STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Strands 1 Time out of Mind Information and ideas to explore the exhibition Prepared by artist Christine Mackey STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 3. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Untitled (Vegetation Room X) belongs to a Untitled (Vegetation Room X), 2002 series of works titled Vegetation Rooms. resin and bronze powder Index dimensions: 250 x 230 x 245 cm These large-scale environments are Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art constructed from numerous segments cast from the same mould, to resemble various 3. Cristina Iglesias types of vegetation and biological matter, 7. Dorothy Cross arranged either to line passageways or to Introduction 11. Grace Weir create enclosures (or labyrinths). Some works Strands is a series of information booklets devised in 15. Carlos Amorales Cristina Iglesias are conceived for the gallery, while other 19. Tacita Dean works from this series are sited in public response to IMMA’s exhibitions where an artist is 23. Map of gallery spaces spaces. Each of these ‘rooms’ are uniquely invited to develop a range of responses to works formed and express a range of textures, colour Untitled and light depending on the quality of materials selected from the exhibition. The purpose of this series and how they are situated in a space. Untitled (Vegetation Room X) is an example of one is to provide information and ideas in response to such constructed space, whose walls, in this works from IMMA’s exhibitions – from the Collection, (Vegetation instance, are decorated with casts of repeated motifs of marine matter, bamboo, eucalyptus, temporary exhibitions and loans – to encourage decaying leaves and octopus tentacles. observation, discussion and making. These decorative forms are magnified to Room X) create the illusion of an underwater landscape that the viewer can walk in, whilst almost This booklet has been developed by artist Christine touching the work as they pass through the space. This installation recalls the dramatic Mackey in collaboration with IMMA’s Education and ornamentation of Baroque architecture that plays tricks with perspective. In Iglesias’ Community Department. She has drawn out strands installation, often what you see is not what it from the exhibition which reflect her particular appears, particularly in terms of materials. For example, this installation work might interests and responses. They are not intended to be appear as bronze but is actually made from comprehensive, but to prompt further enquiry and a much lighter substance – resin, which has been lightly covered with bronze powder. response from individuals and groups and adults Resin is a manipulative material that can and children of all ages before, during or after a visit mimic the visual properties of other materials and objects. In these ways, organic and to the exhibition. architectural references create complex spatial Lisa Moran illusions that blur the distinctions between Curator: Education and Community Programmes Christine Mackey natural and constructed space. Christine Mackey is an artist and independent researcher who employs diverse disciplines, subject matter and Cristina Iglesias tactics in devising works that can b. 1956, San Sebastian, Spain. generate different kinds of knowledge Lives and works in Madrid of place – their hidden histories and ecological formations. Using diverse Cristina Iglesias is preparing a project graphic sources and quasi-scientific for the 2012 Sydney Biennial and a methods, her work explores the large travelling retrospective exhibition, interactive potential of art as a research which will debut at the Museo Reina tool and its capacity for social and Sofia in Madrid in January 2013. environmental change. She is also working on two important commissions: a garden labyrinth for She has a BA in Sculpture from the INHOTIM (Institute for Contemporary National College of Art and Design, Art and Botanical Garden) in Minas Dublin, an MA in Time based and Gerais in Brazil, and a work for the city Performance Studies from Dartington of Toledo in Spain, which will celebrate College of Art, and was the city’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim recently awarded a practice based PhD cultural traditions, in collaboration with from the University of Ulster, Belfast. the public art commissioning agency Artangel. She has participated in a http://christinemackey.com number of international exhibitions and www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie represented Spain at the 1986 and 1993 Venice Biennales. She has had solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Berne (1991); the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1994); and the Guggenheim Bilbao (1998). She has exhibited in various international art shows including the exhibition Metropolis at the Martin Gropius-Bau, (1991); the , Pittsburgh (1995) and SITE Santa Fe’s 2006 Biennial. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 5. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

