These Immovable Walls:

Performing Power at Castle

Over the last number of years a number of key events in Ireland have led to the nation consider- ing its sovereignty. The IMF/EU financial bailout (2011–2013) caused many to question how far we had move from sovereignty, while the visit of the Queen of England prompted self-reflection on how far we have come in the last 100 years. Ireland has also embarked on a cycle of centenary Carey Young, Speechcraft, 2007, Staged at the Hayward Gallery, commemorations in the city cel- London, 2012. Speaker: David Jones Photographer: Ana Escobar. Courtesy the artist and Paula ebrating events leading up to the Cooper Gallery, New York. establishment of the in 1922. has been intimately linked with these events and has been the seat of power in the city for much of its 800-year history. It was also host to many of the events for the Irish EU presidency in 2013. As such it seems timely to propose a series of works that look at the site’s relationship to power both current and historical. In part- Sandra Johnston, Currency, solo performance for Performance Maurice O’Connell, Preamble, Na˚ Festival, commissioned by nering with the Office of Public 2009, Seaton Delaval Hall. Image Performance Art Bergen, Norway. courtesy November Club. Photo by Bjarte Bjørkum. Works, this exhibition of newly commissioned performances for the first time interrogates Dublin Castle as a public space. The exhibition engages with the castle’s current function as a heritage site, while also housing government departments, and its at times controversial history. These Immovable Walls consid- ers the aesthetics and architec-

Dominic Thorpe, Sticks coming ture of power as well as notions from the mouth and going out the window, duration 2 hours, Old School House, Dale, Norway of legitimacy, force, coercion and Pauline Cummins, The Spy at the – presented by the Nordic Arts Gate, 2014, performance, 1.5 hours. Centre 2013. Photo by Arild H. Photo by Fiona Morgan. Eriksen. voicelessness. These seven per- formances draw out the nuances of power at a political level but also explore the minutiae of power relations in everyday sit- uations. I am delighted to present the work of these eminent nation- al and international artists and look forward their excavation of the present and past of this site through these ambitious works. Michelle Browne, Curator Carbon Design (Philip Napier & Michael Hogg), Nu Ruralists, 2009, Kateřina Šedá, From Morning Till Performative Artwork, Variable Night, Tate Modern, London, 2011. Message Sign, For Sale Sign Props, Photo by Michal Hlad. Lurgan Park, Northern Ireland. Pauline Cummins Maurice O’Connell Sandra Johnston Philip Napier The Spy at the Gate Audi Vide Tace Entitlement Soon

Time: 2:30–4pm, 11 & 12 July (ticketed performance). Time: 10am–5pm, 11 & 12 July, ticketed tours 11am Time: 12–2pm, 11 & 12 July. Location: Time: 10–5pm, 11 & 12th July. Location: Location: The Apollo Room, Drawing Room. & 1pm 12 July. Location: Throughout Dublin Castle. State Corridor, Drawing Room. Upper Courtyard, Dublin Castle.

