Ive been pretty late in getting around to posting about this so apologies.
I was pretty excited about Dublin Contemporary because I had just moved to the city, just enrolled in my Masters course at NCAD and this was my first major biennial/exhibition that I was going to be attending (embarrassing I know). These are some of the better photographs from that day out Ive included the blurbs that went along with the catalogue as further information on some of the artists exhibited. I'll give my response to the exhibition at the end...
There is an accompanying audio piece that accompanies it which came from inside the piece. I loved how this work completely absorbed its surroundings.
The blurb says
Liam O’Callaghan’s work intentionally exposes the methods and mechanics of its construction while simultaneously imbuing it with a sense of meaning and magic beyond its constituent parts. O’Callaghan’s sculptures and photographs delight the viewer with irreverence and humour and a vibrant use of colour, while also inducing meditations on the fragility and transience of life and the roll of improvisation in human endeavours. O’Callaghan has exhibited at, among other venues, Temple Bar Gallery 2011; the Irish Museum of Modern Art 2011; the Douglas Hyde Gallery 2010; Rasche Ripken, Berlin 2009; Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 2008; the Royal Hibernian Academy, 2006
Alejandro Almanza Pereda
Alejandro Almanza Pereda builds enigmatic and unpredictable arrangements that overturn the typical production, consumption and use of objects while exploring ideas of architecture and precariousness. Almanza’s recent exhibitions include I Did It My Way and Took the Highway, Fundación Magnolia presentation at 33-34 Hoxton Square; The heaviest baggage for the traveller is the empty one, Magnan Metz Gallery, New York 2010; Those who live by the sword, die by the sword or by third hand smoke, Chert, Berlin Germany 2009. His work has also been exhibited at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City 2009; Museo del Barrio New York City 2007, Art in General New York City 2007.
Maser first started painting graffiti in 1995. He quickly gained a reputation as one of the most innovative artists working in the field, owing to his combination of unique typographic styles, photorealistic elements with uplifting and socially conscious messages. Alongside his paintings in the public realm, Maser also produces works on canvas and in print. Examples of Maser’s work can be seen in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Czech Republic and the UK. In his early years he was awarded membership of the International Society of Typographic Designers. In 2010 he conceived and implemented the “They are us” project with musician Damien Dempsey which raised over €29,ooo for the Dublin Simon community.
Alberto Borea
Alberto Borea is a conceptual artist whose work is chiefly concerned with non-places, transit, movement mapping and identity. His work is characterized by the continuous displacement and use of diverse media and materials. Alberto Borea has participated in diverse exhibitions in Europe, Latin America and the U.S. These include El Museo del Barrio Biennial 2011, Museo de Arte de Lima 2009, and Museo de Huelva, Spain 2009.
Claudio Parmiggiani
Claudio Parmiggiani is a conceptual artist working with diverse media such as installation, sculpture and collage. Parmiggiani is interested in the idea of presence, traces, shadows and the spiritual. His first major exhibition was held at Liberia Feltrinelli, Bologna in 1965. Since then, Parmiggiani’s work has been widely exhibited at, among other venues, the Musée des Beaux-arts de Nantes, France 2007; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna 2003; and Museum of Art, Tel-Aviv 2003. Recently, a major retrospective of his work was shown simultaneously at the Palazzo del Governatore and at the Church of San Marcellino in Parma 2010-2011. He has participated at the Venice Biennial five times
"The core of Amanda Coogan’s practice is durational live performance. These live events in turn feed into a body of video and photographic works. Coogan’s pieces have been seen at festivals including the 2003 Venice Biennial and the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. In 2009 she presented her seminal durational performance, “The Fall”, over 17 days at the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. In the same year, Coogan curated Accumulator, the first live performance-based exhibition in Ireland at VISUAL, Center for Contemporary Art, Carlow. She was awarded the Allied Irish Bank’s Art prize in 2004."
Mark Clare
Revolving around the themes of globalisation, politics and economics, Mark Clare’s work analyses the formation of identity and self- empowerment. Clare has had several national and international solo exhibitions including shows at The Illges Gallery in Georgia 2011, the Torrance Art Museum in California 2011, and the Institute of Contemporary Art Newtown in Sydney 2008. He was awarded the 2008 Open Award ev+a by the international critic and curator Hou Hanru.
Jim Lambie" [He]takes the ephemera of modern life and transforms it into vibrant sculptural installations. Working with items immediately to hand, as well as those sourced in second-hand and hardware stores, he resurrects record decks, speakers, clothing, accessories, doors, chairs and mirrors to form sculptural elements in larger compositions. He selects materials that are familiar and have a strong personal resonance, so that they offer a way into the work as well as a springboard to a psychological space beyond. Lambie has had exhibitions at MOMA, New York, 2009; The Hara Museum,Tokyo 2008; Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, 2008 and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2008. In 2003 Lambie represented Scotland at the 50th Venice Biennial and in 2005 was nominated for the Turner Prize."
Jannis Kounellis
Jannis Kounellis is widely regarded as one of the most significant artists of the last half century. Kounellis was one of the key exponents of Arte Povera, a movement that flourished in Italy in the late 1960’s and has had a radical influence on subsequent art making. His work breaks down the distinction between ‘high’ art and everyday objects and experiences, utilising mundane materials such as coal, meat, ground coffee, burlap, lead and smoke. In recent years, his work has taken on a more architectural scale and vocabulary, creating vast, labyrinthine installations that continue to employ the modest materials for which he is known. In ‘Senza Titolo’, Kounellis signature materials are treated with gold leaf, invoking a transcendent, almost spiritual experience. Among Jannis Kounellis’ major exhibitions are shows at the Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1985); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1986); the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1997); Modern Art Oxford, UK (2004); and the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2008).
