Beaconsfield Artworks / Karl Burke / Mark Dean / Bruce Gilbert / Leafcutter John / Fergus Kelly & David Lacey / Pan sonic / Bob and Roberta Smith / DJ Tendraw / Nina Hynes
Thursday 6 – Sunday 16 September 2007
Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin
Curated by David Crawforth in association with Beaconsfield and TBG&S, Dublin.
Sound… its presence emphasised by a visible absence, always there but not always heard, a constant underlayer of life.
Temple Bar Gallery and Studios presents Forest (Volume IV) the fourth in a series of annual exhibitions exploring the place and potential of sound in art. Over the previous three exhibitions Volume has showcased some of the most innovative developments in sound art taking place in and outside Ireland. This year’s exhibition is curated by London artist and curator David Crawforth. His concept is to create a metaphorical forest, an environment with tendrils of connectivity between individual works and live events. ‘The forest is filled with mimetic gestures. It is secondary and not fully formed… new growth in the form of performances compositions and interventions will take place over the life span of Forest, creating a layered and temporal habitat.’ The audience in entering the forest must do so with a willingness to explore and to reflect on the varied ‘forest’ sounds. They may even do so with a degree of trepidation and, for those who do ‘go down to the woods’ the unexpected may very well occur…
For the duration of the show, a diverse range of audio works will be installed in the gallery space, with some sculptural and visual interventions.
Beaconsfield Artworks set the scene by constructing a forest floor of mulch with substrata of cardboard. They define its perimeter with monotone paint layers, and its core with primeval electronic sound.
Leafcutter John uses microphone pick-ups under the forest floor that record movement above and relay this information to a software driven instrument that can record, process live and reintroduce sound as well as triggering more complex layers of composition. The sound is intended to grow as well as reflect what is happening in the forest over its limited lifespan.
Mark Dean dangles a carrot for the politically correct to pick at – a proposition – made through a reggae version of Crimson & Clover combined with Marcus Garvey’s red, black and green Pan-African flag – that we are all Africans irrespective of the colour of our skin.
Bruce Gilbert thrives in the realm of the unexpected. His objects are precise but not precious, minimal assemblages that reflect his attitude to get inside sound and push it to destruction.
Towards the end of the exhibition Bob & Roberta Smith will compose a text that will be painted at the entrance to the forest – this will appear near the end of the exhibitions run, and reflect human intervention in its most basic form – rights of ownership.
A number of live events will take place in the gallery space on the launch night of the 6th September, featuring performances by Bruce Gilbert and DJ Tendraw, while Dublin improvisers Fergus Kelly (invented instruments) and David Lacey (percussion/electronics) will be performing in response to the theme of the forest, as will composer/performer Nina Hynes.
Temple Bar Gallery & Studios
5-9 Temple Bar
Dublin 2.
Ireland
Tel: +353 (0) 1 671 0073
www.templebargallery.com
For more information, please contact Rayne Booth – Temple Bar Gallery & Studios
T: +353 (0) 1 671 0073
E: press@templebargallery.com