I am Emily – Duchess of . Maurice O’Connell uses dialogue, lan- Johnston creates site-responsive per- Philip Napier uses the stay of Margaret Married to Lord Kildare when I was guage and performed identities to inter- formance actions that propose ways of Thatcher in Dublin Castle as a lever to 15, I was once the richest woman in rogate roles and relationships between considering issues of ‘contested space’, connect several performative elements Ireland. My homes were Leinster House the artist and his context. O’Connell will testimony and empathetic communi- to the strange pantomime of performing in Dublin, which I found cold and inhabit the public and private spaces of cation. Each improvised performance power. Thatcher’s premiership strad- dark, in Kildare where I Dublin Castle through the facilitation results directly from careful observa- dled a series of pivotal events of the kept my darling spotted cows, and my of the staff. He becomes an internal and tion of specific environments; sifting ‘Troubles’, whose legacy forms part of beloved Frescati in Blackrock. Join me external presence, both ambiguous and through the circumstantial spatial contemporary excavations of ‘the past’, for a journey through my life and times, certain, taking on a perceived identity and social encounters that occur there. inflecting current political dialogue. 1731–1814. Come meet my family and by becoming a familiar presence to both Johnston will explore two historical These events are characterised by cycles my 22 children as we move through the staff and public. Through this pres- considerations; Margaret Thatcher’s of life, death and waiting, evoked in this castle where once we danced. Within ence he will map and establish access stay in the Queen’s Room, and her infa- work by a jaguar car glimpsed between these walls the throughout the site. The permissions mous quote “We must try to find ways movement and stasis. Napier is inter- unfolds, with its usual extremes of and access suggest visible but almost to starve the terrorist and the hijacker ested in how public monumental forms poverty and excess, revolution and imperceptible authority. Using tradi- of the oxygen of publicity on which communicate values and how these suppression, privilege and inequality. tions within contemporary arts, archi- they depend’, and the castle’s statue values are changed by their ‘perfor- The Duchess will receive guests between tecture, museology, education theatre of Justice which controversially is not mance’ in contemporary contexts. He 2:30pm – 4:00pm each day. and structural development, O’Connell blindfolded to discrimination and was looks to the visual spectacle of popular interrogates the exchange and transac- positioned turning her back on the mural based monumental culture, The Apollo Room is a reinstatement of an 18th- century drawing room from Tracton House, in tion that language and performed roles people of Dublin. whose audience of tourists and journal- Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green, demolished in 1912. play in brokering temporary encounters ists are intrinsic to the distribution of Its fireplace and plasterwork ceiling with the The original State Drawing Room dates from central figure of Apollo with his lyre surrounded between the artist and others. the 1830s and was designed by Jacob Owen. It the messages inherent in the works. by trophies representing music, the arts, war was damaged by fire in 1941, but the pier glasses, and the hunt were rescued, put in storage in the Dublin gets its name from the ancient Black Pool console tables and 18th century fireplaces The present Upper Castle Yard closely National Museum and, in 1966, incorporated in harbour, or Dubhlinn in Irish, that occupied the survived. Across the courtyard, The statue of corresponds to the castle established by King this specially created room. site of the present Castle gardens and it is most Justice by John Van Nost the Younger (1750– John of England in 1204, which functioned as the likely that a Gaelic ring-fort stood on the site 1787), depicts Justice with the scales in one hand seat of colonial rule and the centre of military, Pauline Cummins’ performance and video work of the Upper Castle Yard. It was a strategically and the sword of vengeance in the other. political and social affairs. It was here in 1922 examines identity, gender and socio-cultural important location during the almost 300-year that the British administration handed over relations connected to different communities in Viking age. Sandra Johnston is a Northern Ireland artist working power to the new Irish State. society. Cummins’ video installations have been internationally since 1992. Her artworks encompass exhibited nationally and internationally and her work Maurice O’Connell is an Irish artist based in the UK. performance actions, video installations and drawing. Philip Napier is an artist and educator. He works is in the permanent collection of the Irish Museum He has presented work in a variety of contexts and In 2013 she published, Beyond Reasonable Doubt: as both solo an in collaboration with others, often of Modern Art. She is a lecturer in the Dept of his projects and roles include Cultural Olympiad, An Investigation of Doubt, Risk and Testimony re routing meaning in public environments and Sculpture at the National College of Art and Design, Biennials, immersive residencies in large scale Through Performance Art Processes in Relation to situations. Napier has represented both Ireland and Dublin. institutions, creative associate and lead performer Systems of Legal Justice, with LIT (Berlin, Münster, Great Britain at International Biennials including on large scale immersive theatre experiences, Vienna, Zurich, London). She is currently, Senior Brazil and Kwangju. He is currently Professor of the Regional Advisor and Development officer, licensed Lecturer at Northumbria University, UK. Fine Art Faculty, NCAD, Dublin. security and Professional Listener.