paint and/or coating it with glue and sprinkling Background to For a range of powered paints or glitter – similar to Cristina Iglesias’ discussion Key words Activities the way Iglesias’ sprinkles bronze dust onto to her works. process What do you first notice about the materials Recording Material Play Working primarily in sculpture and installation, and scale of this installation? ARTE POVERA Create playful artworks that explore the Arte Povera Research Cristina Iglesias’ practice also encompasses Are the materials natural or man-made? Literally meaning ‘poor art’, Arte Povera relationship between nature and our everyday Arte-Povera (1962–1972) may provide a is a term coined by Italian critic Germano environments. You could experiment with a printmaking, photography and video. How are materials used in this work? starting point by delving into the various works Her practice evolved in the context of Celant to describe the work of a group of range of natural materials and everyday and artists involved in this movement, their developments in sculpture in the 1970s and Is the artist appealing to senses other than Italian artists in the 1960s who adopted an objects that you find in your home and witty and often political constructions and ‘80s where greater emphasis was placed on sight with these works? experimental, anti-establishment approach outdoors. For example, you can create their use of ‘everyday’ materials and craft the site and context in which the art work is What is immediately recognisable in these to their practice, reflecting a broader radical wallpaper from cabbage leaves or lampshades techniques such as knitting and sewing – tendency in art in the late 1960s. Their presented. Iglesias draws on a wide range of works? from orange peel stitched together. Record in emphasising the hand-made. Suggested approach involved working with raw, a sketchbook all of the different processes influences from architecture, literature and What is made different by the choice of scale artists to explore include: Luciano Fabrio, organic and found materials, employing a involved in making these pieces, and note the theatre. Other influences include Arte Povera of this installation as you walk through the Pier Paola Calzolari, Jannis Kounellis, highly experimental, open approach to sensory differences made to them over time and the Trompe l’oeil of Baroque Architecture. space? process and technique, dissolving the Giuseppe Penone, , Alighiero Boetti Drawing on such influences, Iglesias’ as they decay (their smell, what they look like and Marisa Merz. Interestingly, this movement, What types of natural objects are referred to boundaries between the exhibition space installations make use of a range of industrial or feel to the touch). originating in Italy, emerged during a recession here? and the world outside. materials and techniques, such as textured (not unlike today) as the promises of concrete, cast iron, glass, resin and braided How has the artist used methods of display to BAROQUE Edible Textures commodity capitalism began to falter. steel cable. Once cast and moulded, these enable us to experience the artwork? (1600–1750) an historical period and artistic Iglesias uses a range of techniques to Affected by this shift, these artists moved materials are forged into architectural style in sculpture, painting, architecture, create her installations such as construction, away from the slick, commercial language components, such as decorative facades, literature and music spanning the casting and moulding. These are very old that typified American art at this time. screens and walls. Physical structures magnify seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. techniques, which can be explored through a The historical context of any art movement 1 abstract patterns and textures found in nature, Baroque painting and sculpture used range of inexpensive materials. more than likely has its roots with the elaborate ornamentation, movement and such as plant motifs. prevailing social and economic order at that energy to express emotion and tension. Recurrent themes in her work include Relief Textures 1 time and may provide a starting point in terms Collect a range of natural materials such water, mirrors, labyrinths, lattices, geometric CASTING of understanding how philosophical, political as twigs, leaves, stones, flowers, etc. Make a structures and the representation of artificial Refers to the processes for reproducing and cultural contexts affect art and can very basic pastry mix. Roll out the pastry to topographies (arrangement of natural and individual man-made objects, found objects become a source of inspiration for artists. artificial features) which are reconfigured in or objects moulded from clay and/or wax. one or two inches in depth. Arrange your the construction of ‘spaces’ within a ‘space’. A mould or impression is built up around materials onto the surface of the pastry and In the gallery space this takes the form of a the original form and used as the pattern when satisfied with your composition, gently room within a room, often constructed like into which the new material (such as bronze) press down your collected material into the labyrinths, with walls masquerading as forests is set. With some methods, such as the use of pastry. Once you are sure an impression is and hanging