Curb Your Carrie Bradhsawism

The Premiere Exhibition at The MART Gallery Dublin

September 2013

Artists:
Alison Cronin, Amy Walsh, Andrew Carson, Andrew Healy, Anne O’Byrne, Aoife Giles, Camilla Fanning, Claire Nash, Cliona Harmey, Debbie Jenkinson, Eleanor Lawler, Emily Boylan, Gearoid O’Dea, Ida Mitrani, James L Hayes, Jessica Conway, Karen Tierney, Katherine Nolan, Michelle Hall, Moya Clarken, Niamh Hannaford, Olive Barrett, Orla Gilheany, Rebecca McGetrick, Seamus Bradley, Stephanie Golden, Terence Erraught.

Curated by Ciara Scanlan & Matthew Nevin.

THE MART, a new visual arts depot located in the iconic old fire station in Rathmines, Dublin, has been reappropriated to house multifarious elements, which include several galleries, an art shop, a workshop space and studios. MART seeks to position itself as a mediator of social and cultural transformation, through engagement with the arts. This dynamic venture will provide an accessible location and platform to develop and promote Irish and International contemporary visual art, one of the key principles fostered by MART.

This exhibition highlights the cycle of creativity beyond the confines of the gallery. Through a Fund-it campaign to raise resources for MART’s new premises, all contributors who invested in the initiative were invited to participate in the Curb your Carrie Bradshawism exhibition, in recognition of their support. This is a strong gesture and reflective of the inclusive nature of MART’s modus operandi. The realisation of this exhibition in this rejuvenated space sees the outcome of an exciting venture come full circle, culminating in the official launch of this new venue.

MART’s egalitarian ethos is echoed in the inaugural exhibition Curb your Carrie Bradshawism, as each participating artist will be given an identical challenge – to work within the constraints of a cardboard box, in any visual arts medium. As our culture is evolving into a society full of restrictions and limitations, artist’s struggle to find financial resources and opportunities to showcase their voice. The format of the exhibition and its established restrictions will generate an equal standing for each of the artist’s involved, without prejudice or favouritism.

The title of the exhibition Curb your Carrie Bradshawism, weighs heavily on contemporary material and cultural ideology. The all-pervading suffix, ‘ism’ has become commonplace and part of visual art pop culture. It enables the user to attain a certain gravity, or level of authenticity in their distinctive practice, philosophy or artistic movement in contemporary art. By initiating a response to the fad of ‘ism’, another layer is added to the prerequisite conditions imposed on the artist’s.

Impossible to ignore, Carrie Bradshaw becomes a focal point of the exhibitions title. Her character from Sex and the City, has become symbolic of consumerism, excess and materialism. Her happiness appears to be counted in material goods such as shoes, bags and couture clothes, in strict contrast to values and quality of life, and acts as an interesting foil to the realities of the artistic lifestyle. How would she survive the recession or economic hardship?

According to the philosopher Jacques Lacan, how somebody reads and interprets an artwork is determined in large by their subject position, as they inevitably project their own views on an object. To mirror this, another perspective worth considering is Carrie Bradshaw’s career as a journalist. Her character is established as possessor of ‘the gaze’, whose position involves objectifying situations to her individual perspective – highlighting the rupture between sight and gaze. A similar scrutiny will be undertaken by each of the artist’s involved in the exhibition, as they will be bringing their unique approach and individual interpretation to the fore as they create specific pieces. Despite the fact that the artist’s all have a common starting point, the final selection of artworks on display will differ significantly, both in composition and in their conceptual and philosophical deliberations – in stark contrast to the lite existential questions à la Carrie Bradshaw.

The use of cardboard boxes for each artwork is a confident, if unconventional method to provide unbiased, equal footing to every artist in the show. Yet, could it be argued that this scenario becomes symbolic of being somehow boxed-in? Or categorising the artist’s and their work – putting them into boxes, in a manner of speaking. The paradox of this construct is highlighted in the duality encapsulated by a seemingly neutral perspective, that when analysed may in fact be interpreted as including a somewhat judgemental element. These shifting concerns that are at play throughout the exhibition; the concept, the title, the symbolism and the display format, all combine to constantly challenge the perspectives of both artist and audience, as these fluctuating layers offer room for evolving interpretation.

Text by Rowan Sexton

Non Zero-Sum Art Games

Curated by Matthew Nevin & Ciara Scanlan

Co-curated with Katherine Nolan (Portugal) & Aoife Giles (Dublin)

The Non Zero-Sum Art Games was part of Culture Ireland’s ‘Culture Connects International Programme’, marking Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Produced by MART and curated by Matthew Nevin & Ciara Scanlan.

The Non Zero Sum Art Games opened concurrently on March 7th with a live video link between three venues in three separate countries.

