Zones', 2010

32

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

profile

Elvira Santamaria Torres, Invisible Labour, 2012

Anne Maria Healy, I Do Not Feel Ashamed, 2012

Amanda Coogan, Bubble Up in Blue, 2012

Labour Intensive

Frances Mezzetti, Walking in the Way, 2012

her, appearing to almost weight her down. She maintained a rigid poise throughout the day as she very slowly traversed the front window gallery space. Blue bubbles of saliva oozed from her mouth at intervals

Liz burns discusses 'LABOUR', an all day performance / live art event featuring female artists from ireland and Northern ireland, that took place in london, derry and dublin during march 2012.

throughout the performance, staining her costume as she continued her slow somnambulist pace.The artist had an oddly sculptural presence, and one was reminded of a creature from another world.

Anne Quail’s performance involved balancing her body precariously along the balcony railing of the mezzanine upstairs – her wrists bound with pieces of torn purple cloth tied to the railings. As she

As I made my way to the LAB for ‘LABOUR’, an eight-hour live

re-recorded stories collected from women who were incarcerated in a

laboured throughout the day, I wondered if she attempting to free or to

exhibition featuring 11 female artists from or living in the island of

Magdalene Laundry. The artist literally carried these recordings on her

bind herself. Sound was the evocative gesture in Anne Maria Healy’s

Ireland, I couldn’t help noting a certain buzz that seems to surround

back as she crawled in and around the gallery space, the sounds moving

performance, where the noise of stone grinding corn onto stone –

live / performance art in Ireland at the moment. Recent initiatives such

with her. This work demanded an engagement on the audience’s part

evoking images of ancient labour – was interrupted at intervals with an

as Performance Art Network’s (PAN) event in Block T and UNIT I’s

– in order to properly hear the recordings one needed to follow the

oddly familiar song. The absence of the body was noted in Aine

monthly performance showcases in Exchange, Temple Bar, are no

artist and listen intently – thus creating a private and intimate space

O'Dwyer’s piece, which consisted of a large white rocker frame placed

doubt contributing to this burgeoning and vibrant performance art

between the artist and listener.

in the centre of the gallery that was activated at intervals throughout

scene.

Michelle Browne’s performance titled The Grace of God again

the day.

Following an average eight-hour working day, ‘LABOUR’ consisted

echoed this idea of physical female labour. The artist took on the role

The idea of gender as a construct was clearly evident in Frances

of durational live performances that took place in and around the LAB

of seamstress as she methodically cut material and sewed throughout

Mezzetti and Pauline Cummins’ collaborative performance Walking in

Gallery from 9.30am – 5.30pm featuring artists Michelle Browne,

the day, making what appeared to be children’s uniforms. These

the Way which they have performed together since 2009 and involves

Chrissie Cadman, Amanda Coogan, Pauline Cummins, Ann Maria

crudely cut uniforms dangled from hangers on the ceiling above her.

both artists taking on “the persona, mannerisms, gestures and

Healy, Frances Mezzetti, Aine O Dwyer, Aine Philips, Anne Quail, Elvira

The word "Fallen", sewn into some of the uniforms, again suggested

physicality of male presence in the public arena”. These performances

Santamaria Torres and Helena Walsh. Curated by Chrissie Cadman,

some form of unacknowledged penitential labour by the ‘fallen’

happen before an unwitting audience in public spaces and streets.

Amanda Coogan and Helena Walsh, this live exhibition aimed to

women (as they were known) in the Magdalene laundries at the time.

For ‘LABOUR’, Cummins performed in Istanbul the previous day

“explore the female body as a political site,” a theme that was explored

In stark contrast to this idea of penitential female labour, Helena

and Mezzetti walked the local streets around the LAB, venturing into

in detail at the previous day’s symposium on live performance to mark

Walsh used her body to present a defiant female sexuality that

the gallery at times throughout the day. Taking on various personas –

International Women’s Day. The LAB exhibition was the last leg of this

challenged any form of moral regulation of the female body. She

council worker, street sweeper and a slightly annoying member of ‘Joe

touring exhibition following events at Performance Space in London

demanded an engagement with her audience, holding her gaze on

public’ – one could have missed Mezzetti’s performance in the blink of

and The Void in Derry in the preceding months.

individuals as they entered the mezzanine space upstairs. As I entered,

an eye, which was clearly the intention. Throughout the day, photo

As noted by Lois Keidan from the Live Art Development Agency

the artist observed me from a mound of sand in the middle of gallery

documentation of both artists’ performances was relayed on a video

in London, who presented at the symposium, issues of labour and

where she was perched, her legs sprawled apart. As I held her gaze for

monitor upstairs, depicting their quiet subversion of male presence in

gender are particularly critical within an Irish context, taking into

few seconds, she proceeded to put what appeared to be a holy

public spaces.