canopies. These maze-like hot metal, the original work perishes during made – lift the materials from the pastry. structures direct the viewer to follow a path the casting process. Bake in an oven. When cool eat and enjoy your that enables them to walk around, under and edible landscape. CONSTRUCTION sometimes through the works. Refers to the process of building a whole Relief Texture 2 sculpture from various components, which Follow the same steps as above, but this may be all the same or of different materials. time substitute clay for the pastry. Modelling MINIMALISM clay can be purchased in small bags from art Is an abstract art movement developed in shops around the country. Roll out the clay the USA in the 1960s which rejected the similar to the pastry. However, this time you emotional and expressive tendencies of are going to build a wall of clay – perhaps two Abstract Expressionism, emphasising the to three inches in height with the clay. You can use of simple, geometric forms and modern support this wall by adding extra bits of clay materials drawn from industry. at the back of the wall. Again arrange your objects to create a composition, press gently MOULDING into the clay – making sure you have an Refers to the process of taking a mould or impression. Lift the objects out – careful not negative from an original work or object to destroy the original impression. You are and then casting a reproduction of the original from the negative mould. Moulding now going to mix up dried Gypsum plaster or can also refer to the manipulation of Plaster of Paris. Follow the instructions on the pliable materials such as clay and wax to pack. Once mixed to the right consistency, hand-build a form. pour your mixture into the relief – careful not to go beyond the height of the wall. Leave to TROMPE L’OEIL dry overnight. Remove the wall of clay and turn Is an artistic technique, usually associated over the block – with the clay side facing up. with the Baroque period, which involves You should be able to peel back the clay, creating an illusion of three-dimensional revealing an inverted or hollow impression of space, often in the form of a mural, on a the objects you cast. Seal the clay with a light two-dimensional plane using perspective and wash of PVA glue. You can now play more with foreshortening. your relief cast by either painting it with acrylic STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 7. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Garden Piece (2010) is a variation on the The resulting 30-minute film, titled Medusae Further cube concept. In this public art work the piece Parachute, 2005 Medusae, 2000 (the Latin term for jellyfish), captures the parachute and gannet Dorothy Cross with Professor Tom Cross Explorations is located in a landscape and, similar to many Further dimensions variable video movements of the jellyfish, interspersed with contemporary buildings, is covered in mirror- graphs, notes, drawings and charts of Delap’s Allusion to nature, whether real and/or Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art duration: 30 min like reflecting glass. The mirrored walls reflect reading courtesy Kerlin Gallery, Dublin and Dorothy historical experiments. The visual style of the imagined, is a repeated motif in many of the surrounding landscape. Some of her Cross, 2012 film changes between the art and science- Iglesias’ works, whereby thick patterns of flora recent projects in public spaces include the based sections. In the artistic segments, the and fauna cover a range of architectural publications Hanging Ceiling that she made in the camera zooms in on the jellyfish accompanied elements such as walls, screens and ceilings. Cristina Iglesias, La Fábrica, 2012 Conference Centre in , a reflecting by the eerie sounds of the glass harmonica. These elements, when forged together, allude pool at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Cristina Iglesias, Ediciones Polígrafa, Then the camera pans out for the laboratory- to, or suggest, a ‘green space’, whether they 2010 Dorothy Cross Antwerp and the new entrance doorway in the science shots, including segments with the are constructed as an enclosed garden, forest Museo del Prado in Madrid, 2006-07, made in DC: Cristina Iglesias, Köln: Walter scientists coaxing the lethal box jellyfish to path, suspended canopy, or as plants found collaboration with the architect Rafael Moneo. König, 2007 perform for the underwater camera in the floating in river beds or contained in boxes. laboratory pool. Narration of their respective This is the case in her more recent installation, Iwona Blazwick, Cristina Iglesias, 1 Barry Midgley, ed., The Complete Guide Medusae & art and science sections by Dorothy and Tom Jardìn en el Mar (2012), which was installed on Poligrafa, 2003 to Sculpture, Modelling and Ceramics: lend the piece a documentary feel, yet the the sea-bed in the Gulf of California and Javier Maderuelo, Cristina Iglesias: techniques and materials, Chartwell Books, central sequence of Fiona Shaw’s reading of documented over a four-year period by the Cinco Proyectos (Escultura), 1986. Delap’s research notes, accompanied by the film-maker Thomas Riedelsheimer.2 2 See www.dokfest-muenchen.de/ T.F. Editores, 1996 Parachute flickering eerie movements of the jellyfish, As well as applying a range of sculptural filme_view_web.php?fid=5119&lang=en websites unites Medusae’s art/science divide. techniques to create these vast and intricate www.mariangoodman.com/artists/ Medusae Cross focused her research on the life of a ‘walks’ through public and exhibition cristina-iglesias/ Collaborators: artist Dorothy Cross and Victorian amateur naturalist, Maude Delap Parachute installations, Iglesias has also made films and Professor Tom Cross, zoologist. (1866–1953), who succeeded in collecting and This work was made in response to a gannet presented photographs of miniature models www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ Project: research into the life of Irish naturalist breeding jellyfish in captivity on Valentia found on the seashore, which Cross and serigraphs (or screen prints) evoking cristina-iglesias-8673 Maude Delap (1866–1953) and analysis of the Island, off the coast of County Kerry. Tom subsequently had preserved by a taxidermist. similar themes. For example, Diptych (XV-XXII) www.whitechapelgallery.org/ biomechanics of the box jellyfish Chironex Cross investigated the swimming techniques The gannet is attached to a blue parachute (2005), are works based on models of exhibitions/passports-great-early- fleckeri. (biomechanics) of a deadly species of jellyfish (the army use blue parachutes because they sculptures and constructed from paper, buys-from-the-british-council- In 2001 Dorothy Cross received a SciArt known as the Chironex fleckeri. Both subjects are invisible during flight on a clear day) and cardboard, tape and photographs. These collection/cristina-iglesias Research and Development Project Award, were not well-known before Dorothy and his beak is pointed downwards, just inches montages are re-configured as landscapes, which enabled her to develop a collaborative Tom began this journey of discovery. from the floor. In this work, Cross explores which Iglesias then photographs. These project Medusae with her brother Tom Cross, They travelled to Australia to net a the territory of flight and human entrapment – images are enlarged and screen printed onto Professor in Zoology at University College selection of the jellyfish alive, which they then the collision between our inability to fly in copper panels. Together with the sculptures . brought into a science laboratory. They made relation to the flight of birds. themselves, the photo-silkscreens create an a number of plexi-glass tanks in which the illusion of spatial depth and help to blur the jellyfish were placed to record their distinction between natural environment and movements using underwater cameras. constructed space even further. Tom Cross succeeded in taking the first ever Pozos I-V (2011) consists of five large DNA fingerprint of the Chironex fleckeri. cubes of metal to create a series of ‘wells’. The sculptures bring to mind Minimalism, however, as the viewer comes closer and looks over the sides of the squares, deep Dorothy Cross cavities lined with tangled roots and ropey b.1956 Cork, lives and works in Connemara, vines are found within each structure. Dorothy Cross received a BA from Leicester Water swells and settles as if each cube Polytechnic, England in 1979 and an MFA from the was an actual well. The sound of the water San Francisco Art Institute, California in 1982. produces a sense of awareness of the present. Solo exhibitions include: Stalactite, Frith Street In Pozos I-V, time follows a circular movement, Gallery, London (2011); Comma, Bloomberg Space, London (2009); Antarctica, Wolverhampton Art created by the repetitive cycle of flowing water. Gallery (2008); Land Scape, Dublin City Gallery The Aljibes (wells) and fountains were important Hugh Lane, Dublin (2008); Sapiens, Kerlin Gallery, elements in traditional Spanish and Moorish Dublin (2007); and Dorothy Cross, Irish Museum of architecture. They were usually located in Modern Art, Dublin (2005). Selected group outdoor courtyards, surrounded by the inner exhibitions include: Underwater, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne (2010); POOL, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin walls of the building, a practice also prevalent (2010); Boule To Braid: Curated by Richard in houses in Latin American and Caribbean Wentworth, , London (2009); and colonies. With this reference in mind, Pozos I-V A Duck for Mr Darwin, The Baltic, Gateshead (2009). blurs the margins between sculpture and She is represented by the Kerlin Gallery in Dublin and Frith Street Gallery in London. Awards include architecture, as is often the case in many of the SciArt Project Award for a collaborative project Iglesias’ installations. Medusae with her brother Tom Cross in 2005 and the Gulbenkian Galapagos Award in 2008. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 9. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

