Visual Artists' News Sheet - 2012 November December

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

issue 6 November – December 2012

Published byVisual Artists ireland Ealaíontóirí Radharcacha Éire

New Exhibitions November–January 03/11/12–01/12/12 Souvenir Views Wendy Judge 08/12/12–26/01/13 08/12/12 26/01/13 Pallas Periodical Review #2 Image: Wendy Judge

Curated by Eamonn Maxwell, Pádraic E. Moore, Mark Cullen & Gavin Murphy

Pallas Projects/Studios 115–117 The Coombe Dublin 8 Please see website for map/directions Gallery hours: 12–6pm Thursday–Saturday For more info or group visits please contact us at info@pallasprojects.org www.pallasprojects.org

Sirius Arts Centre

Artisan Frames Specialist picture framers

Dublin Framing Service Ar�san Frames full framing service, is available in Dublin at Stoney Road Press, now agents for Ar�san Frames where you can order: Box frames Tray frames Perspex Box frames DiBond aluminium Exhibi�on framing Stoney Road Press

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Visit us at the RHA Art expo 1st to the 4th of November

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Photo: Vivienne Dick

6 October 2012 – 3 February 2013

Alice Maher, Casandra’s Necklace, 2012, film-still, Courtesy of the Artist

Emmet Place | Cork | Ireland +353 (0)21 4805042 | www.crawfordartgallery.ie

IMMA at NCH at Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 t +353 1 6129900 e info@IMMA.ie Free lunchtime tours, talks, late opening see www.imma.ie

4

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

Introduction

November – December 2012

Contents

Welcome to the November / December issue of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet

1. Cover Image. Dreaming of the Celestial Mountain. Agnes Conway, 2011.

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

This issue begins with a regional profile on Co Antrim, focusing on galleries, spaces and collectives in the

5. Column. Mark Fisher.

area, including Belfast Exposed, Catalyst Arts, The MAC and Satis House, followed by a report from Antrim

6. Column. Jonathan Carroll.

Arts Officer, Cathy McNally.

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

Columnist Mark Fisher discusses how artistic practitioners should engage with institutions in the current

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

economic climate, referencing Chantal Mouffe and Bifo Beradi, while Jonathan Carroll examines fame and

13. Art and Politics. Living Museum. Brian Kennedy on a recent trip to visit artists in Syria.

anonymity in the art world.

14. Project Profile. Into the Light. Fiona Fullam talks to Karen Downey about a new exhibition showcasing

Also in this issue: Brian Kennedy describes his visit to artist-led projects in Syria, which was followed by an

the Art Council Collection in venues around the country.

exchange to Northern Ireland; Gregory McCartney talks about curating the upcoming Tulca Festival in

15. Festival. Landscape, Change and Flux. Ciara Peters talks to Gregory McCartney about his role as Curator

Galway; Alan Bulfin discusses living as an artist / dish washer in Finland; Una Carmody presents findings

from a recent study on visual arts audiences across Ireland; Nick Kaplony profiles the Artelier international

16. How is it Made? A Sleeping Face. Agnes Conway on her recent commission for Marlay Park.

artist exchange programme; and Fergus Byrne reports on a recent project by The Performance Collective. In addition, we have 'How is it Made?' articles from Agnes Conway and Suzanne Mooney.

of the Tulca Festival 2012.

17. Career Development. Some Possible Infinities. Alan Bulfin describes working as an artist in Finland.

18. Education. The Artist's Apprentice. Lily Power talks to Siobhán Parkinson about a new children's book

In the News section, we announce the recipients of the Arts Council Visual Artists’ Workspace Scheme

grants, provide information about the Get Together 2013 and introduce the new Steering Group based in

18. Policy. Here and Now. Una Carmody gives findings from a recent study of Irish visual arts audiences.

Belfast. Also listed here are details on the VAI Exhibition Fees Survey, which will assist in the ongoing development of the Visual Artist’s Charter. VAI will also be launching a new event, Show and Tell, which will feature fast-paced slide presentations by professional members in an informal setting.

inspired by Velázquez's Las Meninas.

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

23. Festival. The Art of Communication. Yvonne Cullinan profiles the trans-art Festival, Cavan.

24. Residency. Artelier. Nick Kaplony describes the Artelier residency programme, run by ArtQuest UK. 24. People. John Carrick. Artists pay tribute to the Fire Station Workshop Manager, who retires this month.

25. Policy. Cultural Strategies. Ray Yeates discusses Dublin City Council's upcoming plans for the arts.

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26. Artist-Led Project. Subject to Ongoing Change. Fergus Byrne profiles The Performance Collective.

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

27. Advocacy. Issue and Impasse. April Britski on CARFAC's debate with the National Gallery of Canada.

30. Debate. Remains of the Present. Michelle Browne reports from performance symposium, 'Remnant'.

31. How is it Made? Outside In. Suzanne Mooney describes recent work developed in Seoul and Tokyo.

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32. International. Notions of Hospitality. Anne Mullee reports from the 2012 Liverpool Biennial.

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33. Art in Public. Public art commissions, site-specific works, socially-engaged practices and other forms of art outside the gallery.

34. Studio Profile. Sustainable Spaces. Maria Tanner profiles a new studio space in Dungarven, Waterford.

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

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the Arts Council/Arts Council of Northern Ireland or other funding body. o Have been awarded tax-exempt status by the Revenue Commissioners, or are on

schedule D as a self-employed artist in Northern Ireland.

35. Regional Contact. VAI's Northern Ireland Manager reports from the region.

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

Contributors Mark Fisher, Jonathan Carroll, Brian Kennedy, Fiona Fullam, Karen Downey, Ciara Peters, Gregory McCartney, Agnes Conway, Alan Bulfin, Marita Muukkonen, Lily Power, Siobhan Parkinson, Una Carmody, Andy Parsons, Alissa Kleist, Sara Baume, David Brancaleone, Joanne Laws, Laura Gannon, Yvonne Cullinan, Nick Kaplony, John Beattie, Ray Yeates, Fergus Byrne, April Britski, Michelle Brown, Suzanne Mooney, Anne Mullee, Feargal O'Malley, Maria Tanner, Angela Halliday, Mave Dempster, Ruaidhri Lennon, Pauline

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The Visual Artists’News sheet

November – December 2012

COlUMN

Mark Fisher Return to Hegemony

5

Roundup IllUMINATED

Raphaël Zarka, the exhibition draws upon The Brick Moon, a short story written

by Edward Everett Hale in 1869. The show was curated by Tessa Giblin and Kate Strain. www.projectartscentre.ie

“SHOUlD critical artistic practices engage with current institutions with the aim of transforming them or should they desert them altogether?” This question is posed by Chantal Mouffe in Strategies of Radical Politics and Aesthetic Resistance Resistance, an important piece written for “the marathon camp on artistic strategies in politics and political strategies in art” held in Graz in September, as part of the Steirischer Herbst festival. At a time when institutions – and not only those in the art world – have been put into crisis by the austerity programme, Mouffe’s question is crucial. She correctly associates the refusal of institutions with post-autonomist theorists such as Paolo Virno, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri and Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi, who agree that “the

Fiona byrne,Atmosphere, 2012

multitude can ignore the existing power structures and concentrate its efforts in

‘Illuminated’ by Fiona Byrne was exhibited recently in the Denis Collins Gallery, Wexford (18 Aug – 15 Sep). “The exhibition features 14 works which have been created digitally, outputted as high quality transparencies and back lit with low energy LEDs. The pieces are presented in a low light environment and each one glows with rich colour and appealing biomorphic shapes.”

constructing alternative social forms outside the state power network. Any collaboration with the traditional channels of politics, like parties and trade unions, are to be avoided”.

By contrast with this strategy of “exodus”, Mouffe recommends not “deserting the institutional terrain but . . . engaging with it, with the aim of fostering dissent and creating a multiplicity of agonistic spaces where the dominant consensus is challenged and where new modes of identification are made available”. The crucial concept for Mouffe is Antonio Gramsci’s idea of hegemony.

Mouffe’s intervention is valuable for two reasons. The first is that the autonomist

www.artupstairswexford.com

rejection of the state, trade unions etc etc, is highly influential in the fields of art and culture. This is especially significant since, as Mouffe argues, art and culture have a central role to play in the building – and the unmaking – of hegemony, because they contribute to the construction of what is held to be common sense. Ironically, the idea that there is no such thing as hegemony is itself now hegemonic, evident in the favouring of networks over “top-down”, “hierarchical” structures and the belief that the state is both inefficient and corrupt: these “horizontalist” ideas are pushed by neoliberals as much as by autonomists. I’m not being so crass as to say that autonomism and neoliberalism are identical. But, in line with Mouffe’s analysis, it is essential to recognise that no idea or strategy possesses a guaranteed and inherent emancipatory potential; what matters is how ideas and strategies are “articulated”, or connected up with, different discourses and practices in a particular context.

HAll OF MIRRORS Limerick City Gallery of Art recently held ‘Hall of Mirrors’ by Cleary & Connolly (23 Aug – 5 Oct). The press release explains, “The exhibition, created with an international team of scientists, uses over 50 electronic devices including kinect cameras, video-stereoscopes and perception-headsets, to explore the complex and beautiful processes that are involved in seeing.” www.connolly-cleary.com

Autonomist thinking played an important role in the struggle to escape the oppressive over-centralisation of the Stalinist communist party, and the question autonomism

PlASTIC ART

was organised around – what form leftism should take in the face of the so-called post-Fordist reconstruction of society, culture and economy – remains fundamental and unanswered. But ideas that contributed to the breaking of a certain mode of leftwing hegemony in the 1970s do not function in the same way now that the international Communist Party is a distant memory and there are few significant leftwing political parties in the western world. In the context of neoliberal domination of parliaments and media, the call to further withdraw from party politics and mainstream media could only be welcomed by the neoliberals, who must be delighted to see horizontalist ideas so popular on the left.

The second reason Mouffe’s essay is important is its timing. From the mid-1990s up until 2008, there really was little point in engaging with parliamentary democracy or trade unions in any serious way. The dominance of neoliberalism was assured because of a constellation of factors, which made it effectively the case that “there was no alternative” to its capitalist realism. It’s no coincidence that it was during this time of leftist defeat that horizontalist concepts became highly influential. And, to be brutally honest, the horizontalist revolts – from Seattle to Occupy – have not caused the institutions of capital any serious perturbation any more than they have presaged a widespread withdrawal from capitalist social relations.

But, since the financial crisis of 2008, the ideological field is radically open in a way that has not been the case for at least 30 years. Political parties are confused and rudderless, peddling watered-down neoliberalism (or watered-down critiques of neoliberalism) in a world that is hungry for a new vision. In other words, the ground is for the taking. How do we take it? Well, here, some of the insights of autonomism and Mouffe’s hegemony-based approach might be synthesised. How do we shift hegemony? Not by attempting to do it from the top, through the parliamentary process alone – Britain’s New Labour party is an object lesson in what happens when you try to do that. What is required in the first instance is the formation of cultural hubs that can exert influence from below and outside the decadent parliamentary machine.

The art world possesses a transnational network that – often uncomfortably – mirrors global capital. But what if this network was used organisationally, as well as aesthetically, as an international infrastructure, which could do for a twenty-first century leftism what the Communist Party did for its twentieth-century equivalent?

From 'Plastic Art', 2012

‘Plastic Art’ was a group exhibition held in Rua Red, Dublin (17 Aug – 13 Oct). The artists featured were Barbara Knezevic, Magnhild Opdøl and Seamus McCormack. “The exhibition explores the notion of the biological network through its manipulations of form, plasticity through the re-working of material, seriality and the interplay of physical change with recognition.” The show was curated by Hilary Murray (2012 Curatorial Residency).

WHERE IS THE HERE Pallas Projects, Dublin recently held ‘Where is the here if the here is in there?’

(24 Aug – 22 Sept). The press release notes, “In the summer of 2011, Paul Murnaghan found himself embedded – while a resident artist at the International Studio and Curatorial Program – in deepest Bushwick, New York…Whilst working on a project with Brooklyn teenagers, he was contacted by PP/S with an open remit to form an exhibition upon return. Murnaghan began collecting video works that in some way reflect the diverse positions of the indigenous and transient artists occupying the same space at one specific moment in time. Each of the artists within this exhibition directs their lens towards a multitude of purposes, while their thoughts are refracted through existence within a global metropolis. In doing so they construct second memory, subvert tradition, entice collaboration, form fragile communities, consider and illuminate individual perspectives. In short they make a ‘here’ for us to view within the vastly over–documented city that is New York.” The artists involved were: Bertille Bak, Andy Cahill, Johannes DeYoung, E.S.P. TV, Kakyoung Lee, Marinella Senatore, Josephine Turalba. www.pallasprojects.org

SCRAPINg OFF THE PAST ‘Scraping Off The Past’ by Polish artist Ewa Fornal was recently exhibited at the Ivy House, Dublin (14 Aug – 4 Nov). The press release notes, “Exploring the unique palette of location, the colours and textures, Ewa incorporates fragments of urban space into her work – looking for the hidden past in the building materials and detritus that becomes the soil from which the work grows. The process involves removing components from their urban context and placing them in a new one where they can grow into new meaning – the layers of plaster and paint like memories painted over and lost. By transferring man-made artifacts into her artworks she attempts to build a new system of references.” www.theivyhouse.ie

SOMETHINg THROWN AND CAUgHT

www.ruared.ie

“In a new body of work Bennie Reilly continues her investigation into the oddities and intricacies of the outside world and demonstrates the strange dialogue which can occur between the eye and the object in the space of a glance. Using her own brand of magic realism through painting and drawing, and elementary and craft-based threedimensional work, Reilly conjures representational forms and patterns from the anti-chaos of nature.”

www.talbotgallery.com

I'M gONNA lIVE ANyHOW

Joanna billing,I'm gonna live anyhow until I die, 2012

‘I’m gonna live anyhow until I die’ by Johanna Billing was held in the MAC, Belfast (10 Aug – 4 Nov). The press release notes, “Johanna Billing’s videos deftly weave together music, movement and rhythm and place subtle emphasis on individual performance and representations of changing societies...

The participants in Johanna’s videos all play themselves but take part in staged situations that oscillate between documentary and fiction, as a multilayered interpretation of a place. Billing’s films often involve music, which in her hands becomes a tool for communication, memory and reconstruction. This exhibition will present a series of her recent work alongside a new film, I’m gonna live anyhow until I die die, 2012 – a MAC co-commission with the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy.”

www.themaclive.com

THIMBlE AND A NAIl ‘Thimble and Nail’ was a recent exhibition

by Patricia Looby created for Triskel / Christchurch, Cork (10 Aug – 30 Sept).

The press release notes that Looby’s work "further develops her interest in medieval ecclesiastical symbolism and re-constituting redundant domestic and agricultural implements by means of aesthetics and inheritance. This installation of intensively-worked fragments accumulates towards an assemblage of ideas relating to the notion of the ‘relic’ and highly ritualised objects in both rural, socio-cultural and parallel religious settings. What Patricia Looby continues to create is a lexicon for re-readings of what is precious, what can be made iconic and what can be done with memory, jewels, rust and art.”

www.triskelartscentre.ie

WHITEWASHINg THE MOON Project Arts Centre, Dublin showcased ‘Whitewashing the Moon’ (24 Aug – 27 Oct). “Transformation by appropriation and transformation by creation are the stimuli for the exhibition 'Whitewashing the Moon’, in which a twilit garden of sculptures, moving images and installations seek to reveal potentialities within objects and ideas.” The artists featured in the exhibition include: Caroline Achaintre, Jorge De la Garza , Eleanor Duffin, Barbara Knezevic and

bennie ennie Reilly,Bubble Beard, 2012

Bennie Reilly recently exhibited ‘Something Thrown and Caught’ in the Talbot Gallery, Dublin (13 Sept – 5 Oct).

y yARD The Rubicon Gallery, Dublin exhibited paintings by Nick Miller entitled ‘Yard’ (8 Sept – 6 Oct). The show focuses on the artist’s mobile studio, from which he painted landscapes from around the world. The truck now sits in the steel yard at the back of his current studio. The press release notes, “This show centres on a selection of new and unseen works that are focused on the mountain, the yard and the metal that lies in the

6

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

COLUMN

Jonathan Carroll Knowing Me, Knowing You

I Recently got a taste of what it feels like be known within the art world and followed this by giving someone well known a lesson in how it feels to be anonymous.

While studying in London for an MA in Curating (yes, one can do this) I would

Roundup foreground. In the contrast between metal and nature in Miller’s work, we are really confronted with wider questions on the relationship between culture and nature. The repeated cycles of life, growth and death are closer to real permanence than metal or machine. Beauty is found equally in the rusting man-made remnants of human construction, and in the rising mountain landscape of Ben Bulben.” www.rubicongallery.ie

find myself visiting exhibitions and art events in the company of an international brigade of my favoured fellow students (Romanian, Italian, Japanese and German).

When we encountered artists in the flesh, one companion would identify whether or

enemy blue

not they were ‘important’; another would recall the exhibitions they had been in, something about the artist’s work and their name. One particular companion would remind me that I had already met the artist in question on more than one occasion and

the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (23 Aug – 29 Sept). ‘Caution’ featured artists from USA, Peru, Canada, Kurdistan-Iraq, Japan and Lebanon. www.goldenthreadgallery.co.uk

LEABHAR OSCAILTE The Working Artist Studios, Skibbereen, recently presented ‘Open Book – Leabhar Oscailte’ a solo exhibition by Kathy O’ Leary (15 Sept – 13 Oct). The show featured new multidisciplinary artworks including books (notebooks and printed), digital and contemporary etching prints, experimental short-films, interactive word / text play, photography and sculpture. www.dnote.info

could tell me what I was wearing at the time.

I became very reliant on this crew and found that certain aspects of the work we saw could be experienced uniquely through our combined knowledge, which was often dependent on our nationalities. For example, when visiting an exhibition by Joseph Beuys, ‘Actions, Vitrines, Environments’, at Tate Modern, each member of our group could identify something in the vitrines relating to their country. Looking at the vitrine Doppelobjekte (Double Objects) (1974-79), I could explain what BNM (Bord na Mona) printed on the peat briquettes with butter (entitled Irish Energies) meant. In another vitrine, the German among us could expand on the type of outdated German script that was used by his grandparents. The Romanian and Japanese nationals spotted some garbage from their respective countries within the sweepings included in Ausfegen (Sweeping Up) (1972 – 1985), while the Italian spotted something relating to the Brigate Rosse terrorist group.

Anyway, I digress. I recently met up with some members of my group at Documenta 13, where I decided to demonstrate how capable I was of going it alone without relying on their combined total recall. I had been to see Llyn Foulkes (born 1934, Washington) perform his self-made The Machine, which includes many different acoustic and percussive instruments (cowbells, bicycle horns, xylophone, bass strings) at the Fridericianium. The next day, seeing who I thought was Llyn on the tram into Kassel, I approached him with foolish bravado and applauded him for his performance the day before. “Thanks” he said. Later on, seeing him once again, I recommended that he go to one particular ‘unmissable’ performance. He told me that he had lost his Documenta pass. “No worries” I said, “not only will I give you my spare professional pass but also I have a colleague in the queue for the next performance of Walid Raad and will get them to hold you a place”. (Sycophantic ass-licking you cry! Perhaps; I have always been a shameless fan as well as a curator.) On delivering him to the top of the queue I thought I would ask for my reward: his contact details. He writes them

Allan Hughes, still from Enemy Blue, 2012

Belfast Exposed recently presented ‘Enemy Blue’ by Allan Hughes (30 Aug – 12 Oct). The press release notes, “Enemy Blue is a three-screen synchronised video installation that explores the failure of video to articulate politicised historical narratives. Despite the proliferation of digital high-definition technologies, our access to and experience of the wider world has been increasingly mediated through ‘poor’ images. Hand-held camera phones, transcoded archive footage, surveillance footage and low-res streams proliferate the political landscape.

Regardless of their lack of information or detail, the ‘low grade’ aesthetic of these images has become associated with ideas of authenticity and truth. Hughes’ new work examines the mutable nature of video and its place in relation to propaganda and remediation through a narrative on ‘friendly fire’.”

holdfast ‘Holdfast’ by Patricia Curran Mulligan was held at the Yeats Gallery, Sligo (15 – 29 Sept). ‘Holdfast’ is the final part in a trilogy of exhibitions gestated during time spent over 82 days in isolation on the Fred Conlon inaugural Bursary at Easkey Co Sligo in 2009. The press release notes, “Here in 'Holdfast' the innate curiosity of a child's journey stumbles into disequilibrium. Schemas of internal representations to understand the world are formulated. Occasionally a sense of bliss, detachment from reality, lack of attention to the passing of time is examined in the 'moment'. Intense periods of concentration connect mixed signals or indifference. Play is hardwired to our genetic code. It is here that the artist examines the 'Holdfast' from her birthplace, pre-journeying through fragmented zones to a doable state of timelessness.” www.yeats-sligo.com

still

www.belfastexposed.org

down. I look at them and am unable to decipher his septuagenarian handwriting.

“Could you print your details for me?” “Sure” he says and writes “Sylvère Lotringer”.

Cue internal dialogue accompanied by slight nausea. What! You’re not Llyn Foulkes?

Who is this guy? He sure fooled me with his “I had dinner with Catherine David last night”. I want my pass back! With that, I excused myself, leaving him to be looked after by my colleague.

Fast forward two months and I find myself alone and slightly jaded as I try to understand some of the overlong, impenetrable labels in this year’s eva International exhibition in Limerick. There are endless talking heads, including six extended videos (in their raw unedited state) of interviews of philosophers, intellectuals and artists by Fergus Daly and Katherine Waugh A Laboratory of Perpetual Flux (2012). Video 5 / 6 has the following line-up: Doug Aitkin (33 mins), Philippe Grandrieux (14 mins), Brothers Quay (33 mins), Gerard Byrne 45 (mins) and finally, several hours later, Peter Eisenman (43 mins). Suddenly, I see a solo video by the same artists featuring an extended interview with Sylvère Lotringer! I watch every minute. It turns out that Daly and

outland arts Outland Arts held a group show in Satis House, Belfast (8 – 29 Sept). Outlands are an artist-led organisation based in Fermanagh, run by volunteers set up to promote and support the ethos of exhibiting contemporary art in rural locations and to support artists whose practice involves ideas of the rural and the remote in its widest context. The participating artists were Ursula Burke, Nuala Gregory, Seamus Harahan, Diane Henshaw, Christine Mackey, Harriet MacMillan, Deirdre McKenna, Duncan Ross and Helen Sharp. www.outlandarts.org

Waugh’s work borrows a quote from my old friend Sylvère (born 1938, Paris), taken from their shorter edited film, The Art of Time, about new temporalities in contemporary art. Like a genie in a bottle, Lotringer’s appearance transforms my experience of the

caution

eva exhibition as a whole. I enjoy my ignorance and note something Lotringer says from the TV monitor: “nobody sees anyone anymore”. Well I saw him all right, I just didn’t know who he was!

A month earlier, I experienced the reverse of what I had inflicted on Sylvère. I received an invitation to the launch party for The Tanks at Tate Modern. I am not usually invited to anything and presumed it was one of the opening exhibitors, Sung Hwan Kim, who had asked that I be invited (I was working at Project Arts Centre at the time of his exhibition there). I noticed how differently some ex-tutors from the RCA were treating me, and the response that my name seemed to elicit on introduction. As it turns out, Jonathon Carroll has just opened an art gallery in London (Carroll / Fletcher Gallery). I chose not to disabuse anyone.

November – December 2012

Sinead O'Donell,Caution, 2011

‘Caution’ by Artist and curator Sinéad O’Donnell was the culmination of a twoyear project exploring the nature of invisible disabilities and barriers commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad to coincide with the London 2012 Paralympics. The show was exhibited in

from the Crawford College of Art and Design. The show was held in The Lavit Gallery, Cork (28 Aug – 8 Sept) and featured work from Anne Ahern, Christian Buchner, Tracy Fitzgerald, Gwenda Forde, Teresa Hearne Carol MacGabhann, James Nagle, Katie O’ Donoghue, Shay Quinn, Sarah Ryan, Dola Twomey and Norma Walsh, Cassandra Eustace, Emer Kelly, Jessica Knibb, Colin O’ Connor and Erika Szel.

www.lavitgallery.com

from the open studio Limerick Printmakers Studio & Gallery recently exhibited ‘From the Open Studio’ (30 Aug – 15 Sept), the culmination of Kilkenny County Council Arts Office artists in residence programme, which took place between Oct 2011 – Mar 2012. Deirdre Gallagher (Limerick), Caroline Schofield (Kilkenny), Vicky Cody (Kilkenny) and Maeve Coulter (Kilkenny) shared a studio space at the Arts Office in Kilkenny developing work in printmaking, drawing and textiles.

www.limerickprintmakers.com

sea of exchange ‘Sea of Exchange: Ireland – Los Angeles’ took place recently at the Pacific Deisgn Centre, Los Angeles (18 Sept – 1 Nov).

‘Sea of Exchange’ is a collaborative effort between LAPS and the 2012 edition of the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival. The show featured work by established artists from the US and Ireland that honour the cultural relationship between the two countries. The show, which focused on the artist as storyteller and how she / he explores the human condition, included prints as well as mixed media works. The exhibition, curated by Cathy Weiss, included the following artists: Mary Sherwood Brock, Wanda Decca, Mark Steven Greenfield, Ros Harvey, Nancy Jo Haselbacher, Holly Jerger, Dave Lefner, Poli Marichal, Donal Mac Polin, Simon McWilliams, Suzy 0’Mullane, Gary Palmer, Sarah Pavsner, Tim Stampton and Cathy Weiss.

www.artslant.com

Patrick Hogan, Untitled, 2012

The Gallery of Photography recently exhibited ‘Still’ by the winner of the Gallery of Photography’s Artist’s Award for 2012, Patrick Hogan (15 Sept – 28 Oct).

“Patrick Hogan’s partlyautobiographical photographs present an intimate view of his everyday encounters and surroundings in the remote area of County Tipperary where he has lived for the past two years. His compelling portraits, dense still lives, brooding interiors and pensive landscapes convey a sense of uncertain anticipation and quiet foreboding.

Though modest and focused in geographical scope, Hogan’s powerful images explore expansive existential themes of love, fragility, decay and loss.”

the what-ifs ‘The What-Ifs’ is the current exhibition of new work by Fiona Ní Mhaoilir at Platform Arts, Belfast (20 Sep – 10 Nov).

The exhibition is an installation of 3D and 2D works. ‘The What-Ifs’ is "an experimental exploration of the artist’s position within the conditions of contemporary culture. Irreverent humour, mixed materials and conceptual subversion attempt to unpick current dialogue surrounding art production where private and public converge.

‘What if?’ is the question we keep asking ourselves”.

www.platformartsbelfast.com

there there

www.galleryofphotography.ie

fledglings ‘Fledglings’ is an annual exhibition featuring a selection of recent graduates

Viviane Sassen,Nungwi, 2011

The Visual Artists’News sheet

November – December 2012

7

ROUNDUP ‘There There’ was a photographic event in Cork City, curated by Stag & Deer, which brought more than 30 international, national and local lensbased artists under one thematic banner and was anchored by a selection of works from 'Parasomnia' by Viviane Sassen (18 Oct – 3 Nov). The press release states, “The thematic frame for ‘There There’ is otherness and the possible re-connections and interpretations of the world we are situated in. As exhibition-makers, we are fascinated with the communicative power that photographic images hold and the contextualisation of different photographic / lens-based works from different parts of Ireland and of the globe in an Irish situation. As global citizens, we all are deeply embedded in sociallyconstructed signs loaded with commercial and political connotations, with other humane signs going and remaining unnoticed, ie signs of how we relate to each other and the gifts that happen in living.” The shows featured were: Viviane Sassen ‘Parasomnia’ at The Crawford Gallery; Miriam O’ Connor, ‘Attention Seekers’ at 9 Winthrop Street; Roseanne Lynch, ‘Show’ at CCAE Cork School of Architecture; Zhang Kechun, ‘The Yellow River’ at CCAE Cork School of Architecture; ‘Aspect’, an open submission group exhibition at TACTIC, O’Sullivan’s Quay, Cork, featuring the works of 15 national and international artists; ‘Post Script’, a group exhibition, curated by Peggy Sue Amison, at Camden Palace Hotel.

which hang in the straw bale round house at An Lab, John St, Dingle.” www.deidremckenna.com

IN PROgRESS

in European traditions of absurdism and satire, Stephen Brandes presents an uncanny portrait of Europe, where familiar places are hybridized or reinvented and chronologies are ambiguous." www.cakecontemporaryarts.com

The Way Wiser Collective, 'In Progress', 2012

'In Progress' was a recent site-specific projection onto the DCC Fruit Market in Dublin 7 by The Way Wiser Collective (13 –30 Sept 2012). Drawings, based on original photographs of the Victorian workmen constructing the markets, were used to create an animation that interacted with their ornate stonework.The Way Wiser Collectivewas founded in 2011 with the mission of exploring latent possibilities in the urban landscape and creating interventions to shift public awareness. Members are Mark Ferguson, Gráinne Tynan, Eimear Tynan and Francis Quinn.

ARTISTERIUM Irish artists, Marjorie Carroll, Claire Halpin, Ian Joyce, Heidi Nguyen, Eoin MacLochlainn and Aoife McGarrigle exhibited in Samkura Project at Tbilisi State Art Academy as part of Artisterium, 5th International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Tbilisi Georgia (5 – 15 Oct).

Artisterium is an evolving curatorial platform, each year its overall theme responds to timely social concerns. 'The Protest That Never Ends' was the theme for 2012. The exhibition aims to provide a platform to explore what is worth protesting and how a creative work can become a catalyst for change.

TAlES OF SEDUCTION

Una Gildea,Soft, 2012

Siobhan McDonald, installation photo

FROM THE OPEN STUDIO ‘An Béal Bocht / The Poor Mouth’ by artists Ciara McKenna and Deirdre McKenna was held in Strawbale Round House at An Lab, Dingle, Co Kerry (21 Sept – 20 Oct). The press release notes, “This exhibition pays homage to Myles na gCopaleen’s satirical novel, An Béal Bocht, and explores the avarous culture of Bocht greed everpresent in society. Corca Dhuibhne based artists Ciara and Deirdre McKenna exlpore Corca Dhorca through their collection of drawings and paintings

DUblIN

Artists' Projects Proposals Clinic with Helen Carey and Eilis Lavelle Fri 9 Nov (10:30 – 16:30) @VAI 10 places Cost ˆ 100 / ˆ 55 (VAI Members) Peer Critique Session Led by Visiting Artists and Curators including Kati Kiniven, Curator at KIASMA, Finland Spring 2013, Date tba Dublin Health and Safety for Visual Arts Professionals Dates tba in Dublin Presenting Your Work Abroad with Mark Garry and ArtQuest Spring 2013, dates tba Dublin

bElFAST

The Copper House Gallery exhibited ‘Tales of Seduction’, an exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator Una Gildea (4 – 20 Oct). Gildea's collage images were selected from the series entitled ‘Tales of Seduction’, which explores the dynamics of attraction, communication and seduction.

www.joannakidney.com

REPUBl REPUB lIC OF IRE IREl lAND

NORTHERN IRElAND SEISM

SINg gy yOURSElF

‘Sing yourself to where the singing comes from’ was shown at The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire (24 – 30 Oct). Kidney created a wall-based assemblage that comprised hundreds of felt forms and some monoprinted drawings, driven by a desire to to open out her drawing work from the confines of the 2D surface. A study of symmetrical and geometric structures of botanical and biological micro details and diagrammatic drawings of woven structures also informs the work.

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/

www.thewaywisercollective.blogspot.ie

http://there-there-aphotographicevent.tumblr.com

Joanna Kidney,Sing youself to where the singing comes from

professional development training & events autumn 2012

‘Seism’ by Siobhan McDonald was recently held in the Dock, Co Leitrim (7 Sept – 27 Oct). “Siobhan McDonald’s work explores the idea of studying ‘nature’. Her recent works allude to tensions between chaos and entropy, and between the teleological and the merely random. For ‘Seism’, she employs geology as a language to conceive an understanding of time and our relationship to a constantly evolving environment.... She presents a series of newly realised works – drawings, paintings, video and sound works – which consider and reflect on the earth, history, technology and man’s recordings of volcanic events, as they interconnect with human experience through the physicality of the surrounding landmass.”