account the Irish female body and its difficult relationship to labour

communion Eucharist into her mouth, chewed it for a few seconds, and

As noted by LAB curator Sheena Barrett “Live performance from

both ‘productive’ and ‘reproductive’. The historical and geographical

then spat it back at me. Her performance was unnerving, and she

the visual arts in Ireland is currently a vibrant practice, grounded in

context of the LAB gallery itself is very significant, as it is located in the

deliberately used her body and female sexuality to subvert and

responding with the physical body and psychological self.” On entering

former red light district – Dublin’s infamous ‘Monto’ – and is a stone’s

challenge any form of containment or regulation.

the LAB that Saturday morning, one couldn’t help but be struck by both

throw from the local Gloucester Street Convent and former Magdalene

Labour as a simple gesture or poetic act was strongly evident in

the physical and psychological presence of eleven women performing

Laundry. With this local knowledge in mind, echoes of Monto and the

the work of Elvira Santamaria Torres. As I made my way through the

simultaneously in and around the gallery space. A certain engagement

laundries confronted me immediately as I approached the LAB space,

gallery into a black box space, I was greeted by a striking fluorescent

between the artist and spectator is demanded within this inter

observing the artist Chrissie Cadman donned in red silk attire, soaked

white string installation hanging from ceiling to floor. As my eyes

subjective space of body, site, and audience, that develops and changes

in cold sudsy water, on her hands and knees scrubbing the pavement

became accustomed to the dark, I made out the presence of the artist as

over time. As the ‘social turn’ in art is widely debated by the art world,

outside the gallery. This made for uncomfortable viewing for the

she slowly and methodically moved around the space weaving her

I would argue that it is this very intersubjective space, created through

audience throughout the day, as Cadman continued her laborious

labyrinthine work. Describing her artwork as “poetry in process” I was

the live act, that makes performance such a pertinent and vibrant part

work, stopping for moment to hug the pillar or press her face against

struck by the beauty of this simple gesture as it developed throughout

of contemporary visual arts practice.

the gallery front in what was clearly a very physically demanding

the day.

performance.

The simple gesture was again echoed in the work of Amanda

This idea of enforced labour struck me with Aine Philips’ piece

Coogan, Anna Quail and Anna Maria Healy. Coogan was strikingly

Redress made in collaboration with Evelyn Glynn, in which the artist

dressed from head to toe in a series of white coats which trailed after

Liz Burns curates the visual arts programme for Fire Station Artists’ Studios, Dublin.

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

May – June 2012

33

ART IN PUblIC

VAI REGIONAl CONTACT

Regional Contact Art in Public The West Aideen barry: Adapting Cities Over the next 12 – 18 months, an exciting visual arts programme

PUblIC ART COMMISSIONS; SITE-SPECIFIC WORKS; SOCIAllY ll -ENGAGED PRACTICES; AND VARIOUS OThER llY FORMS OF 'ART OUTSIDE ThE GAllERY.' ERY ERY.' Unveiled: May 2011

MINEFIELD

Description: The artists writes: "This artwork is sited on a free standing wall in the garden space of the Stradbally Arthouse Artists Studios.

Primary concern was that the artwork be a source of daily inspiration to the artists using the studios. With this in mind the artwork was designed like a Rorschach inkblot. The positive and negative shapes of the artwork allow the artists and visitors to free their imaginations and to see what they will in the artwork. It also acts as an abstract backdrop for performance based events in the garden. Taking the idea of growth for inspiration, this artwork began as a series of swirling natural forms, like vines on a wall. A composition was developed, a curling pattern that is self-similar and is based on a classic "Dragon" fractal, tying in with my other fractal inspired artworks. The large-scale artwork reflects the changing light during the day, brightening shadowy spaces and further extending the 'abstract' pattern of this design. With the evening indoor lights reflecting onto the artwork, it continues to shine at night and during the winter months."

will get underway in a unique location right in the heart of Galway City, facilitated by a co-operative of the visual art organisations working in and around the city centre. Adapt Galway, an organisation I have written about in previous VAN reports, comprises several groups: Engage Studios, Artspace, 126 collective, Tulca, Lorg Printmakers, Expanded Draught, Kitchen Table Collective, and several others.

Rather than competing for the few and far-between visual art spaces in the city, they have taken a more altruistic approach, establishing themselves as a part directorial, part curatorial collective of over 200 members. The plan over the next few months is that each entity will take a month to programme whatever they wish in this very impressive exhibition space.

