All humans do
21 April–27 June 2012
Previews:
Saturday 21 April, 6pm
The Model
The Mall
Sligo, Ireland
www.themodel.ie
Curated by Aoife Tunney
Associate Curator Chris Fite-Wassilak
The Model’s latest contemporary art exhibition opens on April 21, 2012. Featuring 12 Irish Artists: David Beattie, Rhona Byrne, Brendan Earley, Aleana Egan, Fergus Feehily, Mark Garry, Kevin Kirwan, Bea Mc Mahon, Niamh O’Malley, Locky Morris, Dennis Mc Nulty & Tasmin Snow.
“I don’t even know who I am anymore. Who am I? Do you know who you are?” Hari asks. “Yes, all humans do,” Kris Kelvin replies.
It is a function of our biology to strive to survive day to day. Our futures—and our forming identities—depend on the choices we make. Once we make a choice, we are oblivious to other possible futures; but we sometimes remain transfixed by the path not taken, its unknown and unfilled potential. We can have regret, imaginings and even memories of that unknown possibility.
In Andrei Tarkovsky’s film of the sci-fi classic Solaris (1972), psychologist Kris Kelvin meets his dead wife on a space station in mysterious disarray. She is confused and asks Kelvin who she really is. Michel Foucault wrote in The Politics of Truth, “One of the main moral obligations for any subject is to know oneself, to tell the truth about oneself, and to constitute as an object of knowledge both for other people and oneself.”
The artists in this show reflect on the everyday experiences of materials, of literature, music, our interaction with knowledge and the incomprehensible phenomena of aspects outside of ourselves, which we accept but may not understand. The artists’ processes and the physical outcome is the telling of their journey, and the choices and mistakes made are perhaps analogous to getting to know oneself.
Artists
Aleana Egan solo show The Douglas Hyde Dublin 2012, solo show The Drawing Room, London 2010, The Sculpture Center, New York 2010, Berlin Biennale 2008, Art Statements, Basel 2009.
Dennis Mc Nulty Performa NYC 2011, De l’émergence du Phénix, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris 2011.
Rhona Byrne Curator Paul O’Niell’s project, Our day will come, Tasmania 2011, De l’émergence du Phénix, Centre Culturel Irlandais, 2011.
Mark Garry Stephen Friedman London, Cave, Detroit, 2011, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh 2010, Serpentine Gallery, London 2011, represented Ireland at Venice Biennale 2005.
Bea Mc Mahon 2011 two person show CCA Glasgow 2011, solo show John Latham Foundation, London 2011.
Locky Morris solo show Cultural Arts Centre, Letterkenny 2011, solo show Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin 2010.
Fergus Feehily Modern Art, London, 2011,Tanya Bonakdar, New York 2011.
David Beattie solo show, TBG + S, Dublin 2011, Mattress Factory, 2010.
Tamsin Snow UNBUILDING, Mermaid Arts Centre, Dublin, 2010.
Brendan Earley solo show RHA, Dublin 2012, solo show Mother’s Tanksation, Dublin 2011. Niamh O’Malley, Dublin Contemporary 2011, solo show Green on Red Gallery 2011, Screening, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne 2011.
Kevin Kirwan, Transitive Relationships, Limerick City Gallery 2012, solo show Cake Contemporary, IRL 2011, Gracelands, IRL 2010.
Curatorial Panel members
Gavin Delahunty, Head of exhibitions & displays, TATE Liverpool.
Seamus Kealy, Director, The Model, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sligo.
Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, critic & curator.
Declan Long, Course director, Art in the Contemporary world, NCAD, Dublin.