A beautiful set of photographs by Richard Mosse. Check out the youtube video of the artist talking about this series of photographs,
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Richard Mosse is driven by an ambivalence toward photography and a desire to revisit and even rewrite traumatic cultural histories. His work seeks to explore and subvert photographic genres in order to unpack history and try to understand how the world is written. Mosse has exhibited work at, Akademie der Kunst most recently in 2009, the Barbican Art Gallery in 2008, the Fotofest 2010 Biennial and the Tate Modern in 2008. Mosse was selected for the 2005 Perspective Award.
Wilfredo Prieto
Wilfredo Prieto’s work manages to combine a finely honed conceptual sensibility with an unusual immediacy and humour. He subtly manipulates objects and situations from daily life in ways that are both amusing and encourage the viewer to reassess the familiar. With a notable economy of means, and an almost surgical precision he alters our experience of the everyday. Prieto’s work has been seen at Biennials in Venice 2007; Singapore 2006 and Havana 2003. Recent solo exhibitions include Tied up to the Table Leg, CA2M, Madrid, Spain 2011, Mountain, S.M.A.K. Ghent, Belgium 2008; Dead Angle (lost bills), Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France, 2006; MUSAC, Leon, Spain, 2005. In 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Cartier award.
David Zink Yi
Working in sculpture, film, and photography, David Zink-Yi is concerned with the concept of identity and its process of development, drawing a large part of its inspiration from his own life spanning several cultures. In his objects and installations, minimalist, reduced elements are fused with deliberately opulent ones to create an aesthetic language of form. In his filmic work the artist shows music and body language as isolated fragments, resulting in emotion and expression being made abstract. Sound and choice of picture motif reflect here the fragments of a personal, social and political situation. He has had solo exhibitions at the Midway Contemporary Art, Minnesota 2011, MAK in Vienna 2010, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen 2009 and the Ludwig museum in Köln 2006. His work was also part of Manifesta 5 2004.
since the nineties, Monica Bonvicini has produced work in different media that explores the construction of sexual identity through architecture. Her large-scale sculptural work includes feisty sexual references and challenges modernism and the gendered nature of the built. Monica Bonvicini’s solo exhibitions include the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga (2011); Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2010); the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano (2009); the Lenbachhaus, Munich & Kunstmuseum Basel; Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (2009); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2007); and the Sculpture Center, New York (2007). "
"juxtaposes both historical and recent events with newly built elements, to examine and unpick both systems of influence, and embedded expectations. Abandoned sites of activity, fairground archives, cinema, slapstick scenarios, original arcade gaming and re-created installations, are utilised as a strategy for finding and asking key questions. From 1996 to 2009, Duggan was the co-founder/director of Pallas Studios, Heights and Projects. He has received several awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, and South Dublin County Council. Currently selected for the ARP artists residency program in the Irish Museum of Modern Art 2011. Upcoming exhibitions include Hugh Lane, RuaRed, Unit H Bangkok, Crawford Gallery Cork and CCA Glasgow."
" Since the beginning of the 1990s, Nedko Solakov has exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States. His work was featured in Aperto’93 (Venice Biennial); the 48th, 49th, 50th and 52nd Venice Biennial; the 3rd, 4th and 9th Istanbul Biennial; São Paulo’94; Manifesta 1, Rotterdam; the 2nd and 4th Gwangju Biennial; the 5th Lyon Biennial, Sonsbeek 9, Arnhem, the 4th and 5th Cetinje Biennial, the 1st Lodz Biennial; the 7th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates; the 3rd Tirana Biennial; the 2nd Seville Biennial; the 2nd Moscow Biennial; documenta 12; 16th Sydney Biennial; Prospect 1, New Orleans Biennial and Singapore Biennial 2011."
My Conclusion
Having entered Earlsfort Terrace not knowing what to expect, I left the building not knowing how to digest what I had just seen. I was initially surprised at the aesthetics of the building and the curators choice to maintain the unkempt, dilapidated, and cold interiors. While I felt both a surge of relief and curiosity at the turn away from the white cube model, I felt at times the decayed state of some of the rooms overshadowed some works, while others such as O Callaghan's sculptures were enhanced, feeding upon their surroundings. Another triumph for these settings was Irish artist Niamh O Malley's video piece in which eerie alienation and coldness penetrated childhood fears of being alone in darkness.
Given the awkward layout of the venue, there was a few curatorial decisions that should have been avoided. Positioning a monstrous sculpture Us by one of the curators (Jota Castro) in the biggest and most prominent space in the venue was ill-advised in my opinion. Add to this that the piece itself was badly constructed and devoid of any charm.
Mark Cullens Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space was crammed into a tiny box room and badly lit.But some pieces as I mentioned before embodied their surroundings such as O Callaghans. I was also happy to see that one of the first pieces that you encounter upon arrival is that of graffiti artist Maser. Its inclusion( I hope ) reignites the discourse surrounding the value of street art and his piece held its own alongside the more established artists.
Thinking in retrospect about the venue, perhaps the aesthetic of the building was some sort of metaphor for the crumbling, decaying economic position that this little island finds itself in. Instead of concealing the rot which our bankers failed so miserably to do, we are asked to instead see beyond the decay towards the possibility of regeneration, and revolution. I would not call the overall exhibition a complete success but neither would I condemn it to failure or measure its success by attendance figures, such as the norm. Considering that it came together within six months is remarkable and the large representation of Irish artists was welcomed. I hope this is not the last we see of larger art exhibitions in Ireland.
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