This arrangement has been brokered by Adapt Galway through the Galway Docklands Commission. Over the past 36 months, visual artists and arts organisations have developed a relationship with the Dockland Commission as a way of reclaiming ownership of the title ‘city of the arts’. Adapt Galway was born out of this political movement,

Title: Minefield

www.lorjames.com

Artist: Aideen Barry

THE TRUTH BOOTH

Location: Ballina Arts Centre

which has begun the lobby the city council for an acknowledgement of

Commissioner: Mayo County Council

their investment in the city. Adapt Galway acts as a conduit to channel

Unveiled: March 2012

effective change in planning decisions and allocation of public spaces

Description: The Minefield is a large sculptural installation of five

for the arts in Galway.

alluminium, brass and steel 'mines' which were made following a

Galway City Council’s track record for supporting the visual arts

residency that Barry undertook at the NASA Kennedy Space Centre in

is a mixed bag. Initially, funding was made available to support the

Florida. The works began as hypothetical drawings and animations,

basic running of organisations such as Tulca, Artspace, Engage and 126

then moved to a series of films shot in zero gravity, and then into a

Collective. However, focused and long-term planning for expansion

series of sculptural objects that became known as 'Weapons of Mass

and enrichment is sorely lacking. This is made evident each year in the

Consumption'. The work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian

struggles encountered by ‘Tulca: Season of Visual Arts’, whose board of

Academy to great critical acclaim in the 2009 'Futures' exhibition, and

directors spend an unprecedented amount of time and resources

will provide an iconic permanent installation in the entrance to Ballina

seeking a location to house exhibitions and events. The venue must be

Arts Centre.

covered by insurance, fitted out to a gallery spec and accessed by the

www.aideenbarry.ie www.mayococo.ie

general public. In fact, the saying ‘beg, borrow, steal’ can certainly be applied to this struggle. Each year an increasing proportion of the Tulca budget appears to be invested in this process putting the board and the curatorial team under immense pressure.

What is so very alarming is that Galway’s neighbor, Mayo, has five spaces dedicated to the visual arts, two of which – Aras Inis Gluaire and Ballina Art Centre – were built as state-of-the-art centres with the visual arts as a key part of their programmes. Galway, the ‘capital of the west’, and a city that houses an award-winning Art and Design department in GMIT, still does not have one purpose-built visual arts centre.

By taking matters into their own hands, however, Adapt Galway has firmly put the need for such infrastructure back into the mindset of the Galway public. The highly visible location of The Shed puts it very much centre stage. The venue’s previous function was to house scrap metal that is shipped from the inner city docks to China and the depository was only made available as a public amenity when the Volvo Ocean Race located one of its world-wide stopping routes here in 2008. When The Shed was made available as an exhibition space, organisations such as the Irish Architecture Foundation and Tulca saw its potential as a hybrid space. There have subsequently been a number

Partner: SF Foundation

Location: Grove Street, Crinkle, Birr

Budget: ˆ 25,000

Commissioner: Offally City Council

Commission Type: Arts Council Project Award

Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme

Unveiled: July 2011

Dates: February – September 2012 Budget: ˆ 26,000 Description: The Grove Street TV project offered the residents of Grove Street, both young and old, an opportunity to collectively create home videos, animations and documentaries with the artist, who in turn responded to their ideas, interests and aspirations. Fortune conducted weekly workshops with young people and adults in film and digital media, with the resulting films presented on the community based website. Adults in the community will continue with the site and workshops. www.grovestreet.tv

Description: Jim Ricks writes, "In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth) is a giant inflatable 'speech bubble' video booth that is touring the world. The portable video recording booth invites members of the public to leave their responses to the public's ideas on what they believe is true or truthful by finishing the sentence: "The Truth Is...".

This long-term project will culminate in an edited documentary video artwork and website comprised of people's responses. www.insearchofthetruth.net

TRAVELOGUE Title: Travelogue Artist: Theresa Nanigian Location: Across Dublin Commissioner: Dublin City Council Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme

last year for an exhibition comprising live performance, sculpture and

Unveiled: April 2012

multimedia work. In January of this year, Jim Ricks and Carol Anne Connolly’s art / activist work, '99%4Art', gained a huge audience and stimulated some very interesting discourse in the city, at a time when the Occupy movement was getting into full swing. More recently, graduates of GMIT have used the space as a place for contemplation, playing with its vast scale to taking on large sculptural fabrication.

Placing the visual arts in a highly visible location is a clever move by Adapt Galway and will hopefully give the organisation more political clout when and if the docklands redevelopment gets underway, especially regarding planning decisions that will affect the arts

Title: Growth

community in the city long into the future.

