ABOUT 100 EXPERIMENTS

Curated by Eilís Lavelle, the exhibition explores the ways in which contemporary visual artists respond to, and draw upon scientific discoveries, ideas and methods. The work of 20 artists, acclaimed and emerging will be presented at various locations throughout the town.

In 1907 Charles Parsons conducted 'about 100 experiments' in his initial attempts to create artificial diamonds. This was a costly quest and in his biography described as 'the senseless pursuit of a chimera.' [1] In 1955 scientists at the General Electric Company's laboratories in America turned graphite into diamond using essentially the same methods as Parsons pioneered.

[1] Garrett W, From Galaxies To Turbines: Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol and Philadelphia, 2000)

From working methods, re-discoveries, borrowed paradigms and the endless search of what from what may appear at times to be the pursuit of a chimera a diverse range of visual arts practices come together in this group exhibition over 5 venues throughout the town of Birr including the Masonic Hall, Birr Union Workhouse, Birr Castle Demesne Pavilion and Emma Café Deli.

Venue - BIRR UNION WORKHOUSE

The main venue where the work of seventeen artists will be displayed including Aideen Barry, Diana Caramaschi, Anita Delaney, Damien Flood, Jessica Foley, Michael Fortune, Fiona Hackett, Helen Hughes, Wendy Judge, Aileen Lambert, Sarah Lincoln, Brian Lynch, Christine Makey, Orla McHardy, Kate Minnock, Jack Phelan & Sharon Phelan.

Artists

Aideen Barry
works in the mediums of performance, film, musical composition, drawings and animation. She recently was awarded funding from the Arts Council of Ireland’s Projects: New Work Award towards the creation of a new work filmed in Zero Gravity. In 2008 she hopes to be the first Irish Woman in Space. Her film project Vacuuming is currently under production and her first shoot is scheduled for this September.
www.aideenbarry.com


Anita Delaney
works mainly in video and animation. Her work is concerned with the exploration of the limits of human communication particularly in relation to language, semiotics and genre. She exhibits extensively nationally and internationally.
www.anitadelaney.net


Diana Caramaschi
has been practicing as a visual artist and exhibiting in Ireland since 2002 on completion of her BA in NCAD. Her practice centers on video installations, photography and drawings.
Diana Completed her MA in Visual Art practice in 2007 and is currently working on a new body of work that explores her theory of ' The Third Language'. This concept proposes the simultaneous experience of two concepts or ideas in order to explore the relationship and interaction between the unconscious and the consciousness in popular culture.
Diana's practice involves ongoing research with the aim of formulating theories of visual expression and visual reception within popular culture.


Damien Flood
creates modern landscapes that reference the history of painting with an underlying fantastical element. Using imagery gathered from many and varied sources including the voyage of the H.M.S Challenger, a research trip that explored the oceans in the 19th century. Flood completed his Masters of Fine Art at NCAD with his graduate show at the Digital Hub in June 2008. Selected for the John Moores 25 Contemporary Painting Prize 2008.


Jessica Foley
is a native of Birr’s hinterlands, currently living and working in Dublin. Following the completion of her MA at NCAD in 2007, she has been developing work which explores the use of writing, sound & installation as forms of inquiry and investigation into concepts of space, repetition, language and childhood.


Michael Fortune
Fortune's work practice spans the formats of writing, video and photography. He holds a M.A. in Film and a B.A. in Fine Art. In 2008 he presented work in The Edinburgh Film Festival (Scotland), Visions in the Nunnery (London), Live Art Falmouth (England), The Mirror Stage (Cyprus), Darklight (Dublin), Nickle (Newfoundland), Galway Film Fleadh, (Galway) and Video Art Screening (Sweden).


Fiona Hackett
is a graduate in photography from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire in 2007. The focus of Hackett’s photography to date explores aspects of contemporary human experience and she has exhibited in a number of group shows including EV+A, 2008 & 2006, SCAN, 2008, RHA Annual Art Exhibition, 2007, the RDS Taylor Awards, 2006.
www.fionahackettphoto.com


Helen Hughes
studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, graduating in 1998. Currently living and working in Dublin. Her practice has evolved from painting to making sculpture and site-specific installations. She is drawn to the use of industrially produced, disposable and often brightly coloured materials and goods that are generally visible and in abundance in the world around us.


Wendy Judge
is an artist based in Dublin. She recently exhibited ‘Great Works’ at the Goethe-Institut, Dublin with an accompanying publication ‘Collected Views of Great Works From The 20th Century’. She has shown in a number of selected exhibitions and publications. Her current practise explores anomalous structures within the landscape, primarily through sculpture and drawing.


Aileen Lambert
Lambert’s practice spans video, performance and sound work. Recent solo shows include Come and Gone, Wexford Arts Centre and Tide, Sirius Arts Centre both in 2008. A recent graduate of the MA in Visual Arts Practices, IADT in 2007. Resent awards and bursary include the Arts Council in 2007 and Wexford County Council in 2008.