projects, most memorably Ghostship (1998), Frottage Background to which was a commission of the Nissan Art For Using the same material that you found on Dorothy Cross’ Project in association with the Irish Museum discussion Key words Activities your walk, consider drawing these objects of Modern Art. For a number of weeks, using the frottage method as discussed in process a decommissioned light-ship, moored off Medusae and Parachute are very different Walking the landscape relation to Dada and Surrealism. Frottage is a ‘Making strange’ is a term that Dorothy Cross Scotsman’s Bay, was illuminated through the works, partly because of the materials that AUTOMATISM Although Dorothy Cross travels to far and method whereby you place a sheet of paper often uses to describe her practice, stating use of phosphoros paint. they are composed of. They do, however, A term appropriated from psychiatry by exotic places, her connection to the place she over the object and, using a 3B graphite pencil that ‘the value of art making should be in its Since Cross’ move to Connemara in 2007, share a thematic link – that of the sea and our the Surrealist artists to describe a technique lives provides the background and stimulus to or darker, you rub the pencil directly over the very “strangeness” in order to engage fully the sea and its inhabitants – such as sharks, connection and/or disconnection with nature. to access the unconscious, which involved much of her work. As a starting point, and by paper which covers the object. Alternatively, with an audience’.1 This notion of the ‘strange’ sea-birds, whales and jellyfish – provide much How do these works draw out such ideas and automatic actions and involuntary gestures way of familiarising oneself with the methods wrap the object in paper and make rubbings or the uncanny has historical precedence in inspiration. These aquatic creatures are what role does the material, both man-made to produce spontaneous drawings, writings and tools that Cross applies in her practice, of the object. Unfold the sheet – does your contemporary art practice from Dada creatively juxtaposed with human beings, and natural, play in these works? and/or paintings. specifically her relationship to the landscape drawing resemble the object? Experiment with (1916–1922) to Surrealism (from the 1920s) she inhabits, consider taking a walk in your which has the effect of crossing social and How do you feel about animals as material BRICOLAGE different paper and drawing materials. On your and in the work of Sigmund Freud political boundaries between nature and locale – whether that be in a street, on the next walk bring some sheets of paper and used in an arts context? A technique where a variety of materials seashore, by a river or in a forest. Bring a bag (1856–1839), who founded the discipline of culture by ascribing new meaning to things we (found objects, waste materials, etc.) are take rubbings of the various objects you Do you think this is art? and collect a range of materials that you find en psychoanalysis. These combined literary and overlook or take for granted. In this respect, combined to construct an artwork. encounter on route. Consider texture and try visual practices experimented with the many of Cross’ works take on an ecological Remembering the early discussion on Cross’ route – both natural and man-made materials. to make as many rubbings as possible of the unconscious mind through new modes of role by creating a platform that examines practice in relation to the ‘uncanny’ and the CHIRONEX FLECKERI BOX JELLYFISH Take these home and look at each object one textures you find in your environment. expression in response to the social and the place of human beings within the natural ‘strange’, what do you think about A venomous specious of jellyfish found in at a time. While looking at these objects – political affairs at that time. They introduced a world. manipulating dead material into an art object? the south eastern Indian ocean. consider their size, texture, what they are Water pools and jars made of, colour and possible use. Use these range of new techniques such as frottage Dorothy Cross describes her art objects as Although most of us do not have access to CYANOTYPE materials as they are and construct a (rubbings of textured surfaces on paper), characters – animate (filmed jellyfish) and underwater camera equipment, this should not A form of photogram which produces a three-dimensional object (or character) by automatism (spontaneous activities such as Some inanimate (dead birds). The term character is prevent us from exploring water, water pools, cyan-blue colour due to the chemicals used. combining/attaching these materials together, painting, drawing and writing without suggestive of a play. These characters/objects rock pools, rivers and the sea. And, if city- questions to This process was favoured in the production using glue, string or nails. Alternatively, if you conscious thought or intention), and the she uses are acting out a different kind of of technical, architectural and engineering bound, fill jam jars with tap water. Place consider would prefer to work on a flat sheet of readymade (the use of everyday and common story in relation to us. drawings, also known as ‘blue prints’. different objects in these jars. How do these objects, such as an iron or a shovel, which What are your immediate reactions to the film card/paper (this is technically called a objects appear? Are they stretched or do they What