Artist: James Hayes

Friday 4 May 11am – 2pm at the Ennistymon Courthouse.

Commissioner: Arts Council Ireland

Artist: Michael Fortune

students of GMIT’s Sculpture department commandeered the space

Don’t forget: the next VAI info Clinics in the west of Ireland is on

Location: Travelling worldwide

Title: Grove Street TV

of very good events run in the space. To name but a few: the third-year

www.adaptgalway.com

Artists: Cause Collective (Ryan Alexiev, Jim Ricks, and Hank Willis Thomas)

GROVE STREET TV

GROWTH

Title: In Search of the Truth (the Truth Booth)

Location: Stradbally Library and Arthouse Studios Commissioner: Laois County Council Budget: ˆ 26,000 Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme

Description: Travelogue consists of 28 sheet posters displayed at busshelters, rail and bus stations, on advertising sites, on street signage, and on buses, trains and trams across Dublin. To investigate the small undocumented dramas of the daily commute, artist Theresa Nanigian spent nine months collectig travel stories from across public transport providers in the city including Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann, Luas, Bus Éireann, taxi services, and even dublinbikes. The artist writes, "They are the quiet confessions told to taxi drivers from the back seat of the cab, stories of lost luggage and lost souls, small acts of charity and heroic gestures of empathy. Travelogue is quite simply a celebration of the wit and humanity of the people of Dublin as they travel around the capital city. www.travelogue.ie

34

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

residency profile

Guldagergaard farmhouse accomodation, Denmark

Claire Muckian, Saggar I, 2012, 10 x 22 x 22 cms, porcelain paper clay, feldspar, grog and industrial crank

Studios at Guldagergaard

Fire Away

least, Japanese potter and smokeless wood-fire kiln designer Masukasu Kusakabe made a surprise visit, and demonstrated his love of Japanese samurai films, tea ceremony, sushi, German sound systems and

claire muckian describes her recent residency at the International ceramics research centre, guldagergaard, denmark.

astronomy. I found it extremely valuable to engage with these established and experienced artists.

We had a brief introduction to the world of wood-firing when a fellow networkers fired one of the wood-fired kilns for her project. I

I have just returned from participating in a six-week programme

extruders, wheels. There is a broad range of electric, gas and wood-fired

was pleasantly surprised to find that the results can be a world away

for recently graduated BA and MA ceramic students entitled Project

kilns, wood workshop and other equipment to cater for all types of

from the brown ceramics traditionally associated with wood firing.

Network, of which three sessions are held annually at the International

ceramic artist. In the house, there is a well-stocked ceramic art library

Shino glazes, for example, fire to vibrant blues, greens and ambers. I

Ceramic Research Centre also known as Guldagergaard (pronounced

and in the Applehouse Gallery contains a huge collection of ceramic

liked the social and participatory aspect of wood-firing, and gained a

Gool – aya – goh), Denmark. Guldagergaard is situated in the small

art donated by previous artists-in-residence.

more fundamental understanding of how kilns operate. Having only

harbour town of Skælskør, an hour and a half from Copenhagen. It

Leisure time is taken very seriously here. Generally, artists gather

draws ceramic artists from all over the world who come to live in the

together in the evenings to share meals cooked by one or two in the

beautifully restored farmhouse and work in the bright and lively

group. These evenings proved to be very interesting with cultural

The programme ended with a final show in the Applehouse

converted studios. This residency was established by a group of eager

exchange facilitated by produce from the local Harboe brewery. The

Gallery. An outside curator helped us to arrange the show and stopped

and proactive Danish ceramic artists in the late 1990s. Having visited

smell of roasting hops regularly drifted over the studio environs. Over

disputes over coveted window locations and the more pristine plinths

Guldagergaard before as an assistant, I was surprised and grateful that

the course of a few evenings, everyone was asked to give a brief

requiring less painting. The work was extremely well-received by the

they accepted me back in the more sophisticated position of project

presentation of his or her work. Admittedly, the achievements of the

guests, mostly friends of Guldagergaard, at the opening reception. The

networker in February / March 2012. Project Network provides the

other networkers were intimidating.

work of all this season’s Project Network participants will be shown in

ever using electric and gas kilns, I perhaps had a detached, clinical view of the process.

opportunity for recent graduates to work alongside one other to

I was keen to use my time here to make a new body of experimental

exchange thoughts, ideas, and skills and also encourage an enduring

work, being open to Danish influences, learning from my peers and

international networking group.

