Active Archive - Slow Institution

Active Archive – Slow Institution is a major research project that will delve into Project’s rich 50+ year history. It will see the gallery transformed into a research-archive-work-meeting space, a place for study containing documents and archives that uncover the histories of one of Ireland’s oldest public art institutions.

One of the main drives behind the project has been to look at what future proposal for transformation is inscribed within Project’s diverse histories. Studying and interrogating documents and archival environments enables us to recover the history of the country’s formative arts centre, and in turn invites us to reflect on that history in light of pressing contemporary issues and urgencies. We can rethink: the changing conditions of artistic labour and production; the agency of artistic and curatorial work in relation to economic, social, and political institutions and power; the status of exhibitions; and the role of public institutions. The project aims to generate discussions and conversations with professionals and the wider public, inviting them to read Project’s 50+ years via wider cultural, institutional, political, social and intellectual contexts—including the urban redevelopment of the Celtic Tiger years; gender representation; the history of Irish feminism; and LGBTQ rights. Prepared with curator and writer Valerie Connor, the first chapter of this long-term research focuses on the 1990s as a turning point in Ireland’s social, political and cultural history. The resulting exhibition in early 2019 will draw special attention to the redevelopment of Project Arts Centre, during which time a series of commissions (including the OFF Site projects and Maurice O’Connell’s Demolishing Project) were commissioned and produced while the institution presented theatre, music gigs and performances at a rented venue called Project@the Mint. Through looking at this decisive transformation of the centre, we may reflect on how these changes have affected the ways the institution has advanced its cultural, social and political public discourse, advocating for and supporting contemporary expressions of identity, equality, race, gender and class.

A new commission by Irish artist Christopher Mahon, Couched further develops the artist’s most recent sculptural and performative experiments using his family couch. The piece of furniture was designed by his father and has been re-upholstered using laser printed images of his mother’s sculptural work. The piece proposes to present itself as a complex item: a changing sculptural constellation; a conversational corner; and a performative platform which ties in to the “Active Archive – Slow Institution” project. The work weaves together various art and intimate histories, examining spaces that are conducive to confiding, sensuality, and the need to lounge. The piece will be activated through readings and performative events. 

My Name is Language is a performative work on the topic of names: how they can be given as well as withdrawn, inflicted, collected, hidden or adapted. Dutch visual artist Nicoline van Harskamp has collected naming stories from around the world, asking people, “What is your name, who gave it to you and what does it mean in your language?” In Ireland, she learned about historic “name songs,” the politics of using Irish or English names, the results of a radically deregulated national naming system, and a much-loved play about the translation of names. Audience and cast sit together in an institutional waiting room and listen to the stories, one after another, in a range of languages. My Name is Language will be performed in English and various languages with English subtitles. 

My Name is Language was commissioned by steirischer herbst, Graz and Project Arts Centre, produced by steirischer herbst in co-production with Project Arts Centre. Made possible with kind support of Mondriaan Fund and Civic Offices & Dublin City Council . Thanks to the Estate of Brian Friel for the usage of play excerpts.

Project Arts Centre is generously supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Dublin City Council.