do you think the artist is trying to challenged conventional art making). The most Medusae? FROTTAGE collage), arrange the various objects that are look smaller than normal? Does the colour of communicate to us in relation to nature and famous example of the readymade is Marcel A technique which involves taking rubbings suggestive of the place where you have been. the object change? Place a variety of objects Is it shot in colour or black and white? our role in and with nature? Duchamp’s (1887–1968) Fountain (1917), of textured surfaces on paper using in jars with water and take photographs of which was a porcelain urinal signed under the How does the soundtrack relate to the visual Do we have a role? materials such as pencil, charcoal, crayon Printing, and drawing ‘characters’ from the these things or, if you have access to a imagery? or pastel. landscape fictional persona of R. Mutt. Parachute is a good example of bricolage in video camera, record how the light falls As discussed previously in relation to Cross’ These practices attempted to challenge What sorts of film techniques does the artist practice: an artwork composed of different and and animates both natural and man-made MEDUSAE practice, many of her projects develop from the prevailing order or ‘world view’ of use (e.g. close-up views, awkward angles, unusual materials, materials that may be materials. Plural for Medusa, this is the Latin term and expand on existing works. For example, conventional reasoning and logic. This is slowing down the frames, dramatic lighting)? considered old, useless, devalued and of no for jellyfish and refers to a form of jellyfish, she made a series of prints from jellyfish by called a paradigm – which can mean that we particular value. Why does Cross overturn also known as cnidarian, which is Historical, domestic and human artefacts How long is the film? laying these characters on linen. An interesting take as a given certain cultural beliefs, values these conventions by reclaiming the useless characterised by an umbrella-shaped body. Maude Delap proved to be a fascinating and 2 What do you think this film is about? way of making prints directly from the objects and behaviours as ‘true’ and the ‘norm’. and creating unusual juxtapositions of objects In Greek mythology, Medusa is one of three rich character who inspired Cross to make a that you have collected is to develop a series ‘Making strange’ is a creative and What particular issues is the artist concerned in new and different ways? Gorgon sisters. She had snakes for hair and variety of work in response to her life, her philosophical strategy that Cross applies to with? anyone who looked at her was turned to of sun prints. This involves using paper which work and her research on jellyfish. Perhaps What ideas do you think the artist is trying to 3 her practice which comprises a range of stone. has been coated with light sensitive materials. there is a historical character or even a person What does the work make you think about the communicate to us in relation to the animal media, including sculpture, photography, video, When this paper has been exposed to the sun in your family history that inspires you or sea and jellyfish? kingdom? installation, musical performances and public PARADIGM it produces an imprint of the object that is someone you would like to know more about. How does the work Parachute make you feel? A pattern, model or framework to work. Her practice involves the manipulation of Do you think there is a connection between us placed on the paper. This particular process is For a family member, ask relatives for understand experience. materials through different kinds of processes, Is there a relationship between the actual and them? technically called cyanotype or photogram. It information, photographs or materials was developed in the early nineteenth century such as casting and the re-use of ‘found’ parachute and the bird? Are there other themes or elements in these PHOTOGRAM associated with this person. The Internet, by the English scientist and astronomer, Sir objects, be they personal (family heirlooms), What is the role of colour in this installation? works that Cross explores? A process of photographic printmaking public libraries and National Cultural domestic (tables) or even things she finds John Herschel; however, it was the botanist How does Cross draw from history in relation without the use of a camera by placing an Institutions, such as the History Museum and washed up at sea, all of which are transfigured Anna Atkins who introduced this technique to to Maude Delap and the materials she uses to object on light-sensitive paper and exposing the National Archives, are good sources of into new contexts. Her motivation lies in the it to direct light. photography. She created a limited series of construct her works? historical information. Questions that will belief that objects can hold more than one cyanotype books that documented ferns and prompt further investigation may include: meaning and that these meanings change Having viewed Medusae do you think that READYMADE other plant life from her extensive seaweed Is the person male/female? What century did over time and/or in combination