building on my Degree show work. I wanted to look at process-led

Living and working in Denmark has left a huge impression on me

On arrival, I was keen to settle in and meet everyone. I had

modes of production and how materiality and process drive the work

in terms of the Nordic approach to living and working. Danish artists

expected to meet lots of Scandinavian students but was pleased to find

forward in a more uncontrolled way than I had previously been doing.

have a wonderfully considered sensibility towards making.This

a complete mix of cultures with my fellow networkers coming from

This was an ambitious idea for such a short period of time, taking into

translates as thoughtful, considered, precise, well-finished work. Even

the UK, France, Italy, Finland, Denmark and Lithuania. We also met the

account the time needed for making, firing, photographing and setting

when all of these rules are broken there is a sense that the rules are

artists-in-residence and assistants already at Guldagergaard who were

up the final exhibition.

known and understood by the artist. I would like to adopt this more

the Museum of International Ceramic Art – Grimmerhus, Middelfart, Denmark until August 2012.

from the USA, Israel, Japan and Denmark. Everyone had their own

I created modular forms, one on top of the other, and incorporated

approach to making, whether they tended towards design or fine art. It

glaze materials I wouldn’t normally have access to. I felt that my work

was fantastic to be surrounded by so many passionate ceramic artists

was taking a new, interesting direction. Surprisingly, my reading

In terms of the entire experience, I gained more than I could ever

with such disparate interests. I soon set off to explore the beautiful

material also seemed to feed into my work: theories from obscure sci-fi

have hoped and will continue this new body of work on my return

surroundings of the nearby lake and fjord. Miles and miles of rolling

books and Borges permeated through into my practice in terms of how

home to the studio. I can recommend this residency to anyone who

farmland extend in every direction as far as the eye can see, although

objects are perceived. On a gallery trip to Copenhagen, I encountered

wishes to broaden their practice and meet like-minded individuals that

water is never too far away, from the little harbour nestled in the town

the work of Danish ceramic artist Bente Skjøttgaard, who was exhibiting

make things happen and to engage with in future projects. I feel

to the beach at Købak Strand. Everything is within cycling distance, and

and invigilating at the Copenhagen Ceramics gallery. Skjøttgaard

enriched by the connections I made with the other residents and with

in true Danish style, cycling is the main form of transport.

considered method but whilst also maintaining my Irish roots and inclination towards a connected and associative art.

seemed to engage with similar ideas, and this proved a wonderful

the culture and place. In an effort to make a valuable contribution to

The first thing that struck me was how indulgent this entire

chance to meet and speak about her work. It was also encouraging to

contemporary ceramics, we established a ceramic collective called

process was going to be: cocooned in this creative bubble away from

see the amount of independent fine art galleries showing ceramics as

Project Network Three and an associated blog http://projectnetwork3.

my part-time job and the distractions of everyday life, this residency

part of their exhibition programme.

tumblr.com/ to which we all contribute, post our activities and record

was going to give me the time, space and necessary equipment to focus

During my resideny, many Danish and international artists visited

our experiences as growing artists. Our next project together involves

completely on a project from start to finish, and I was determined to

to give lectures on their work, and provide feedback and career advice

a travelling exhibition of new work going to each of our resident

make the most of the opportunity. I also enjoyed working to the

to the network participants. In exchange for information, we provided

countries centring on the balance between imagination and reality

natural rhythms of the day, something that is very easy to lose sight of

food and wine, and it was nice to get to know one another on a more

concerning perception of place. Hopefully this will provide even

in the city.

informal level. The guest artists included Nina Hole, one of

further opportunity for cultural exchange.

It didn’t take everyone long to get established in the shared

Guldagergaard’s founders, who spoke about her incredible fire

studios. They are bright, airy and extremely well-equipped for making

sculptures; Richard Launder, Associate Professor of KHIB in Bergen,

Claire Muckian is a ceramics artist based in Northern Ireland.

all types of ceramics, highlighting just how poorly equipped my own

Norway, lectured on placing your work outside of the traditional

Previous exhibitions include 'Cermamics Now' in Bucharest,

studio at home is. Guldagergaard is particularly renowned for its

gallery context; Flemming Tvede Hansen provided insights on how the

Romania and the 130th RUA Annual Exhibition at the Ulster

plaster and mould-making facilities, and the expertise of Richard Saaby,

latest 3D technology and printing techniques can be incorporated into

Museum.

Studio Manager. They also have many varieties of clay, glaze materials,

ceramics to create new possibilities for the material; and last but not

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

May – June 2012

35

How I Made

before the reality of blackouts, shortages, and radiation fear sank home.