A Non Zero Sum Game is in game theory a situation where one decision maker’s gain (or loss) does not necessarily result in the other decision makers’ loss (or gain) – a win-win game. They generally have both competitive and cooperative elements. Players engaged have some complementary interests and some interests that are completely opposed.

‘The Non Zero-Sum Art Games’ was a program of exhibitions and performances focusing on the power that Art and people have to transform the socio/political psyche of the public in three European cities; Dublin, Lisbon & Athens all whom have recently hit by financial crisis.

Two groups of five Irish Artists travelled to both Athens & Lisbon to work under rules, financial and time restrictions imposed by the curators.

Rules include:

• Artists are playing against each other to win a game with no results.
• Artists may not bring any materials or equipment with the exception of 1 Mobile Phone & one Laptop
• Artists will be given €100 to source materials / equipment in the host country.
• Artists must work with at least one local artist / resident.
• Artists will showcase their work on 7 March.
• All artworks will be destroyed when show is complete.

Dublin: Co-curated by Aoife Giles.

To coincide with MART’s Lisbon & Athens Exhibitions, MART hosted 2 Portuguese and 2 Greek artists in Unit 4 Gallery.

Exhibition Featuring: George Gyzis, Orlando Franco, São Trindade, Maria Tzanakou.

Athens

Five Irish artists land in Athens and had five days to create a piece of installation or sculpture artwork working under a set of Rules and Regulations, opened as an exhibition on 7 March.

Athens – metamatic:taf Exhibition Featured: Andrew Carson, Adam Gibney, Samantha McGahon, Matthew Nevin, Ciara Scanlan.

Also featuring collaborations with Greek Artists : Stefanos Athanatos, Panos Profitis, Kyrgiakos Tsiftsopoulos, George Gyzis, Maria Tzanakou, Christos Papasotiriou.

Lisbon – Co-curated with Katherine Nolan

The Performance event consisted of 5 performance artists arriving in Portugal on Sunday 3 March, working in Plataforma Revolver from 4-7 March devising 5 performances, they performed at an opening event on 7 March.

Lisbon – Plataforma Revólver. Event Featured: Vanessa Daws, Francis Fay, Eleanor Lawler, Katherine Nolan, Aine Phillips.

Also featured collaborations with Lisbon Artists; Rui Mourao, Nuno Lacerda, Pedro Azevedo, Marias Teixeria, and Sara Maia.

Unit 4

MART hosted a series of artists and curators at Unit 4 on James Joyce St, Dublin from Wednesday 6 February 2013 – Friday 3 May 2013

ITERATIVE – Terence Erraught,  Joan Healy and Catherine Barragy

Iterative is a project by Catherine Barragry, Terence Erraught and Joan Healy. Using the space as territory, the three artists present a continuously shifting array of sculptural, media and performative works. Each artist assumes the role of author for one week while the other two artists respond to their process. By the fourth week clear authorship breaks down as the three artists attempt a mash-up of material and content; creating alternative forms by using each other’s practices as raw material. The artists identify risk-taking as a catalyst in this process.

The Non Zero Sum Art Games 

7 – 23 March

George Gyzis, Orlando Franco, São Trindade, Maria Tzanakou

To coincide with MART’s Lisbon & Athens Exhibitions we will be hosting a portugese and greek artist [George Gyzis, Orlando Franco, São Trindade, Maria Tzanakou] in Unit 4 as part of Culture Ireland’s “Culture Connects International Programme” marking Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Terroir

 25 April  – 1 May

Tristan Hutchinson

Terroir is an intended look at the transformation of community as reflected by the marks and traces upon the land that remain after various processes of industry and migration. Whilst geographically-rooted in specific landscapes, an intended ambiguity running through the work feeds into notions of fictive anonymity, exploring multi-locality, personal and shared experiences, and folkloristic interpretations of ‘landscape’.

Just In Time

9 – 25 May

Curated by Aoife Flynn

Featuring Adam Gibney, Richard Forest, Gerry Erraught

“The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.” Walter Benjamin Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time. The term is divided into two categories: obsolescence of desirability vs. obsolescence of function. This kind of planning has its origins in ‘Just-in-time’ production, where stream-lined methods of production and communication meant manufacturing changes could be made on the fly and products could be made and adjusted when they were needed. Lower manufacturing costs meant products could be sold cheaper and to a wider customer base thus increasing competition. In turn, to ensure that customers needed to continue buying their product, manufacturers began to introduce variations in their products and construct them with in-built life spans. This project will gather together three artists whose work is centred around the use of technology, its possibilities and problems. Turning their enquiries towards outdated, obsolete technologies they will endeavour to create something new and potentially useful out of that which is doomed to become waste. Through this process we will seek to question our society’s perpetual consumption and propose alternatives uses for the spiraling series of technological advances in our contemporary existence.