The show was curated by Aoife Tunney. www.siobhanmcdonald.com

Get into The Roundup ■ 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

Gallery Installation Skills - Traditional Media - Gillian Fitzpatrick In partnership with Belfast Exposed Tues 13 Nov (10:30 – 16:30) Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Digital Arts Studios 30 places Gallery Installation Skills - Digita Media - Angela Halliday In partnership with Belfast Exposed and DAS Thurs 22 Nov (10:30 – 16:30) Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Digital Arts Studios 10 places Project Management for the Visual Arts - Noel Kelly In partnership with Belfast Exposed Tues 28 and Wed 29 Nov (10:30 – 16:30) Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places

Facillitation Skills for Artists Working with Groups (tutor tbc) In partnership with Belfast Exposed Thurs 7 Feb 2013 (10:30 – 16:30) Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX and DAS members) @ Belfast Exposed 10 places Community-Focused Arts Project Planning - Conor Shields In partnership with Belfast Exposed Feb 2013 date tbc, half-day session @ Belfast Exposed 10 places Artists' Projects Proposals Clinic tutor tbc Spring 2013 (10:30 – 16:30) 10 places Cost £50 / £25 (VAI Members) Peer Critique Session Led by Visiting Artists and Curators including Kati Kiniven, Curator at KIASMA, Finland Spring 2013, Date tba Belfast Visual Artists Ireland Info Sessions VAI is also open to providing information sessions to final year undergraduates and artist groups.

Please contact us to arrange sessions for your group.

To book and for further information please contact us by email at the address below and check the Professional Development page on our website for up to date details on current training events.

description of the work / event.

■

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

■ Our criteria is primarily to ensure that the roundup section has a good regional spread and represents a

FROM THE TRANSCONTINENTAl Cake Contemporary held a solo show by Stephen Brandes (24 Aug – 28 Sept) entitled 'From the Transcontinental'. "His practice explores visual language (often interplayed with word) as a vehicle for storytelling, employing a range of styles and materials, from monumental drawings on flooring vinyl to digitally designed posters and collages. Grounded

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

■ Priority is given to events taking place within Ireland, but do let us know if you are taking part in a significant international event.

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

8

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

November – December 2012

News workspace scheme 2013

sur les Institutions Republicaines IV will be

an open competition, managed by the

vai get together 2013

show and tell

Visual Artists Ireland, on behalf of the

displayed – the first time this will be

Public Appointments Service. The

We are pleased to announce that the VAI

This month, Visual Artists Ireland intro-

Arts Council, has announced the results

exhibited in Ireland outside of Dublin.

Department of Arts, Heritage and the

Get Together 2013 will take place on 28

duces a new event, Show and Tell

of the Visual Artists’ Workspace Scheme

The gallery is the first purpose-built,

Gaeltacht has been in contact with the

June 2013 at the National College of Art

Evening, which provides artists with the

for 2013. Grants of up to a maximum of

modern visual art gallery located in the

Public Appointments Service in relation

and Design, Dublin. Check the VAI web-

opportunity to give a presentation on

€30,000 have been offered towards the

midlands.

to progressing this competition and it is

site for updates on tickets and speakers

their practices in an informal setting

running costs of visual artists’ workspac-

anticipated that the position of Director

for the event.

where they can network and meet peo-

es. In keeping with the Council’s policy

of the National Museum of Ireland will

ple with similar ideas and interests. We are now inviting artists, curators, etc. to

document Visual Artists’ Workspaces in

rhona byrne, block t

be advertised publicly in the coming

Ireland - A New Approach, this scheme

Rhona Byrne recently received Block T’s

weeks. The appointment of a new

steering group belfast

attend this free event. The presentations

has the aim of assisting artists workspac-

Project Space Award. This award pro-

Director at the National Museum of

Last August, VAI issued a call for volun-

will be fast paced, with a limit of 10 slides

es throughout the country to provide the

vides support and studio space through-

Ireland

Director-level

teers to assist us with our active advocacy

/ images per speaker. The images will

best possible environment for working

out the year for both emerging and estab-

appointments by Minister Deenihan, fol-

and representation programme. Our

change automatically, giving the speaker

visual artists and, where feasible, to ena-

lished artists, in order to facilitate the

lowing open competition, at the National

members have responded and we are

a few seconds to talk about what is on the

ble a level of subsidy for resident visual

production of new work. Rhona Byrne’s

Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of

now in a position to begin the process of

screen. This ensures that an equal

artists. 59 applications were received, 26

work is predominantly site and project

Modern Art (IMMA), the Arts Council

establishing a regional network of artist

amount of time is given to each image.

of which were shortlisted and 19 of

specific. Her practice employs an inter-

and the National Concert Hall.

advocacy groups. These groups will

There will be a maximum of 10 speakers

which were awarded funding. The total

disciplinary approach and manifests in

inform VAI of issues at a local level and

asked to present. Speakers must be cur-

demand figure was €926,161, while the

many forms, including sculpture, video,

provide feedback on broader matters that

rent VAI members. The November event

demand from shortlisted applications

photographs, drawings, context-specific

banff residency

affect artists across the country. They

is already fully-booked but we hope to

was €507,201. The total amount awarded

installations, collaborative event-based

Lisa Marie Johnson is recipient of the

will help guide the advocacy work which

roll out moore if the events in the near

was €212,500. The awards are as follows:

projects and books. She has exhibited

BAIR fall residency ( Sept – Oct 2012) at

we undertake while also assisting us

future.

Backwater Artists Group, €29,000;

extensively in Ireland and international-

Banff Arts Centre Canada, supported by

from time to time by engaging directly

Broadstone Studios, €29,000; Pallas

will

follow

www.visualartists.ie

ly and has received several awards, com-

the Arts council travel and training

with the issues at hand. VAI monitors

Artspace

pleted artist residencies and has been

award and by the Banff Centre. Johnson

policies and takes on the key issues that

arts council project award

Studios €28,000; Lorg Printmakers,

commissioned and supported by The

has used her time and research to work

concern professional artists in relation to

The Arts Council has announced details

€20,000; Cork Artists Collective €10,000;

Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City

with both The First Nations and Matey

their status, rights and income. Covering

of successful recipients under round two

Engage Studios €10,000; Monster Truck

Council, Cork City Council, Culture

and will make a new work, The Passing, in

areas such as tax and self employment,

of the Project Award for 2012. The Arts

Artists Studios €8,000; New Art Studio,

Ireland and the Office of Public Works.

collaboration with the Banff Centre.

funding, social security, contracts, copy-

Council’s Project awards support specific

€8,000; H-Q, €7,500; BLOCK T €5,000;

She is currently working on a project for

right, education and many more. We

project activities under each of the art-

Custom House Studios, €5,000; The

Tate Britain.

Projects/Studios

€29,000;

www.banffcentre.ca

have prepared a series of Advocacy

form/arts practice areas. A total of

VAI exhibition fees survey

Datasheets that give some starting points

€1,768,625 has been awarded to 72

Heritage Ltd, €3,000; Sample-Studios,

The Visual Artists Charter project was

for discussion, for research and to garner

Projects throughout the country from

€4,000; Basic Space, €3,000; Drumcondra

fire station residencies

initiated by VAI to address the profes-

response surrounding the key areas of

322 applications received. The total value

Work Space, €3,000; The Joinery €3,000;

Fire Station is delighted to announce the

sional relationship between artists and

advocacy pertaining to the individual

of the funding sought by the 322 appli-

The Pigeon House Studios, €3,000.

artists selected from the recent open call

those that they work with. The Artists

artist. These are available on the advoca-

cants was €5,825,607.62. Full details on

for studio residencies commencing in

Charter takes the form of a code of prac-

cy section of our website. If you are inter-

www.artscouncil.ie.

Create

June 2013. The artists selected, both

tice, commonly agreed upon, which

ested in joining or helping to establish a

Create, the National Development

short-term and long-term, Irish and inter-

adopts principles of good practice and

group in your area we would like to hear

Agency for Collaborative Arts, support-

national artists are: Bridget O’Gorman

demonstrates why and how they should

from you. You can register your interest

EU Presidency

ing artists who work in social and com-

(Ireland), Dominic Thorpe (Ireland),

be applied. The core aim of the project is

on the VAI website or by contacting Alex

The Arts Council programme to mark

munity contexts, is moving from the

Sonia Shiel (Ireland), Flora Muscovici

to provide a set of practical and ethical

Davis: alex@visualartists.ie or calling

Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the

Liberties Dublin 8 to Curved St, Temple

(France), Eduardo Mattos and Fernanda

guidelines for the conduct of business

01 672 9488.

European Union will celebrate artists

Bar and the Filmbase building. After 10

Figuerido (Brazil), and Darn Thorn (UK).

between visual artists and organisations.

and arts organisations in Ireland work-

years in Dublin 8, Create is taking up the

Fire Station Artists’ Studios, located in

In the same period, we have seen an

ing in co-operation with colleagues based

opportunity to move to a more contem-

Dublin’s north inner city, currently pro-

increase in the number of artists contact-

philanthropy and the arts

elsewhere in Europe. It will include art

porary premises, in the Filmbase build-

vides nine residential studio spaces for

ing us with stories of being expected to

On 18 October last, Jimmy Deenihan TD,

events and activities in Ireland that con-

ing, and to build new relationships with

visual artists. The studio residencies are

deliver exhibitions and other events such

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the

nect citizens – artists, cultural profes-

arts organisations based in Dublin’s pre-

open to all practicing visual artists who

as talks and education programmes

Gaeltacht, hosted an important seminar

sionals, arts participants, audiences and

mier cultural quarter. It is anticipated

can apply for a studio residency through

either for free or with just their travel

on the topic ‘Philanthropy and the Arts’

volunteers – across borders in Europe.

that Create will be based in Temple Bar

an open call application process. Selected

expenses covered. It is obvious that this

at the Smock Alley Auditorium,

The Arts Council programme will invest

for a period of three years whilst the

artists can live here for up to two years

mode of practice is not only inequitable

Exchange Street Lower, Dublin 8. The

in artistic and professional relationships

plans for capital development are further

and nine months, but international art-

but also fails to recognise the profession-

conference featured speakers from key

that may help resource transnational

expanded. After that period of time,

ists can apply for shorter periods. The

alism of visual artists. In our annual sur-

organisations and arts institutions in

artistic projects and initiatives beyond

Create will begin capital works and fulfil

selection process is competitive and art-

vey, we gather details of artists incomes,

Ireland. The speakers outlined the posi-

the period of the Presidency. It will also

a broader organisational aspiration to

ists are typically selected at least eight

but we feel that it is now necessary to

tive impact that philanthropy can bring

raise awareness of the next generation of

develop a national centre for collabora-

months in advance of a studio becoming

look at the area of exhibition and other

to arts organisations and businesses and

EU funding programmes that will run

tive arts. As a national centre, Create will

available. Studio rent is subsidised and

events fees. We have based this survey on

the greater associated social benefits that

from 2014 – 2020. Information about

continue to function as an essential

includes all utilities, waste disposal, park-

one undertaken by the American organi-

it can generate. Speakers included Peter

current EU funding for culture is availa-

resource to the sector, whilst also acting

ing, internet access, full use of high end

sation W.A.G.E. To assist us in raising

Keegan, Country Executive Ireland, Bank

ble on the Arts Council’s European

as a physical creative hub and a catalyst,

computers in the Resource Centre as well

awareness of the current situation across

of America Merrill Lynch; Caitriona

Cultural Contact Point website. The Arts

supporting artists and communities to

as access to digital equipment and the

Ireland, and to provide detailed statistics

Fottrell, Vice President and Director

Council Programme to mark Ireland’s

connect and develop ambitious collabo-

Sculpture Workshop.

and figures, we ask you to complete this

Ireland, The Ireland Funds; John R. Healy,

Presidency of the Council of the European

survey. In it we wish to get a full and

Forum on Philanthropy; Orlaith McBride,

Union is organised in partnership with

accurate picture surrounding artists’ fees

Director, The Arts Council; Liam Keogh,

the Department of Arts, Heritage and the

national museum director

around Ireland. The survey should take

Revenue Commissioners; Frances McGee,

Gaeltacht and is supported by the

the luan gallery

Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts,

no more than 10 minutes. This link will

Director, National Archives of Ireland;

Department of the Taoiseach.

The Luan Gallery, a multi-million euro

Heritage and the Gaeltacht has con-

open a new window. All information is

Stuart McLaughlin, CEO, Business to

contemporary art gallery, will open in

firmed that his department has recently

anonymous and confidential. The survey

Arts; Trevor White, Little Museum of

Athlone next month. The gallery will be

received approval from the Department

will close on 12 November 2012.

Dublin; Patrick T. Murphy, Director, RHA;

officially opened at the end of November

of Public Expenditure and Reform to fill

with an IMMA exhibition featuring the

the post of Director of the National

and Patrick Sutton, Director, Smock Alley

work of national and international art-

Museum of Ireland. The recruitment of

Theatre.

ists including Shane Cullen and Daphne

the new Director of the National Museum

Wright, among others. Cullen’s Fragmens

of Ireland will be carried out by means of

Market Studios, €5,000; Old Ennistyman

rative arts projects.

www.blockt.ie

www.firestation.ie/studios www.create-ireland.ie

www.visualartists.ie

Breda Kennedy, Independent Consultant

www.ahg.gov.ie

www.artscouncil.ie

The Visual Artists’News sheet

November – December 2012

9

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

Visual Arts Resources andActivities: Antrim Creative Exchange belfast

lesley esley Cherry, Remember, Respect, Resolution, 2011

Digital Arts Studios

Deidre Robb, Stormont Stormont, 2012

CREATIVE Exchange is the only artists’ studio

been engaged in a long-term collaboration with the

group based in East Belfast. Our main objective is to

Northern Ireland Libraries Board, exhibiting his

develop the professional practice of studio members

large-scale abstract paintings in many of their

through the provision of dedicated studios, shared

venues over the past four years, while master

marketing / exhibiting opportunities and our annual

printmaker Colin Davis’s work is constantly in

programme. Since 1996 we have made a significant

demand and has been showcased at the Royal Ulster

contribution to the cultural infrastructure of greater

and the Royal Hibernian Academies.

Belfast, and on a national and international level,

In 2010, Creative Exchange started their most

through exhibitions, artists talks, heritage debates,

ambitious project to date, 'Art in the Eastside'. This

public-art commissions, collaborative projects and

project was the brainchild of Deirdre Robb and

international exchange programmes. As well as

transforms advertising billboards into an outdoor

supporting the growth and profile of individual

gallery, displaying images relating to the celebratory

artists, Creative Exchange has also helped develop

aspects of East Belfast. It was part of the Belfast

the arts infrastructure of East Belfast – which is often

Festival at Queens in 2010 and 2011 and the main

seen as a ‘cultural desert’ – by working collaboratively

visual arts aspect of the East Belfast Arts Festival in

with many arts organisations, notably the Engine

2012. ‘Art in the Eastside’ comprises 26 billboards;

Room Gallery (with whom we have had a long

the work produced relates directly to the social,

association), the East Belfast Arts Festival, Belfast

historical and cultural aspects of East Belfast.

Festival at Queens, Greater Shankill Partnership and

Supported by the ACNI and several local businesses,

The Golden Thread Gallery.

the project has now become the largest, outdoor,

Our annual programmes and collaborations

curated exhibition of its kind within Belfast.

have taken various productive and rewarding forms

As part of Belfast City Council’s Late Night Art

over the past 16 years. The ‘Grasses Projects’, for

Tours, we programme monthly exhibitions at their

example, was an exchange programme with artists

premises in Portview Trade Centre. This scheme

in Kentucky, in which 140 Irish and American

enhances the audience reach of the studios, as well

artists and over 12 organisations, collaborated over

as giving people the opportunity to engage with

five years, resulting in more than 30 exhibitions and

artists in the studio environment. Forthcoming Late

five major collaborative projects. Through this

Night Art events include George Robb from the 4 –

programme, the participants gained major exhibiting

26 October, showing photographs from his residency

opportunities throughout Ireland, UK, Europe, Asia,

at the London Olympics and ‘CEX & the City II’, an

America and Australia.

experimental show by Lesley Cherry and Deirdre

From 2005 – 2007 CEX managed the

Robb, in which they sample ideas and thought

collaborative projects ‘Mill’, ‘Body’ and ‘City’. Each

processes, relating to their female-inspired work, 1

annual event was accompanied by a detailed

– 30 November. This exhibition will also be part of

publication documenting the development and

the Belfast Festival at Queens. From 6 December – 25

resolutions incurred over its three-year lifespan.

January CEX will host ‘50/50’, our annual seasonal

CEX artists, Deirdre Robb and Lesley Cherry,

IN July 2012, the Digital Arts Studios relocated

Laurie Sumiye was DAS international resident

to new premises in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast

in February and March 2012. Laurie worked on

in order to improve the accessibility and availability

two projects during her residency, House of Glass

of its resources and to expand the services available

and Transplant Transplant. Laurie shipped a number of koki’o

to artists. The facilities now include a workshop and

ke’oke’o or Hibiscus seeds, 7190 miles from her

presentation space, a studio for artists in residence,

native Hawaiian Islands to be planted in Northern

bookable multimedia hot desks and a wide range

Ireland. One of these seeds is successfully growing

of audio-visual equipment and software. A public

in Belfast’s Botanic Gardens where Laurie spent time

workshop programme runs twice a year offering

filming in the greenhouses. The subsequent film

training in a range of areas such as DSLR filmmaking

became part of a unique installation at the Tropical

and Digital Audio Production.

Ravine, a Victorian-era greenhouse built as a sunken

DAS provides a unique service where artists

glen to allow non-native plants to take root. Laurie’s

can develop a range of skills and spend a dedicated period of time on a specific project in a supportive

film was projected onto the glass façade on the night of March 28th and, combined with the lighting and

and collective environment. DAS supports artists

sound, created an evocative, sensory artwork. House

at every stage of their careers and promotes the

of Glass was also recreated at DAS for Culture Night

work of its artists in residence, presenting gallery

2012. Laurie now lives and works in New York.

projects annually. DAS also showcases work by

The winner of the MFA Award in 2011 was

past residents at the Belfast Film Festival, at Culture

Cherith Brown who created the experimental

Night and supports artists with self-initiated events.

video work, Recolo, during her residency. Dealing

DAS offers a total of 16 residencies per year, with

with the problematics of memory and linear time,

four international residencies, nine UK and Ireland

Recolo focuses on an old school, just weeks before it

residencies and three residency awards where artists

was demolished, and explores the dialectic process

are selected through one of three programmes: the

between the persona of the student and that of the

VAI @ DAS Award, the BA Fine and Applied Arts

artist. Recolo was selected by the Digital Arts Studios

Graduate Award (University of Ulster) and the

for screening at the Belfast Film Festival in June 2012.

Master of Fine Art Graduate award (University of

Cherith is currently studying for an MA in Film and

Ulster).

Visual Studies at Queens University.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: CASE STUDIES

NEWS

Lisa Byrne was artist in residence from June –

The 2012 winners of the residency awards were:

September 2011 and produced a multi-channel video

Andrew Martin (BA Graduate Award), Ailíse O’Neill

work consisting of a series of highly personalised

(MFA Graduate Award) and Joanna Hopkins (VAI @

accounts from a family whose two sons were shot

DAS Residency Award). Kim Woong-Yong from South

dead in their family home. With footage collected

Korea will be the international artist in residence for

from interviews, Lisa spent a long time editing and

October and November 2012 and Fergus Jordan will

utilised her time on the residency preparing the

be UK and Ireland artist in residence from October

video work for inclusion in the group show ‘Others’

2012 to January 2013.

Stories’ at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, in 2011. She writes,

DAS has recently purchased new equipment including a Canon 5D Mark II DLSR, Canon EF

“I needed to use the facilities and programs as

50mm f1.2 L USM Lens, Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L

I did not have these myself, whilst the workshops

USM Lens, Steadicam Pilot Camera Stabilisation

provided knowledge into various programs, which

System and a Canon XF305 professional HD

was important for me at the start. The way the

Camcorder. All of this equipment is available for use

residency is set up, with several artists starting at

by artists in residence and for hire with discounts to

the same time, gives more opportunity to interact

members of DAS and VAI.

positively with feedback, creating an environment for discussion. The friendly and helpful atmosphere

Dr Angela Halliday is Manager at Digital Arts

made my quite stressful and demanding project

Studios.

so much easier, providing the technical support I needed.”

www.digitalartsstudios.com

show in which artworks start from £50.

have been commissioned by several organisations

2013 will see the growth of ‘Art in the Eastside’

to deliver community-inspired public artworks

to include up to 50 Billboards, plan to relocate to

within East and greater Belfast, which include

larger premises and expand our studio membership.

‘Hewitt in the Frame’ for the Greater Shankill

In June 2014, we will have been in existence for 18

Partnership. Ben Allen and Katie Blue assisted with

years and plan a celebration for our coming of age.

project, which involved local schools, youth groups, older people’s groups and community gatekeepers.

Mave Dempster is the Development and Finance

Robb also created one of the first community-

Officer at Creative Exchange Artists Studios.

inspired sculptures, Wall of Hope Hope, in the Short Strand area, and her artwork, Jurassic Butterfly, was selected

creativeexchangeartists@gmail.com

to be part of the Blue Mountains Scenic World

http://creativeexchangeartists.wordpress.com/

sculptural showcase in Australia. Cherry has been

http://artintheeastside.wordpress.com/

instrumental in removing paramilitary murals through the ACNI Re-imaging project, replacing them with artworks / sculptures such as Remember, Respect, Resolution, and she was awarded the Arts Council of NI / ARCH Artists Residency in Washington DC in 2011 / 2012. Ray Duncan has

Screening at Digital Arts Studios

Digital Arts Studios workshop room

10

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

November – December 2012

REGIONAL PROFILE

Belfast Exposed

Catalyst Arts Catalyst Arts began life in 1993, in Belfast,

chance to obtain a broad skill set and to act in a

with no fixed abode. It is now nearly 20 years old.

range of supportive roles such as project manager,

Catalyst was formed as a not-for-profit, artist-led

technician, administrator and curator. Often this

initiative in response to a perceived lack of exhibition

type of hands-on experience is hard to gain in a

opportunities for emerging artists living and

more traditional gallery setting and Catalyst

working in Belfast and the surrounding area. By

therefore functions as an important training ground

1994, Catalyst had secured its first dedicated gallery

for emerging arts administration staff.

space at Exchange Place, and has moved five times

Discussion atBelfast Exposed

In April 2012, Belfast Exposed became one of

engagement in our work. However, it is the focus on

nine UK galleries and museums selected as part of

investing in organisational change that makes the

Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s (PHF) ‘Our Museum’

‘Our Museum’ initiative truly ground breaking. At

initiative, a three-year programme designed to bring

Belfast Exposed, we intend to use our grant from the

community engagement right to the heart of

Paul Hamlyn Foundation to build sustainable

organisational practice. Our proposal, entitled

mechanisms for dialogue, evaluation, reflection and

'Where are the People?' is aimed at joining up the

continuous learning into our working practices in

diverse publics and communities currently clustered

several ways:

around different aspects of the work we do – from contemporary photography in the gallery to archive

•

and photography as a tool for community 'The Exchange', we will set up mechanisms for dialogue.

communities •

A number of events are planned for autumn and winter 2012 / 2013 aimed at bringing artists and communities together to explore photography and

•

Conflict, Memory and Commemoration. We hope that these events will build new relationships across boundaries and help spark new projects.

The seminar, to be held on 31 October at Belfast Exposed, will consider how photographers and artists can get beyond reportage to the heart of community stories and experiences. We have invited artists, community representatives, activists and interested members of the public to come together and discuss the rewards, benefits, challenges and limitations of arts projects that seek to express social or political purpose. Its aim is to discover imaginative ways in which community experience and arts practice can resonate with each other as we move into the ‘decade of commemorations’.

We hope this will prompt debate and fruitful

Providing platforms for local artists and communities within a national network whose participatory practice is exemplary and

recording testimony and experience. These will and group facilitation to a major all-day seminar, On

Opening up space for dialogue and exchange between communities and artists, thus helping identify common values and goals

visual arts as a mechanism for storytelling and range from practical workshops on project planning

Researching the very best local and international practice for skills development,

inspiring •

Opening up funding, partnership and networking opportunities to arts and community partners

the organisation’s considerable archive and

contemporary art programme.

promoting the sustainability of the Catalyst model

Catalyst Art’s constitution was initially

(demonstrated by recent archive-based exhibitions

modelled on Glasgow’s Transmission Gallery, an

at NCAD, Dublin and the MAC, Belfast). With a

artist-led space set up in 1983. Since Catalyst’s

newly elected archive committee, we are working

founding, its model has in turn been adopted by 126

on cataloguing and digitising Catalyst’s archive.

Gallery in Galway. Catalyst is managed at all times

In recent months, the organisation has also

by a committee of up to 10 unpaid directors who

expanded its online presence, providing exhibiting

meet on a weekly basis to plan the gallery’s schedule

artists and members with an opportunity to have

for the week ahead. Each director volunteers at

their work viewed by an ever-increasing global

Catalyst on a two-year rolling basis. This ensures

audience. With thousands of new viewers to the

that the organisation continues to support new

website, we have achieved a marked increase in the

directors and produce a perpetually changing,

number of visitors to the gallery and the amount of

ambitious programme. This non-hierarchical system

artists submitting to open calls. The website also

means that, as directors, we each have an equal say

functions as an accessible archive of past exhibitions,

over, and responsibility for, the day-to-day running

projects and events, as well as acting as a promotional

of the organisation. over nearly two decades, Catalyst

tool for members’ websites.

has had more than 60 directors who have served

Catalyst Arts remains an important part of

their term on the committee, and to this day many

Belfast’s visual arts culture; we continue to promote

of them continue to support the organisation.

young and emerging artists and curators and to

As directors, we aim to provide people of all ages with an opportunity to get involved with the organisation by becoming a member, submitting work for exhibitions, volunteering with the

existing practitioners.

Ruaidhri Lennon is a Director at Catalyst Arts. www.catalystarts.org.uk

themselves. As a members-based organisation – whose membership is made up of past directors, as well as annually registered members – we strive to provide opportunities and support to hundreds of members every year. All members have the opportunity to exhibit in the annual members' show, submit for curated members-based exhibitions and have their say in how the gallery should move forward in the future at the annual AGM. We endeavour to create new opportunities for members and emerging artists to show their work and aim to secure the organisation’s future by training new directors to continue to carry the Catalyst torch. The gallery’s annual exhibition programme usually consists of over 20 exhibitions careers. Catalyst also holds the oldest biennial live art festival in Europe, ‘FIX’. Since its inception in

as a way of documenting, understanding and being

1994 the festival has played an important part in the

understood in the world. We believe that being part

organisation’s development and has helped to define

of the ‘Our Museum’ process will produce tangible

contemporary performance art in Belfast.

and long-lasting benefits, translating into sustainable

Admittedly, this is quite an intense two-year

policies, programmes and practices that will

experience for a part-time group of volunteers.

enhance the cultural life of the city and open the

However, this large workload gives directors the Catalyst sign

door to future investment.

Pauline Hadaway is the Director of Belfast Exposed.

collaborations between artists and communities

date, we have confirmed Paul Seawright, Eugenie Dolberg and Draw Down the Walls / Golden Thread, who will present case studies followed by Q&As and workshops aimed at providing practical support to enable collaborative projects.

Over the next three years, Belfast Exposed will be rolling out more activities to support community

extol art as a viable career option for new and

installation of shows, assisting artists with their

photography practice to the widest possible public

www.belfastexposed.org

twentieth

exploring our legacy, with an emphasis on evaluating

showing hundreds of artists at all stages of their

Northern Ireland’s diverse range of communities. To

its

who work together to deliver a dynamic

today as they were 30 years ago: to promote

info@belfastexposed.org

approaching

organisation consists of eight voluntary directors

Belfast Exposed’s ambitions remain as relevant

interested in developing new projects involving

is

anniversary, and we have begun to focus on

work and, of course, by becoming a director

training and mentoring for artists and

development. In year one of the initiative, entitled

Catalyst

since. Now based at 5 College Court, Belfast, the

Exchange with The Joinery, Dublin

The Visual Artists’News sheet

November – December 2012

11

REGIONA PROFIlE REGIONAl

Satis house

The MAC

SATIS House is at once a new and very old

open their doors to the public – in much the same

domestic space just off the Ormeau Road in South

way as we had been doing in Satis – to showcase a

Belfast. Within a row of terraces on Deramore

variety of work from fine art, performance and

Avenue, a gallery exists in what was once the master

installation, to live music, talks and discussions. In

bedroom of this modest dwelling where we, the

our gallery space we selected and realised six specific

curators, also live.

artists’ works, from Hans-Ulrich Obrist’s ‘do it’

Since our launch in March this year, we have

project, which exists as an online manual of artist’s

been working with both emerging and established

instructions that are fulfilled in various formats in

artists, inviting them to respond in various ways to

various cities around the world. Household’s core

this unique environment, and building upon the

event programme also took place in Satis House.

rich history of alternative exhibition initiatives in

The highlights included a talk by Pauline Hadaway

Northern Ireland.

of Belfast Exposed, a debate with members of

After both completing a two-year directorship at Catalyst Arts, where our close working relationship

ShelterNI, film screenings, kids’ workshops and a

Eithne Jordan, installation view from 'Small World', 2012

From here, a series of domestic tables could be seen

sleazy karaoke session in the living room.

was cemented, we decided that we simply could not

Currently, we are proudly exhibiting work by

from above. Once again, the viewer was invited to

part, and whilst we are both currently employed in

members of OutLands, a Fermanagh-based collective

see this significant work by an Irish artist with a

different arts organisations in the city, our developing

of artists whose practices involve ideas of the rural

growing reputation in the context of an

collaborative curatorial practice at Satis House is

and the remote in its widest context. This project

internationally renowned artist’s monumental work

what we are most passionate about at present.

posed the curatorial challenge of exhibiting 10

– Robert Therrien’s No Title (Table and Four Chairs).

Our opening exhibition was a multidisciplinary

artists in a relatively small room, but so far we have

This exhibition played with the architecture of the

group show with an installation in the upstairs

had a great response from audiences, which is

galleries and our perception of scale, with both

gallery space by Anne Marie Taggart, soundscapes

testament to the extremely high quality of work on

artists contributing to the viewer’s understanding

throughout the rest of the house by Claire Hall, an

display.

and appreciation of the ideas explored in each of their practices.

endurance performance over the course of a month

In the coming months we will be programming

by David Mahon and a limited edition literary piece

events in Satis House and further afield as part of the

by Ricki O’Rawe, commissioned specifically for the

Outburst Queer Arts Festival, as well as working

launch. Following that, we had two solo

with Twelve/Eleven, another artist collective whose

presentations, one by Scottish artist Liam Crichton

ultimate goal is to generate enough money to repay

SINCE opening in April 2012, the MAC has had

and another by recent graduate Hannah McBride.

the debts incurred through the educational process

a staggering 140,000 visitors through its doors; these

Continuing in this vein, we have presented exhibitions by Eithne Jordan and Roxy Walsh,

This mix of national and international Joanna billing, installtion view from 'I'm gonna live anyway until I die', 2012

programming will define the MAC’s exhibition profile and critical to this is our desire to place Irish art practice at the centre of our programme.

Having parts, or at times all, of our home open

of attaining a degree in fine art. In 2013 we also hope

numbers far exceed all initial expectations. There

to the public on what is now almost a weekly basis

to commission further significant solo presentations

was a huge amount of curiosity surrounding the

alongside a survey exhibition of work by Swedish

has taken a bit of getting used to. Recently, we

from both Irish and International artists.