Back in Dublin and still feeling jishin-yoi (eathquake drunk) for a while, especially when heavy trucks rumbled past, the business of finding work, trying to make work, and organise a show somewhere, got underway.

The series of images that I made after coming back drew on notebooks from Japan, but also from previous concepts that seemed to segue into the idea of the beautiful dead things. For a long time I had used pattern in my work, and curiosity about the mechanics of patterning had led me to the idea of redundancy. In different fields, the concept works in slightly different ways, but I was drawn to the basic idea that the repeated, superfluous elements of a pattern are redundant – insignificant in one sense, yet essential to the continuation of, or communication of, the pattern. For example, sensory perception depends upon redundancy, otherwise information would overwhelm the brain. In digital imaging, files can be compressed by losing psychovisually redundant data, eg large regions of similar pixel values.

In biological terms, redundancy ensures survival: a surplus of organisms means greater chance of continuing reproduction in the face of death.

The key, whether in neurology or systems theory, is the identification of what is redundant.

Milada Bacik, Japanese Plants No. 12, ink, pencil, and watercolour, 2011

Dead matter, redundant in every sense, became the basis of this new work, a series called In Vitae Fantastic. The lines and forms of disintegration and decay became layered underneath each other to form a sort of landscape setting for diminutive figures, insignificant elements in an abstract narrative scene, as I tried to work on the insignificance of ourselves in the unfathomable pattern of life and death. Looking at the use of symbolism like a withered tree in a portrait

by Cranach, or the wide-eyed shepherds in Et in Arcadio ego pastoral scenes, this sense of insignificant figures existing as part of a pattern greater than themselves gives rise to surreal yet meaningful imagery. I had seen contemporary echoes in the work of Shiga Lieko, whose photographs portray a fantastic world where the context or pattern Milada Bacik, Insomnium, mixed media, 30x20cm, 2012

'Pattern and Redundancy', 2012

Milada Bacik, Japanese Plants (selected) 2010–11

appears at first predictable but on closer inspection inexplicable, even grotesque.

In Vitae Fantastic

In the course of making the work I had begun to work with some other artists towards a show in The Drawing Project. This venue appealed to us because of its interest in exploring the drawing process,

Milada bacik explores the origins of her recent exhibition at the drawing project, Dún Laoghaire, following a trip to japan.

through exhibiting but also presenting and discussing the work with an invited audience. Matt Cullen, Helen Horgan, Paul Doherty, Vivienne Byrne, Jackqualyn Gray and myself used drawing in varied ways and for different ends. For me, drawing and painting were used interchangeably in the newer work with various media: a combination of inks and

The starting point for this work came while I was living in Japan

bulletins, like weather reports, on the regional progress of these

watercolours, oil and acrylic, layered and glazed. The pieces were small,

in early 2010. For a couple of years, death had often arisen as a subject

phenomena. The theory is that the transient is cherished as an

on roughly cut boards with smooth gesso surface, and finished with

in my work and research: the iconography and symbolism of death,

experience, precious because it doesn’t last; the value is in the emotional

gloss medium: at the show many people thought they were painted

and how it is dealt with through artistic expression. Many of the

integrity of the moment. In art tradition this is shown through the

ceramics. I also showed a selection of the Japanese drawings, which

traditional motifs and themes, which were developed to explore the

creative awareness of the medium, so that simplicity and imperfection

seemed both origin and counterpoint to the looser new work.

meaning of death, are familiar: the danse macabre, homo bulla, or skull

are often admired over polish. In shodo, the art of writing, the successful

imagery. These are often classed in the genre of memento mori, but

ink stroke is created in a one-off instance of expression.

The process of coming together for the show had its own effect on the work and its development. We met regularly to talk through what

how they work as visual reminders of the futility of mortal vanity was

I wanted to experience as much Japanese art as I could while I was

we were doing and discuss each other’s work, and for me it was part of

less important to me than how they express the problem of living with

there. Everywhere, I saw the use of nature, organic plant forms, water,

coming back into life here after being away. The show, which opened

death – the acknowledgement of mortality.

weather. In the Mori Art Museum the big 2010 show ‘Sensing Nature’

on 14 March, was called ‘Pattern and Redundancy’ (www.facebook.