Sarah Lincoln
has exhibited as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival (2006), Ard Bia, Galway (2006), Room 103 Gallery, New Zealand (2007) and ‘thisisnotashop’, Dublin, (2007). Sarah’s work shifts through scale and form, yet the persistent drive to articulate what is large and beyond us remains the driving force of her practice.


Brian Lynch
is a multi media artist who recently graduated in Fine Art Print from NCAD. He was selected as the Blackchurch Print Studio Award Winner 2008.






Christine Makey
is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD at the University of Ulster. Forthcoming exhibitions include: 2008-2009 The State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece, The Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice, Poland, MEDIATIONS II BIENNALE Museum Of Modern Art, Poznan, Poland, 2 UNOACTU – Dresden. Recent exhibitions include; RIVERwork(s) The Sligo Art Gallery, Exploration – ‘drawing’s exploring some worlds’ Highlands Gallery and Drogheda Arts Centre (2008), The Context Gallery, Derry, The Lab Galley, Dublin (2006).


Orla McHardy
has a background in fine art and animation. She is currently developing two short collaborative short film/moving image projects.
www.orlamchardy.com



Kate Minnock
has exhibited nationally and internationally since graduating from NCAD in 2003, including a solo exhibition as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival '06 and in group exhibitions as part of Tulca, Claremorris Open Exhibition, Galway Arts Centre, Monster Truck, Eisge. Selected to participate in LindArt ’08, an international collaborative residency in Slovenia.


Jack Phelan
completed the MSc. in Multimedia Systems in TCD in 2005 and currently working as an artist and freelance video/electronics designer in theatre. Recently exhibitions include 'Garden of Digital Lies' at The Lab, Dublin in 2008.


Sharon Phelan
is a recent graduate of NCAD Fine Art Media. Her work explores dynamic and emergent systems through installation using sound, video and electronics. She has recently exhibited in The Lab, in the group show 'The Garden of Digital Lies' and the NCAD Graduate Show 2008.


Venue - MASONIC HALL

I see a darkness. New oil paintings by Mark Cullen that contend with the stars, the heavens, atomic material and how it is subjectivised in our imaginations through popular science and science fiction, and how its imagery is presented in scientific media. While science attempts to make the world tangible with tools of understanding, science fiction panders to the wilds of our imaginations making demands on our ability to stretch logic, time and material possibilities. The paintings fall between collecting observable data and allowing the information to be extrapolated into subjective territories.

Mark Cullen
works with various media as an artist and curator. Works include MAIM XI for Irish Museum Modern Art, Temporary Portable Reservoirs at The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin and Siege House, London, Cosmic Annihilator, an installation at Pallas Heights and Open EV+A (curated by Dan Cameron 2005) Limerick City Gallery. Co-founding partner of Pallas Studios, Dublin and director of Pallas Contemporary Projects a new space for experimental art in Dublin. Pallas through their various guises and programmes have been key exponents of experimental art practice in Dublin.
www.pallasprojects.org
www.pallasheights.org
www.pallasstudios.org


Venue - BIRR CASTLE DEMESNE PAVILLION

Anna Baraham and Clodagh Emoe exhibit new work in the unique pentangle glass pavilion located beside the Leviathan telescope in the grounds of Birr Castle Demesne.

Clodagh Emoe
is based at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin and has undertaken collaborative art projects both nationally and internationally. These include: Ready Made Art Magazine, sponsored by Whitechapel Gallery, London, An Exhibition in Five Chapters, CAC, Vilnius and Somewhere Here, NSCAD, Canada. A research scholar at GradCam- focusing on the “in-between” condition in visual art representation.


Anna Barham
lives and works in London. Recent exhibitions include: 2008 On Your Marks, Pippy Houldsworth, London; 2007 Like Leaves, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA; Lost Tongues Rediscovered, Stroom, The Hague, NL; solo project with Four gallery at ART 2007, Dublin, IE. In 2005-6 she did a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
www.annabarham.net


Venue - EMMA'S CAFÉ DELI

A supplemental drawing and print exhibition offering a closer look at the working methods and preliminary studies made by some of the artists exhibiting in About 100 Experiments.

CURATOR

Eilís Lavelle
is a freelance curator and Gallery Manager based in Co. Wicklow. Previous projects include Timelines an exhibition & screening at the Mermaid Arts Centre in October 2007. Timelines featured a diverse range of practices including drawing, painting, video, film and animation. Work by 8 Irish and International artists, animators and film makers accompanied the exhibition. Other projects include curating a drawing exhibition for the Wicklow County Council to open in October 2008.


Curators Talk
Eilís Lavelle will hold a talk on About 100 Experiments following Margaret Hogan's historic tour of the Workhouse at 3pm, Monday 18 August.

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Venues will be open from 12-6pm daily.