MAC in the lead up to our launch in April, not least

artist Johanna Billing, whose work, ‘I’m gonna live

invited the collective BBeyond to take over the space

Satis House is the first of many curatorial

centred on the building itself, which was designed

anyhow until I die’, was jointly commissioned with

for an afternoon and performances took place both

endeavours that we aim to undertake and we have

by Hackett Hall McKnight. However, a beautiful

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy,

inside the house, outside in the street, in the back

so far been genuinely overwhelmed with the

building alone is not enough to bring visitors to a

demonstrating our commitment to the presentation

yard, and in other private rooms in the house. This

positive response to the entire project, from

venue, and it will quickly lose its appeal if the core

of new work.

attracted quite a bit of curiosity from residents in the

neighbours on the street to artists in the area, as well

artistic programme does not connect fully with

area, who had not previously attended exhibitions

as from international peers working on similar

audiences.

or events at Satis.

projects in different parts of the world.

Future exhibitions will include ‘Gone to Seed’

by Claire Morgan, whose sculptural works examine

The MAC is a multi-artform venue, which

our relationship with nature, explored through notions of change and the passing of time. She

Engagement with these local audiences beyond

On Fridays and Saturdays you will usually find

includes two theatre spaces with 120 and 350 seat

the art community was also part of the driving force

us working from the dining table, guiding people

capacities, a dance studio, rehearsal and workshop

creates seemingly solid structures from thousands

behind the Household Contemporary Art Festival,

upstairs into the exhibition space, and we are always

spaces. In respect to exhibition programming, we

of individually suspended elements, which have a

which we curated with Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell,

looking for an excuse to down tools and have a cup

have three magnificent gallery spaces that can

direct relation to nature. Animals, birds and insects

Ciara Hickey and Alissa Kleist from 24 – 26 August.

of tea and a chat, so if you’re in the area, pop in and

accommodate a range of contemporary practices. In

have all been present in Morgan’s recent installations.

say hello.

addition to this, The Tall Gallery has a sophisticated

In some sculptural works, animals might appear to

climate control system, which allows us the

rest, fall or even fly.

Over the course of this weekend, we managed to convince over 30 households in the Ormeau area to

Eoin Dara is a curator based in Belfast. Alongside work at Satis House, he works independently and as the Assistant Curator at the MAC. Kim McAleese is a curator and artist based in Belfast.

She is currently working as a curatorial consultant in the Belfast Festival alongside curating at Satis House and is a studio member at Platform Arts. www.satis-house.com

Do itit,, part of 'household' 2012

opportunity to borrow significant works from major museums.

During this period we will also present a major exhibition

of

Mary

McIntyre’s

landscape

The opening programme at The MAC

photographs from 1999 – 2011, in ‘A Contemporary

demonstrated our commitment to introducing

Sublime’. McIntyre’s work will be shown for the first

audiences in Belfast and beyond to the very best

time alongside works by Paul Nash, Jacob Van

work by some of the world’s most notable artists.

Ruisdael, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot and LS Lowry,

The programme also exemplified our determination

all of whom have influenced her practice. McIntyre’s

to ensure that the work of Irish artists is viewed

images explore the subject of landscape, and the

within this wider international context.

Picturesque and Romantic movements in European

There were two broad themes evident in the

landscape painting are also significant influence in

opening programme of exhibitions. The first was a

her practice. Her work examines how painting and

celebration of labour and urban life as represented

photography not only portray but also construct the

in the paintings of LS Lowry and William Conor.

landscape we see. She adopts the traditional, formal

This was contrasted by Nicholas Keogh’s film, A

qualities of landscape painting in order to re-interpret

Removals Job (2011), a MAC commission that offered

them within a contemporary context.

a contemporary interpretation of the subjects

A major exhibition of works from the early to

depicted in Conor and Lowry’s paintings. The film

mid 1990s, by Peter Doig, links in to the concerns of

followed the household clearance of a traditional

both Morgan and McIntyre. Doig’s highly distinctive

two-up, two-down red-brick terrace in Belfast and

paintings have been exhibited in major museums

celebrated the camaraderie of a group of workers,

and galleries worldwide to international acclaim. He

and the unspoken exchanges between them.

records places at the fringes of normality, anonymous

The second theme explored was the building itself and how an artist’s work occupies the particular

locations where the urban and natural worlds meet in much the same way as McIntyre and Morgan.

architectural spaces of the MAC’s impressive new galleries. Maria McKinney’s reinterpretation of her work Somewhere but here, another other place invited the viewer to step down into the MAC’s Sunken Gallery only to invite them to rise above her work bbeyond performance, 2012

liam Crichton,‘]|[ , 2012

again on a constructed staircase / viewing platform.

Hugh Mulholland is Curator at the MAC. www.themaclive.com

12

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

Regional profile

The Flax Gallery at Mossley Mill

Antrim Arts Office

Bespoke glass installation by David Esler, 2012

Antrim Borough Council is ushering in a new

British Rock – Photographs from Top of the Pops

era in arts and heritage within the borough. The

1964 – 1973’ by Harry Goodwin. Harry Goodwin

final restoration work is being completed at Antrim

was resident photographer on the hit BBC music

Castle Gardens and Clotworthy House and Arts

show Top Of The Pops during these years. His

Centre to create a complex living museum reflecting

images capture the charisma and style of every

over four centuries of culture and heritage, alongside

chart-topping rock musician of the era, both on

remnants of the Massereene family dynasty. Just a

stage and behind the scenes. This display of

stone’s throw from Antrim's historic town centre, it

Goodwin’s work from the BBC’s archive includes

is the most unique historic garden under public

iconic images from Jimi Hendrix playing guitar

ownership in Northern Ireland. The original location

with his teeth to The Rolling Stones in the BBC

of Antrim Castle has now been integrated within

canteen. His shots, whether focusing on the

the wider garden landscape in a contemporary and

spectacular or every day, have an undeniable

innovative way. At the heart of the garden is the

authenticity and appeal.

refurbished building complex that includes Clotworthy House.

Joanna McMahon, Harland and Wolff , 2012

Opening night of 'Titanic', 2012

In 2010, Newtownabbey Borough Council

and creativity. Members’ interests include: surface

opened The Flax Gallery, the Council’s first dedicated

design, fabric painting, patchwork, quilting, textile

gallery space. This purpose-built venue provides a

decoration, lace-making, weaving, felting and

showcase for both new and established artists,

embroidery.

supports local group exhibitions and provides the

In terms of visual arts, next year promises to be

perfect setting for touring exhibitions of regional,

a good mix between supporting local clubs to

national and international interest. The gallery is

providing a new venue for professional artists.

housed within the unique setting of Mossley Mill, a

‘Interpretations of the Lough’ by East Antrim Artists

converted flax-spinning mill which now serves as

will kick off the year. Most of the artists live close to

the Council’s civic and community centre.

Belfast Lough and the exhibition will consist of

Not many galleries can boast surroundings

paintings and sculpture based on each artist’s

such as these. Beautiful landscaping and wildlife

impression of the Lough. The group work in a

surround the nineteenth-century mill buildings,

variety of fine art styles from abstract and

contemporary theatre and cultural centre. The

impressionist to realist.

gallery space is within Museum at The Mill, which explores the history and heritage of the mill itself.

We are always pleased to welcome local artists to the gallery and 2013 will see both professional

The aims in developing the gallery were: to

and amateur shows displayed. Stephen Jamison will

provide an opportunity for displays of material

display ‘Working Class Hero’, an exhibition focusing

relevant to the cultural heritage of the local area and

on art as a social document, recording the everyday

for displays of a regional, national and international

people who contribute to daily life in Newtownabbey.

interest; to provide all members of the public with

Stephen is local to Newtownabbey and paints a wide

opportunities for inspiration, learning and

range of subjects, specialising in portraiture. His

enjoyment; to offer a varied programme of diverse

paintings hang in collections as far afield as Belgium,

subject matter, with the aim to both encourage

South Africa and the USA, as well as in the UK and

repeat visits and to extend and broaden the range of

Ireland.

the museum’s audience; to use temporary exhibitions

Manson Blair, Thomas Joseph Stephenson and

as a vehicle to address topics of interest and relevance

David Long have come together as Three Ulster

unrepresented by the museum’s permanent displays;

Artists to provide a varied display of Irish Landscape

to allow the museum to experiment with innovative

paintings in both oils and watercolour. Paul

forms of display and interpretation; to involve and

Richardson uses watercolours in a contemporary

support interested bodies within the local

fashion to depict East Antrim landscapes and rural

community, with an aim to forming and maintaining

scenes whilst Desmond Monroe, past Chairman of

strong future connections; to provide a venue to

both Glengormley and Carrickfergus Art Club and a

enable local groups and individuals to display their

professional since 1993, will show a range of

own craftwork, research or other materials

landscape and figurative work in the gallery.

sympathetic with the museum service’s purpose

Our local art clubs are long established and

and objectives; to strengthen and enhance the

produce works of extremely high quality. These

museum service’s public profile within the local

groups meet regularly and, whether it is to paint

community.

together or produce photographic works, they share

Since opening, the gallery has proved popular

their skills and techniques. Throughout 2013, the

with both individual artists and groups, all keen to

gallery will host Jordanstown Art Club, Merville

display their work in a high quality space. The

Photographic Club and Glengormley Art Club. We

gallery is fully booked a year in advance and we will

look forward to seeing a wide range of work, from

be finishing off this season with an exhibition

traditional landscapes, seascapes and still life along

entitled ‘Linen at the Mill’ by Lecora. Lecora is a

with more modern acrylics, oils, pastels, watercolour

group of 10 women who all share an interest in

and mixed media works. So, a busy year ahead, and

contemporary textile art and embroidery. Set up in

planning for 2014 has already begun!

The visitor experience at Clotworthy House

and then went on to work as a renowned press

includes a new display detailing the history of the

journalist. He photographed the bands for the pilot

Gardens that also tells the story of the Massereene

of Top Of The Pops and went on over the next 10

family and how their lives have intertwined with

years to photograph some of the most famous and

the development of Antrim town and the

successful musicians of all time. In many cases the

surrounding area. This display comprises a range of

original footage of the performances is now lost and

archive materials, some of which have never been

these photographs are all that remains of

on public display before.

performances by artists including Elton John, Aretha

Clotworthy House and the surrounding

Samantha Curry is the Flax Gallery Manager and

This year’s group exhibition theme is linen, which

Heritage Officer for Newtownabbey Borough

makes the Flax Gallery a perfect venue for this

Council.

There will be a change of pace in February and

facilities that support garden heritage and the arts.

March as a touring exhibition of Portraits by John

There are spaces for community gardening,

Butler Yeats from the Niland Collection goes on

workshop areas for creative learning, the Eyre Studio

display. This delightful exhibition features several

for community music activities and a new state of

portraits by John Butler Yeats. Born in County Down

the art gallery, The Oriel Gallery, which features a

in 1839, John Butler Yeats was the father of poet

year-round programme of exhibitions. This stunning

William Butler Yeats and artist Jack B Yeats. His

mezzanine-style gallery has now been open for

portraits hang in the National Gallery of Ireland and,

almost a year and, in that time, has hosted exhibitions

although also in demand as a portrait artist, he was

from the International Garden Photographer of the

a poor businessman and the family was never

Year, the National Portrait Gallery and the Hayward

financially secure. Mostly executed in pencil, the

Gallery in London.

portraits have, as their subjects, many important

The autumn programme has just been launched

figures from early twentieth century Irish life.

and features some stunning exhibitions. From 25

Featuring a great many people from literary and

September – 16 November we play host to ‘Beastly

political circles, such as John O’Leary, Lady Augusta

Machines’, a brand new collection of mechanical

Gregory and Douglas Hyde, the portraits beautifully

sculptures by Derbyshire-based artist Johnny White.

capture the individuality and personality of each

All of the sculptures include some element of

sitter, a skill for which he was most famous.

audience participation or intervention; the results

The high calibre of exhibitions will continue

can be humorous, engaging and surprising. Pull

on into 2013 / 2014 with collaborations with the

handles, turn cranks and push buttons to discover

Arts in Health organisation ArtsCare, touring

what these automated animals have in store.

exhibitions from Graphicus Touring and garden-

Lovingly handmade in Johnny’s workshop in

related exhibitions and workshops planned for next

Derbyshire, these playful animal automata are often

summer.

crafted from found or salvaged junk. The exhibition also has a gaggle of games to play.

From 23 November – 18 January 2013 we have a collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum as we present ‘My Generation: The Glory Years of

textile display. The exhibition pieces are wideranging and demonstrate great individual expression

www.newtownabbey.gov.uk/museumatthemill

Franklin, Dusty Springfield and The Beach Boys.

complex of buildings provide a range of new

2007, the group’s skills range from traditional crafts to artistic use of design and machine technology.

Born in 1924, Harry Goodwin started his photographic career in the RAF during World War II

Clotworthy House and Arts Centre

Cathy McNally is the Antrim Borough Arts Officer.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

13

Art and Politics

Serjilla, south of Aleppo, 2010

Brian Kennedy at Palmyra, Syria, 2010, all images courtesy of Brian Kennedy

Brian Kennedy at St Simeon's Basilica (Qalaat Sam'aan) near Aleppo, Syria, 2010

Living Museum

his dog, came up and asked where she was from. When told she was from Syria he went up to the wall to look at Abir’s Arabic writing and, with a straight face, looked at her and said, "Well your spelling is good anyway".

brian kennedy discusses his 2010 trip syria, where he visited artist-led projects and galleries, and his recent experience attempting to bring syrian artists to northern ireland.

The studio visits were enlivened by the idea of virtual residencies.

Nisrine had been offered a residency in Ramallah but, coming from Syria, it was impossible to get a visa to go to the West Bank, so she did a virtual residency with the organisation in Palestine. The final, and perhaps the visit that had most impact on Nisrine and Abir, was to Draw Down the Walls. This organisation was started in one community

I first went to Syria in November 2010 to make a visual study of

full of energy. The organisation often uses alternative venues around

in Belfast but its success has meant that other communities soon saw

the Dead Cities. These are the remains of towns and villages from the

the city to stage events and it also has links with international

the positive possibilities. It engages with young people – its aims are

Eighth and Ninth Centuries: wonderful examples of Byzantine

organisations like the British Council, Centre Culturel Francais and the

intervention, prevention and planning – and attempts to manage any

architecture that have remained remarkably intact. They are typical of

Goethe Institut. Because of their links to foreign embassies and their

possibly violent situations.

the country’s rich heritage and offer a real-life understanding of its

diplomatic significance, these organisations and their venues were less

history. Having remained complete for so long, they are now being

likely to be hassled by the authorities.

It is common now to say that Belfast and Northern Ireland are in a post-conflict situation, but Brendan, who works on the Draw Down

subjected to modern warfare; their rich contribution to our knowledge

After Damascus, I travelled to Aleppo where I met Issa Touma, a

the Walls project, still feels he is in a conflict situation. It is just the

of a past era is being lost forever. Sadly, this is true of many important

photographer and Director of Le Pont gallery, the first photographic

means to an end that have changed. Both Brendan and Ian gave an

sites and places of historic interest across this fascinating country,

gallery in the Middle East. As well as the gallery space, Issa often uses a

enlightening tour of some of the flash-points in their part of Belfast,

which has always been an important crossroads between East and

large adjacent space that used to be Aleppo’s electricity generating

places where, if a local youth was seen writing on the wall, it’s more

West, between cultures and religions.

plant. The Women’s Art Festival, which covers all art forms, was

likely that they would be pulled in by the police than have someone

Another site I visited, now also suffering the effects of modern

regularly shown here. It must be remembered that many Syrians

crack a joke with them.

warfare, was the Krac des Chevaliers, considered to be the finest

consider their society secular and I found it interesting that artists were

example of a crusader fort. The ancient inner part of the fort, once

encouraged to deal with women’s issues.

considered almost impregnable, has already been damaged.

So, what can contemporary art offer a new Syria? Art is often at its best when it has a reason for existence and playing a part in the

Just a few months after I returned from Syria, the violence started.

regeneration of this troubled country is a very real reason. The fact that

I remember standing shivering in the cold desert night air at the

I kept in touch with AllArt Now and Le Pont by Skype and email. Both

some galleries have continued to exist will provide a platform for this

ancient Roman site Palmyra, waiting for the early rays of sunrise to turn

organisations continued to organise exhibitions. It was still possible to

debate and continued contact with international organisations and

the sandstone buildings their famous shade of gold. Palmyra is as far

travel at this time; Issa did a lecture tour of Europe and Nisrine

artists will widen its scope. New media, which became such a crucial

east as the Romans ever built a town or trading centre: they realised the

Boukhari, an artist from AllArtNow, also travelled to Europe to make

tool in the Arab Spring uprisings, has facillitated this dialogue and

never-ending desert beyond was too vast to be controlled. The Free

work. But slowly the situation got worse. Then, in February this year,

helped deepen our understanding of what it means to practice as an

Syrian Army are now dug into this important site, based in an ancient

the British Council introduced a special scheme that allowed Syrian

artist in contemporary Syria. The role that contemporary art will play

castle that overlooks these historic remains.

artists to travel to Britain to meet other artists. Nisrine Boukhari and

in Syria’s future remains to be seen.

Syria is a vast living museum. One only has to walk around to

the curator Abir Boukhari, both from AllArtNow in Damascus, were

experience the culture that is interwoven with everyday life, and there

given funding, as was Issa Touma and a group of photographers from

Brian Kennedy is an artist who also curates and writes about art.

is a tangible sense of history that I had never experienced before. The

Aleppo. For whatever bureaucratic reasons, Abir and Nisrine were

He sees all these elements as part of one practice. For over 10 years,

country has its museums but it is better to simply walk around the

given visas but everyone from Aleppo was denied a visa. So, even

travel has formed an integral part of his practice. When not

streets soaking up the atmosphere. Both Aleppo and Damascus claim

though the initiative was being sponsored by the British Council, the

travelling he lives in his small cottage outside Belfast.

to be the oldest cities in the world and I was certainly aware of an

British Embassy decided to deny visas to the majority of the artists.

ancient culture and long history when in either city.

While I was annoyed that all the planning, working out itineraries

The current violence broke out just a few months before I visited

and almost booking airline tickets was for nothing, Issa was furious. He

Syria but there was absolutely no hint of what was to come. At the time,

had made several lecture tours to Britain and Europe before, talking on

I was interested in seeing what contemporary art practice existed

subjects that would not have gone down well with his own government,

against the long cultural history of the country.

and felt that after years of doing this he had been badly let down.

In Damascus I visited AllArtNow, which lies inside the ancient

I could do nothing but plan the trip for those who did have visas,

city walls and in an area where the Christian, Muslim and Jewish

Nisrine and Abir. Soon after their arrival we started with the ‘tourist’

quarters used to border each other and people lived together in relative

trip. Our driver Billy certainly had ‘views’ about The Troubles, the

harmony. The building that houses AllArtNow is an old decaying

current situation and how to solve everything. While visiting the

house with several rooms closed off as they are unsafe. Like many

‘peace wall’, our guests experienced Belfast humour: Abir was writing

initiatives driven by young artists making a way for themselves, it felt

something in Arabic on the wall and this wee Belfast man, out walking

14

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

Project profile

Michael Dempsey, Orlaith Mcbride, Karen Downey, Karl Burke (Fergus Martin and Anthony Hobbs, My Paradise is Now, 2003)

Michael Dempsey, Karen Downey, Pat Moylan, Helen Carey, Dawn Williams, Emer McGarry, Patrick Scott

Into the Light

Placing Patrick Scott's Meditation, 2009

KD: The Arts Council holds a number of works by Patrick Scott in its collection. The earliest work, Gold Painting 18 (1965) was purchased in 1968, just a year after he created the iconic signature image for ROSC ’67, and not long after he decided to become a full-time artist, which

Fiona fullam talks to karen downey, curator of the nationwide 'into the light' exhibition, which showcases the arts council's extensive and varied collection.

was a difficult professional pursuit in Ireland in those days. He is now a Saoi of Aosdana and is widely recognised as a leading figure in Irish visual art. It is a real privilege to have Meditation (2009) as the title image for ‘Into the Light’, and to highlight Scott’s practice and place in

Fiona Fullam: Karen, I know this project is to mark the sixtieth

works from different periods, alongside pieces from its own collection.

anniversary of The Arts Council. Could you tell me how the idea

Limerick City Gallery has invited members of the public with an

developed initially and how it evolved and progressed from the

interest in the visual arts to participate in the selection process. Their

FF: What area of your curatorial experience would you say was

initial stage?

focus is on work acquired in the early years of the collection (the 1960s

important for this project?

Karen Downey: In December last year, I was invited to submit a

and 1970s), and the selection is made up primarily of painting and

KD: I’ve worked a lot in making books, so that experience was

proposal to the Arts Council to manage the exhibition and publication

sculpture. The Model is developing an historical and thematic approach.

important, although this book was particularly ambitious. The venues

projects for their sixtieth anniversary celebrations. From the beginning,

They are interested in exploring a number of salient themes within

were all very keen to engage on their own terms, so much of the process

the Arts Council was keen to develop the exhibition as a multi-sited,

both the Arts Council Collection and The Niland Collection (landscape,

and how it developed came out of dialogue with the institutional

national event and to work in partnership with a number of venues

abstraction, domesticity and craft) to develop an interdisciplinary

partners. I would say negotiation, communication and discussion were

across the country. A key aim for the project was to enhance the

exhibition by artists of different generations.

all very important.

the story of Irish contemporary art.

visibility of the collection, which includes over 1,000 works dating

We have also commissioned four contemporary artists to make

from the early 1960s. The collection could be described as a ‘hard

new work for each exhibition: Mark Clare (Crawford Art Gallery), Karl

FF: How have you found this experience personally? Did the

working’ collection, with many works on display in public buildings

Burke (The Hugh Lane), Emmet Kierans (Limerick City Gallery of Art)

levels of exhaustion and satisfaction balance each other out?

around the country at any given time. ‘Into the Light’ is an opportunity

and Sean Lynch (The Model). They have been selected by the institutions

for the public to see a large number of works presented through a

to produce a work in response to the collection and the curatorial

KD: I was working on this part-time as I also do the programming for Belfast Exposed, but it was incredibly intensive and time-consuming,

variety of curatorial approaches in different institutional contexts. The

concepts underpinning their respective exhibitions.

especially the work involved in the book. I was lucky to have a great set of people working with me at the Arts Council – the curators, the

project also aims to highlight the Arts Council’s policy of supporting artists, which has always been the primary rationale for the collection.

FF: Could you tell me a little bit about the collection, how works

people working on the book – which made a difference. My research

Following discussions with a number of venue directors and

are selected and to what size it has now grown? How and where

assistants, Sabina MacMahon and Emma Dwyer, were absolutely

curators earlier this year, we agreed on the four ‘Into the Light’ partners,

are they stored and cared for?

fantastic. We made the decision not to run with a publisher, so that we

an outline curatorial approach and a timetable for the exhibitions. In

KD: The Arts Council has been acknowledged as the first public

were close to the process at every stage. We didn’t want to be at a

terms of curation, no particular structuring principle was agreed on,

institution in Ireland to collect artwork by living artists. The purpose of

remove, from the proofing in particular. It was a very exciting process.

such as a chronological or thematic approach. Instead, each partner

the collection and of its precedent, the Joint Purchase Scheme, initiated

curator was free to evolve their ideas in response to the collection as a

in 1954, has been to support artists and to bring their work into public

FF: Although ‘Into the Light’ is specifically to mark the sixtieth

whole and to select the particular works that allowed them to explore

view. The collection currently comprises 1,048 works.

anniversary of the Arts Council, Ms Pat Moylan, Chairman of the

and express these ideas. The result is a series of discrete and distinctive

The Arts Council’s purchasing practices changed over the years.

Arts Council, is hoping that the project could have other /

reflections on the character of the Arts Council Collection as a whole,

In the mid-1970s, following the introduction of the 1973 Arts Act and

particular value or relevance, given the economic situation we

which also reflect the interests and ethos of the partner institutions.

a renewed emphasis on regionalisation, acquisitions were made by

find ourselves in. What do you hope to achieve through this

We have also produced a 370-page publication, with illustrations

members of a visual arts sub-committee from public and private

project?

of works by over 100 artists and commissioned essays by Diarmaid

galleries across the country to represent “as wide a field of contemporary

KD: The main aim of ‘Into the Light’ is to enhance the visibility of the

Ferriter and Caoimhín MacGiolla Léith. We are publishing a directory

Irish art as possible”. Prior to this, through the 1960s and early 1970s,

Arts Council Collection, to bring it into broad public view and to

of all works in the collection, along with details of vendors from whom

purchases for the collection had been made, for the most part, from

highlight the Arts Council’s policy of supporting artists and collecting

the works were bought and of those who received works on loan. The

private galleries and large annual exhibitions in Dublin, by the

contemporary art in Ireland at a time when there was very little

publication also features two illustrated timelines that chart the

Director, Father Donal O’Sullivan, with advice from one or two Council

activity in this area, or much public awareness of contemporary art.

development of the Arts Council and state policy on the arts, in the

members, namely Michael Scott and Sir Basil Goulding. By the mid

Through the development of opportunities, arts infrastructure and

context of Ireland’s emergent visual arts scene from 1952 – 2012.

1980s, the Visual Arts Officers, Mebh Ruane and Patrick T Murphy,

education, the situation has changed dramatically since then, to the

shifted its focus towards “the building up of the nucleus of a national

point where working as a full-time artist in Ireland, without subsidy

FF: How were the venues decided? And did those involved have a

collection of modern art”. However, following the establishment of the

through teaching or other work has (or at least had until recent years),

say in choosing works?

Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1991, with its remit to build a national

become a viable professional option. Hopefully ‘Into the Light’ will, in

KD: The Arts Council had a number of criteria for the selection of

collection, the Arts Council’s purchasing priority returned to primarily

some way, remind people of the value of the work of our contemporary

venues. It was important that they were recognised, at a national and

supporting the practice of individual artists and, with advice from a

artists and of the importance of collecting art, whether for private

international level, for the quality of their contemporary visual arts

number of external experts, new media, video and installation work

pleasure or public record, or both.

programme, as well as their education and audience engagement

was introduced to the collection, broadening the range of practice

programmes. The selection needed to represent a wide geographical

represented and including works by a new generation of contemporary

Fiona Fullam is a writer and artist based in Dublin. She has

reach in order for ‘Into the Light’ to constitute a nationwide event. Also,

Irish artists.

published writing in Rubric, News Views, Review, Fugitive Papers

because the project focuses on the history of collecting in Ireland, it

When not on loan, the works are stored in a secure storage facility.

was preferable to work with partners who had an experience of

The collection is managed and maintained by Helena Gorey, Arts

collecting.

Council Collection Manager, who was also responsible for recalling the

Crawford Art Gallery has focused its selection on recent

works and preparing them for exhibition.

acquisitions for the collection (since 2000) and will exhibit mainly lens-based and installation works. Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh

FF: Meditation (2009), by Patrick Scott, is the title image for this

Lane’s exhibition will explore modern and contemporary approaches

major series of exhibitions. Why was this work and this artist in

to abstraction and will present a selection of Arts Council Collection

particular chosen?

and has exhibited in Tate Modern and the Berlin Reading Room.

Notes 1. The partner curators for Into the Light are Helen Carey at Limerick City Gallery, Michael Dempsey at The Hugh Lane, Emer McGarry at The Model and Dawn Williams at Crawford Art Gallery.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

15

festival

Daniel Seiffert, Kraftwerk Jugend, 2011

Paul Hallahan, Extinct Like Us, 2012

Louise Manifold, Shot Frontier, 2011

Colin Darke, Petroleuses, 2011

Landscape, Change and Flux

Seamus Murphy, still from 12 Short Films, 2011

I do hope that the themes will work and it will echo with people”.

He continues, “This is a festival that is part of the people of Galway; it is part of the fabric of Galway; it belongs there. Therefore is it a special festival with its own merits. It cannot be judged in

ciara peters talks to gregory mccartney about his role as curator of tulca 2012, which takes place across various venues in galway from 4 – 20 november 2012.

comparison to other visual art festivals, as Tulca is unique in itself. It is a stand-alone attraction. It has its roots in Galway for the past 10 years and has grown to be part of Galway’s visual art culture.”

It is always difficult to source money for a festival in the current

When a visual arts festival survives for 10 years in spite of the

personal, political through to social. I use a mash of them all…. It’s all

economic climate, but Tulca are remaining strong and are very lucky to

current economic climate, it must have something going for it. Since

about landscape and change and how people react to change in their

be supported by Galway City and County Council and the Arts Council

its inception in 2002, Tulca Festival of Visual Arts has been embraced

own personal landscapes as well as in society. It does reference all the

of Ireland.

by the people of Galway. Tulca features local and international artists,

latest economic circumstances but not directly... The festival is about

“We are very lucky with the generosity of people and artists. It

live art performances, talks and discussions, with free admission to all

creating a response to environments – physical, psychological or

always amazes me and continues to. People love Galway and people are

events. It acts as a platform for emerging artists but also as a showcase

cultural. It is about provoking alternative landscapes and paths and

interested in the festival and they are looking forward to being part of

for national and international artists. The festival this year will

making people consider where they are and how they got there. The

it, even with stretched budgets. Both the festival and the town are on

incorporate painting, video, sculptural work, animation, animated

festival will encourage people to look at the paths they took and the

the map, so to speak. The people are glad to take part.”

wallpaper and print, as well as talks and live performances.

paths they didn’t take.”

Some of the major highlights include a series of new work by

Tulca has always been graced by creative, talented curators –

Greg is keen to stress that this will not be a nostalgic look at our

George Shaw (UK), which comprises paintings of Coventry at different

Sarah Searson (2006), Michelle Browne (2010) and Megs Morley (2011)

chosen paths. However, given that nostalgia can never be totally

times of the year, and a video landscape piece by Kelly Richardson

– who each brought their unique talents to the fore. This year’s curator,

avoided, the aim is to inspire reflection. It is primarily about landscape,

(Canada). Greg describes it as “quite an eclectic mix”.

Gregory McCartney, will offer something equally special in line with

change and flux, and about how people’s reactions to change have

Tulca’s high standards.

determined where they are today. “It is, to a degree, about reflection, but

Other artists include Colin Darke (Northern Ireland), Nadege

in a forward-looking way.”

Meriau (France), David Hepher (England), Ackroyd and Harvey,

Greg, who is based in Derry, is a freelance exhibition maker, curator and “artist in a former life”. In 2011 he completed a PHD in

The title of this year’s Tulca is ‘What Became of the People We

Public Art Piece (England), Brigette Zieger (France), Connolly and

Visual Art and Archives at the University of Ulster. He is also Editor and

Used To Be’. As Greg explains, it is a line from a BBC comedy which

Cleary (Ireland), Daniel Seiffert (Germany), Siobhan Mc Gibbion

Project Coordinator of the quarterly magazine, Abridged, which

concerns two characters: one civil servant and an army veteran who

(Ireland) and Louise Manifold (Ireland).

features poetry and illustrations. Each issue has had a different theme,

return home to find out that neither of them were where they thought

such as ‘Time’, ‘Absence’, ‘Magnolia’, ‘Silence’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Dust’.

they would be in life.

The venues being used John Hughes Building, Fairgreen Road,

Greg is no stranger to Tulca. He took part in the 2008 festival

“It’s all about their adventures and about them trying to escape

The Galway Arts Centre, 126 Gallery, Nuns Island Theatre, St

‘Shower of Kunst’, curated by George Bolster. Greg’s archive piece on

their circumstances, or at least convince themselves that they are

Nicholas Church, Dock Shed, GUH, Bar 8, Niland Gallery and the

Derry’s obsolete Orchard Gallery was displayed in the Galway Arts

happy where they are. I thought it would make a suitable title.…The

Roisin Dubh. These venues are subject to change.

Centre and comprised a history of the Orchard Gallery on clothes pegs

titles I give are usually about time or absence. It is essentially landscape

strung along a washing line. This is Greg’s first time curating in Galway

and change. I like to have themes in the widest possible sense. You’ll see

All quotes from this article were taken from an interview by Ciara

but he is a member of the curatorial committee at Void, Derry and has

a lot of very different work but in my mind they all tie in well

Peters with Gregory McCartney.

curated many projects there, including ‘Park Ave + Resident’ by duo

together.”