Kateřina Šedá Dominic Thorpe Carey Young Tickets: Please go to reception to receive your exhibition wristband that will allow free access to the State First Class Proximity Mouth Still Life apartments. Maurice O’Connell’s tours, and Pauline Cummins’ and Carey Young’s works are closed Time: 10am–5pm, 11 & 12 July (go to reception Time: 10am–1pm , 11 & 12 July. Location: The Time: 1:20pm & 4:20pm, 11 July, 1:20pm 12 July performances. All tickets for these works are for details). Location: State Apartments. former Children’s Court (a.k.a. President’s Room). (ticketed performance). Location: Portrait Gallery. allocated on a first come first served basis from reception. There will be no re-admittance. No photography/video of the performances is allowed. Special offer in Dublin Castle! A unique Dominic Thorpe examines cultures of Carey Young’s new performance Still opportunity to experience the tour in a silence that mask and enable system- Life involves the reading of a will – an StaFF: different way to the thousands of annual atic abuses of large numbers of people, event familiar from cinema or TV Michelle Browne, Curator Ciara McKeon, Assistant Curator visitors. With the option of buying a first including children, within structures soap operas, but which has no basis in Jenny Papassotiriou, Dublin Castle Liaison class ticket, you get the added benefit of of care of people. His work makes reality. The will, which will be highly Dairne O’Sullivan, PR & Marketing entering the state apartments on a red connections between past and current experimental in form and content, Thank you: carpet, singing during a tour or one of situations in which many people have takes a playful approach to notions of Jenny Papassotiriou, Mary Heffernan, Des Swords, many other once-in-a-lifetime experi- been and are abused and rendered ownership, fictionality, delay, economy Alisha Naughton and all the staff at Dublin Castle, ences. For just one day in the year you voiceless, such as the past incarceration and the circulation of objects, and will Seán O Sullivan, David Ondra, Aideen Darcy, can feel like a VIP visitor or an impor- and treatment of children in Irish in- develop Young’s interest in law as a form Terry Fagan, Jane Izati, Chinenye Anameje, Sejini Palanantham, Jenny MacDonald, and Fergus Byrne, tant state delegate. Do you want to make dustrial schools and the current treat- of choreography. The piece will relate Vukasin Nedeljkovic, Selvavathany Rajagopalan, a phone call during the tour and you’re ment of asylum seekers going through to Dublin Castle’s many associations Mark Oosterveen, Daniel Monk, Asumpta Broe, Sinead Keogh, Renee Browne, Dairne O’Sullivan, afraid the guide will tell you off? Not the asylum process and living in direct with ideas of succession and legacy, its Sean Mac Erlaine and all of our volunteers! this time! Buy you first class offer at the provision accommodation. This perfor- legal tradition, and its current function ticket desk. mance forms part of an ongoing body of as a site of display and a film location. Seminar: work examining the nature of collective Daniel Monk of Birkbeck University A seminar will take place at 2pm, 11th of July Dublin Castle evolved to suit changing memory and how the documenting of School of Law is the legal advisor to the at Dublin Castle that will look at crossovers in requirements – in particular following the great research into the performance of power in art and fire of 1684, when it became a palace rather than facts related to past abuses does not artist. society. Speakers include Dr. Shirin Rai, Warwick a fortress. Since Irish independence, the Castle readily lead to the acknowledgement University, Artist Fiona Whelan, participating artist has been transformed into a place of national The Portrait Gallery, mostly used as a dining Maurice O’Connell and Denis McCarthy author of prestige and the State Apartments, formerly and elimination of similar abuses today. room, features the portraits of sixteen Viceroys, Dublin Castle: At the Heart of Irish History. residential quarters of the Viceregal Court, now the ceremonial representatives of the British host important state functions. The waiting area, cell and hearing room of monarchs in Ireland. The 19th century Ionic the Children’s Court were situated at ground columns and the door decoration are after the Timetable: 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 Kateřina Šedá (b. 1977) lives and works in Brno– and first-floor levels of the building (now Athenian Erechtheion and give a Greek revival Pauline Cummins * Líšeň, Czech Republic. In her actions, which she 142+142+142+142+71+71+142+142 reconstructed) in the northwestern corner of character to the room. often implements in the countryside or the suburbs, the court-yard from the 1940s to the early 1980s, Maurice O’Connell 142+142+142+142+142+142+142 Šedá tries to establish bonds between the local when many buildings in Dublin Castle were Carey Young’s solo exhibitions include Migros Sandra Johnston 142+142+142+142+142+142+142 people. With the aid of their own (provoked) used by various government departments and Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Paula Cooper activities and the unconventional use of everyday services. Gallery, New York, Contemporary Art Museum, Philip Napier 142+142+142+142+142+142+142 resources, she attempts to arouse a permanent St. Louis, and The Power Plant, Toronto; group Kateřina Šedá 142+142+142+142+142+142+142 change in their behavior. Dominic Thorpe has exhibited and performed work exhibitions include Tate Liverpool, the Hayward extensively in Ireland and internationally. He has Gallery, London, the New Museum, New York, Dominic Thorpe 142+142+142+142+142+142+142 received numerous awards including those from MoMA/PS1, New York and Tate Britain. She is Carey Young * 142+142+142+47+48+47+142+142+47+48+47 The Arts Council of Ireland and Culture Ireland. He represented by Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. is a resident at the Fire Station Artists’ Studios * Ticketed events Dublin and is currently the first artist in residence in humanities at University College Dublin.