with other there is a relationship between science and A term used in manufacturing to distinguish collection. The procedure works in the follow- they live in? What was going on at that time? between handmade and manufactured objects. art? ing way: specimens/objects are placed on top Where did they live? Construct a story for this goods, appropriated by French artist Bricolage is a term used to describe this of the coated paper and exposed to sunlight, person using both visual and textual Art, like science, can be about revealing new Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) to describe process, whereby works constructed from a where the exposure to the sunlight creates a thoughts, ideas or researching the unknown. the selection and modification of a information that you will have gathered. combination of various materials can inspire This suggests that image making can also blue silhouette effect on the paper. You will This could be a group activity – whether with manufactured object by an artist to create know when it is ready because the paper will new meanings. For example, during the 1990s, generate new knowledge. What have these an artwork. family, friends or school mates. Use your local Cross produced two extended series of works revealed to you that you may not have change to an odd, dull grey colour. Bring the library as it may have information related to sculptural works, using cured cowhide and known before? UNCANNY print inside and wash it in a bath of cold water. the person you are investigating or specific to stuffed snakes, which drew on these animals’ A term associated with Sigmund Freud Place the print between sheets of paper with Can collaboration increase and/or strengthen the time this person lived. Another approach rich store of symbolic associations across (1856–1939) and the discipline of a heavy object to hold it in place so that it the work of an artist? would be to find a disused/abandoned cultures, to investigate the construction of psychoanalysis (Ger. ‘Das Unheimliche’ – dries flat. Alternatively, why not use vegetable building in your locale in order to discover sexuality and subjectivity. More recently, she unhomely) to describe how something and fruit matter to create a series of prints? who may have lived there and what kinds has developed large-scale public events and familiar can simultaneously appear strange. To achieve this, slice some tomatoes, onions, of activities were carried out in this place in pears, etc., in half and lay these down on the past. sheets of paper for a short period of time. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 11. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

constitutes a live performance of two opera Further singers and a baroque chamber orchestra, Dust Defying Gravity, 2003 16mm film transferred to DVD Explorations costumed in dirty overalls and safety helmets. Further dimensions variable The combination of nature, Dorothy Cross tends to develop work as a duration: 4 min industry and religion amplify complex reading Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art series of related productions expanding on a connections with living and inert material theme or idea. In this respect the sea, its by reconnecting history and memory to the creatures and, in particular, the jellyfish have publications present day. inspired a range of other works combining Dorothy Cross, Sian Ede, Ian Hunt, different media. One of the first videos that Nigel Nixon, Adrian Plant, Fiona 1 MIT, MA, Guestbook Lecture: Dorothy Grace Weir Shaw, STAGE: DOROTHY CROSS, she made in relation to the sea was Teacup Cross, April 29, 2009 – access: Shrewsbury Museum, 2010 (1996). Using a family heirloom, in this case a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqZe teacup from her grandmother’s collection, nW6rvY] Enrique Juncosa, Ralph Rugoff, Cross borrowed footage from the Robert 2 Suzi Gablik, The Reenchantment of Art, Marina Warner and Patrick Murphy, Thames and Hudson, 1991. Dorothy Cross, Irish Museum of Dust Defying Flaherty film Man of Aran (1934). This film was an ethnographic study of fishermen and the 3 See www.sunprints.org for further Modern Art, Charta Press/IMMA, local community surviving on the Aran Islands. information. 2005 Cross selected three minutes of footage from Robin Lydenberg, Gone: Site-specific Gravity the original film, which showed the fishermen Work by Dorothy Cross, University in a currach boat crashing against the waves of Chicago Press, 2005 in a storm. She projected the footage inside Suzi Gablik, The Reenchantment of the teacup so that it appears as if the men are Art, Thames and Hudson, 1991 This work was filmed at Dunsink Observatory, rowing against the inside of the cup. In this Dublin, one of the oldest scientific institutions respect, she juxtaposed raw footage of websites in Ireland. The work consists of a single four- survival against the civility of a domestic Kerlin Gallery, Dublin minute long shot that tracks through the object – the teacup – and its association with www.kerlin.ie/artists rooms at Dunsink, revealing the ageing British colonialism. Frith Street Gallery, London telescopes and measuring instruments used Chiasm (1999) was an ambitious