Ackroyd and Harvey (2011) and ‘Looking for Baz Shaz Gaz and Daz’ by

Greg’s poetry background is unusual for a curator and poetry

www.abridgedonline.com

continues to inform his work. In poetry, words map out meaning and

www.tulca.ie

All his projects incorporate landscape of one type or another. He

Greg is very much concerned with the connections between the works.

tulcafestival@gmail.com

is interested in the merging of art and literature and the landscape of

The idea of mapping of is stressed in Abridged just as the connection

these respective art forms. This is why Greg brings something unique

between works is emphasised in this year’s festival. He states:

George Shaw (2010).

to this year’s festival. His passion for combining literature and art

“It’s like when you read a poem. You may not have experienced

manifests in a very interesting and sometimes very funny exhibition.

what the poet has but you notice a line or a word and the theme

He states:

resonates with you. It’s reflecting on present tense: the title is a rye

“Everything I do is essentially about landscapes of one kind or

reflection on that. I like things that echo. I’m hoping that the work will

another – landscape in the widest sense from physical, geographical,

echo with the local audience. There might not be a direct reference, but

16

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

how is it made?

A Sleeping Face AGNES CONWAY OUTLINES THE THINKING AND MAKING PROCESSES BEHIND HER RECENT COMMISSION, entitled ‘THE CELESTIAL MOUNTAIN’ , FOR MARLEY PARK, DUBLIN.

The mould

Agnes Conway, Dreaming of The Celestial Mountain, 2011 – 2012, all images courtesy of the artist

I first heard of The Celestial Mountain in a documentary about

Moving the head

CASTING THE FACE AND STEPS

I’d anticipated days of hard labour, unbolting the seams and prising

Mongolia. I then scoured atlases, maps and Google Earth trying to locate

Work began in late summer 2008. The mould was brought to the walled

the separate mould pieces off the surface, but as the mould came over the

it. Its elusiveness made it intriguing, magical. The Celestial Mountain!

garden in Cabinteely Park, nuts and bolts tightened and seams sealed. A

face slipped out like an egg from its shell. Job done.

How wonderful must it be to be called The Celestial Mountain by

shallow trench was dug and the mould lowered in, leaving the slings in

‘The lump’ turned out to be unmixed aggregate that had settled

nomads fighting for survival in a harsh landscape?

position. Sand was shoveled in around the mould and compacted using

right at the point of the nose, leaving a hole that had to be repaired. Apart from that, the concrete was as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

My first design for the work was a sleeping face half-buried in the

water. Once the mould was level and firmly held at the base, steel

earth and not visible until a convoluted pathway, based on the Cretan

formwork was put in place around it. More sand was compacted in,

labyrinth, had been negotiated. A seven-verse poem (describing the

finishing up with a few inches of very weak concrete to strengthen the

TRANSPORTING AND SITING

rituals that had to be carried out before starting an imaginary journey)

rim of the mould.

15 months later, in June 2011, work started on the site in Marlay. It was

By now it was autumn. As fast as I cleaned out the mould, leaves and

dogged by problems. The earth had originally been dumped any old way,

twigs blew in. It was like a large boat that had to be bailed out every time

covering a spring that re-appeared once the surface was disturbed. Weeks

it rained. The day before casting I forgot to change into trainers before

went by as an outflow was dug and the water piped away. Every time it

CONSTRUCTING THE FACE

stepping into the mould and went careening down the oiled side,

rained the gash clay of the mound turned into a quagmire, impossible to

The size of the face was dictated by my workspace, which was

finishing up in the nose with my legs and arms up in the air. Smooth,

walk on, never mind moving heavy machinery across.

approximately 8 x 6m. I roughed out a form, 4.7m x 2.9m, using baled

slippery surfaces all around that gave no purchase or handholds. For a

I spent sleepless nights leading up to the move. Every conceivable

wood shavings, then started modeling using unfired bricks.

few panicked minutes I thought I’d be stuck there all day, maybe even all

disaster became not only possible but probable. The slings would be

night...

rotten after their 15 months in the wet earth and break as they took the

would be inscribed on stone slabs set in the ground at different points in the labyrinth.

Modelling the face was six months of physical pleasure, no thinking involved, just pushing clay around to try to make something as beautiful

The mix used for the casting was self-compacting, with a 50 / 50 mix

weight. They’d be in the wrong position to distribute the weight and the

as possible. An unfortunate side-effect was getting tendonitis in my

of OPC and GGBS (ground granulated blast-furnace slag). Just as the pour

face would split across under the eyes. The lorry would go over a bump

Achilles tendons from pushing pallet-trucks of clay across a cobbled

started I saw a lump in the stream. I stopped the pour, intending to climb

on the six-mile journey and the face would shatter. The lorry wouldn’t

yard, and tendonitis in my forearms from hauling clay up the side of the

down and break up or remove the lump, but was assured by the lorry

make it up the hill. The crane would sink in the mud. And so on for hours

face, but that was a small price to pay for such uncomplicated

drivers that it was 'nothing', that the lump would disperse as more

and hours as I’d try to get to sleep.

enjoyment.

concrete went in. Against my better judgment I let the pour continue.

In the event, the crane did sink in the mud. Time went by as new

Disperse my eye! The fresh concrete was covered with plastic sheeting,

earth was brought in and rammed to form a ramp, and the crane-driver

and left to cure.

kept threatening to leave. But finally he made it up the slope and the face

THE MOULDS The leather-hard clay was sealed with several coats of French polish, then

was lifted into position.

waxed and a 15-piece fibre-glass mould taken. The verses of the poem

BREAKING OUT

were cut into MDF and seven fibre-glass moulds made. The large mould

GGBS slows the cure so I left the mould untouched for a few months,

from view a bit, and waited for topsoil to be spread so that the terraces

was then taken to a friend’s field, assembled and left. There it sat for the

apart from removing the hired formwork and breaking up the weak

could be finalised, seeded and the steps with the poem put in position.

next 18 months, while the moulds for the poem constituted a fire-hazard

concrete around the rim. By March I reckoned it was strong enough to be

in my narrow hallway.

handled safely, and hired two cranes to do the turning.

COMPROMISING

started when I realised that the crane drivers were preparing to turn the

Agnes Conway was born in Newcastle West, Co Limerick. After

DLR Parks Department wanted the work for Marlay Park, so months of

mould end over end – easier for them because of the location of the slings

studying sculpture in NCAD, Dublin, she taught for Dublin VEC,

discussion and re-designing followed. There were two main problems:

but potentially disastrous because of the narrowness of the depth of

NCAD, and Bray VEC. In 2000 she gave up teaching to work full-

firstly, they felt litter would collect around stone walls and, secondly,

concrete under the eyes. Having learned from my experience with ‘the

time at sculpture.

they wanted to site the work on a large mound, which had been formed

lump’ I stood on the mould and refused to let them move it. The stand-off

from spoil from the M50.

went on for half an hour with lots of shouting, bellowing over the wind

Over the next few days I shaped the earth around the face to hide it

A year on, after the wettest summer since records began, I’m still waiting.

It was a lashing wet day and the area was a sea of mud. Trouble

Eventually we reached an agreement – that the mound would be

and rain, stamping of feet, threats not to pay.

terraced, so that the labyrinth path wound around and up to the face. I’d

The reason they didn’t want to turn it sideways became apparent

lose the enclosed, inward-looking feeling that I wanted, but I hoped I

once they started the lift – instead of turning, the mould just slid along

could shape the earth so that the face was hidden when viewed from

the mud on its edge. A JCB driver solved the problem by bracing the

ground level.

bottom edge of the mould until it reached the tipping point.

www.agnesconway.com

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

17

career development

ab: It’s hard for me to say, having only been here for a year, but it seems that artists are almost unionised, because the whole of Finland is unionised. There is a painter’s union, a sculptor’s union, even the union for alternative artists, which is called Muu. Despite this, I think there is still an absence of adequate representation. Muu, for example, has a very broad remit. This contributes to the lack of opportunities for artists that might want to work in a particular way.

Similarly, it seems rare that artists in Finland take strong political positions. This is evident in contemporary intellectual life generally.

People tend to go along with the mainstream.

There was a documentary art film that aired on Finnish TV – a work by Pekka Niskanen – that would be an example of direct political action through art.1 MM: I think, in Finland, there is more of a tradition of this in documentary filmmaking. Pekka is a rare case, as he combines visual art and documentary filmmaking: genres that don’t often mix here. There is very little dialogue. As an artist, are there Alan Bulfin, Unrequited Hatred, The Shed, Galway, 2012

Alan Bulfin and Tomasz Szrama

things you would like to realise in this Finnish context?

I have had a period of time to reflect on my work as I have been asked to write for a free online magazine. The area that I found most interesting was the legal process that is used by the state to define both organisations and individuals. I am directly tied into this singular definition of work.

MM: So, there is a certain type of control executed by the state?

Yes, that is a certain type of control, but it is also a very banalised force.

It makes everything the same, homogenises it, brings everything into the same pattern. There is banality across the spectrum of Finnish society: in art forms such as photography and filmmaking to elements of popular culture such as Angry Birds. Angry Birds is a very banal game. My girlfriend is from Pohjanmaa, which is located in the West of

Alan Bulfin, Unrequited Hatred, The Shed, Galway, 2012

Alan Bulfin, Art's Birthday, Hiap Residency Studios, 2012

Alan Bulfin, performance at Fafa's Kebabs, 2012

Finland. Driving there, it is long straight roads with nothing but trees beside you.

Some Possible Infinities

Banality seemed like something that I should really focus on.

What I like about utilising banality is that I am not importing ideas or concepts but using the materials that are latent around me and making something poetic. Banality in the job of a dishwasher is ripe for this.

Kitchens and restaurants are a dime a dozen. My work does not just

finnish curator, marita muukkonen, talks to irish artist alan bulfin about moving to finland and establishing his practice.

function as a representation of the conditions that exist in Finland, it becomes a way of materialising those conditions, so that we see them through the artwork. This is a way of making public art that really interests me.

At the moment I am exploring the idea of residency programmes in

Marita Muukkonen: Can you begin by telling me how came to

you were an artist? And how did you introduce him your art

the workplace. The creation of art is intrinsically linked to context, and

live in Finland? And how you got started as an artist here?

work and the processes you wanted to develop? ab: When you are working with people who are not artists, or if you

this is where I see its greatest social value. For example, my workplace

Alan Bulfin: I moved here in early 2011 because my girlfriend, Pii Anttila, is from Finland. I first began my art practice when I went looking for

want to make art anywhere unusual, it is always a negotiation. It was

and allow them to experience an artwork in the free space. This creates

a job, which I had to do very quickly in order to stay in the country.

simply a case of talking to my boss, telling him about my ideas and

a very different translation of that space, a very different experience. It

Finland is a place that you really need support to live in. I wasn’t able

asking him if I could bring in a camera to work and have the other staff

also crosses the line between public and private.

to begin the system of becoming a full citizen, where I would have full

members photograph me doing some of my artwork. There are always

social security and be legally registered in the country, until I had a job.

quiet times in a restaurant so I just waited and made my art then. My

MM: Do you find that, in Finland, people don’t really understand

This is why I started a public art project in my workplace.

colleagues were fine and all took pictures of me so that I could produce

that banal is banal? That they take these representations dead

My work is performative and uses the materials in my workplace

the exhibition entitled ‘Some Possible Infinities that May Have Been

and also the context in which I work. Finland completely socialises and

Made by Dishwashers’. For this, I created a booklet, a comic book. The

seriously? ab: Yes. Many of them just photograph banality and try and frame it as

legalises the mechanisms that are inherent in the production of capital.

exhibition that I produced was in a kebab shop, which was in keeping

being pretty. When you talk to Finnish people, they say ‘Why did you

There is a centralised mechanism, creating only one way of defining

with the restaurant theme. The kebab shop is on a really busy street and

come here? It is a boring place.’ I think what they want to say is that it is

work: you work, you get paid a wage and that wage is decided by the

that provided a lot of potential for street performance.

a banal place. But that is not a bad thing. It is my favourite thing about

closes on the weekends, which provides ample time to bring people in

Finland.

value of your work. For the artist, this means a pittance or nothing at

This performance emanated from a concept that has been

all. So I decided to make my art at work – as a nine to five dishwasher

executed thousands of times, but continues to have imaginative value.

/ artist.

The structure originates from the Fluxus artist, Robert Filliou. What

Alan Bulfin is an artist based in Finalnd. He studied at the University of Ulster, Belfast and Limerick School of Art and Design.

directly to my everyday life. It was also a way of engaging with the

interested me about his work was the ‘Art’s Birthday’ idea, when he announced, on January 17th 1963, that on that day 1,000,000 years

art world here, as every single gallery requires that you pay rent. On

previously, ‘art’ had been born when a sponge was dropped into a

and collaborative in intention and structure. Recent exhibitions

a dishwasher’s wage I couldn’t take that risk. The top gallery can cost

bucket of water. The element of simple speculation appealed to me and,

include 'Unrequited Hatred' at The Shed, Adapt Galway (2012) and

up to €4000 to rent (though I am told that almost every artist that

as a dishwasher / artist, I felt I had returned to the birthplace of art.

Master’s Degree show for Art in Public, Belfast (2011).

This became a way of looking at how the state of Finland relates

His study interests are dialogic, participatory, interventionist

exhibits there receives funding). There are some smaller galleries but I

In my performance, I made every day a celebration of art and

think the cheapest rent in Helsinki is €600 and so I decided that the best

turned this idea of ‘eternal celebration’ into a game. The game was

Marita Muukkonen is the Finnish editor at Kunstkritikk. She has

approach would be to begin doing street art and performance works.

designed to create an accident and, if the participants were imaginative

previously worked as a curator at the Helsinki International Artist

I focused on traditional performance and short-term spectacle where

enough, another possible infinity could be created. After explaining the

Programme (HIAP) and for several contemporary art institutions

the audience is asked to participate. We normally play kids’ games that

idea, we placed blindfolds on two of the participants, who then had to

such as FRAME, the journal FRAMEWORK and The Nordic

relate to infinite possibilities. Through this work, I wanted to change

run around after the others trying to catch them. This usually resulted

Institute for Contemporary Art (NIFCA).

the perceived value of my work from my daily wage to the value of

in an accident, which meant that my work was done. www.perpetualmobile.org

infinity.

MM: I feel that socially engaged art and truly engaged MM: So, what was the actual art piece that you decided to realise

communities are rare in Finland. What is your impression,

Notes

at work? Did your employer know when he employed you that

coming from Ireland?

1. www.pekkaniskanen.com

18

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

policy

education

Here and Now

The Young Apprentice

Una carmody highlights findings from a recent survey carried out to collect data on visual arts audiences across ireland.

Lily Power talks to publisher Siobhán Parkinson about a new children's book by Rachel van kooij – inspired by Velázquez's las meninas – about a young disabled boy with great artistic talent living in seventeenth-century madrid.

In early 2011, Claire Power of Temple Bar Gallery

are more likely to be gallery visitors; 57% of gallery

and Studios approached me with the idea to explore

attendees were employed, 43% were unemployed –

audiences for the visual arts, and in particular gallery

reflecting the very high numbers of students visiting

visitors, in Ireland. Arts Audiences exists to carry out

galleries; A surprising 67% of visitors had attended at

research and analysis on audiences, and also to build

the gallery previously, with 54% having attended in

capacity in arts organisations to enhance their

the previous 12 months and overall the analysis

audience development capabilities. A seminar was

showed a very high level of loyalty among gallery

organised in May 2011 to look at the whole question

attenders; 46% of visitors indicated that they

of audiences, and one of the outstanding presentations

perceived they attended at galleries 6 or more times

on the day came from Pete Gomori, then of Tate

in the previous 12 months ; 29% of visitors described

Modern, who talked about the tools which Tate

themselves as having a specialist knowledge of the

Britain uses to find out about its audiences. He talked

visual arts, and a further 33% said they had a general

about the usefulness of a recent common visitor

knowledge. Visitors were very positive about the

survey for the visual arts in London, and from this the

gallery experience and 91% indicated a positive

idea of having a joint survey for several galleries in

inclination towards visiting that gallery again with

Ireland developed.

67% saying their return was definite, 95% of visitors

The pilot phase of this project, called ‘Here and

said that they would recommend the gallery to

Now’, has now been completed, and Arts Audiences is

others; 85% of visitors said that they had noticed the

currently looking at ways of broadening its scope for

additional supporting and interpretative material at

2013. The findings have been fascinating for the

the gallery and 82% found them very useful or quite

participating institutions and for the visual arts

useful; Marketing channels would appear, from the

generally. They have application beyond the

analysis, to have generally inconclusive results. Only

participating galleries, and Arts Audiences is keen to

articles in newspapers registered as having had an

get feedback so the project can be rolled out in

impact on more that 10% of visitors in four out of the

future.

five galleries; 23% of visitors cited lack of information

In Ireland, our knowledge about visual arts audiences has been limited to individual gallery

about what exhibitions were on as a main barrier to them attending more often.

materials, mainly periodic surveys. These are of

These can only be considered preliminary

immense value to the institution, but cannot provide

conclusions until a bank of knowledge is built up in

a picture of visual arts attenders generally or allow for

years to come, when the real value of studies such as

any comparisons to be made between institutions.

these becomes clear. Nonetheless, the study suggests

These are known as benchmarking exercises

a number of areas for galleries to explore to increase

and they help organisations compare their audience

both their visitor numbers and their engagement.

profiles and performance in certain areas against an

There are certain differences between younger

average. In the Theatre Forum benchmarking study

audiences and older audiences generally, and those

for 2011, for instance, which looked at venues and

who are new to the visual arts. Galleries need to

festivals, it was established that an average of 11% of

exploit marketing channels more effectively,

bookings were made online. Knowing this figure

converting those who are new to the gallery or the

allows venues to see how they are doing in comparison

visual arts into attendees. Expanding audiences is a

to their peers.

key challenge; galleries need to have more direct

Front cover of Bartolomé, by Fidelma Slattery

Back cover of Bartolomé, by Fidelma Slattery

Lily Power: In Bartolomé, the author brings a character from Velázquez’s famous painting to life. Does this help make great works more accessible to children?

Siobhán Parkinson: Well, it definitely makes this particular painting accessible to children. You can ask a child to look at a painting and you can talk to them about what’s in it, but when there is a story that opens up the world of the painting and the artist, and that has characters the children have come to know, the painting will be much more interesting to them, and they will see its relevance, even though it comes from a very different world to our own.

On the other hand, the book wasn’t written primarily to teach children about art. Rather, the story was inspired by the painting. And that in itself is a radical idea for children, that you can look at a great piece of art from another time and place and you can think about it and respond to it and come up with a story that might be one possible explanation for the circumstances in which the painting came to be.

We have created extensive teaching notes to accompany this book (which can be downloaded from www.littleisland.ie). These provide ideas for teachers or parents interested in using Bartolomé as a way into great historical paintings.

Siobhán Parkinson

back) but because it was the front of a book, she designed it in a beautiful arc of print, rather than as a straightforward block of text. And the touch I really love – she placed the barcode on the back of the book inside an image of an artist’s palette.

LP: The painting process is described in great detail: the long sittings, the science of mixing colours. Is this something that appeals to children?

SP: I think in the context of the story, children will find it interesting. The names of the paints and pigments are very poetic, and the artists’ studio in the palace is presented in the context of Bartolomé’s growing friendship with the young apprentice, Andres, and his growing fascination with painting. So I think that works.

LP: Ultimately, Bartolomé accepts that, despite having his talent recognised by Velázquez, he will never have fame and fortune. Is this a wise lesson for would-be artists?

SP: It’s not intended as a lesson for today’s would-be artists. This is a historical novel, and the book is showing how things actually were at the time.

Bartolomé has faced many challenges in his young

It is, of course, not generally possible to analyse

control over their relationships with attendees

attendance data in the visual arts based on ticket

through use of communication channels; galleries

LP: Throughout the book, the act of learning

life: his own physical disability, his father’s rejection,

sales, and so we adopted a survey approach. Audiences

should look to harness the power of existing loyal

provides a refuge for Bartolomé. Does this stem

the need to hide so that he will not bring shame on

Northern Ireland were appointed to run the common

audiences and should adapt their marketing and

from the author’s experience working in special

his family, his struggle to get an education, his

visitor survey in the five participating galleries:

support materials to appeal to those who do not have

needs education?

humiliation at the hands of the spoilt infanta – and so

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (Dublin), Glucksmann

a specialist knowledge of the area.

SP: I imagine so. There is a strong ethical thread

the prospect of being an artist, even one who cannot

running through this story about the value and

be accepted into the guild and acknowledged in the

Gallery (Cork), The Model (Sligo), RHA Gallery (Dublin) and Butler Gallery (Kilkenny). For the initial

the future

dignity of human life, and the rights of disabled

way an able-bodied artist could be, is a very joyful

pilot phase, it was important that the galleries were

At feedback sessions, it was agreed that the survey

people to education and fulfilment. The author makes

thing for him. Of course it would be great if he could

on a similar scale and suitable for comparison with

itself needed to be shorter. There was also a consensus

the point that even if Bartolomé’s body is deformed,

become a ‘proper’ artist, but the artist’s way of life is

each other.

that the 2013 survey should be carried out at a

his brain is active and he is bright and artistic.

more important to him than glory, and the possibility

Audiences NI created, with the participants, a

different time of year, as this had an impact on

survey containing both standard and bespoke

findings. We also hope to expand ‘Here and Now’ to a

LP: What was the concept behind the unusual

Again, you have to see it in context. Mind you, even

questions, and a sampling plan to ensure that the

larger number of galleries – approximately 15 – and

cover?

today’s artists don’t always get all that much glory,

results were reliable. Front-line staff and volunteers

build up a picture of audiences that is meaningful

SP: We very much wanted to use the painting, or part

though they do usually do at least get to have their

were provided with training in how to carry out the

and useful.

of it, on the cover, because the painting is so central to

work attributed to them.

to use his talent is for him a wonderful opportunity.

survey so that the process could be repeated. Survey

In the final analysis, the findings of a study such

the story, but it’s a rather brown painting, and it really

results were uploaded to a site created by Audiences

as this are only as useful if the participating galleries

would be too dark (physically dark, I mean) to make

Siobhan Parkinson is a writer and Director of

NI for analysis over a period of six weeks in Spring

can harness them; otherwise they remain merely

an attractive cover for a children’s book. Our designer

Little Island publishing. She was Ireland's first

2012 and were presented in summer 2012. They

interesting. If galleries can look to attract audiences

came up with the inspired idea of putting the painting

Laureate na nÓg from 2010 –2012.

make fascinating reading for anyone interested in

using this information, adapt their marketing and

not on the front but the back of the book, and creating

who visits galleries in Ireland.

exploit the loyalty of existing audiences, the analysis

a bright and attractive front cover using details from

www.littleisland.ie

is worthwhile. If you have any comments or queries

the painting against a pale background. To liven it up

www.siobhanparkinson.com

Key Findings

on 'Here and Now', or would like to know more, the

still further, she included paint splotches, which we

The analysis covered a lot of elements, but some of

report is published on the Arts Audiences website.

picked out in gold. Having put the front cover on the

the key findings were: A majority, 55%, of gallery

back, she then also put the back cover on the front, in

visitors are women; Compared to the population

Una Carmody is the Director of Arts Audiences.

a way --- she filled up the pale spaces on the front of

generally, age brackets between 20 – 34 and 45 – 55

www.artsaudiences.ie

the book with the blurb (which normally goes on the

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Critique Supplement Edition 8 November / December 2012

Nick Miller 'Yard' Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 08 September – 06 October 2012 Nick Miller’s new exhibition, ‘Yard’, is a set of

something as humble as a cement mixer with such

works from 2009 to the present day based on the yard

verve is a deeply subversive gesture, in keeping with

of his studio at the foot of Benbulben in Co Sligo. The

the deceptive adventurousness of the show.

work focuses on the meeting between the landscape

Around the room you see a sequence of smaller

and the traces of human activity visible in the yard.

variations on the same theme. The use of the same

The paintings show girders and building materials

motif over and over again – sometimes with only

piled up along with equipment, such as a cement

marginally different compositional structures – links

mixer and a trailer. They also show the iconic

these works to ouevres as diverse as Cezanne with his

Benbulben Mountain and the ruggedly beautiful

Mont St Victoire and Hokusai with his 36 Views of Mount Fuji. And as with both of these artists there is nothing scenic or restful about Miller’s rendering and re-rendering of Benbulben and the yard. Each painting has a specific character, a personality, and, by limiting compositional variation, Miller brings to the fore the range of pictorial invention needed to render what he sees with complete honesty.

Miller’s work is about obsessive looking, about recording what is in front of him with great accuracy.

In his work, a lack of editing is not a flaw but a strength. In order to accommodate an avalanche of information and sensation, Miller uses material in a complex and audacious way: heavy impasto with spare scumbles alongside turp-stained drips, detailed drawing and swooshes of semi-liquid paint. However, the complexity of the paintings’ construction is never allowed to take over from their function as images.

The framing device of the walls and roof of the truck are a constant in most of the pictures. The idea of recording them, along with the landscape, reasserts the fact that we are looking at a painting. It also evokes the idea of the studio as a proxy for the artist’s mind. Looking out through Miller’s truck view is rather like peering into the Hugh Lane Gallery’s Francis Bacon studio: you are aware of the significance of the space in the artist’s world view. These frames contain some of the most adventurous painting in the show and, like Bacon, Miller has used his walls as a palette and, in recording this, he has used huge blobs, agglomerations and splashes of paint.

In side-stepping the reductive vortex of Modernism, the paintings have on the surface much in common with nineteenth-century art. Yet they are anything but old fashioned. Miller nails his colours to the mast by using a truck as his studio. Its inclusion as a contextual and formal device situates the work directly in twenty-first century reality.

In each painting in ‘Yard’, the jumble of abandoned building materials has significant metaphorical power. In the context of post-crash Ireland, pictures of cement mixers and unused RSJs can take on various meanings. The works could be

Nick Miller, Steel, Yard and Mountain I, 2011, il on linen, 56 x 61cm, all images courtesy of the artist

countryside that surrounds it. These new works were

said to explore the idea of the landscape being bigger

painted from Miller’s now static mobile studio truck,

than the ups and downs of human fortune. They

which is parked in the yard. As the truck is no longer

could be about man’s impact on the environment.

on the road, Miller’s options for what he could paint

What makes the works in this show so powerful is

were limited and the yard took centre stage.

that Miller doesn’t labour the point. By painting

When you first walk into the gallery, the work that dominates the space is Steel Yard, Mountain and

exactly what he can see, Miller is doing something less rhetorical and far more poignant.

Trailer (2012). It’s a large picture which feels even larger because of the precise and compact composition

Andy Parsons is an artist based in Sligo and the

it employs. The painting depicts a view of Benbulben

Co-founder of Floating World Artist Books.

with a trailer dividing the middle ground of the picture. Thrusting forward into the foreground are two steel girders that look like the feet of a fallen giant. The picture has an uncanny pathos and sadness.

The objects – scattered and discarded – are like the chaos left behind after the gold rush has moved on to another town.

This painting is flanked by two small paintings on paper, one featuring a cement mixer and one of a trailer used to transport the steel girders. Mixer (2012) is painted with the kind of bravura that Picasso would have brought to painting a bull. The idea of painting Nick Miller, Steel Yard, Mountain and Trailer, 2012, oil on linen

Nick Miller, Mixer, 2012, oil on linen, 183 x 214 cm

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

'iArt' Sync Space, bangor 27 September – 13 October 2012

November – December 2012

lorg Printmakers 'spectral' City hall, Galway 24 August – 24 September 2012

THE space I enter looks slick, with its slate grey

sculptors, commercial photographers, textile

and white walls, a large glass front and well-designed

designers and painters, and the app was, for most of

furniture. The music playing in the background

them, a new medium to experiment with. The

gives the gallery a commercial air and makes this

problematic aspect of iPhone and iPad apps is their

visit feel like viewing an exhibition in a stylish

ubiquitous application and use on image sharing

interior design shop. It is evident that the architecture

platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. As a

of this converted building has been given a lot of

result, we have become overexposed to the app

consideration, and as a result the room appears light

aesthetic that is used throughout this exhibition:

and spacious. High up near the ceiling hang

that is, a digitally altered and manipulated image,

backdrops and large lights that can be pulled down

often with a Photoshopped or a faux-Polaroid look to

to transform the space into a fully functioning

effect authenticity, age or originality. Everyone is a

photographic studio. The walls are lined with a steel

photographer nowadays, and can, using apps,

wire from which hang more than 35 A3 prints

produce striking, instantaneous, aesthetically-

clamped tightly in rows.

pleasing imagery with minimal effort that, though

Norah brennan, Red Rain on Fun Days, screen print, 2012

Claudia Keegan, Masters, digital print, 2012

Sync Space is a brand new venue, conveniently

generic in style, is visually appealing. What is

located close to Bangor train station. It aims to cater

undoubtedly challenging for any artist working in

for the local artistic community, and the practitioners

this format is adapting this now very familiar method

IN producing exhibition reviews for the

“visual monologue of internal conflict”. This activity

showing in the current exhibition, ‘iArt’, are all based

of photographic manipulation in such a way that the

Critique section, writers are deployed in unexpected

produced an almost psycho-geographic depiction of

in the town and are part of Firsty, an art collective

boundaries of this medium are truly tried and

places, armed with little more than willingness for

human interaction with the external environment.

with over 350 members from around the North

tested.

critical engagement and a disposition towards

The series comprised seven black and white digital

Mark Morgan has chosen a GraphPad Pro app to

artistic appraisal. This commissioning process has

prints depicting semi-abstract imagery including

West.

For ‘iArt’, each of the six exhibiting artists

digitally reconstruct familiar consumer products.

proved relatively successful, allowing reviewers to

tree-silhouettes, paths and railway tracks. These

created five images and adjusted these using an

The dimensional technical graph prints of breakfast

engage with artwork that they might not have

physical manifestations of journey proved

iPhone or iPad application, a novel exercise for most

cereal he has produced are simply titled by their

otherwise chosen to write about, with a degree of

graphically striking, but a counter-dialogue also

of the artists involved. The images were then printed

commercial names: Rice Crispie Crispie, Fruit Loop, Coco Pop,

honest reflection beginning to emerge out of art-

existed within the work in the form of blanks spaces

in similar sizes on what looks like quality archival

and, combined with their labels displaying titles and

writing in Ireland. Best practice suggests that

which appeared to be almost erased from the surface

paper. Each image comes in an edition of 25 and is

pricing, perhaps unintentionally become enigmatic

criticality is not defined by ‘good’ or ‘bad’ reviews

of some prints. This carving out of space provided

accompanied by a large laminated price tag.

sculptural objects. Rice Crispie is shown from three

and ‘taking a stance’ potentially releases us from the

reflection on the moments when internal freedoms

On the right hand wall hangs a series of pictures

different angles and the object’s digital, scientifically

voids of neutrality or cronyism. On this occasion, I

can be identified within the everyday grit.

featuring layered images of feminine, textile and

rendered, pockmarked surface transforms the cereal

left the exhibition in question feeling disappointed,

Contemporary printmaking continues to

organic forms alongside depictions of, among others:

into a strange beige meteorite.

but also grateful, because now I have the opportunity

occupy a versatile but insufficiently defined position

to explain why.

in proximity to design, commerce, industry, craft

Ferris wheels to which a vintage-style digital filter

Morgan does not make any effort to disguise its

has been applied; landscapes with ‘silk-screen’ effect

digital construct, but embraces it. The digitally

Lorg Fine Art Printmakers Ltd was established

and the visual arts. As a fine art organisation, Lorg

borders and dramatic contrast; a Pop Art Mona Lisa; a

manipulated abstraction of the familiar is an effective

in 2005 by a group of print-making graduates who

are well placed to identify suitable venues,

monochrome close-up of a shiny motorcycle light;

and interesting way of exploring the show’s app

identified a need for a 24-hour-access professional

exhibition-making strategies and audiences for their

digitally altered Harland and Wolfe cranes (x2);

theme.

printmaking workshop in Galway City. Lorg (which

members’ work. Is contemporary print really best

sepia-filtered lilies; bumble bees; and stylised

The exhibition may have benefited from a

currently operates out of premises in Ballybane

placed in adorning the corridors of civic amenities?

portraits. The subjects for these images, while

stronger curatorial input, with fewer works displayed,

Enterprise Centre) has developed a diverse education

Spaces such as these present a number of aesthetic

doubtlessly captured with a good eye for composition

so that the more unusual images such as Morgan’s

and community outreach programme. This includes

and practical problems. Firstly, the lights were off.

and colour, appear to have been selected randomly,

would have had more space and could be explored

the provision of an excellent Annual Bursary Award

Whether this was a money-saving initiative or

adhering to no visible, concrete theme. The images

further. Despite my mixed reaction to the current

for print-making graduates, which offers access to

whether someone simply forgot to switch them on

are hung close together and are of uniform size. The

exhibition, new initiatives like Sync Space provide

the print workshop for a year. This commitment to

is not the issue. The fact that the viewing area was

installation is conventional, demonstrating limited

for – and serve – a community of emerging artists

supporting graduate artists demonstrates a

severely impinged upon by a wall-mounted radiator

experimentation with scale or display. The price tags,

hoping to exhibit and maybe sell work, and are

willingness to maintain links with the New Centre

and an array of institutional signage, and the

though unavoidable, are extremely distracting and

essential to a varied visual arts infrastructure.

for Creative Arts and Media at GMIT, a resource for

building was closed during culture night, further

the city that many other local initiatives and

entrenched my view that the space was not suitable

organisations fail to recognise.

for exhibition purposes.

make it very difficult to view this exhibition as anything but commercial.