In Heidegger’s concept of sein zum tode (being-toward-death), the

explored the current Japanese perception of nature through the work

com/The-Drawing-Project). Our discussions had led to more research

fact of our mortality means life is fully lived only by finding meaning

of ten major Japanese contemporary artists. What influenced me

which helped to refocus on the themes of the work. We all took part in

in our inevitable death . Being mortal is the defining condition of being

overall was the use of precisely naturalistic and figurative art, yet

a panel discussion before the opening, chaired by Claire Behan,

human, but in practice the hurdle of actually accepting our own death

almost abstract compositions. Detailed realism combined with bands

Director / Curator at the Market Studios; although a slightly daunting

remains formidable; for Heidegger the phrase ‘everyone dies’ is meaningless to the self.1 Freud wrote that “no one believes in his own

of pure colour and other areas of gossamer-fine marks could form a

prospect, it turned out to be another good way of getting some

landscape. Naturalism harmonised with abstraction, and everywhere

objectivity on what is usually such a personal project.

death”.2 In what might be the last word in acceptance, Duchamp’s

drawing and strength of graphic imagery prevailed.

chosen epitaph is d’ailleurs c’est toujours les autres qui meurent (anyway it’s always others who die).

Afterwards, I could look back and see more of a pattern emerging

I lived for a year in the rice-growing plains north of Tokyo,

in the making of the work, even in the development of the themes, and

surrounded by unfamiliar plants and scenes of nature changing

the group process was an interesting part of that. Ultimately, the

“If I have one goal, it is to accept death and dying”, according to

through the seasons – a novelty for the Irish city dweller. In spring I

symbolism of barren life-forms, as a motif both of inescapable death

Derrida.3 Motifs like death and the maiden, whether by Hans Baldung Grien in 1517 or Egon Schiele in 1915, symbolise this conundrum: the

studied with botanical artist Yoko Nomura and started drawing plants.

and of redundancy continuing the pattern of life, was simple, yet the

As the hottest summer in living memory ended and the plants started

complex beauty of those transient things had absorbed me and

difficulty of accepting the inevitable. It is a timeless theme, but in the

dying I worked compulsively, attracted to the dead and dying forms

continues to do so.

contemporary world traditional symbols give way to the novel: Hirst’s

much more than to the living ones. These dessicated and rotting shapes

dead shark The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

were just detritus on the ground, but at a micro level the patterns,

Milada Bacik has exhibited regularly both here and internationally.

(1991), Marc Quinn’s blood portrait Self (2001), even David Shrigley’s

colours, and fractal forms were fantastic and absorbing. There was so

Her current work combines drawing and painting in mixed media

stuffed dog I’m Dead (2010).

much scope for experimentation and abstraction with the contrast of

to create narrative scenes based on abstraction of natural patterns

controlled lines and formal patterns.

of growth.

If the difficulty of accepting our transience is universal, acceptance of transience itself is not universally difficult. In Japan the importance

These drawings were shown in Tokyo towards the end of my time

of impermanence is emphasised, especially in the appreciation of

in Japan, with the show, called 美しい死んだ事もの (‘Beautiful Dead

nature or art. In springtime, the population goes out to view cherry

Things’), set for 13 March 2011. As it turned out this was less than 48

blossom, a pastime known as hanami, with parties held beneath the

hours after the earthquake that devastated the northeastern coast. It

trees. In autumn, the change of colour of the maple leaves brings

was a strange day in Tokyo and it felt uncanny coming from a country

crowds out in more contemplative mood. The national news carries

town shut down and rocked with aftershocks, into a city eerily calm

www.miladabacik.com Notes 1. Heidegger, Being and Time, 1927 2. Sigmund Freud, Reflections on War and Death, 1915 3. Jacques Derrida, 'Jacques Derrida and Deconstruction', Mitchell Stephens, New York Times Magazine, 23 January 1994

DIG WHERE YOU STAND

GALLERY 2

is a curatorial residency investigating spaces of potential between text, exhibition and the locale.

Exhibition & Publication launch

LABYRINTHITIS

Jacob Kirkegaard RUA RED SOUTH DUBLIN ARTS CENTRE, TALLAGHT D 24

12 - 19 MAY

01 451 5860 WWW.RUARED.IE INFO@RUARED.IE

DIT Graduate Exhibition 2012

DIT Portland Row Daily: June 6th–16th Mon–Sat 10.30–16.30

BA Fine Art BA Visual Art (Sherkin Island)

Opening night Wednesday 6th June 18.00–20.00

› South Tipperary County Museum, Clonmel, 5th July at 7:30pm continuing until September 2012

www.digwhereyoustand.com

Contact: Sally O’Leary, Arts Officer South Tipperary County Council (052) 613 4565 sally.oleary@southtippcoco.ie www.southtipparts.ie

adp.dit.ie

Eilís Lavelle, Sarah Lincoln and Rosie Lynch have begun a curatorial residency that will run throughout the year. Dig where you stand in­ cludes five public reading and screening events, and an exhibition in South Tipperary County Museum, Clonmel. The project is initiated by South Tipperary County Council Arts Service.

