Garrett Phelan
NEW FAITH LOVE SONG
21 June–23 September 2012
Performance: Thursday, 21 June, 9–9:25pm
Exhibition: Friday, 22 June–Sunday, 23 September
Irish Museum of Modern Art – New Galleries
Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland
Hours: Tue & Thu–Sat, 10–5:30pm; Wed, 10:30–5:30pm
Sun & bank holidays, 12–5:30pm
Admission is free
T +353-1-612 9900
info [at] imma.ie
In his project NEW FAITH LOVE SONG, Garrett Phelan provides a striking exploration of the dilemma of faith and the quest to provide an explanation for the mystery, marvel, and miracle of the world around us.
NEW FAITH LOVE SONG comprises an ambitious off-site live performance sound work, and a site-specific installation in IMMA’s New Galleries.
The live performance sound work involves the bell-ringers of both Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin city centre, which can be heard from 9 to 9:25pm on Thursday, 21 June. It is recommended that the listening location for the sound work is between the two cathedrals on Nicholas Street, Dublin, Ireland.
For Phelan, the iconic institutions of both cathedrals act for the performance as transmitters in a declaration pronouncing the arrival of ‘new faith.’ The sound work becomes a living sculpture intertwined with the ambience and fabric of the city. The bell towers broadcast this sound beyond its natural limits, staving off its own decay. The sound waves are projected into the ether, with the message that ‘All is OK’—a modest yet reassuring affirmation of faith.
Phelan views both the performance and the exhibition as one piece, the exhibition at IMMA acting as an artefact of the temporal live performance. Exhibited are drawings, sculptures, animations, and photographic documentation of the bell-ringers’ torsos, ropes, and mechanisms within the bell towers. A number of the drawings are a meditation on the process of arranging the sound work, visually rendering the ropes, and notation. The exhibition is an extension of Phelan’s sentiment of NEW FAITH LOVE SONG, a testimony and celebration of our very own mortality and our humanity in these uncertain times.
Born in 1965 in Dublin, Garrett Phelan has exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally, including the 11th Lyon Biennial, France; 4th Auckland Triennial, New Zealand; SMART Project Space, Amsterdam; ICA, London; The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Kunstverein, Hanover; Art Statements, Basel 39; Manifesta 5, San Sebastián, Spain; and previously at IMMA.
This exhibition was commissioned by former Director of IMMA Enrique Juncosa, and is co-curated by him and Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA.
This exhibition is accompanied by a publication designed by Peter Maybury.
The St Patrick’s Cathedral Amateur Society of Change Ringers
The Christ Church Cathedral Bell Ringers
Public tours
These are informal tours providing a general introduction to the exhibition on Tuesday 4pm, Wednesday 2:30pm, Thursday 4pm, Friday 2:30pm, Saturday 12 and 4pm, Sunday 2:30pm. Each tour is approximately 20 minutes. No booking required.