Alissa Kleist lives and works in Belfast. She is a

The recipients of the Bursary Award for 2011 –

As well as providing access to contemporary

2012 were Norah Brennan and Claudia Keegan, who

printmaking workshop, Lorg Annual Bursary Award

experimentation, it risks losing its impact, becoming

both graduated from the BA Fine Art Printmaking

also provides the recipients with a valuable

aesthetically pleasing but bland: sellable but entirely

course at GMIT in 2011. The artists had the

opportunity to interact with other printmakers in a

lacking punctum. The artists exhibiting in 'iArt' are

opportunity to present their new bodies of artwork

professional studio environment, enabling them to

in a joint exhibition which ran from 24 August – 24

make the transition from student to practicing artist

September 2012 in Galway City Hall. It was Lorg’s

– these important benefits were highlighted by the

decision to utilise this wholly unsuitable venue that

two artists when I contacted the them about their

disappointed me most. But, despite its inadequate

experience. This fidelity to professional practice

show-casing, the artwork proved interesting, and

should therefore, in my view, also permeate the

was created using an array of traditional and

stage of public presentation, in order to showcase

contemporary print-making techniques.

not only the high standard of work produced during

When a photograph is taken solely to use the image as a drawing board for post-production

visual artist, co-director at Catalyst Arts and a member of artist collective PRIME.

Norah Brennan’s ‘Imagined Landscapes’ was a

this period, but also the merits of the bursary itself,

series of 12 prints produced using a number of

to further enrich and challenge the parameters of

printmaking techniques. Wood and lino cut, mono-

print-making, with the aim of moving thinking

print and screen-printing processes were combined

forward.

with collage techniques to produce layered and colourful compositions. Aesthetically, the body of

Joanne Laws is a critical writer based in Leitrim.

work was reminiscent of Modernist geometric

She has been published in Afterimage Journal of

painting, with angular shapes intruding upon the

Media, Arts and Cultural Criticism (US), Axisweb

dream-like landscapes. In some works, repetitious

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

circular orbs – gestures of solar, lunar or planetary bodies – became increasingly threatening in their invasion of the sky. Claudia Keegan’s new body of work, ‘A Path I Slowly Followed’, utilised landscape Mike Morgan, Rice Crispie, 2012, all images courtesy of Sync Space

Sync Space, belfast

as a more self-reflexive site, with a compelling

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

November – December 2012

Patricia looby 'between a thimble and a Nail' Triskel Christchurch, Cork 10 August – 10 September 2012

jennifer kidd 'marathon irish' Dialogue Gallery, london 08 September – 06 October 2012

IN Triskel’s Christchurch, once a place of

the Middle Ages, relics were placed in the apse area

Christian worship and now an art space and site of

and the ambulatory (an architectural innovation

film screenings and conferences, a contemporary

allowing the pilgrims to view them as they queued,

artist exhibits art objects reminiscent of relics and

prayed and chanted through the church). The

yet totally unique. Patricia Looby’s installation

associations attached to relics are of wealth,

occupies one of the aisles, tinged by the ambient

splendour, exclusivity. Take, for example, the oldest

light of ecclesiastical stained glass in muted shades

relic in the Vatican, the sixth century Crux Vaticana,

and in the company of austere rows of dark, ancient

a cross of silver gilt studded with precious stones.

pews. Most of the work comprises a jam-packed

Maurizio Calvesi described its “hieratic fixity and

collection of artefacts decorated with tiny beads woven into intricate patterns of strong shapes to

abstraction”, which “brings out the intrinsic value and costliness of the object”.1 Forgetting origin and

frame what were once ordinary objects. The display

purpose, what attracts Calvesi’s admiration is not

cases resemble museum collections, which exist to

the aesthetic value, but the monetary value.

remind us of the past by storing its relics (in the

There is a sense in which a relic is also a fetish;

primary sense of reliquia in Latin, from relinquere or

the possession of or at least close proximity to the

'what is left behind').

precious object replaces the initial desire associated

Jennifer Kidd, Noose, 2012, all images courtesy of Dialogue Gallery

Looby’s embroidered materials are juxtaposed

with its origin. The opening paragraph of Marx’s Das

with objects once familiar in rural Irish life. They

Kapital describes how capitalism attaches exchange

include amusing assemblages, such as wooden

value to objects, which are endowed with a symbolic

boxes from the 1900s, alongside remnants of ancient

meaning that “transcends” their use value. Walter

farm machinery: hammers, spokes, hinges and

Benjamin referred to an object’s “aura”, its “unique

scissors, each divorced from their original purpose

existence”, “authenticity” and “its presence in time

JENNIFER Kidd’s animated digital work, Noose, Noose

convention. But when an artwork – especially a

and given pride of place on a plinth or in box frames.

and a place”: elements that have been lost through mass reproduction.2 Benjamin argued, however, that

was placed immediately in the entrance hallway of

moving image artwork – uses theatrical devices, the

These items are arranged at the plumb centre of

Dialogue Gallery, juxtaposed with a projected work

work also explores – intentionally or otherwise –

finely-woven material, which is part gilded glass,

this also heralded a new era of shared knowledge:

by Lisa O’Donnell. The hallway led into a large

the similarities and differences between time and

part white cotton. Fragments of wrought iron are

important films, for example, that remain unique in

warehouse-style gallery space containing the group

space in moving-image and theatre.

assigned an ambiguous new meaning, their presence

our memories though many copies are available.

show of other Irish artists participating in an

glorified by roundels of pearls or shiny beads,

Looby’s artistic craft reclaims old objects – some

evolving exhibition entitled ‘Marathon Irish’.

pointing perhaps to an absence that elicits a feeling

mass-produced, neither precious nor rare – and

Noose was shown on a monitor stacked on top

for the animation work Cathexis Cathexis. Here, the beach

of nostalgia and of loss.

generates an almost silent, uncanny reverence.

of two timber crates all placed at right angles. In a

serves as a setting that creates tension, effectively

Looby invents unexpected combinations that

What might her work evoke? A legacy, perhaps, of

2-minute, 15-second short animation, two identical

combining nature and artifice, playing with setting

reflect the present as well as the not-so-distant past,

unspoken values? A sense of belonging or a sense of

Plasticine-style figures, wearing green floor length

and scale. In psychoanalysis, cathexis is defined as

when Ireland was a god-fearing rural country under

a past that ought not to be betrayed?

dresses, walk onto a grey theatre stage and sit on

the process of investing mental or emotional energy

chairs. Behind them are black cardboard cut-out

in a person, object or idea. Kidd has shown, in both

foreign rule. She presents us with fairy tales of

Dialogue Gallery. london

lisa O'Donnell, still from Slip, 2012

In Kidd’s previous work she has examined various different environments, including a beach

sparkling make-believe: magic keys to a hidden

Dr David Brancaleone is lecturer at LIT Limerick

trees that have overtones of halloween gothic: dark

Cathexis and Noose, that her attempt to create

chest; the metamorphoses of sinuous keys that once

School of Art and Design. His writing has

and foreboding. The figures (who have the

resonant figures or personas in non-narrative

secured solid timbers; ovals of baroque floral frames;

appeared in Circa, Vertigo, Experimental

appearance of girls, rather than women) pick up

animation is highly original. She is looking for ways

spanners and spoons; clusters of tiny knots; rows of

Conversations, Irish Marxist Review, Enclave

some knitting and proceed to knit at a furious pace,

to express intimate feelings or experiences that are

beaten washers red with rust. Are those lakes or

Review and the VAN. He is also a filmmaker.

keeping time with each other.

simultaneously private and universal. This is

continents in a sea of sequins?

There is a clear religious theme, for among the objects are fragments of holy effigies. The most

Notes 1. Maurizio Calvesi, Treasures of The Vatican, Skira and Sunday Times Publications, 1962, 13 2.Walter benjamin, 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction', in Illuminations, harper Collins, 1992 (first published 1968), 211 – 235

The theatre audience continues to talk as they

challenging territory and it will be worth observing

knit, so that while they are performing, they are not

how Kidd further develops these themes in her

necessarily being watched or given the full attention

work.

of the audience. They continue to concentrate on

Noose is an ambiguous work, which could be

crowned Virgin and Child hanging on the wall next

their knitting without talking or interacting. They

further developed to clarify its intension. While the

to a box-framed sea shell, a small speck of rust and

both knit what seem to be cream-coloured scarves

one-stop animation was successfully executed, the

multiple embroidered shapes. It resembles the

and then tie each into a noose. Next, the figures rise,

audio element seemed less resolved. The audio

iconography of the nails of the cross. Emerging from

place the knitting on their chairs and proceed to

representing the voices and whispers of the

a hole in a piece of hessian (the kind of sack-cloth

walk off the stage. One exits left and the other right,

auditorium of the theatre was too generic and could

associated with penance) is a scrap of what might

not together as they did upon entering.

equally have been recorded in a pub or a restaurant.

prominent is a wooden, full-frontal carving of the

have been a popular lithographic print of a

The placing of the work within the exhibition

Sound plays a vital element in moving image work

Deposition. This is encircled by a doily of what

did not provide an optimum environment for the

directing the viewer and providing important layers

might be Limerick lace embroidered by the

viewer. I found it hard to focus on the individual

to the images. The generic quality to the sound

Magdalenes and concentric rows of tiny transparent

pieces when watching two moving-image works so

proved a distraction to the visuals.

beads and sea shells crocheted into place by pale

close together, as sound and image bled into one

In the context of ‘Marathon Irish’, an exhibition

hues of wool or cotton thread.

another. Separated from the rest of the exhibition in

to which work was continuously being added to

Relics become spectacle when they are

the hallway, the works were a physical adjunct to

include talks and poetry performances, both Jennifer

displayed and they gain value when combined with

the rest of the works, so they seemed in dialogue

Kidd and Lisa O’Donnell showed an understanding

precious materials. Lighting and ritual also help. In

with each other rather that the exhibition as a

of contemporary global dialogues in contemporary

whole.

art. They demonstrated an ability to work in an

From 'between a Thimpble and a Nail', Patricia looby, 2012

The use of theatrical devices is a motif currently

international context and define themselves beyond

used by many contemporary artists, including Keren

their ‘Irishness’, which, as young artists, will be vital

Cytter and Ulla von Brandenburg. The latter is

to their future careers.

known for her exploration of stage curtains and cutouts of the audience viewing the performers.

Laura Gannon is a London-based artist.

Similarly, in her series Film Notes Notes, Rose Wylie paints

Forthcoming group exhibitions include: ‘Into

stages

the Light’, The Model, Sligo, December 2012 –

and

curtains,

while

simultaneously

referencing films.

In theatre, the audience is often a passive viewer consuming the narrative in front of them as it occurs, knowing that they are there for a defined, finite time, while the stage presents a demarcation between themselves and the actors. Of course this is a generalised description of what occurs in a theatre Patricia looby, images by David brancaleone

and there are many works that challenge this

March 2013 and ‘The House of Leaves’, David Roberts Foundation, London January –February 2013.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIQUE SUPPlEMENT

November – December 2012

Corinna schroeder-vfrihling 'some thoughts' Midleton Gallery, Cork 28 September – 10 October

Corinna Schroeder-vFrihling, When I Think of Mayo, 2012

Corinna Schroeder-vFrihling, Danse Macabre II, 2012, etching on zinc

DOES Irish art, for the first time in decades, have

“I like to connect things which may not normally

a pressing responsibility to be useful, to be vocal? Is it

be connected,” the artist says in the catalogue blurb,

possible for an exhibition to achieve the status of

"when put together, they tell their own story.”

social or political activism, even in its safest and

Although she is referring to her subjects, much the

frilliest of forms? Whatever the answer, I still feel

same can be said of the method with which she has

obliged to speak about and critique visual art in terms

chosen to execute them. What little I understand of

of its capacity for commentary and its transformative

the process of etching is that it connects such

potential. Now more than ever, I rarely have the

otherwise unconnected and essentially conflicting

courage to declare an exhibition thoroughly

substances as crayon and soap with needles and acid.

unchallenging, and merely handsome instead, and

The finished image emerges from a fusion of brush-

then to admit that I gained something uplifting from

like strokes, pencil-like scratchings and fluid patches

it nevertheless.

of colour, which seem to have appeared almost

The Courtyard Gallery is a cosy space. Located

entirely of their own volition.

upstairs in a renovated building off Midleton’s main

In spite of the exhibition‘s subtle serenity, there

drag, the gallery is adjoined by a few modest units

is a trace of something sinister at play. Where birds

selling patchwork materials, miscellaneous craft

appear, they are hooded crows, rooks and magpies.

objects and antiques. The elevation – not to mention

The skies are toiling and tumultuous. Amongst the

the assortment of prettily-organised treasures – mean

strangled branches, the woods are laced with scarcely

that the gallery is somewhat reminiscent of an attic in

discernible spooks. Like every good attic, there’s

a creaky old house: a place you were allowed to

something clandestine prowling within Schroeder-

explore as a child, but told not to touch anything.

vFrihling's pictures, some recognition that even the

Schroeder-vFrihling’s etchings definitely feel at

prettiest of things can have their spiky edges.

home here. The majority hang down from a picture

“Etching, painting, drawing are my ways to let

rail to rest against the gallery’s stone-faced walls.

other people take part in my feelings and visions of

Schroeder-vFrihling is German but has spent the last

the world,” the artist says. It’s a humble statement of

15 years living in picturesque Doolin in Co Clare. The

objective, yet perfectly pitched. The catalogue blurb

pieces which make up ‘Some Thoughts’ have been

also explains that Schroeder-vFrihling doesn’t believe

selected from eight years worth of her etchings. They

in printing editions. The clear patience and care,

show congregations of birds, squally skies and windy

which has been applied to each etching, is proof that

woods, rocks and fields and streams and beaches. A

she hasn’t chosen to work in this medium in order to

few of the titles nod to Irish literature and traditional

be able to produce many multiples of the same

music but for the most part Scroeder-vFrihling’s

picture, but because she gains fulfillment from the

concerns are the earth, the elements and the subtle

process, and maybe even finds solace along the way.

energies that jitter inside them.

The lab presents

Perhaps art should be, first and foremost, useless

The colours are subdued shades of blue, brown,

and voiceless, unshackled by any social or political

red and yellow. Each has been applied with grace, in

obligations that stretch beyond the bounds of its own

the smallest of measure to the most vivid of effect.

physical dimensions. Perhaps we should allow it to be

Between the trunks of tall trees, there are spatters of

merely nice, to be handsome. And perhaps artists

yellow. Between the bumps of cliff-rocks, there are

should aim for nothing greater than to try and invite

sploshes of teal. As I circumnavigate the carpet to

others into their feelings and visions, to absorb

examine one piece after another, I feel myself growing

something of the temporary distraction and quiet

steadily and surprisingly serene. It doesn’t often

comfort that they experienced through the process of

happen that I attend an exhibition of contemporary

conception and production.

Veronica Forsgren

Ett Hem Preview on 15th November 2012 Exhibition runs until 5th January 2013

art and simply enjoy myself. Instead, I tend to feel frustrated that I am probably missing out on

Sara Baume is an artist and writer based in East

something and I’m compelled to claw frantically

Cork.

between the cracks of the obvious for implications, references or statements that reflect some deeper meaning than the picture or object itself portrays.

www.sarabaume.wordpress.com

The lab T: Foley Street, Dublin 1 T: 01 222 5455 e: artsoffice@dublincity.ie H: Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm W: www.thelab.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

23

festival

Jane McCormick, I made a pinch pot today , clay, video, 2012

Michael Mayhew, still from untitled performance on Main Street, Cavan

Cecily Brennan, Black Tears , video, 2012

The Art of Communication

Amanda Coogan, still from untitled performance at Cavan Institute

sheets against her cheek, or swept the soapy street. Mayhew undertook a solitary march down the main street toward the edge of town after a somewhat unexpected fracas involving some youths, a parent, the Gardaí and Mayhew posing as a double yellow line. Covered head to toe

yvonne Cullinan reports from the multidiscipliary trans-art Festival of contemporary art, which took place in cavan town from 4 – 19 august 2012.

in bright yellow paint and holding his head down with his hands over his ears, Mayhew continued his stricken journey unaware of onlookers who stopped to stare or trailed silently behind him.

Sally O’Dowd’s performance-installation was totally dependant on participation. Once over the threshold of her created domestic space,

Curated by locals Joe Keenan (Bluewall Gallery), Sally O’Dowd

were almost identical in their non-expression, their assumed postures

the viewer was immediately invited to take a seat and a cup of tea. At

(performance and visual artist) and Siobhan Harton (designer and

imbued them with character – leaning back in astonishment, staring

any given time, there were a number of random people sitting together.

visual artist), trans-art was an extensive series of performances,

ahead with arms folded, conspiratorially leaning toward another.

This ritual of having tea became a vehicle for “conversation, exchange

workshops, talks, installations, graffiti and exhibitions. The aim was

Within eye-line, the viewer appeared to be the subject of their animated

and reflection between participants, contributors and audience”.

“to bring contemporary art to an international audience, expanding

examination. The result was a sudden consciousness of looking and

Fleeting glimpses of ensuing experiences were transferred in writing

conventional definitions of both art and community-based practice,

being looked at, of returned curiosity. Out of eye-line, the sense was

onto individual envelopes containing the visitors’ used tea bags and

while engaging visitors to and residents of Cavan alike”. The festival

of a narrative unfolding beyond the viewer, witnessed second-hand

pinned to the wall to form a collection of remnants.

was funded by the Arts Council, the International Fund for Ireland and

through these characters.

Cavan Art Office and supported by a number of local service providers

Elisa Haug requested a less familiar form of participation for her

The viewer became a more uncomfortable witness to local

Skype performance from Berlin. She unexpectedly called for a volunteer.

actress Britta Smith’s absolute anguish, in Cecily Brennan’s powerful

Stepping forward, I was asked to don a hand-crocheted orange dress,

In delivery, trans-art reflected several familiar approaches on

video piece. Against a bold red background, Britta faced her audience

rotate clockwise and anticlockwise in succession for ten minutes,

the arts scene – the decentralisation of arts events, the occupation of

and openly expressed immense sorrow, anger and despair. There was

repeatedly calling out semi-invented words. I felt dizzy, I got tongue-

disused space, and the shifting role of the artist. The festival sprouted

no respite from this intense one-to-one. At one point it seemed as

tied, I laughed, I was observed; it was intense. It was also somewhat

from the fertile ground of previous fringe programmes held during

though Britta was shedding tears of blood. At another, her eyes met

empowering and I could sense an affinity from those who looked on.

Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann 2010 and 2011 in Cavan. Confirming Cavan’s

the viewer’s and her accusatory stare, almost unbearable, immediately

Then, the entire audience were on their feet undertaking the same task.

status as a cultural hub, the ‘trans-art’ curators pushed the boundaries

deconstructed the space between screen and viewing bench. This direct

While we collectively cut the dress into tiny pieces afterwards, Elisa

of scale and potential for arts presentation within the town. Over 40

address to the viewer could have been a call to accountability – for their

explained her performance to some inquisitive children.

artists were invited to engage throughout the environs in unexpected,

presence, for their role as necessary observer, witness and completer.

and businesses.

During a measured, elegant performance, Amanda Coogan

private or underutilised spaces. The curators became hosts to fellow

With her installation, I made a pinch pot today, Jane McCormick

conspiratorially administered a wink to two small girls who were

artists, instigators in the creation of new work and mediators between

enveloped the viewer in her practice. A video showed the process of the

reluctant to enter the room and was rewarded by their attention for

the art world, the private sector and the public.

artist forming a clay pot, the camera angled down at her hands fashioning

longer than expected. Perched with unsure footing on a barricade of

The most striking element was the endeavour to “bring art closer

the pot in her lap, as if the viewer were in her place. 365 clay pots in

chairs and accompanied by an excerpt of Opera, Coogan mimed an

to the people”. The festival was curated with public impact in mind.

various states of intactness sat in the space, the majority mandala-style

unexplained narrative. The empty chairs hinted at a notably absent

As an artist, an audience member and a participant, I found myself

in the centre of the floor. The ritual of making one pot per day for one

audience. Almost in the style of a swansong, the performance seemed

thinking about the theme – “trans as a prefix meaning across, beyond

year explored “the possibility of integrating a simple daily art practice

the antithesis to the overarching ethos of the festival, and yet it was the

and through” – in terms of the relationship between artist and audience.

with the limitations of living with a chronic pain condition”. The

embodiment of it – in some sense, a case of ‘if a tree falls in a forest and

There was an overarching sense that the audience were being addressed

ritualistic nature of the work, infused with the reverential atmosphere

no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’

across the divide: catching and holding their gaze, drawing them in,

of the subdued Presbyterian Church Hall where it was housed, created

causing active contemplation, physical response or actual participation

both a meditative yet somewhat stifling experience.

beyond the expected, and inviting them to become witnesses to or accomplices in the work through this subtle communication.

The overall feeling of intimate inclusiveness and invited participation was consistent throughout the festival, bringing into

While the visual artworks, those exhibited and those graffitied

focus the importance of the audience. Though clever curation and the

around town, were well received, it was two weekends of back-to-back

accumulation of generous, audience-sensitive artists, trans-art provided

Following a trail of pink and white dots painted onto the street,

curated performances that caused visible sensation during the festival.

an accessible, inspiring and exciting blast of contemporary art and

I found most of the visual artworks housed on the main street within

Setting a table of wares on the Market Square, Brian Connolly invited

generated a positive social energy.

Cavan Institute, also home to a welcoming pop-up cafe and souvenir

passers by to purchase a country from a map of the world, buy a pair

shop. Vanya Lambrecht-Ward’s mixed-media sculptures and Gabhann

of old teeth or take an obscure reading test with distorted glasses and

Other invited artists include: Maria Anastassiou, Michael Fortune,

Dunne’s paintings in particular demanded very close inspection.

an astronomy book. At one point Fergus Byrne sat calmly on a chair

Patricia McKenna, Anika Carpenter, Mark Cullen, Philip and Joseph

Lambrecht-Ward’s small structures were almost imperceptible within

donning a futuristic headpiece, eyes and ears covered. Three teenage

Doherty, Rita Duffy, Julie Forrester, Orla Galligan, Cliona Harmey,

the large room, requiring that the viewer bend down or stretch upward,

girls looked on intently and asked Connolly what he was doing. He

Carlotta Hester, Philip Napier, Morgan O’Hara, Cleary&Connolly,

lean in and adjust their focus. Her half-conjured spaces demanded such

replied that he was selling time and asked if they wanted to buy some.

Aine Philips, Aideen Barry, Vivienne Dick, Jenny Keane, Laura

intimate examination as to become momentarily inhabited, obscuring

After much peer-pressure one girl bravely took the seat after Byrne. For

O’Connor, Karolina Raczynski, Vincent Sheridan, Circo Islu, Leo

the concrete space in which they and the viewer stood. A clever use

the first few moments she blushed and giggled nervously but after a

Devlin, Jessie Keenan and Ellie Creighton, Alastair McLennan and

of perspective in Dunne’s stark, mesmerising landscapes also drew

while assumed a quietly serene expression. By the time she was finished,

Hugh O’Donnell.

the viewer from a stance of detached observation to habitation of the

Connolly was calmly demonstrating an astronomical umbrella device

rendered spaces. Dunne bridged the gap more covertly by unexpectedly

to a large group of confused teenagers.

Yvonne Cullivan is a Cavan-born visual artist based in Galway.

juxtaposing obscure pencilled texts on the walls and linoleum floor.

The energy of public participation escalated with performances

The sense from both artists’ work was of being beckoned closer and

by Chrissie Cadman and Michael Mayhew. Cadman became enclosed

trans-art.cavan@gmail.com

whispered unclarified instructions of completion, an invitation to

in a crowd of onlookers while she energetically washed sheets in a

www.facebook.com/trans-art.cavan

become part of the work.

large tub of soapy water on the street. The crowd shouted questions

www.yvonnecullivan.com

This sense of perceived communication was echoed in the work

and exchanged explanations, as Cadman continued, not wavering from

of Vanessa Donoso López. A solitary shelf acted as a vantage point for

the intensity of her activity. Despite getting splashed, they remained

numerous monotone miniature dolls. Although their porcelain faces

with her as she became exhausted and soaked, paused to wring out the

24

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

people

residency

John Carrick

Artelier

John beattie introduces tributes from several artists who have worked with john carrick – workshop manager at fire station artists' studios for 16 years – on the eve of his retirement.

nick kaplony, senior project coordinator at artquest, profiles the artelier programme, which facillitates international residency exchanges for artists, and is available to vai members.

metal craftsman, a technical advisor, a maker, a

Artquest is a London-based organisation that

Members create a profile in which they post

trouble-shooter, someone you can talk things through

supports visual artists by connecting them to the

images of their studio space and outline the facilities,

with. Outside of the artistic community, the incredible

knowledge, opportunities, resources and networks

whether they are offering accommodation for

value of someone like John Carrick might not be

they need to sustain and develop their careers. We

exchange as well (which is optional), and the specifics

appreciated. But his vast experience of working with

believe in the importance of travel and exchange and

of what they are looking for in an exchange (location,

artists, his ability to problem solve and his interest in

have developed a powerful online tool, Artelier, to

facilities, smoking / non smoking, accommodation

the arts are indispensible. Because of John’s broad

facilitate artists’ global mobility.

included etc). By presenting such a detailed picture,

abilities, he also acts as buildings manager, health and

John Carrick at Fire Station Studios

John Carrick started his apprenticeship as an

artists with families and dependents can access

safety officer, handyman, some-time shower drain

Benefits and Challenges of Travel

un-blocker and surrogate father. Fire Station is home

Of all the types of opportunities listed on the Artquest

The next step is finding an artist to exchange

to many different people and John has always

website, international residencies are often the most

with. The site has a number of features to make this

understood the sensitivity required for working

sought after. This is little wonder when one considers

possible, such as a section that automatically displays

somewhere that serves as a home and a workplace.

the benefits they can offer. At its very best a residency

other artists in a desired destination who want an

John is more than a colleague, he’s a good friend who

might provide an artist with a free studio,

exchange with the member’s location. There is also a

will be greatly missed and we wish him well.

accommodation and even a bursary and materials

search facility that allows a more filtered search by

allowance so they are relieved of day to day pressures

map or keyword and a news feed that displays the

alice maher

of life, allowing the artist to spend the residency

latest members to join the site.

One of the art world’s true gentlemen is John Carrick,

period pushing forward their practice uninterrupted.

Having identified potential exchange partners,

full of knowledge in his own field, with an easy,

As well as the physical (and mental) space

members can message each other through the site (or

provided by a residency, practising abroad offers

directly once they are comfortable swapping contact

peripheral benefits to the artist. Exposure to new

information) and arrange a mutually agreeable

generous way of communicating it.

ecclesiastical art metal worker in the well-known

international opportunities as well.

company MH Gill & Son on O’Connell Street, Dublin,

shane cullen

markets, networks and influences, can all play a vital

exchange. Again, there is site function to make this

in 1953. After 14 years in the company he became

John Carrick will be a huge loss to Fire Station and the

role in career development. Emerging trends in

easier: a ‘Request Exchange’ function allows artists to

foreman with a staff of 30 craftsmen. In 1975, the

local community of the North Inner City. I can think

another country’s art scene might make an overseas

negotiate dates back and forth and ensure double-

company closed and, following this, he became

of no problem that John would not have been willing

art ecology more welcoming than a home one. For

bookings don’t occur. Once a date has been agreed, the

technician of craft metal at The National College of

to tackle or solve, either by his own skill and expertise

artists living in a location saturated with other

site automatically generates a letter of agreement

Art and Design, Dublin, a position he held for nine

or by identifying the right specialist who could find

practitioners (like London) competing for exposure

between users to ensure that they are aware of their

years. In 1996 John was interviewed for the job of

the solution. The wealth of knowledge and contacts

can be a real challenge. Working as a bigger fish in a

respective responsibilities. (While Artelier is designed

Workshop Manager at Fire Station Artists’ Studio,

he had built up over his long career in industry was

smaller pond can give an artist the space they need to

to assist practitioners in arranging exchanges, it’s

Dublin, where he remembers the last question put to

generously dispensed to all of the artists who were

increase their visibility. Career development abroad

important to note that any agreements are between

him back then by the panel: “How do you feel about

wise enough to recognise the value of this

ultimately impacts on career development at home.

the respective artists only.) At the end of the exchange,

working with artists?”

encyclopaedic knowledge, which is genuinely born

However, as is the case with most opportunities,

artists are requested to rate and leave feedback about

from experience. The great thing about John is that he

there are more artists than there are residencies, and

their exchange experience. Ratings and feedback

John Beattie in conversation with John

is always willing to make time for people and their

without the support of a well-funded residency

remain visible to other users and act as an indicator of

Carrick at Fire Station Artists’ Studios

questions, even under pressure. Thanks John, for all

programme, the prospect of working abroad may

a potential exchange partner’s reliability.

John Beattie: After 16 years at Fire Station, and with all

the craic and the yarns also.

seem like a costly and intimidating proposition,

the experience, skills and knowledge you have gained

leaving many practitioners missing out on the

Other Applications

working with artists, sculptures and craftsmen from

Alan phelan

possibilities that overseas practice can present. In

Though it was originally anticipated that exchange

all traditions and mediums, how would you answer

John was the one consistant face during my time at

recognition

working

partners would swap studios and trade places

that question now? (John replies laughingly, with his

Fire Station. There were many staff and artist changes

internationally can bring and to mitigate the

simultaneously, Artelier members have taken various

characteristic humour.)

but he was a constant. He was also much more than

challenges it presents, we created Artelier.

approaches to arranging exchanges. Many have

of

the

benefits

that

that: nothing was ever a problem, everything was

Artelier is an international networking and

visited each other first before swapping studios, or

John Carrick: I’ve enjoyed every bit of my job here at

possible (no matter how stupid the question). Having

studio exchange website for visual artists, which

took turns in hosting each other rather than

Fire Station. I’m still being scourged by artists and

John around made the oddness of living in such a

allows any artist to organise their own international

exchanging spaces at the same time. Indeed, artists

sculptors, and will hopefully continue to be scourged

residency so much better and helped make Fire

residency. The premise comes from websites like

have found further uses beyond the site’s original

for some time yet!

Station a better place to work and live. I wish him all

Couchsurfing.com, but is applied to artists. Artelier

intention, using it as a research tool to get insider

the best in his retirement and know that he will never

removes the cost of studio and accommodation

information direct from peers overseas, or using it to

really stop working. That’s just not in his nature.

abroad and connects users directly to networks of

find local rather than international networks: a useful

artists and arts organisations around the world. These

bonus to the site’s map feature is that it can highlight artists who are nearby as well as around the world.