Bronze Art, Fine art Foundry 50% DISCOUNT OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE IRISH ARTS REVIEW FOR VAI MEMBERS! One-year subscription costs €28 inc. p&p within Ireland!

Subscribe to the Irish Arts Review by phone or online and quote your VAI membership number.

Tel: +353 1 6793525 Online: www.irishartsreview.com

The leaders in fine art bronze casting, setting the standard for bronze sculpture, plaques and awards in Ireland.

Accept no compromise in the quality of your work, come work with the specialists.Best quality guaranteed everytime at competitive prices.

For your next project contact: David O’Brien or Ciaran Patterson Unit 3, Gaelic St, Dublin 3, Ireland.

Tel: 353-1-8552452 Fax: 353-1-8552453 Email: bronzeartireland@hotmail.com

www.bronzeart.ie

Photography from the Bank of America Collection

22 February – 20 May 2012 Irish Museum of Modern Art – New Galleries Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8 t +353 1 6129900 e info@IMMA.ie w www.IMMA.ie www.twitter.com/IMMAIreland Meridel Rubenstein, Donaldo Valdez, El guique, ’49 Chevy from “The Lowriders, Portraits from New Mexico,” 1980, Colour coupler print, 35.6 x 43.2 cm, @ Meridel Rubenstein

Arts Council of Northern Ireland, MacNeice House, 77 Malone Road, Belfast BT9 6AQ. T: +44 (28) 9038 5200. W: www.artscouncil-ni.org. E: info@artscouncil-ni.org

Image: Brendan Jamison, Green JCB bucket with holes. Arts Council Collection

Arts Council of Northern Ireland Developing the arts in Northern Ireland

The Red Stables St Anne’s Park Dublin 3 T: 01 222 7843 E: red.stables@dublincity.ie

the lab Foley Street Dublin 1 T: 01 2225455 E: artsoffice@dublincity.ie Open Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm www.thelab.ie

Ground Floor Gallery

Maggie Madden Site Line

the Cube

Nicki Wynnychuk in association with Pallas Projects/Studios

Call For Day Studio Applications

Irish Residential Artists Studio Award 2012

Dublin City Council invites applications from professional visual artists interested in medium term lettings (1 to 3 years) of day studios at The Red Stables

Applications are also invited for the annual award for an emerging Irish artist

Conversations in:

First Floor Gallery

Neil Carroll

Between Leaving and a Possible Return

Deadline for Irish Residential Artists Studio Award: Friday 20 July 2012, 5pm

Tours of available day studios will take place on Wednesday 16 May 2012. Book tours at www.redstablesdaystudios.eventbrite.ie Deadline for Day Studio Applications: Friday 25 May 2012, 5pm

Preview on 17th May 2012 6pm to 8pm Exhibitions run until 30th June 2012 www.thelab.ie www.dublincity.ie www.artsresidenciesdublin.com

Further application details and information please see:

www.redstablesartists.com www.artresidenciesdublin.com

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CAST25

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T: 01 454 2032 E: irishbronze@eircom.net W: www.irishbronze.ie

Willie Malone: casting sculpture for over two decades Kilmainham Art Foundry Ltd. t/a Irish Bronze, Inchicore Rd and Griffith College, Dublin 8

CAST Ltd. 1a South Brown St Dublin 8 www.cast.ie tel: 01-4530133

Contact Leo or Ray for your next project

Skills Programme 2012 19 & 20 June ‘Occupying the Imaginary Archive’ – Workshop with Gregory Sholette 17–21 September Glass workshop with Jiyong Lee 18 & 19 October Workshop with sculptor Mariele Neudecker — Digital Media Workshops: 8 & 9 June Google SketchUp 7 & 8 September HD Video Production and Post Production — Further information and booking form on www.firestation.ie/skills or email artadmin@firestation.ie Fire Station’s Skills Programme is continuously updated.

Check our website, follow us on Facebook or get in touch if you would like to be on our mailing list.

Three Residential Studios available in 2013 Fire Station Artists’ Studios offers city centre subsidised residential studios for professional visual artists. Two residencies will be offered from June 2013, and one from December 2013.

The studios are let from a period of between one year and two years nine months. International artists may apply for shorter periods. Resident artists have free access to high end computers, software, WiFi, technical expertise & support and also subsidised access to digital equipment. This is a competitive selection process.

— Closing Date for applications: Thursday 6th September 2012, 3pm — We are now accepting applications online.

Full details on applying for a studio are outlined on our website www.firestation.ie/studios

Further information: www.firestation.ie / email – artadmin@firestation.ie / phone – +353 1 8069010