Noel kelly John is a man who runs away from praise. But, when I heard about his retirement, it became very

Caoimhe Kilfeather

networks consist of over 50 national and international

important for us to celebrate him and provide a

I would like to thank John for his generosity, help and

arts organisations with which Artquest built

2013 – 2014 will see redevelopments to the

place for him to know how much he is deeply

advice, and for the great humour he has always

partnerships while developing the site in 2007, and

Artelier website, including a mobile app and a series

appreciated by the artists who have grown to both

brought to my (sometimes tricky) endeavours over

over 500 individual artists in 45 countries.

of small travel bursaries that will make working

admire and respect him. When living in Fire Station,

the years.

John's importance became clear: his support and

abroad even more viable.

How it Works

guidance and the informed, engaged, and level-

Fiona Mulholland

Artelier is a free membership site, open to any visual

International country guides

headed practical advice that he had to give when

I first had the privilege of meeting John in 1989 when

artist anywhere in the world. To become a member,

While Artelier assists artists with the practicalities of

problems seem insurmountable. He is a good friend

he was technician in the metals department at NCAD.

users have to be invited on by an existing member.

working abroad, other parts of the Artquest site help

to all that know him, though I have some doubts

John was then, as he is now, the first port of call if

This ensures that the site is only used by artists and

to orient you in overseas art scenes, meaning you can

that this is going to be anything but a very active

anyone needed technical advice in the fabrication of

goes some way towards safeguarding the welfare of

make the most of your time travelling. Our

retirement.

an artwork. He has a huge wealth of knowledge in

its membership. Artists can also request an invitation

international country guides have art- related resource

regard all things metal but, that aside, I have always

from Artquest or one of our partner organisations

listings for most countries around the world, and an

Clodagh, Liz and Jessica (Fire Station

thoroughly enjoyed our chin wags over a cup of tea

around the world, and confirm they are a practising

ever-growing number of more detailed country

Artists’ Studios)

and a smoke. I hold John in the highest regard and he

artist by sending a link to their website or artist's CV.

guides. Countries covered so far include China, India,

Artists work in collaboration, not in isolation as is

has certainly been a part of my professional life. John,

Once membership has been approved (usually within

Armenia, Georgia, Argentina, Spain and Iceland.

often perceived. We forget that artists, especially

I sincerely wish you all the best and I do hope you

48 hours), artists can begin to invite their peers to join

These country guides are broad introductions to key

sculptors, need support and that they regularly

enjoy a bit of down time. Thank you for being there.

the site. This is the main way in which the sites

differences between operating as an artist at home

membership grows and develops.

and abroad.

collaborate with people who possess special skill sets.

John Carrick is one of those people: a highly-skilled

www.artquest.co.uk

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

25

policy

Catherine Delaney, Other Stuff, image by Ros Kavanagh

Maggie Madden, Site Line, 2012, image courtesy of the artist

Children's finger puppets at Culture Night 2012

Rachel Tynan, Cut Throat dancer, Rachel Ensor, image by Michael Holly

National Tree Day event at Red Stables, Dublin, October 2012

Cultural Strategies

Festival and 'Break Bread Open', a special programme of food, screenings, collaborations and discussions held in FACT Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Biennial. As such, The Lab continues to exist as a strong indicator of developments in Dublin’s contemporary visual arts scene.

Dublin City Arts Officer, Ray Yeates, discusses recent and upcoming events, projects and policy developments across the city.

Forthcoming exhibitions at the LAB include solo shows by Veronica Forsgren, Mick Wilson and Vera Klute.

We also continue to encourage new writing through commissioned essays for each of our exhibitions. In partnership with Visual Artists Ireland, we have developed an Art Writing Award, which runs this year

Dublin City Council Arts Office plays multiple roles in the development and programming of the arts in Dublin. Mentor, leader,

investment potential within tourism and the possibilities available in

for the second time. Our programme of talks is archived and available

programming alongside food, hospitality and outdoor events.

publicly through www.vimeo.com/dccartsoffice.

funder, partner, facilitator are just some of them, and often these roles

Another well-documented effect of the recession has been the

Public art has shifted to a new level in Dublin and, as Public Art

combine and change even throughout the life of a project. People

multitude of empty buildings that have potential for artistic use at low

Officer, Ruairi O Cuiv has focused on making public art a feature of all

sometimes view their Arts Officer as running a mini Arts Council but I

cost to the artists. In response to this, the City Council have been

other programmes and public space strategies in Dublin. He has

disagree with that view. Arts Officers as public servants and, under the

developing the Vacant Spaces Programme, a joint initiative by the Arts

reframed the possibilities inherent in different types of public art

direction of City Councillors, represent and enhance the public’s

Office, Property Section and the Economic Development Unit. This has

initiatives looking well into the future. Anu Productions’s The Boys of

engagement and experience of the arts. Often, the best way of doing

been a real learning process and we have discovered the importance of

Foley Street, which took place as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, is a

this is to support artists, but it is not the only way. I enjoy taking actions

stressing the word ‘potential’. Yes, there are buildings lying apparently

good example of this change in direction.

and encouraging programming that empowers the public to engage

idle, but these buildings have owners and letting agents who all have

There are programmes and events also within the Arts Office

with artistic practice, in different neighbourhoods, as participants. If

different expectations of what can be achieved for their building.

continue to deliver real value to the public. The Dublin Writers Festival

the record crowds at Culture Night 2012 prove anything it is that the

Matching these expectations to the capacity, building management

– now in its sixteenth year – continues to innovate and draw major

public really want this empowerment and they particularly want

ability and financial resources of artists is the daily challenge faced by

literary figures to Dublin and to showcase all that is great about Dublin

young people to enjoy all that the arts can offer.

the programme administrators. Despite this, there have been some

writers and writing. Jim Doyle’s stewardship of The Northside Music

In the first few months of my appointment, the Arts Office was

positive outcomes and there are signs that artists are now engaging

Festival, Opera in The Open and his programmes at The Red Stables are

charged with developing a new cultural strategy for Dublin City

with property owners on their own behalf using the newly-acquired

part of a long list and it will be a couple of years yet before I have a real

Council and we are working hard with all of the sections of our

skills they have learned through this initiative. There are now buildings

grasp on all that the Arts Office does.

particular department: Culture, Recreation and Amenities. We are also

at seven different locations across Dublin that are under Arts Office

working with other departments and organisations such as Events and

control, which are either being used or are about to be used by artists.

One picture, however, has clearly emerged: when you put libraries and the Unesco City of Literature, the Arts Office, the Hugh Lane

Sports as well as Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane and various

For me, the most exciting part of the job is learning from the

Gallery and the City Events Unit together in one organisation then it is

libraries in order to frame a coherent strategy that focuses on

experience of my fellow Arts Officers and their ongoing programming

obvious that the scope, impact and quality of City Council Arts and

strengthening the cultural team within the City Council. The aim is to

across the city. Sinead Connolly, Sheena Barrett, Jim Doyle and Ruairi O

Cultural programmes is seriously underestimated and of national

achieve this through cooperation, joint programming and by framing

Cuiv as Public Art Officer bring a formidable expertise to Dublin’s arts

significance.

new external partnerships and agreements with cultural organisations

scene. To quote Sinéad Connnolly:

and institutions. There will also be a separate Arts Plan to set out the strategic goals and priorities of the Arts Office.

The arts are of course changing, both through development from within and synergy between various art forms but also because of

“Unlike other agencies, when artists work with the Arts Office

Ray Yeates is the Dublin City Arts Officer.

they get the support and development ability of an Arts Officer as a

www.dublincity.ie/recreationandculture/artsoffice

unique resource”. This is a facility that is in more and more in demand as traditional resources dwindle.

economic difficulties and the identification of culture as an engine of

Programming at The Lab Gallery, under Sheena Barrett, provides

economic recovery. Festivals and civic events are increasingly important

real opportunity – particularly for recent graduates – and hosts many

to Dublin’s economy, as was demonstrated definitively at the recent

first solo shows for young artists that provide a critical platform for

Tall Ships Festival. Agencies such as Failte Ireland are seeking more and

their development. The Lab’s reflective programming of workshops

more to ‘instrumentalise’ the arts.

and public talks has a key position in the city’s contemporary visual

Artists and arts organisations are rightly concerned about whether

arts scene. Sheena has also curated and encouraged many events and

the fundamental value of what they do will continue to be appreciated

exhibitions in the area of collaboration and negotiation. 'Quantified

if they are not meeting economic targets such as visitor numbers. Here,

Self', a collaboration between Michelle Browne, Bea McMahon, Saoirse

the Arts Office has an important role as an advocate for the importance

Higgins, Cliona Harmey and Shimmer Research, won the award for

of the arts in Dublin. We emphasise that economic value can only be

Best Small Sponsorship at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards this year.

realised and sustained when the programme, exhibition or production

Recently, Sheena also worked with GradCAM’s 'The Food Thing' on

is of high quality. Artists are also waking up to the funding and

‘The Salt Bitter Sweet Sea’, a banquet held at Chq during the Tall Ships

26

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

artist-led project

There is no spatial separation between performers and audience.

Viewers must be creative in changing positions that can, both by design and chance, give great viewpoints on the overlapping actions of performers. The length of the gallery gives a natural upstage and downstage, to use theatre terms. But these co-ordinates are dependent on where the viewer stands. Pauline dances to Alex’s drum in the back room as I see Frances enter upstage left through the gallery door in a fine act of chance. She pulls herself, like a cross country skier, on two brush handles.

Over four hours, the pace is measured. It picks up and peaks only to drop again to something more sustainable. The work has a rhythm.

Engagement with the architecture of the space is frequent. There is much taping of the room’s peripheries and lines being inscribed on the wall. It seems like a delimiting of the space yet it reiterates what the walls already do. The group all hail from sculpture origins and marking Performance by Alex Conway

the wall seems somehow innate. This prompts reflection on how the extremities of the body’s kinesphere precede those of the room. The hands, our most immediate tool, reach the kinesphere’s edge. By making contact with the walls, the sense of space is reduced and the sense of touch emphasised. In contrast, softer materials produce subtle actions like the dance of hands between Michelle and Frances as they carry loose hairs about each other’s wrists. At a distance all I see are moving hands. Their weightlessness seems independent of any material.

A more significant architectural engagement is with the window.

Performance by Frances Mezzetti, all images courtesy of Joseph Carr

The Performance Collective

In contrast to the mouths that never speak, the windows issue onto the street various arrangements of objects. This organ of communication is

Subject to Ongoing Change

crucial in facilitating an engagement with the public and extends the

Fergus Byrne describes 'ongoing change', a series of performances, by the performance collective, which took place at the galway arts centre from 16 – 29 July 2012.

each time gambles that she will remain low.

collective’s presence.

Alex often uses the window. On the afternoon following the ‘Dusk until Dawn’ event, he begins swishing a bamboo pole in close proximity to Michelle who lies beneath him, cleaning.3 He is aware of her but After some time, he joins many bamboos end to end to make a long rod from which he hangs a shoe out the window. It is suspended, as Damocles’ sword, over the road for many minutes. Perhaps people

'Subject to Ongoing Change' was an immense project held at

Items emerge from the mouths of others, feathers spluffing forth,

see this public sculpture, perhaps not. He tires and strains to hold that

Galway Arts Centre by The Performance Collective. Programmed as

their dry texture immediately discomfiting, a paper bag chewed and

rod so the shoe doesn’t slip off to clatter a head. But he gets it in the

part of the Galway Arts Festival, Maeve Mulrennan made the bold step

regurgitated, or a tie entirely consumed within the mouth and then let

window and then goes outside himself. I like this logic: to go to where

of dedicating two weeks of the gallery’s programme to performance art.

fall out. All such activities challenge the breathing yet they are

he has just been focussed. Outside he stands beneath a drain getting

The group: Dominic Thorpe, Pauline Cummins, Frances Mezzetti,

performed with a quiet purpose. In watching it is easy to forget the

very wet. Later inside he stands, soaked, beneath an umbrella.

Michelle Brown and Alex Conway, improvised ensembles for four

implications of the actions as they are made without drama or haste.

Michelle’s action of boring with a lump of coal on reams of

hours without pause every day.1 The Collective formed four years ago to give mutual support to

Action occurs until it finds its meaning in dialectical relation to

newsprint evokes the activity of a life drawing class – charcoal marking

something else. A shallow tray becomes a water vessel. Michelle

paper. She wears away pages and so too does a session of drawing. Only

each other’s performance art practice. Having performed collectively

walked the length of the gallery dribbling water from a kettle on the

here the drawing instantly destroys the page, bypassing the production

only three times prior to Galway, a full two weeks was a challenging

floor until she found that tray and now her pouring seems quite

of endless exercise drawings.

prospect.

appropriate. She carries the tray, slopping the meniscus, then stands

Her progress is slow given the time spent. A ‘Let me help you with

Each time I visited, I wrote with the intention of capturing the live

below Dominic who dips his many ties in the water. He wrings one out

that’ might allow a sharing of the load. It would break the resolute

nature of the work. This engagement became very particular, giving me

over her head before showering her with the contents of the tray; and

singularity of her action: mortar and pestle. I watch her at this task.

a clear role and way of experiencing the work. Ultimately, helpless, I

then, with fierce sentiment, he walks her paternally through the space

That Kafka story, Before the Law, comes to mind. It is her task that she

would lay aside the pen and join in.

to the front gallery. I recall that, previously, they had laughed about

has begun and, although I feel inclined to assist, it is her task to finish.

how he takes this caring attitude toward her in his practice.

Things begin quietly each day and build over time. Through engaging with objects, activity develops in the space. A consistent

No one else could ever be admitted here since this gate was made

tone. A strong sentiment enters the work at such a point. It can turn

only for you. I am now going to shut it.4 No. Ultimately I’m moved to help. It is largely to do with having

things inwards and I wonder if resisting this might conclude a sequence

attended so often, knowing that Michelle will not stop at this until

in more ambiguous ways, rather than dissolving the tension.

spent. But still I try to find a way in that is respectful of her commitment.

These interrelations, originating in daily life, can strike a peculiar

My engagement is through joining my hand with hers.

feature is that of objects held in the mouth. It seems almost a replacement for the act of speech, which is not strictly banned but does

My interaction was unusual as this was not encouraged or desired

not feature as part of these performers’ material. A sign on the door

of the audience at all. Over time though I feel the work, because it has

requests silence. Their interest is in the use of objects and the

Pauline observes others. It has become apparent over days. She

no boundaries of any kind, invites some form of engagement beyond

communication that emerges and dissolves over time through the

will allow herself that time to view, however briefly, as activity passes

that of observer. At the point I entered, it seemed the most appropriate

manipulation of these objects. The objects are mundane and vary each

by. The effect this has is to allow the audience to view others through

thing to do on that final weekend.

day – kitchen ware, shirts, a manual sewing machine, a stepladder,

Pauline. One regular visitor found herself projecting her reality onto

pillows and surgical gloves are only some examples. By not speaking

the actions of the performers, “so that they were all representing me”.

Fergus Byrne is an artist working in visual arts and performance.

the inquiry intensifies as no activity is ever explained or reduced by

When this became emotionally overpowering, she would look at

He works at the Visual Arts Centre, Dublin.

words that can nullify surreal qualities.

Dominic sets himself up in sculptural arrangements with objects.

Pauline through whom she could observe things with more distance.2 Such repeated viewing of the work was not unusual. As each day was

A white shirt on a brush handle is wedged between the doorframe and

different and made manifest the patterns within the group, it was

himself, lodged in his mouth. He is a gatekeeper condemned to this

rewarding to return.

position. People can walk beneath the stick but to strike it could

The performers immerse themselves in the emotion that arises

endanger his mouth. Later in the week he holds a bamboo stick bent

through the action performed. The audience has to adjust to an

tense against a wall and lodged inside his inner cheek. Its tension

unusually-charged atmosphere but, once done, the observation of how

releases, springing out of his mouth cutting his lip. While the mouth is

things evolve is compelling. Little is forced or demanded by one

often blocked in harsh images there are also some beautiful exchanges

performer of another, so the reasons for everything occurring are of an

of whistling. The space is unusually divided, spread as it is across three

evolutionary character. At the most intense periods, the audience

rooms on the first floor of the building. Sound is frequently used to

witness events crafted entirely in real time, from moments that will

communicate those distances that lack sightlines.

never be repeated.

Notes 1. Additional shorter performances, of a more planned nature, were made by varying pairs from the group in the time surrounding the four hour sessions. Due to the space restrictions I have chosen, with some regret, not to comment on these shorter performances.

2. An observation made by Nicola Williams, who I interviewed after the two weeks.

3. Half way through the two week, on Sunday 22nd July, the group performed from 10pm – 5pm. The gallery remained open throughosut.

4. Before the Law, a short story by Franz Kafka that also features as a parable within The Trial (1925).

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

27

advocacy

Issue and Impasse As part of the VAN’s ongoing exploration of international art law and advocacy issues, April Britski the National Executive Director of Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens, profiles the organisation and outlines an ongoing debate it has been engaged in with the National Gallery of Canada.

Karl Beveridge, CARFAC's bargaining co-chair, image courtesy of April Britski and Karl Beveridge

Courtroom sketch of David Yazbeck, CARFAC legal cousel, image courtesy of Karen Bailey

CARFAC bargaining team and legal cousel, image courtesy of Melissa Gruber

On October 27, 1980, the General Conference of UNESCO affirmed

having this kind of benefit in its copyright legislation, and countless

The issue and the impasse

the right of artists to the same legal, social and economic advantages

artists have been paid when their work is shown in a public museum

In essence, NGC believes that the Copyright Act, which protects the

enjoyed by other workers, including the right to organise collectively

or artist-run centre.

rights of individual artists, trumps the Status of the Artist Act, which

and defend their common interests. Ireland is a signatory to the

In 1980, Canada was a signatory to the UNESCO declaration

allows artists to organise to protect the rights of individuals, collectively.

UNESCO Recommendation but has yet to formally adopt it into

aimed at improving the socio-economic condition of artists. As a direct

They believe that because CARFAC and RAAV do not have copyright

national law. VAI are raising awareness about this important declaration

result, the federal Status of the Artist Act (1992, c33) was passed by

assignments from all individual Canadian artists, we do not have the

and are campaigning to have it put firmly on the governments

Canadian parliament. The Act recognises the important role of the

right to negotiate minimum fees for their work. We argue that under

agenda.

artist in society and promotes an understanding of the unique manner

Status, we are able to negotiate minimum working conditions for

In 1992, Canada showed its commitment to the UNESCO

in which artists typically work, as self-employed creators. The Act

artists, which includes minimum fees for copyright, and that individuals

Recommendation by passing the Status of the Artist Act. The Act

principally allows for the certification of professional artist associations

may negotiate higher fees, on an individual basis, if they wish to do so.

explicitly recognised the artist's vital role in society. It also established

and unions to engage in collective bargaining with federal institutions,

What we are asking for is akin to a minimum wage for use of an artist’s

a framework for collective bargaining for professional artists and

with respect to payment and working conditions.

work.

producers. The Act gives certain artists’ representative bodies, the

In 1999, CARFAC was certified by the Canadian Artists and

Most interactions between artists and museums are based on the

ability to negotiate agreements with federal institutions. However, the

Producers Professional Relations Tribunal (CAPPRT) as the collective

negotiation of the use of the artist’s copyrighted material. While artists

National Gallery of Canada is refusing to negotiate minimum copyright

bargaining representative for visual and media artists in Canada, under

spend a great deal of time preparing for exhibitions, this type of work is

fees with the artist’ bodies and a lengthy legal battle has ensued. April

this unique area of labour law. Together with our Quebec partner,

not the basis of the contractual relationship. Contracts typically set the

Britski, National Executive Director of CARFAC (Canadian Artists

RAAV, we can negotiate collective agreements with all federal

terms of agreement for the use of artworks, and what the artist may be

Representation) reports on the current state of affairs.

institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). Once a

paid for those uses. To remove reference to copyright in a collective

signed agreement is reached, and is ratified by our members, it is legally

agreement guts all meaning from an agreement between artists and

binding.

museums. It is basically the equivalent of an employer telling a union

CAnadian artists in court with the national gallery of

that they refuse to negotiate salaries, but will discuss the length of

canada In 1967, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) sent a letter to artists

CARFAC-RAAV and the National Gallery of Canada

who were participating in a major exhibition of Canadian art, and

CARFAC and RAAV served the NGC notice to bargain in 2003 and

Until now, CAPPRT had never found a party guilty of bad faith

asked for permission to make reproductions of their work. The artists

negotiations began in earnest by late 2004. Up until 2006, progress was

bargaining, and this is a serious offence to the museum’s reputation.

were not offered compensation for the exhibition or the reproductions,

made on the preparation of standard contracts that the museum would

For many years, they met with us to formalise agreements, which

while the gallery was planning to sell those reproductions for their

use when they engage visual artists, and several discussions about

always included references to copyright payments. When we neared

own profit. Artist Jack Chambers wrote to the other artists in the show,

copyright fees also took place. Suddenly, in 2007, the NGC told us they

the end of our talks about fees, they suddenly and unilaterally refused

calling for a united refusal to work for free. They succeeded, and it

did not recognise our right to negotiate minimum copyright fees for

to discuss copyright fees. They knew we could not accept this and had

started a national debate between artists and museums about fair

visual artists, claiming that there is a conflict between the Copyright

pushed us to a point of impasse. This is known as surface bargaining,

compensation. A year later, CARFAC (then known as Canadian Artists’

Act and the Status of the Artist Act. This is in contradiction with a

defined by CAPPRT as “going through the motions, or a preserving of

Representation) was born.

previous CAPPRT decision (Decision 28) in which the complementary

the surface indications of bargaining without the intent of concluding

45 years later, CARFAC is still at odds with the NGC, as we await a

nature of the two laws was clearly established. In 2008, we filed a

a collective agreement. It constitutes a subtle but effective refusal to

decision on our hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal. Artists are

complaint with CAPPRT against the NGC for negotiating in bad faith,

recognise the trade union”. Most agreements bargained under Status

fighting for the right to negotiate minimum artist fees, in accordance

in an effort to force them back to the negotiating table.

are concluded within two years, and many of them include payments

with our certification under the Status of the Act.

CARFAC and RAAV have always wanted to reach a mutually

employee coffee breaks.

for copyright royalties.

beneficial agreement with the NGC. We attempted to bring them back

CARFAC and RAAV have been fortunate to work with a skilled

What is the Status of the Artist?

to the table to negotiate copyright royalties numerous times before and

lawyer in this fight, and he generously took on our first hearing on a

While CARFAC is not a formal trade union, we negotiate working

even after filing our complaint. An unsuccessful mediation session was

pro bono basis. But the cost of the new hearing, and the strain of 10

conditions for visual artists, and recommend a minimum standard of

held in 2009, and following this, labour lawyer David Yazbeck helped

years of fighting with the museum, have not been easy. We should have

fees that artists receive when their work is exhibited or reproduced. We

us revive our case before CAPPRT. The hearing took place over the

finalised agreements with many additional federal institutions by now.

work with two pieces of legislation that give us the tools to do this

course of a year, ending in 2011. In early 2012, the tribunal found the

They often say the first agreement is the hardest. Here’s hoping we have

work: the Copyright Act and the Status of the Artist Act.

NGC guilty of bargaining in bad faith. Shortly thereafter, the NGC filed

a positive outcome in court, and experience that first-hand in the near

For years, CARFAC negotiated the payment of artist fees with

for a judicial review with the Federal Court of Appeal, and a hearing

future.

public art museums, and over time it became accepted in principle and

was held in September 2012. We are waiting for the decision of the

practice. In 1988, we succeeded in lobbying for the implementation of

three judges that heard our case.

April Britski is the National Executive Director of CARFAC and

the Exhibition Right in the Copyright Act. This right allows artists to

member of the CARFAC-RAAV Negotiating Committee since

require compensation when their work is, “presented at a public

2005.

exhibition, for a purpose other than sale or hire”. Canada is unique in

28

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Opportunities Funding Awards funding //awards // Bursaries bursaries arts council touring The deadline for applications for tours beginning in the period July – December 2013 will be Thursday 15 November 2012.

Application forms and guidelines will be available online from 12 October 2012 and the criteria for the scheme will be similar to previously-advertised schemes.

Continuing the audience-focused approach that characterises the Arts Council’s Touring Policy, the scheme is designed to support genuine collaboration between those who produce work and wish to tour and the presenting venue or local promoter. Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme – Advance Planning: January to December 2014. The Advance Planning strand of the Arts Council’s Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme for tours beginning between January and December 2014 will have the same application date: Thursday, 15 November 2012.

This strand is to assist those tours which require commitments extending more than a year into the future and therefore require a lengthy planning horizon. For example, certain large-scale visual arts exhibitions often require considerable advance planning.

Similarly, the retention of particular performers in other artforms may require confirmation to be made more than a year in advance. Application forms and guidelines will be available online from 12 October 2012 and the criteria for the scheme will be similar to previous Advance Planning schemes. For the first time, Theatre Forum (for all performing arts) and Visual Artists Ireland (for visual arts and architecture) are hosting notice-boards on their websites allowing details of prospective tours to be listed.

Prospective applicants are advised to take advantage of this facility.

Contact Theatre Forum or Visual Artists Ireland for further details.

Deadline 15 November terry o'neill award The Terry O’Neill Award has been running since 2007 and has developed – through the support of Sunday Times Magazine, Remote New Media, Hotshoe Magazine and TAG Creative, the photographers and the photographic industry – to become a hotly-contested

photographic

awards. The categories are: Fine Art,

Reportage,

Documentary,

Fashion, Landscape,

Wildlife, Portraiture. 1st Prize – £3000, 2nd Prize, £1000, 3rd Prize – £500. The Terry O’Neill Award/ TAG is aimed at finding and pro-

moting new talent and creating a platform for upcoming photographers. Photographers must enter a minimum of three pictures and a maximum of six. The categories are open. The entrance fee is £5 per picture for students and £7 per picture for non-students. A selection of the top 10 photographers’ work will also be published in a special feature in The Sunday Times Magazine. 10 photographers will be shortlisted for the award and exhibited at the Strand Gallery in London in January.

Martel Colour Print will be sponsoring the shortlisted photographers with printing and mounting for the exhibition. The Judging date is 10 December.

Deadline 22 November Web www.oneillaward.com the artstap awards The ARTStap Awards (Vol 2, Issue 3) are now open. They comprise The Makers Awards, Title Award and Open Submission Award.

The Makers Award is issued monthly to a promising artist registered at ARTStap Online (it is free to register). Each recipient of the Makers Award becomes a featured artist at ARTStap Online and receives a full feature in the following issue of ARTStap. To have your work included for selection create your profile at ARTStap Online and upload your recent work to your profile. The deadlines for the next round are as follows: 31 October / 30 November 2012. The Title Award is an award issued for an outstanding piece of writing / research. It is awarded to one person per issue of the ARTStap Journal. To enter your work for this award please create your account at the ARTStap website, enter the library and upload your paper to the relevant section. The deadline for the next round of the Title Award is: 16 November 2012. The Open Submission Award is an award issued to the artist we feel really deserves a full feature in the Journal. To submit your work to this award create your account at the ARTStap website and send your work to submission@artstap.com. Please read the submission guidelines

to support and promote the diversity of contemporary Irish creativity in the arts and crafts. Its mission is to help artists of innovate talent who need support in their careers. Details of all the candidates shortlisted for consideration over the years, and the eventual winners and examples of their work, appear on our website. We are calling for applications for the 2013 award.

Etching

hands-on creative session will

McDonald is a weekend work-

(Student Only). The Fulbright

explore the craft of bookmaking

shop. €190. Saturday 10 and

Awards are presented on an

and includes practical demon-

Sunday 11 November from 10am

annual basis to Irish students,

strations on the role of design,

– 5pm. This course offers partici-

scholars and professionals to

(50%

tuition

with

Fiona

pants

illustration, as well as presenting

Electroetch, a non-toxic process

and research at higher education,

imaginative ideas to help chil-

of etching plates for fine art

cultural, and related institutions

dren engage with literacy in the

intaglio printmaking. This is a

in the United States. In 2012 there

classroom. Artist Jole Bortoli

very old process used for making

was a record-breaking 37 Irish

writes and illustrates her own

printing plates electrolytically

Contact Catherine Martin Deadline 23 November Email cmartin@algoodbody.com

Awardees.

to

stories and is Director of Art to

that dates from the mid-nine-

Heart, an organisation that pro-

Contact Joanne A Davidson Deadline 3pm 14 November

vides art courses for children and

teenth century.

Web www.print.ie

Web www.goldenfleeceaward.com

Web www.fulbright.ie

www.ark.ie

Telephone 086 4087920

Email joanne.davidson@fulbright.ie

The Fulbright Commission in Ireland will officially open to applicants on Friday the 24 August 2012. The 2013 – 2014 competition for the Fulbright Awards include a monetary grant for postgraduate students, scholars and professionals to travel to the US to lecture, research and study for a maximum period of one year. The following three types of awards are on offer: 1.

Fulbright Student Awards: For up to one academic year for postgraduate study or research in the United States in any discipline, including the arts. Grants are a maximum of $20,000. Applicants may stay to complete their academic program if it is longer than one year. 2. Fulbright Scholar and Professional Awards: Grants available for up to €35,000 (Irish Language) and $20,000 (General Awards) for academics and professionals with more than five years experience to research and / or lecture in the US, lasting between 3 – 12 months. 3.

Fulbright

Foreign

Language

Teaching Assistantship (FLTA) Awards: 10 month Awards for Irish language teachers to refine their teaching skills in the US by teaching at a US college and taking classes at a post-graduate level. Grants are available for approximately €20,000. There are a number of sponsored awards for students and scholars in specific disciplines including: 1.

Fulbright-Environmental Protection Agency Award in Water, Climate Change and

this Award is: 16 November

(Student

Scholar).

2012.

Web www.artstap.com

on Any Marine Science / Business

and

2.

Fulbright-Marine Institute Award Topic (Student and Scholar). 3.

Fulbright-Enterprise

Ireland

Award in Innovation (Student Only) - Fulbright-Teagasc Award in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (Student Only). 4. FulbrightUniversity of Notre Dame LL.M.

are

introduction

encouraged in all disciplines.

fulbright awards

Applications

an

tutor

construction, typography and

Environment

golden fleece award The Golden Fleece Award is an artistic fund established as a charitable bequest by the late Helen Lillias Mitchell. The award aims

November. Tickets are €15. This

waiver)

Law

undertake postgraduate study

Sustainable

on the website. The deadline for

in International Human Rights

November – December 2012

unesco The UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists Programme has the pleasure to announce the 2013 call for applications. The Programme promotes the mobility of young artists through art residencies abroad. This call is open to creative writers, musicians and visual artists between 25 and 35 years old. To consult the list of bursaries available for 2013 please visit our website.

There you will find direct links to institutions and instructions on the application procedures and necessary dates.

Web www.unesco.org/culture/aschberg

courses / training / courses / workworkshops shops / training

adults in educational, community and art settings.

Web

residencies residencies and and studio exchanges studio exchanges

fire station mentoring Curators Aisling Prior and Padraic Moore will give one-to-one critical feedback and practical support to artists and curators on their practice, how to present themselves or their project proposals. This includes a one hour meeting between artist and a curator at Fire Station Artists’ Studios in November 2012 with a follow up studio visit / meeting in January 2013. The session dates are 27 – 28 November. The price is €20. Open to all artists and curators who are actively practicing or interested in taking a new direction. Applications will be dealt with on a first come first served basis. Payment must be received to guarantee booking.

How to apply: We will only accept

online

applications.

Online applications will open on Monday 5 November through

water gilding course A water gilding course will take place on the 17, 18 and 24 November. The tutor is Sue White. 10am – 5pm. The course fee is €295. The course will take place in White’s Gilding Studio beside Smithfield Luas stop. This is an intensive three-day course, with limited space for four pupils, focusing on traditional gilding materials and methods. This practical foundation course in water-gilding will cover all stages of the gilding process, from surface preparation to the application of gold leaf. The fee includes: All materials and the use of gilding tools, brushes etc, three small wooden frames / panels, one book of 23kt gold leaf. Students will learn the basics of water gilding technique and complete a number of gilding projects. This course is suitable for all levels.

Comprehensive course notes will be supplied.

Web www.whitesgilding.com Telephone 0876561949 creative bookmaking A creative bookmaking workshop for teachers will take place in The Ark, Dublin on 14

Fire Station’s website. Your application should include: A statement clearly explaining what you would like to get feedback on. (max 500 words), CV (max three pages), Artist statement and / or project proposal (max 500 words), documentation (max six images with a clear image list including year, materials, context etc), weblinks for showreels (eg Vimeo, YouTube) Deadline 16 November Web www.firestation.ie Email artadmin@firestaion.ie Telephone 01 806 9010

arteles residency The

Arteles

Residency

Programme, Finland, is an international residency for creative professionals from the fields of: visual arts, media art, music and sound, performing arts, design, architecture,

literature

and

research. One to three-month residencies between January – November 2013. Open call: 19 September – 9 November 2011 (applications for June –November period will be accepted until 31 December). The Arteles Residency Programme is one of the most international creative residency programs in the arctic area welcoming over 80 selected artists per year. It is an inspiring place to produce original work and collaborate with other energetic and ambitious artists and creative professionals for a concentrated period of time. The Arteles Center is a place that encourages experimentation and innovation – a place that also gives voice to works that otherwise have nowhere else to be produced or displayed. The Creative Center is run by Arteles, a non-profit organisation. There are also opportunities to connect with the locals and get plugged into the contemporary art scene in Finland. See Arteles Catalogue to see what has happened here before.

Deadline 9 November, 31 November Web www.arteles.org move forward In

the

framework

of

the

black church print

EU-funded Project, Move Forward:

Etching for Beginners, with tutor

New Mexican-European Media

Kate Betts, will run for six Tuesday

Art, the European Media Art

evenings and one Saturday. €265.

Network in cooperation with

6 November – 11 December and

Centro Multimedia de las Centro

15 December. Tuesdays 6:30 –

National de las Artes Mexico City

9:30pm and Sat 10am – 5pm. This

and Centro de Arte y Nuevas

course will provide an introduc-

Technologias San Luis Potosi,

tion to etching and is suitable for

offers a European Media Artists-

beginners and those with some

in-Residence

previous experience who would

gramme, Emare Mexico 2013.

like to refresh their knowledge

The residencies will take place

and improve their skills. Electro

between April and September

Exchange

pro-

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

November – December 2012

29

OPPORTUNITIES 2013. European Artists can apply for a two-month residency at Centro Multimedia in Mexico City and Centro de Arte y Nuevas Technologias (CANTE) in San Luis Potosi. deadline 15 November web www.emare.eu

OPPORTUNITIES IRElAND tbg&s book ook f fAiR From Friday 30 November – Sunday 2 December 2012, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios will host the second Dublin Art Bookfair.

This event will take place in gallery in Temple Bar and aims to promote and aid the distribution of artists’ books, ‘zines and catalogues. Over 25 art book publishers from Ireland and abroad will be represented at the fair as well as a programme of live readings and talks. Alongside this, TBG+S wishes to again present an open submission section in which individual artists can present and sell their books, ‘zines and catalogues. We are therefore inviting artists to send us their books, catalogues, and other publications for inclusion in this section.

Spaces are strictly limited and books will be selected for inclusion by open submission. Criteria and rules for submission are below: each artist can submit one book title only, and up to five copies of this title; each submission include full contact details, name, address, telephone number and email address of the artist; the book must represent your artistic practice; handmade books are welcome but please note that books will be handled by the public over three days so make sure your book can withstand this; books must be submitted at your own risk; we are not interested in illustration or childrens books; successful applicants will be selected by a panel from TBG+S. You will receive a space for your book on the artists’ table and the

books will be sold by TBG+S staff on your behalf commission free; successful applicants will be notified. How to submit: drop off submission is on one designated day at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, 5 – 9 Temple Bar – on Tuesday 13 November between 10am and 6pm. If submitting your books via post, send to this address, to arrive no later than 13 November: Artists Bookfair Submission, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, 5 – 9 Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Please note, books arriving after the deadline of 13 November will not be accepted. A stamped addressed envelope for return of any unsold books must be included if you are sending books via post. All book submissions must have all the following info attached: Artist’s full name, book title, telephone number, email address, book price in euros, postal address. deadline 13 November exCel gAlleRy The Excel Gallery, Excel Centre, Mitchell Street, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, Ireland is now looking for submissions for exhibitions to take place in its gallery space from April 2013 – March 2014. The gallery welcomes innovative and challenging proposals from established artists and from artists who wish to present a debut exhibition. Group submissions are also welcome.

Submissions should include: eight slides (or a CD with six images) of recent or previous work; an arts-related CV; an exhibition proposal relating to the artists intention for the show; submissions should be marked Gallery Submission and posted to the above address.

Contact Mary Sarsfield deadline 18 January Address 062 80520 gAlwA lwAy lwA Ay ARts CeNtRe Galway Arts centre is seeking applications for its Visual Arts

and Education Programme June 2013 – June 2014. To apply please email your CV (max max two pages), an artist’s statement, digital images / video links (Vimeo / Youtube / own website), sound files and a proposal of how you would like to engage with the gallery.

Galway Arts Centre’s visual arts policy is to put the arts at the heart of Galway life and people at the heart of the arts. This means enabling artists and arts audiences of all ages to take creative risks and pursue new opportunities in an accessible, engaging and challenging environment. The visual arts programme works with professional artists in a range of art forms from the established media of painting, sculpture, photography and printmaking to moving image, new media, live art, design and architecture. This programme is supported by auxiliary events involving talks, symposia, music, story-telling and screenings. The visual art policy and programme also creates collaborative links with Galway Arts Centre’s theatre and literature policies and programmes. The policy focuses on three categories. Each exhibition or project we execute will address one or more of these categories: engagement with audiences, partnerships and education, support for artists, exhibitions that place innovation and risk as their main objectives. Galway Arts Centre will accept hard copy applications only. All applications will be discarded after adjudication unless a SAE is provided.

Adjudication will be conducted

by GAC’s Visual Arts Officer, a board Member and an independent practitioner in early December 2012. All applicants will be notified regarding decisions by email. Please send applications to gac@galwayartscentre. ie with subject header 2012 Open Submission. Postal submissions will not be accepted. deadline 30 November web www.galwayartscentre.ie

mAmuskA dubliN La Cat Salons calls local, national and international artists to participate in the upcoming ‘Mamuska Dublin!’ Seeking short live art performance, multimedia and video works for the event, to be held in the Back Loft on the 30 November. This is a unique occasion to present and view evolving works, raw ideas, unrehearsed visions, trials and errors, short masterpieces, playful nonsense, first steps, all in the context of an informal environment where like-minded artists meet, mingle, discuss and receive feedback from the audience. A maximum of 10 artists will present their work, with lively musical breaks for discussion. deadline 12 November email lacatsalons@gmail.com web www.lacatsalons.blogspot.com PAPeRgiRll belf belfAst Papergirl is a non-commercial, guerrilla initiative that brings art to the streets in an alternative and dynamic way by distributing unique rolls of artwork freely and at random to lucky strangers via bicycle. Drawings, paintings, photographs, illustrations, prints, textiles, stickers, T-shirts, poems, prose and zines – basically anything that can be rolled up – will be collected and showcased in an anti-curated exhibition before being shared with the local community. The Papergirl project was founded in Berlin by Aisha Ronniger in the summer of 2006 in reaction to tightening German graffiti laws. Since then, its participatory, non-commercial and DIY spirit has seen it become an international creative movement, and today Papergirl takes place in over 40 cities worldwide. Now Belfast is getting in on the action.

The call for submissions is now open. Everything you need to know about the project and how to take part can be found in the FAQ section of our website.

Submit your art and spread the word. web www.papergirlbelfast.tumblr. com

COMMISSIONS loNgfoRd CoCo Longford County Council wishes to commission a public art feature under the Percent for Art Scheme. The piece will commemorate General Sean Mac Eoin as blacksmith, freedom fighter and politician. The piece will be located at Ballinalee Co Longford. Budget is ˆ 50,000.

Installation date: 30 May 2013 deadline 30 November web www.longfordcoco.ie

bronze, stainless steel etc etc. It is not envisaged that the names of those lost will be inscribed anywhere on or near the piece. However, appropriate inscriptions or quotations may be used. The location for the monument will be in front of the original lifeboat storehouse in Knightstown in an area between the existing lifeboat store and new apartment building. The total budget for creation, manufacture and erection of the piece, inclusive of all insurance, public liability requirements, transport costs and siting is ˆ 50,000. To request an artist’s brief and / or to arrange a site visit please contact Tony Curran. deadline 30 November email oileanach2011@hotmail.com t telephone 087 226 6634

VAleNtiA seA memoRiAl The Valentia Sea Memorial Committee wishes to erect a memorial in Knightstown, Valentia Island. The Committee is seeking a fixed permanent sculpture work, unique to Valentia Island. The artwork is envisaged to be a representational piece that is a memorial to people that have been lost at sea around Valentia Island. However, it should also recognise the immense heritage of the local community in their contribution to safety at sea in the following areas: the RNLI lifeboat stationed on the island in 1870 that has been in continuous service since 1946, Valentia Coast Radio Station, Knightstown Coast Guard Unit, members of Irish lighthouses. The artwork must be made of a durable material, mindful of its public siting, matters of cleaning the material and vandalism should be addressed by the artist as much as possible in their submission. Please note that Valentia Slate is a local material, distinctive in colour and may used as the primary material or may be used to enhance or complement other materials, eg

o pportunities OPPORTUNITIES INTERNATIONAl jAN VAN eyC ey k ACAdemie Are you a pioneer looking for innovation? Would you like to meet inspiring people who really have something to say? Is it time for confrontation and intensification? Do you long for time and space to develop? Then this is the moment to apply to the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (NL). The Jan van Eyck Academie is an international post-academic art institute that offers space to artists, designers, writers, curators and thinkers. The Jan van Eyck Academie has a long history of recurrent development. Now, once more, the institute finds itself at the crossroads of change, which will be shaped by its new participants. The Jan van Eyck Academie is looking for pioneers, trailblazers with the ambition to make the academy into the postacademy of the future. deadline 15 November web www.janvaneyck.nl

irish bronze Dedicated to the faithful reproduction of the sculptor’s vision

Sara Greavu Artlink Fort Dunree Residency

Willie Malone: casting sculpture for over two decades Kilmainham Art Foundry Ltd. t/a Irish Bronze, Inchicore Rd and Griffith College, Dublin 8

Winter 2012

Sara Greavu, And your feet unable to find the ground, 2012

T: 01 454 2032 E: irishbronze@eircom.net W: www.irishbronze.ie

Artlink Fort Dunree Inishowen Co. Donegal T: 074 93 63469 W: www.artlink.ie

30

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

debate

Remains of the Present

Thorpe in his performance uniform: a grey top and slacks. The egg found its way into his mouth and immediately the performer sent himself hurtling across the large space, rolling along the ground towards the

MICHELLE BROWNE PROFILES ‘REMNANT’, A ONE-DAY PERFORMANCE ART SYMPOSIUM AND DISCUSSION EVENT, HOSTED BY BALLINA ARTS CENTRE, CO MAYO (29 SEPTEMBER 2012).

wall. The speed and ferocity of the movement caused his body to jolt and the fragile egg inside his mouth was suddenly in danger. A series of actions followed: the writing of different sentences, using both hands, on the wall; a jabbing of pointed finger to the forehead creating a hollow sound that reverberated throughout the cavernous space; a loud gagging as the performer tried to speak with the egg in his mouth.

Thorpe’s work over the past four years has engaged with issues of silence and power, dealing specifically in recent years with the Ryan Report.5 In light of these issues, Thorpe’s actions combined to create an atmosphere of suppression and shame. The performance concluded with the quiet, unattended urination of the performer, the boiling of a kettle, the adding of Dettol detergent to the water and the overflow of the liquid and subsequent smell out into the room. The performer cleaned up the mess with his top and put it back on, wearing his shame. The burning smell of Dettol left in our noses reminds me of the sterile environments of state-run institutions, but also of childhood and care. To end, the audience was led by the barefoot Thorpe, carrying an office swivel chair on his shoulders, back to the Ballina Arts Centre, where the chair and a spoon were placed in the gallery as part of Thorpe’s documentation.

The day’s events were concluded with a panel discussion on the subject of documentation, chaired by curator Cliodhna Shaffrey. Thorpe spoke of how his first experience of performance was through documentation as there was little opportunity to experience live work at the time. People often say they have seen a work, he noted, when in fact they have only seen a photograph. He questioned how this effects

Amanda Coogan performing at 'Remnant', 2012

Dominic Thorpe performing at 'Remnant', 2012

Nigel Rolfe and Sean Walsh, Director of Ballina Arts Centre

people’s understanding of performance. Both Rolfe and Coogan spoke of the importance of word of mouth in the life of a performance and how a mythology is built up around a performance after the event. The example of Chris Burden’s Trans-Fixed (1974) was given – where Burden

‘Remnant’, a performance art symposium held at Ballina Arts

and observations from both the artist and the viewers of these events.3

was nailed to a Volkswagen Beetle. People said they had seen the car

Centre, was devised by Gaynor Seville, Mayo County Council public art

Her live work for the ‘Remnant’ symposium was framed by an

being driven around, but in fact this didn’t happen. Thus, actual events

coordinator in collaboration with the centre’s director Sean Walsh to

arching window, which overlooks the river Moy in the new Ballina Arts

become skewed and augmented and this becomes part of the experience

address the lack of opportunity to experience live performance art in

Centre. Coogan, weighed down with innumerable handbags, was flanked

of the work through time.

Ireland. The event featured works by Aideen Barry, Amanda Coogan and

by two cameras on one side (which I eventually realised were fake) and

Questions from the audience dealt with documentation and the

Dominic Thorpe along with a guest lecture by Nigel Rolfe. The

an ‘interpreter’ to the left. The interpreter (Debbie Guinnane) stood close

dissemination of performance images online. The panel generally agreed

symposium also featured a panel discussion chaired by curator Cliodhna

to the performer with tape recorder in hand, describing the performance

that this was impossible to control, with Coogan welcoming it as part of

Shaffrey, focused on the issue of documentation. The symposium was

over the course of two hours, her voice a whisper in the space. As a sign

the mythology-building apparatus. A theatre practitioner in the audience

followed by the exhibition entitled ‘Remnant(s)’ (5 – 27 October 2012)

language interpreter, Coogan is no stranger to this act of translation, of

asked if the performers were playing a role in their work. “Performance

featuring work by the three ‘Remnant’ artists that further explored issues

making available that which cannot be directly experienced. These two

artists are not themselves, but are not not themselves”, Coogan answered.

of live art and its documentation.

documentational devices acted as a barrier to the space of the performance,

They explore different facets of themselves. Rolfe described performance art as “slow time” that lets one think about what is happening in the

prefaced by the observation that Irish performance art is very strong at an

highlighting the power and dominance of the documenter in the work.4 The performance carried Coogan’s trademark hand gestures, slow

international level, with powerful work being made by Irish artists. He

movements and piercing gaze, punctuated at intervals by Vivaldi’s Dixit

created as he goes along, through a study of form and materials and their

discussed works by Yves Klein, Yoko Ono, Fluxus, Joseph Bueys, Allan

Dominus. As a performer who works predominantly with longitudinal

relationship to the body. “Ultimately, the whole purpose of practice is to

Kaprow, Nam Jun Paik, Francis Alys, Anna Mendieta, Carolee Schneemann

durational performance, it is no surprise that the performance really

get closer to myself” he remarked. The artists were then asked what was

and many more. He spoke of how, as a performance artist, “your body is

began to take shape in the second hour, where the mass of bags began to

needed for performance. Rolfe stated the need for structures that allow

the place where you make your work, it is your vehicle”, noting that

weigh on the hunched performer and a sense of challenge or duress was

for risk taking while Thorpe passionately called for institutions to take

“90% of making art is a notion of making the retrospect present... the

visible in her otherwise controlled movements. Aware of Coogan’s

responsibility for developing ephemeral works and not to rely on video

decision that you will leave something behind from your action is an

penchant for referencing art history, I began to see links with Paul

and images, particularly in application processes.

investment in history”. All art in some way does this, but the performance

Henry’s painting Potato Diggers (1912) (National Gallery of Ireland) and

Both the live work and the documentation presented at ‘Remnant’

artist is making that action visible, “making the present present”. Rolfe

the toil and struggle of these female figures in the rural landscape of

symposium raised questions about an art form that is experiencing a

stressed that the immediacy of live work, coupled with a potential for

Mayo. However, these tangential thoughts were brought back into check

surge in Ireland at present. With the hope that this will become a

failure, is a significant factor in the making of live work and went on to

by the constant murmur of the interpreter as she set out in painstaking

biannual event, ‘Remnant’, along with other performance events across

talk about how flux and change were inherent factors in the ‘live’.

detail the physical actions of the performer. The piece recalled Rivane

the country, shows that there is an appetite for live work, as well as

Nigel Rolfe presented a survey of the history of performance,

present. Thorpe emphasised that his practice is not written for him but

The interiority of live performance practice also exercised him.

Neuenschwander’s First Love, shown in IMMA earlier this year, where a

highlighting the exciting challenges faced by performance artists and

Rolfe impressed upon the audience a need for something to be at stake

police sketch-artist drew the likeness of gallery visitors’ first loves. The

audiences experiencing this medium.

within the work – for the work to have a vitality and urgency in its

images produced looked less like real people and more like a composite

making and delivery. The body as site, and its relationship to a context

of details placed together. It left me wondering whether the mass of

Michelle Browne is an artist who works in performance. She will

and materials, are central to his understanding of performance, with live

information would convey anything of the life or vitality of the live

present new work as part of Connection – Perfolink Europa to Latin

action as the axis on which these elements revolve.

work.

America in Chile and Argentina this November.

Following this, Amanda Coogan and Dominic Thorpe presented

In marked contrast, Dominic Thorpe’s live performance did not

live works. Unfortunately, Aideen Barry’s performance was cancelled due

engage with documentation at all. With one camera at quite a remove

to illness. Barry’s work was represented as part of an exhibition of

from the performer for its duration, his performance transported the

documentation exhibited in conjunction with the day. A seven-part

viewer into another world through sight, sound and smell. The

installation in the Mayo County Council Jackie Clarke Collection

performance was powerful in all the ways that a camera could not

building charted Barry’s performance from 2005 – 2012. Presented on

capture. This was a truly visceral performance beginning with the

small handheld projectors at about A4 size, the short videos had an

audience being invited into a completely darkened room. We were

elusive character, betraying the inability of even video to capture the

disoriented from the start by sounds coming from different parts of the

experience of a performance.

room, the feeling of someone brushing past and the anxiety of banging

In recent years, Amanda Coogan has experimented with live performance exhibition models1 and modes of documentation2. As part

into something. After a time, a faint light could be seen in the centre of

of the exhibition for ‘Remnant’, Coogan presented the notational

imbued with potential. The light went out and reappeared in another

documentation of Yellow and her 2011 performance in Boston’s Museum

part of the room. The audience was forced to pad around in the dark,

of Fine Arts, entitled The Passing. These documents present comments

guided by this light. Eventually, the overhead lights came on and we saw

the space. A torch illuminated an egg, which looked both fragile and

www.michellebrowne.net Notes 1. Notably through her curation of ‘Accumulator’ in Visual Carlow 2009, co-curation of’ Right Here Right Now’ with Dominic Thorpe and Niamh Murphy in 2010 and ‘Labour’ with Chrissie Cadman and Helena Walshe in 2012.

2. Take, for example, her film Yellow, that tracks six different ‘re-performances’ of her work in real time. Made with filmmaker Paddy Cahill.

3. Alongside Coogan’s own notes on her experience, Simon Keogh wrote for Yellow. For The Passing, comments were collected in Boston from performance artist Marilyn Arsem, invigilators and artist assistants.

4. Coogan notes that, in the film Yellow, “Cahill became the seventh performer in the project, reacting to the live performance in an, immediate, embodied way.” (www.amandacoogan.com) 5. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was set up by the government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children in Ireland from 1936 onwards. In 2009, the commission published its findings in what is known as the Ryan Report.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

31

how is it made?

Suzanne Mooney, Walking in the City #4, backlight image, LED box frame

Suzanne Mooney, Walking in the City #1

Suzanne Mooney, installation view of Tokyo Summit A, duratrans backlight image, circular LED box frame, 2012

Outside In

Suzanne Mooney, Walking in the City #4

Suzanne Mooney, installation view of Tokyo Summit A, 2012

for the early-nineteenth-century explorer, often depicted by the painters of Romanticism? And why choose Romanticism as a point of reference for my work? I am certainly not alone in this regard. The prevalence of the Romantic aesthetic in European landscape

suzanne mooney two recent bodies of works, Tokyo Summit A' and 'Walking in the City', that she developed while living in seoul and tokyo.

photography, video and other contemporary works has prompted many large-scale exhibitions. However, the overwhelming scale and majesty of our natural environment often does not have the same impact on us that it did on the nineteenth-century viewer. The unknown world has become almost non-existent. Since the advent of

The exhibition 'Experiences of Place' comprises two series of

decided to replace the ‘Remnant Mass’ series with a new work that I had

satellite imagery, global positioning systems and online interactive

works. The first is a series of small-scale light boxes titled 'Walking in

been developing as part of my PhD research. This new work is called

maps, there is very little of the world left unknown to us. Despite this,

the City', the second is the first in a series of works titled 'Tokyo Summit

Tokyo Summit A and is the first in a series of 360-degree panorama

I would argue that the unknown world still exists, not so much in

A'.

images of the Tokyo cityscape. The images are painstakingly composited

relation to the terrain of our planet, but in the unexplored reaches of

from dozens of photographs taken through the windows of city view

outer space and microscopic space, which expands in scale with every

observatories in Tokyo.

development in telescope technology and space exploration. There is

As an artist focused primarily on the body in landscape, my interest in urban landscape emerged while on residency at the National Art Studio in Seoul, and developed following my subsequent decision

While working on panoramic images from different locations in

also another unknown world within the confines of our own planet.

to live in Tokyo. It is now more than three years since I first moved to

Tokyo, I was constantly questioning the merit of trying to reproduce

The rate of development in science, technology, engineering etc is

Japan and the urban landscape has become the central focus of my

the original view. In many ways it would be easy to elicit a positive

creating a new unknown world: that of our near future.

artwork and research. Compared to some of my earlier works,

response from the viewer by reproducing the sense of expansive space

Keeping this ‘unknown’ in mind, it is possible to consider the

influenced by the landscape of the west of Ireland and Iceland, there are

through the kind of immersive experience that is usually the objective

viewer's gaze from a city view observatory in one of Tokyo’s numerous

considerable differences in subject matter, but there are also many

of the classic panorama. But, even in the early nineteenth century,

skyscrapers as comparable to the figure in Caspar David Friedrich’s

similarities. For example, my aesthetic style within this new urban

dioramas and panoramic installations – which were popular attractions

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. The unknowable, the unnerving, the

context can still be understood and contextualised within the scope of

at the time, pre-dating cinemas – received criticism for their

immanent, beautiful, man-made landscape of the urban sprawl can

Romanticism. I began to consider the relevance of such an approach to

gimmickries, and for deceiving the viewer through illusion. After

stand equal to the natural landscape in its ability to inspire a sense of

urban landscape photography in relation to today’s society, particularly

much consideration, I decided that my real interest lay in the appeal

awe. But this new urban aesthetic has shifted the focus away from the

within a Japanese context. This became the point of departure for my

and function of the city view observatory in today’s society. Thus, by

supernatural to something very much part of our day-to-day

PhD research, and the series 'Walking in the City' was the first body of

subverting the expectation of the viewer, my purpose would be better

environment: the city – living space for upward of 70% of the

work completed on this theme.

served. I decided to turn the viewpoint of the panorama outside in. In

developed world – and the potential future development of its

This series was originally inspired by a chapter of a book by

other words, instead of wrapping the 360-degree image in a circle

inhabitants.

Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life. The title of the chapter

surrounding the viewer, I reversed the curve of the image, placing it in

Over the next year I will develop the 'Tokyo Summit' series to

was also 'Walking in the City'. In this chapter, de Certeau discusses the

a circular frame that excluded the viewer. The viewer is on the outside

include multiple views of the Tokyo metropolis. This body of work, in

view from a high vantage point and a unified view of the city in

and cannot feel any sense of being immersed in the landscape, as you

addition to my thesis, will become the graduate works for my PhD at

contrast to the everyday experiences of the walker at street level. My

might expect from a standard panoramic image. I decided to make the

Tama Art University.

works are not illustrative of de Certeau’s ideas, but rather an attempt to

circular frame a light box for multiple reasons. Firstly, the atmosphere

find an in-between experience of the city: one that is rarely portrayed.

created by the emanating light added a sense of depth to the image, a

Suzanne Mooney is a Dublin-born artist, currently living in

However, the walkers found in each image, despite the fact that they

feeling that there might be another world contained within the

Tokyo and undertaking a PhD at Tama Art University. She has

have the space entirely to themselves, still travel along designated

circular frame. Furthermore, this increased its similarity in appearance

received a number of awards from the Arts Council of Ireland and

walkways, bridges, paths and underground corridors. They are not

to the light box series ‘Walking in the City’, which helped to unify the

Culture Ireland and is the recipient of a Monbusho Japanese

engaged in viewing the landscape, but appear to be part of it, giving a

two bodies of work into a single, visually cohesive exhibition. And

government scholarship, 2009 – 2014.

sense of scale to the space and facilitating our imagined embodiment

finally, because of the back light effect, when one person stands looking

of that space. The final images are printed on backlight film and framed

at the panorama, they are silhouetted and become part of the

info@suzannemooney.com

in light boxes. Although it was tempting to make final images much

installation. For anyone else viewing the work in the same space, they

www.suzannemooney.com

larger, the smaller 300 x 200 mm size encourages people to view them

see the work and the first viewer together. The resulting second

individually at closer range, making for a more personal experience.

viewpoint creates an image similar to that of a figure gazing out of a

Earlier this year, I exhibited this same series at the Talbot Gallery in Dublin, in an exhibition also titled ‘Experiences of Place’. In Dublin,

window, a motif commonly used throughout art history to emphasize ‘the gaze’.

I chose to show ‘Walking in the City’ alongside another body of work,

In my ongoing research, I am exploring how the gaze of the

‘Remnant Mass’, a photo series shot in the Tohoku region of Japan, just

viewer in this urban context can be related to a more traditional

two months after the area was devastated by the 3 / 11 tsunami in 2011.

approach to landscape. Can the urban landscape function in the same

I considered re-showing these works together in Japan, but eventually

way for this viewer that the unexplored terrain of the Alps functioned

32

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

international

Marcus Kahre, No Title, 2012

Kohei Yoshiyuki, Untitled, 1971

Ahmed Ogut, Let it be known to all the persons here gathered

Ming Wong, still from Making Chinatown, 2012

Notions of Hospitality

Nadia Kaabe-Linke, No, 2012

Not all the highlights were new or specially commissioned works.

The Open Eye Gallery houses the first UK solo show of the late Mark Morrisroe (1959 – 1989), the US artist and art school contemporary of Nan Goldin, whose short but prolific career produced a legacy of over

Anne Mullee reports on the seventh Liverpool Biennial, which takes place across the city from 15 September – 25 November 2012.

2,000 photographs. Morrisroe continued making work even while hospitalised with HIV-related illnesses, building a makeshift darkroom in his hospital room to make some of the photo collages featured in the exhibition. Morrisroe’s work is highly experimental and he uses parts of his own x-rays and ripped-up porn magazines to make his provocative

The Liverpool Biennial, now in its seventh edition, is the largest international contemporary art festival in the UK. It has matured into

focuses on frameworks as sources of identity and cultural belonging: a

images. These works, nearly all made in the few months before he died,

strangely reassuring gesture.

marked a change in tempo from the immediacy of the punk aesthetic

a place for continual exploration, anchored by the central exhibition.

Turkish artist Ahmet Öğüt’s biennial commission, Let it be known

The week that the biennial opened coincided with the long-awaited

to all persons here gathered (2012), takes the form of a performance where

publishing of an independent report on the Hillsborough disaster, the

an actor dressed as a modern-day postman rides on horseback from

Downstairs, a pitch-black room contains a series of photographs

1989 tragedy where 96 football supporters were crushed to death at

Liverpool to Manchester, announcing the imminent biennial to

by Kohei Yoshiyuki, taken in Tokyo parks at night during the 1970s. I

Sheffield’s Hillsborough Stadium during the FA Cup semi-final between

residents through a public address, imitating a town crier or a royal

was given a small torch as I entered the gallery to shine on a succession

Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The title of the central exhibition in

messenger. The video documentation of the messenger’s journey

of images. The photographs show pairs of lovers, both heterosexual

this biennial is ‘The Unexpected Guest’, which seems poignant now

delves into the sometimes strange and lonely nature of journeying and

and homosexual, entwined in intimate embraces while being covertly

that this most welcoming of cities has finally been given a sense of

connecting, and touches on the discombobulating nature of archaic

– or quite blatantly – observed by groups of male voyeurs. The

vindication over the disaster.

etiquette.

photographs, from a series entitled ‘The Park’, have only been shown

that he is most closely associated with and pose questions about where his work would have taken him.

‘The Unexpected Guest’ was devised by the previous festival

The Cunard also holds Nadia Kaabi-Linke’s No (2012), again a

once before outside Japan since they were first unveiled in 1979.

director, Lewis Biggs (the current Artist Director is Sally Tallant), and

biennial commission, that comprises two video screens portraying an

Predictably causing a stir, they have a sort of sexless repulsiveness that

curated by Lorenzo Fusi. It explores notions of hospitality from every

interview in the form of a sung mass. On one screen a disembodied

still has the power to disturb. Finding them by torchlight, I felt

possible perspective: as guest, visitor or audience (accidental or

mouth sings questions derived from entry visa applications to a

complicit in these acts of voyeurism. “I just went there to become a

otherwise). This central exploration is bolstered by the biennial’s

congregation of possible ‘immigrants’. They respond to queries about

friend of the voyeurs… My intention was to capture what happened in

diverse slate of projects, events and exhibitions including the biannual

their terrorist connections or criminal pasts with a melodious

the parks, so I was not a real ‘voyeur’ like them,” Yoshiyuki states.

John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg 'New Contemporaries'

“Noooooo”. Kaabi-Linke recasts perplexing and ridiculous attempts to

Though he continues, “But I think, in a way, the act of taking

exhibition, the debut Sky Arts Ignition project, site-specific installations

extract ‘official’ information in a simple way using the benign and

photographs itself is voyeuristic somehow. So I may be a voyeur,

and peripheral projects in dozens of locations across the city. It is a vast,

ritualistic setting of a church. This makes for witty comment on the

because I am a photographer”.

somewhat unwieldy offering, drawing on ideas of hospitality,

conditions and limitations of a hospitality that is conferred through

entertaining, visitations, boundaries, journeys and arrivals. Over 60

legal means.

Liverpool’s compact geography means that many of the sitespecific works and smaller shows are easily accessible, salting the

artists are represented and the exhibition includes, with work including

This aspect of being a ‘guest’ is the focus of Ghanaian filmmaker

greater array on offer. But even so, this outline barely scratches the

specially-commissioned projects, existing pieces and rarely-seen

John Akomfrah’s ambitious new commission, The Unfinished

surface. Hidden down a side street is the latest installment in Singaorean

works.

Conversation (2012), which debuted at the Bluecoat. The filmmaker

artist Ming Wong’s Making Chinatown (2012) project, a mixed

The biennial also facilitates the development and support of long-

forges an elegiac celebration of the life and thinking of Jamaican-born

multimedia exploration of identity as homage to Roman Polanski’s

term projects like 2Up2Down, a community development initiative

academic, Stuart Hall, playing archive material from Hall’s life alongside

iconic film Chinatown (1974). Wong plays all of the principle roles with

facilitated by Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk. Here, a trio of properties

material of culturally and historically significant events that occurred

steely intensity and appropriate camp, chasing his prey (himself)

in Anfield were transformed into the site for a ‘cooperative reimagining’

during his lifetime. Shown simultaneously over three large video

through Chinatown in various western cities including Liverpool.

of living spaces and sites of work. The area has long been earmarked for

screens, the narrative is elliptical and disruptive, reflecting Hall’s

At pub / gallery, The Munro, Finnish artist Markus Kåhre pulls off

regeneration, and has been cleared of inhabitants, but lost its funding

descriptions of his feelings as an outsider within his own family and as

a brilliant optical illusion involving two empty rooms and mirrors

in the cuts last year. Van Heeswijk’s cohort of community workers are

a migrant to the UK. “Identity is an endless ever-unfinished

with no reflection (I won’t give it away), reminiscent of the ‘mystery

now designing a new template for living and plan to reopen a defunct

conversation,” Hall tells us. It’s a beautiful and compelling piece, where

houses’ that entertained the hungry masses during the US depression

bakery as a social enterprise. This project reflects Liverpool’s current

Akomfrah’s accomplished documentary filmmaking experience

of the 1930s.

condition, a city partly regenerated by the retail commerce at its centre

dominates in what is an unapologetic love-letter to Hall’s influence as

and still in possession of monuments to its past as an economic power.

a friend and a thinker.

This provides scope for the over-arching leitmotif of hospitality and

The Bluecoat is also the setting for the ‘TV Studio’ where Dora

locations associated with the city’s affluent past have been used to host

Garcia and collaborators Toxteth TV filmed their interactive talk show

the work of contributing artists.

Outside! (2012), a project that began at the time of my visit. It was billed

There are layers upon layers to explore at Liverpool Biennial and this is just a snapshot. The overall event feels embedded in and wedded to the city, a metropolis that, for now at least, fizzes with ideas and welcomes. No invitation required.

The Cunard Building, an elegant emblem of early twentieth-

as an opportunity for Liverpool residents to tell their own stories about

Anne Mullee is a writer and emerging curator currently working

century transatlantic ocean travel, is one such site. ‘A Selection of

the city while exploring the “porous nature of the relationship between

as LAB Gallery and Public Arts Assistant Intern at Dublin City

Recent Works’ by Mona Hatoum occupies corners and alcoves of the

audience and entertainer”. The results are now displayed as an

Council Arts Office.

building’s former first-class departure lounge. Afghan (red and black)

installation in the gallery. Though I cannot report on the finished work,

(2008), an Afghan rug with a world map cut into it and Shift (2012), a

I did overhear researchers briefing interviewers to ask about reactions

carpet depicting a disrupted global map overlaid with a sound waves

to the Hillsborough Report, assuring them that “everyone has an

pictogram, imply a reimaging of borders and of how we map the world.

opinion”.

Hatoum’s commentary, though not made specifically for this exhibition,

www.liverpoolbiennial.co.uk

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

33

Art in Public

Art in Public public art commissions; site-specific works; socially-engaged practices; and various other forms of 'art outside the gallery'.

Grand Canal

throughout the midlands. They were on show

Title: Electron Cloud

Unveiled: 4 September 2012

throughout the Roscommon Lamb Festival.

Artist: Lucy McKenna

Project Partners: Holywood Arches Library, East

Commissioners: The Arts Council

Belfast Arts Festival

Commission Type: Open submission

Description: During a two-day period in August, Prime Collective investigated the abandoned Bryson Street Surgery (due to be demolished) and developed three separate strands of work aiming to artistically archive an aspect of the building and its past. The resulting works were exhibited in the Hollywood Arches library from 5 – 30 September 2012: Charlotte Bosanquet created a sound installation featuring a hand bell ringing in an empty doctor’s surgery; Alissa Kleist displayed a single photograph documenting a building on the verge of demolition; Tonya McMullen used fabric from the abandoned library curtains to make tote bags for library users to carry their books in.

animation hub

Project Partners: Kilkenny Arts Festival Unveiled: 10 – 20 August 2012 Budget: €3,250

Title: Animation Hub

Title: Grand Canal

Artist: Lorraine Walsh

Artist: Geraldine O'Reilly

Location: Newbridge Family Resource Centre

Commissioner: Offally County Council Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme Date Advertised: August 2011

Commissioners: Kildare Arts Service Commission Type: Youth Arts Residency Project Partners: Newbridge Family Resource

Unveiled: April 2012

Centre

Budget: €15,000 Description: Geraldine O’Reilly created a pop-up exhibition of specially-designed folders. Each of the four folders contains an exhibition of etchings and specially designed easels that allow the work to be presented in any kind of space. A fifth set of etchings were framed for a permanent location. The work is presently touring as part of an exhibition entitled ‘A Very Grand Canal’.

sheep

Date Advertised: March 2011 Unveiled: September 2011 – June 2012 Budget: €2,500 Description: ‘Animation Hub’ was a collaborative youth arts project using stop-motion animation as a creative tool. The project was a development of two previous successful animation projects, ‘Growing Out From Here’ and ‘Animation Expedition’, which were also a collaboration between the NFRC and the artist. The focus of the residency was to develop independence in the participants’ own creativity, developing skills in storytelling using digital technology and materials. The residency was delivered over a series of workshops from September 2011 to June 2012. The participants were from a variety of cultural and family backgrounds in the catchment area of The Newbridge Family Resource Centre. In May 2012 the group won a national film competition run by The Integration Centre for their group film, Diversity. https://vimeo.com/album/1775502

Title: Sheep

electron cloud

Artist: Noel Molloy Commissioner: Roscommon Lamb Festival Unveiled: April 2012

Description: Electron Cloud is a public exterior sculpture, that hung 25ft in the air between two buildings – one medieval, one contemporary – during the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2012. This sculpture visually merges an older, flat scientific diagram of an atom with the newer updated version, which states that electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom are moving at such speed that their location can only ever be estimated, making it appear as a spherical 'cloud' of predicted particles. The sculpture consisted mainly of steel and polypropylene and contained 235 independently moving parts. The concept for the work began while the artist was on a residency at Kilkenny Arts Office in late 2011, investigating folklore and mythology connected to the landscape and juxtaposing this with scientific explanations.

scarecrow Title: Scarecrow Artist: Barbara Jane Kelly Location: Tintern Abbey grounds, Wexford Commissioners: Wexford County Council, Wexford Arts Department Commission Type: Artist in the Community

Title: Schoolwork

Project Partners: Hook Tourism

Artist: Blaise Smith

Date Advertised: March 2012

Location: Presentation College, Carlow, Visual,

Unveiled: July 2012

Carlow and Crawford Gallery, Cork

Budget: €2,675

Commissioners: Presentation College, Carlow

Description: Scarecrow is a 12-foot high installation made mainly from willow. It was woven directly unto an iron armature, designed in three separate parts that slotted down on each other once each unit was completed. The base of the armature was then buried in the ground for stability. This installation was sited in a newly restored walled garden in the grounds of Tintern Abbey.

Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme

Description: Three wicker-type sheep were made with ash rods, hazel rods, dogwood rods, hazel wood,

A creative method

oak wood, pitch pine and nuts and bolts. The three

Title: A Creative Method

sculptures are a seven-foot ram, a five-foot ewe and a

Artist: PRIME Collective: Alissa Kleist, Charlotte

three-foot lamb and were made to be mobile and

Bosanquet, Tonya McMullan.

displayed at football matches, cattle / sheep marts,

Location: Holywood Arches Library

shopping centres, parades and various public venues

Commission Type: Per Cent for Art Scheme

Have Your Public Art Profiled in the VAN If you have recently been involved in a public commission, percent for art project, socially engaged project or any other form of ‘art outside the gallery’ we would like you to email us the information for publication in the Visual Artists News Sheet. Send images (3 - 4MB in size) and a short text (no more than around 300 words) in the following format:

• • • • • • • • •

Artist's name Title of work Commissioning body Date advertised Date sited / carried out.

Budget Commission type Project Partners Brief description of the work

Work must have been undertaken in the last 6 months. Send your info to Lily Power: lily@visualartists.ie

schoolwork

Unveiled: October 2012 Description: ‘Schoolwork’ is a suite of 20 figurative paintings depicting the life and fabric of an Irish school in 2012. It has many group portraits of students and staff at work and play in the classrooms and buildings of a typical Irish secondary school, in this case Presentation College, Carlow. The aim of the work is to record for posterity what the Irish education system looked like in our time. Blaise Smith works in traditional oil on gesso panel with the specific aim of the work lasting as long as a Holbein. He worked from life in the school for the entire school year. ‘Schoolwork’ will go on exhibit in Visual in Carlow from October 2012 and then in the Crawford Gallery in Cork in January 2013.

Olivier Cornet Gallery 1 The Wooden Building, Exchange Street Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland +353 (0)1 677 0280 info@oliviercornetgallery.com www.oliviercornetgallery.com

1 - 4 November 2012 VUE (National Contemporary Art Fair) at the RHA 21 Nov - 16 Dec 2012 ‘Espacios’ Jordi Forniés Solo show (FILMBASE, Temple Bar) 28 Nov - 20 Dec 2012 ‘AC2’ Group Christmas Show

John Fitzsimons’ 'Foundations I' will be exhibited at VUE at the RHA, 1-4 November 2012

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter : Olivier Cornet / @OCG_Galler y

34

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

November – December 2012

studio profile

Bridge House Arts studio space

Bridge House Arts, image courtesy of Richard Cutbill

Children's enchanted forest as part of 'My Street is my Canvas', image by Dungarven Camera Club

Poet John Ennis reading Bridge House Arts for Storytelling Southeast

Melinda Coogan, 'Tales from the Wild', image by Dungarven Camera Club

Sustainable Spaces

those regions. The provisional and contingent grounds on which independent arts centres are so often based led me to question Bo Mandeville on his ideas about the sustainability of Bridge House: “The arts space can be made sustainable but it will continue to

maria tanner profiles bridge house studios, which opened in dungarven, co waterford, earlier this year, in the context of sustainable new economies and creative partnerships within the sector.

require inventiveness. Status quo is simply not an option. There is the practical side, with regard to local authorities, but partnerships with other creative groups will be essential. Our international partnerships are more developed than our national partnerships but that is mostly because of the festival’s focus programmes. The former take longer to

Bridge House arts space now features as part of the festival’s

Backdrop

build up, so now can to shift our focus somewhat and continue the

A direct consequence of the recent economic crises has been a shift in

ongoing permanent programme and there are plans to run inter-

the outlook of artists and cultural workers. At the level of cultural

disciplinary events within the space. The aim is to acheive synergy

Mandeville has been working in connection with other festivals

interaction, creative responses to the ambiguous legacies of runaway

between literature, film and visual arts alongside informal educational

such as March Hare in Canada and developing an exchange with Le

inflation and subsequent property market collapse have opened up a

programming. This is intetnded to reflect Storytelling Southeast’s core

Nombril du Monde in France. Storytelling Southeast and Bridge House

new and challenging context for creative engagement. Using vacant

concept: “to observe and explore how we tell stories today”. Rather than

are intended to entrench arts practices in the locality and to form part

urban buildings for the production and presentation of art is now one

responding to selection criteria, the Bridge House artists came together

of a wider international project, connecting multiple audiences.

the key characteristic features of post-boom creative Ireland. Needless

through an organic process that began with conversations between the

From productive intersections to long term survival, what appears

to say, artistic occupancy of vacant spaces is not a new phenomenon

artists. According to Bo Mandeville, it was necessary that the artists

to be at stake for independent arts spaces such as Bridge House, is

and has occured in Ireland since the 1970s. But what marks out the

could connect with the whole concept of Bridge House, which he

embodied in Michael Brenson’s assertions on the “new public art”. He

contemporary movement is the way it has been physically presented to

believes is “as much a community and an exploration as it is a set of

attributes these developments to an experience of the world rooted in

us. In an essay responding to the housing crisis, published in New

studios”.

Guillermo Gomez Pena’s statement that we are “living in a state of

Strategies, Claire Barliant wrote, “This is possibly the first crisis of our

discussion closer to home.”

Resident artist, Tony Hayes, emphasised that “Dungarvan has

emergency”. For Brenson, this change is “very much about infrastructure;

been long overdue a location which will showcase the diverse range of

it works on a grass roots level to listen and mobilise and construct a

Rising in number since the onset of recession in 2008, empty retail

local artistic talent. The prospect of an environment which serves as a

kind of foundation for art, that powerful art institutions cannot now

units, offices, houses, and apartments have continued to blot our local

platform for local artists, film makers and writers is a very exciting and

build”.

urban landscapes. Yet initiatives across country, artist-led or otherwise,

appealing one”. Rayleen Clancy, also a resident artist, stated, “For

At street level, the arts are being continually recreated in order to

have added considerably to a restructuring of the notion of collapse, by

centuries artists have been in collectives, bouncing ideas off each other,

remain relevant and resilient. Precarious economic conditions have

transforming economically-determined vacant spaces into sites of

supporting each other and pooling their energies in order to have a

raised new questions and the development of alternative systems has

concrete practice, interaction and mobilisation for creative

louder voice. When asked if I would like to join Bridge House I jumped

become a necessity. These organisations have become a crucial part of

communities.

at the opportunity, not only to have a wonderful work environment

ongoing practice and discussion. The opening of Bridge House has

but to be amongst like minded-people who are also dedicated to the

created a new atmosphere of possibility for the town of Dungarvan. It

arts.”

represents a continuation of the conversation and belongs to a

times that has a distinctive architectural aesthetic.”

New Developments - Bridge House Arts Space Bridge House is the most recent development of this kind: a former

developing national story whose range of characters and outcomes has

bank building in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, that has been transformed

A Growing Trend

into a new arts space and studios. The doors officially opened on

Bridge House arts is part of a growing trend among larger Irish art

August 2nd, marking a new phase in the cultural life of the town. The

organisations – such as Project Arts Center, Monster Truck and Temple

Maria Tanner is a writer and curator based in Co Waterford, her

development process began after the success of the Storytelling

Bar Gallery and Studios – in devising visual art programming that

recent publications include: The Mart Catalogue (IRL ,UK),

Southeast Festival 2011, which ran for the first time in Dungarvan last

intersects either permanently or sporadically with music, film, dance

Terminal 08 platform (PL) and Paper Visual art Journal, She is

autumn. Cultural anthropologist, film maker and Storytelling

and theatre. This alignment of visual arts with a widened spectrum of

currently curating an exhibition Idionumina (www.idionumina.

Southeast’s Festival Director, Bo Mandeville, became aware of the need

art forms is beginning, in places, to represent a necessary galvanizing of

com).

to establish an active art space within the town through conversations

the cultural assets within our creative economy. Serious shortfalls in

with local artists. As a consequence, Mandeville identified Bridge

the funding available to independent arts spaces has resulted in an

House as an economically viable way for artists to sustain studio

increased willingness to share the resources at hand. This, in turn, has

spaces, while also establishing a permanent HQ for Storytelling

led to more varied approaches to the question of sustainability. A

Southeast.

recent example of this was ‘The Border’, an exhibition held at The Dock,

“It took a lot of negotiation and perseverance to get the initial contract for a year. I think the owners were not confident that we

Carrick-on-Shannon, which featured a highy successful ‘associated events’ programme of poetry and Irish music.

would manage to find artists to make it work. We are now full – with

These trends in creative alternatives are as valuable for the

11 residents – and have made it clear that we’re here to stay. We have

problems they expose as the solutions they provide. Often, complex

had some early discussions about a second lease, hopefully for two

and conflicting pictures emerge. The recent closure of Occupy Space,

years.”

Limerick and SOMA Contemporary, Waterford were significant losses in terms of maintaining an evolving platform for contemporary art in

not yet been written.

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

November – December 2012

35

professional recognition equiptment & facilities hire peer to peer studio clinics discount scheme members' contact area IAA card Artelier

REGIONAl CONTACT

Regional Contact Northern Ireland: Feargal O'Malley

I’ll begin by quoting the theme tune to Cheers, Cheers

conservative. Artist-led organisations, which have

“Making your way in the world today takes

served as the lifeblood of innovation in the visual

everything you’ve got”. Having returned from my

arts, are becoming increasingly important.

cultural walkabout across Northern Ireland (I have

Unfortunately, most artist-led organisations start off

the posterior fatigue and the botched henna tattoo

with weapon-grade enthusiasm and have a shelf life

to prove it – terrible, terrible business), I feel able to

of about two years. This has not been the case with

highlight some central concerns that seem to crop

Catalyst Arts (Belfast). It has managed to stay

up continuously, and tell you a couple (or three)

consistently relevant and adapt continuously to the

things that a man from Strabane told me.

times, while others have hit the 'difficult second album’.

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH

Artist-led organisations are hardly a new thing

I have heard how difficult it is to get an exhibition

in the visual arts – indeed they seem ubiquitous and

when you first start out. Artists say, ‘I feel isolated

commonplace now – but when Catalyst Arts began,

and outside the system, with no way of breaking in,

20 years ago, it had no working model to relate to in

especially as a stranger in a strange land’. One of the

Northern Ireland, so they went out and created one.

most important things to do is research. Before

The website states:

VAI VAI

We depend upon our membership fees and other forms of generated income to add to our Arts Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland grants.

discount scheme help desk discount scheme help desk advice professional recognition confidential Annual Membership Rates members' contact area insurance members' contact area insurance equiptment &€50facilities hire VAN subscription Standard Rate / £44 IAA card smartphone app IAA card smartphone app - Professional Artist - Standard - €50 peer to peer studio ebulletin Concession- Rate €25 / £22 Unwaged/OAP - €25 Artelier VAI at DAS Artelier VAI at DAS development clinics professional - Associate - Standard - €50 International Rates €65 - Unwaged/OAP - €25 €70 discount scheme help desk - Student €25 members' insurance Friends' Rate €60contact area - Friend €60 Your active support and financial contribution allow us to Your active support and financial contribution allow us to offer you the widest support services in the app sector.

- Arts Officer €180 IAA range cardof smartphone offer you the widest range of support services in the sector.

To help us provide even better and more extensive services - Organisation Bundle only - €100 To help us provide even better and more extensive services join today: Artelier VAI at DAS join today: Extra benefits - €180 Professional Recognition

“Catalyst Arts was formed in 1993 in response

exhibitions and identify the experience level of the

chronically under-funded, Catalyst Arts is probably

exhibited artists. Another way to better understand

best known for challenging the formal structures of

a gallery is to volunteer or to find an intern position.

curatorship by realising projects of an experimental

That way you can learn by osmosis. It’s amazing

nature which break the mould of the artist-audience

what you can pick up by making yourself familiar to

relationship and confirming art as something to

Concession Concession Rate Rate

the people in charge. Working in a gallery, like any

engage in or react to rather than something to

job, has its down-times: waiting for artwork to

‘consume’.”

International International Rates Rates

Standard Rate Standard Rate

Friends' Rate Friends' Standard Rate Rate

aspirations while unloading work from delivery

curatorial visions. I once heard someone describe it

trucks. You might just be the right person in the

as a ‘finishing school for artists’. Larger institutions

Concession Rate

right place at the right time.

like the Ulster Museum have also seen the merit in

Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell is the present

members with a meeting place to discuss their work

incumbent and, on a recent visit, her interactive

in peer critique sessions and holds an annual

installation truly took me by surprise. In describing

members’ showcase exhibition. The collective

her intentions, she writes:

recently held a very successful open submission

“I have installed myself as a living exhibit in

photography exhibition called ‘Open Now’ with a

the museum for one month. My aim is to try and

judging panel that comprised Tanya Kiang, Trish

understand what is going on in the world by

Lambe (Gallery of Photography) and Donovan

confining myself to a beige bedsit where I will

Wylie (Magnum Photos). They received over 270

constantly watch television, eat beige food, draw

submissions from 32 countries across the world. The

diagrams and make models. For some reason I think

exhibition was later moved to the Gallery of

this will help me see things more clearly.”

Photography in Dublin. How’s that for putting your name out there in a positive way?

Discount on Workshops

1 issue of VAN

1 bundle (50 copies) of VANÕ s

To help€50 us// £44 provide even better and more extensive services €50 £44 join today: €25 / £22 €25 / £22

€65 €65 €70 €70

Annual Membership Rates €60

The selection of exhibitions remains endlessly

that it exists solely for photographers. It provides

Artelier Studio Exchange

visualartists.ie • visualartists-ni.org • +353 (0)1 672 9488

fascinating and encompasses a broad scope of

that feels fresh and on the pulse.

Inclusion in Contact Area

Your active support and financial contribution allow us to Annual Rates Annual Membership Membership offer Rates you the widest range of support services in the sector.

with volunteers about their work and their

many similar entities in Belfast, although unique in

Discount Scheme

visualartists.ie visualartists.ie •• visualartists-ni.org visualartists-ni.org •• +353 +353 (0)1 (0)1 672 672 9488 9488

arrive, for example. I have had amazing conversations

established an artist-in-residence programme there

Vote at AGM

+353 (0)1 672 9488 www.visualartists.ie www.visualartists-ni.org

to what was seen as a cultural vacuum. Although

Belfast Photo Factory. This young collective is one of

Equipment Rental

Visual Artists Ireland Central Hotel Chambers 7/9 Dame Court, Dublin 2

check out its mission statement, look at past

opening their doors to Catalyst and have recently

are you a member? are you a member?

professional recognition advice Your active support and financialconfidential contribution allow us to professional recognition advice Visualconfidential Artists Ireland Ð Membership Rates and Benefits offer you the widest range of support services in the sector. equiptment & facilities hire VAN subscription To help us provide even better and moresubscription extensive services equiptment & facilities hire VAN join today: peer to to peer peer studio studio ebulletin peer ebulletin We deliver a lot of our services for free, but with membership you will find that there are additional supports that we offer. As well as contributing to the development of our visualartists.ie • visualartists-ni.org +353 development services for individual professional artists, you will also be contributing toclinics the on-going work that professional we undertake• on the behalf of(0)1 artists. 672 9488 clinics professional development

contacting a gallery, find out its history, visit it,

One group that has tried to address this is

confidential advice VAN subscription ebulletin professional development help desk insurance smartphone app VAI at DAS

€60 €50 / £44

for non-artists & non-arts organisations to keep up-to-date through the VAN and participate in our events

International Rates Friends' Rate

€25 / £22

Visual Artists Ireland Central Hotel Chambers Visual Artists Ireland 7/9 DameHotel Court,Chambers Dublin 2 Central 7/9 Dame Court, Dublin 2 +353 (0)1 672 9488 www.visualartists.ie +353 (0)1 672 9488 www.visualartists-ni.org www.visualartists.ie www.visualartists-ni.org

€65 €70 €60

Visual Artists Ireland Central Hotel Chambers 7/9 Dame Court, Dublin 2 +353 (0)1 672 9488 www.visualartists.ie www.visualartists-ni.org

To say I wasn’t expecting to see an installation of this nature would be an understatement and it is something I would love to see more of within the

lUCK

traditional museum environment.

You also need to know that luck is involved. I don’t

It would be fair to say that Catalyst has been

mean that once-in-a-while, goofball lottery luck, I

one of the most important cultural providers in

mean the persistent, gum shield, obdurate, shop

Northern Ireland over the last two decades (the list

window, bite-your-hand-off kind. Push forward,

of directors speak for itself) and for that it should be

collect yourself, fill your boots with small victories

saluted.

Image: Sonja Landweer – Large Inverted Ovoid, Ceramic

that can sustain you in between bouts of insomnia and create space to think and maneuver. I don’t want

feargal@visualartists-ni.org

to sound chakra-infused and self-helpy, or pretend to

www.visualartists-ni.org

have a magic wand to solve all life’s problems, but I would strongly recommend finding people who are going through the same experience. Support systems are fundamental to dealing with setbacks and disappointments for artists at any stage of their career.

ARTIST-lED ORgANISATIONS – THAT DIFFICUlT l lT SECOND AlBUM This is a time when many galleries are watering down their programme to achieve that all-important footfall, becoming less innovative and more

EVENTS 2 Nov 2012 – 16 Jan 2013 National Craft Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny, Ireland T + 353 (0) 56 779 6147 E info@nationalcraftgallery.ie W www.nationalcraftgallery.ie A co-production with Poetry Ireland and with Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, 9th February - 6th April 2013.

Thurs 22nd Nov, 6.30pm Late Date: Informal talk with Dr. Derek Coyle, Poet Sat 24th Nov, 10.30am Family Day: Clay Play Sat 15th Dec, 10.30am Family Day: Yarn Bomb Thurs 20th Dec, 6.30pm Late Date: Festive Choral Ensemble

Discount on Advertising

Crystalline Exhibition runs 3 Dec – 26 Jan

Millennium Court Arts Centre Portadown info@millenniumcourt.org / +44 2838 394415 www.millenniumcourt.org



  

Into the Light The Arts Council – 60 Years of Supporting the Arts

Exhibitions highlighting works from the Arts Council Collection to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

Lead Curator and Editor – Karen Downey

EXHIBITIONS CORK | DUBLIN | LIMERICK | SLIGO CRAWFORD ART GALLERY, CORK 4 December 2012 – 23 February 2013 Curated by Dawn Williams Commissioned artist Mark Clare

DUBLIN CITY GALLERY THE HUGH LANE 28 November 2012 – 24 February 2013 Curated by Michael Dempsey Commissioned artist Karl Burke

LIMERICK CITY GALLERY OF ART 30 November 2012 – 18 January 2013 Curated by Helen Carey Selected by Paul Tarpey, Anne Horrigan, Baz Burke and John Logan Commissioned artist Emmet Kierans

THE MODEL, SLIGO 7 December 2012 – 24 March 2013 Curated by Emer McGarry Commissioned artist Sean Lynch A publication featuring illustrations of works from the Arts Council Collection by over 100 artists and essays by Diarmaid Ferriter and Caoimhín MacGiolla Léith will be on sale at the exhibiting galleries.

The Arts Council, 70 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 T W

Meditation, 2009 © Patrick Scott

+353 1 676 1302 www.artscouncil.ie

West Cork Arts Centre, North Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork. t: + 353 28 22090, e: info@westcorkartscentre.com, w: wwwwestcorkartscentre.com

James L Hayes

The Essence of Taste 6 October – 24 November 2012

Multi-disciplinary, sensory-based sculptural installations exploring issues related to both environmental and economic conflict.

50% DISCOUNT OFF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE IRISH ARTS REVIEW FOR VAI MEMBERS!

Rita Duffy Arctic Circus

1 Decemer 2012 – 13 January 2013

An exhibition comprising oil and watercolour paintings, soap sculptures and a seal-skin, willow and sound installation.

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

RHA AUTUMN SEASON

Arts Council of Northern Ireland Developing the arts in Northern Ireland

Arts Council of Northern Ireland, MacNeice House, 77 Malone Road, Belfast BT9 6AQ. T: +44 (28) 9038 5200. W: www.artscouncil-ni.org. E: info@artscouncil-ni.org

Image: Brendan Jamison, Green JCB bucket with holes. Arts Council Collection

Stephanie Rowe, Untitled Untitled, 2012, Oil on panel, 10 x 13.5 cm, Image courtesy of the artist

7 Sep – 28 Oct FUTURES 12: Lucy Andrews, Peter Burns, Caoimhe Kilfeather, Ed Miliano, Jim Ricks, Stephanie Rowe Gavin Murphy On Seeing Only Totally New Things / Something New Under the Sun 7 Sep – 4 Nov

Julie Merriman Draw full size

7 Sep – 21 Dec Michael Warren RHA Predella Seán Keating and the ESB Enlightenment and Legacy Admission Free

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

Warning: This exhibition contains broken glass – children must be supervised at all times.

Bronze Art, Fine art Foundry

Lightness Suki Chan, Tracy Hanna, Sofie Loscher, Grace Weir & Niamh McCann Thu 27th Sept – 29th Nov, Open 10am – 6pm (later on show nights)

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 Niamh McCann, Perch ((Recreating Recreating the Natural Habitat Habitat)), Mixed Media Sculpture / Re-appropriated Neon, Taxidermied Bird, Veneered Wood, Aluminium Fixing

Mermaid gallery Mermaid Arts Centre Main Street Bray Co. Wicklow

Unit 3, Gaelic St, Dublin 3, Ireland.

Tel: 353-1-8552452 Fax: 353-1-8552453 Email: bronzeartireland@hotmail.com

www.bronzeart.ie

Call 01 2724030 or visit mermaidartscentre.ie

Maurice Ward Art Handling launch new ART BOX service:

Art Box:A Safe, Insured, Affordable,International,Doorto-Door Art Shipping Service At Maurice Ward Art Handling, our principal interest is the safe and secure transport of your artworks. We are now offering an Art Box service that is designed for sending relatively small, flat, inexpensive artworks from Ireland to any destination worldwide without the need to avail of a dedicated fine art service.

SAFE

AFFORDABLE

ART BOX has been designed using high quality materials that are regularly used in the packing and transport of artworks: • •

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Clean, clear 50μ polythene to keep artwork safe from dust and scratching Four layers of robust, chemicallyneutral 25mm polyethylene foam to secuely sandwich artwork, minimise any movement and provide high quality cushioning 8mm double wall 400lb corrugated card to protect artwork from impact and pressure Initially available in two sizes: the 80 x 80cm size can accommodate an artwork measuring 70 x 70cm, the 100 x 100cm size can take an artwork 90 x 90cm. Either could accommodate several smaller artworks.

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INSURED

The price for ART BOX includes delivery of the box to your premises anywhere in Ireland, insurance of the work to a value of €1,000 and national or international courier service to your destination.

When compared to separate puchase of packaging, insurance and shipping, ART BOX represents a significant saving for you: see our sample prices below.

Check our website or call us for other destinations

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Insurance for ART BOX is based on value and covers works up to a value of €1,000; higher values can be covered on request.

ART BOX is also available without transport or insurance, if you just want the box; call us for prices.

Because of its solid construction, where convenient, ART BOX can be reused; replacement internal foam is available if required

Ireland

UK

Germany

USA

Hong Kong

100 x 100cm

€89.00

€130.00

€166.00

€226.00

€299.00

€75.00

To find out what’s on near you right now, visit Culturefox.ie on your computer or mobile phone.

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Size

80 x 80cm

Culturefox.ie is the definitive online guide to Irish cultural events, giving you complete information about cultural activities both here and abroad.

€104.00

The ART BOX service will be launched at ArtSource in the RDS, 8 – 11 November, so for more information call over to our stand – A78 – where we will be happy to help you.

€137.00

€185.00

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C X O E D V G U O Q P Z

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Donegal County Council Cultural Services Public Art Program invites you to the launch of

Making Shapes 2 Public Art in Donegal 2013 - 2017 www.donegalpublicart.ie

K U A C A

21 Years of Public Art in Donegal Exhibition

(Exhibition continues until Friday 8th February 2013)

Tuesday 4th December, 2pm Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny Ms. Terre Duffy Public Art Manager terre.duffy@donegalcoco.ie

WWW.MAURICEWARD-ARTHANDLING.COM E: MOVINGART@MAURICEWARD.COM UNIT J10, SWORDS BUSINESS PARK, SWORDS, CO. DUBLIN. T: +353 1 840 9099

One-to-One Mentoring Opportunity —

Sculpture Workshop Space For Hire —

Session dates: 27 & 28 November 2012 Closing date for applications: Friday 16 November 2012 Price: €20

Hire of space in the Sculpture Workshop is available for €50 per week. The workshop can facilitate most scales of work.

Each working bay now has wall-mounted gas heaters.

Curators Aisling Prior and Padraic Moore will give one-to-one critical feedback and practical support to artists and curators on:

Further info: www.firestation.ie/facilities

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– their practice – presenting themselves – their project proposals Includes a one hour meeting between applicants and curator at Fire Station Artists’ Studios in November 2012 with a follow up studio visit/meeting in January 2013.

Open to all artists and curators who are actively practicing or interested in taking a new direction.

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Apply online: www.firestation.ie (from 5 November) Enquiries: artadmin@firestation.ie or Tel: 01 8069010

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