www.frithstreetgallery.com/artists by previous scientists displayed throughout multi-media performance work sited in two Stoney Road Press, Dublin: Dorothy the building. The camera moves continuously, disused handball courts. Cross recorded video Cross slowly passing over a mechanical model of the footage from Poll na bPéist (The Worm Hole), www.stoneyroadpress.com/artists/do solar system called an orrery. Such models discovered at the base of the terraced cliffs off rothy-cross were used in science to illustrate the position Inis Mór. This rectangular pool periodically fills Massachusetts Institute of and movement of the planets and moons in and empties with water in response to the tidal Technology, Boston, MA the Solar System. Gradually, light reveals dust system. Film footage of this rare phenomenon Guestbook Lecture: Dorothy Cross, in the air, making visible the invisible and was projected onto the floor of the handball April 2009 drawing us into a world of micro-phenomena alleys accompanied by the live performance of www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQqZen normally undetectable to the human eye. It is two opera singers, one in each handball court. W6rvY perhaps at this point we become conscious The music they sang comprised phrases from AN, Artists Talking: exposing of looking as these micro-worlds of dust operas that focus on love, loss and unrequited contemporary artists’ practice revealed by mechanical means – in this relationships. ‘Dorothy Cross’ by Rosemary instance film. This moment of enhanced Jellyfish Lake (2001) is a short film of Shirley, www.a-n.co.uk/artists_ perception links to the value of the orreries Cross swimming in a lake in Palau, Micronesia, talking/artists_stories/single/59521 and the people who once inhabited and with hundreds of jellyfish. An underwater TATE, art & artists: Dorothy Cross worked in these rooms. The sound camera records the movements of swimmer www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dorothy- accompanying the film is of a ticking and jellyfish united in their physical experience cross-2357 grandfather clock which was added after the of being at sea together. Drying Jellyfish IMMA: Dorothy Cross, Grace Weir film was shot. (2003), Jellyfish Drawings (2003) and Jellyfish www.modernart.ie/en/page_ b. 1962, Dublin, Ireland. Lives and Pillowcase (2004) are the physical 73744.htm works in Leitrim manifestations of jellyfish that Cross made by collecting compass jellyfish and laying www.dun-laoghaire.com/events/ Grace Weir studied at the National ghost.html College of Art and Design, and has an their remains on linen sheets and napkins M.Sc. from Trinity College, Dublin. belonging to her grandmother. She describes The National Archives, She co-represented Ireland at the 49th these works as ‘nature drawing itself’. www.nationalarchives.ie International in 2001 In 2001, while visiting the derelict of The National Museum: History with her video installation Around Maude Delap (1866-1953) on Valentia Island, Museum, Archaeology, Decorative Now. In 2006, she was awarded a residency at St. John’s College, Oxford, Cross discovered a grotto containing statues Arts & History, Country, where she spent time researching ideas of the Virgin Mary and Saint Bernadette and www.museum.ie which culminated in the solo exhibition also a remote slate quarry. In collaboration The National Library, www.nli.ie In my own time at the Science with James Conway from Opera Theatre Museum, London. Forthcoming group shows in 2012 are at the Yerba Buena Company, she developed the work Stabat Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA; Mater (2005), as a live performance of Kunstlerhaus Berlin, Germany and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s seventeenth Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, century arrangement of the Stabat Mater Brazil. (about the Sorrows of Mary). The work STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 13. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Since World War II, the emphasis in onset of heart attacks all follow chaotic, or Background to science has shifted from the hard science of Some unpredictable, patterns. Grace Weir’s process physics to biological science, expanding the questions to Key words Activities focus of scientific entities to relationships: Model of a Solar System Grace Weir works primarily with the moving determinism to indeterminism (or chaos); consider Exploring Gravity Through Art Create your own model of our Solar System, image, combing cinematic works with linear causality to circular causality; Why do you think the artist filmed this work in CARTESIAN Gravity is defined as ‘The attraction between picturing the Sun and the eight planets and experimental videos and installations. reductionism to holism; programming to self- Dunsink? Refers to the theories of the French objects that have mass’. Isaac Newton dwarf planet that orbit it: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Her practice is concerned with our experience organisation; and realism to constructivism.1 philosopher René Descartes (1642–1727) realised that the force of gravity, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and of the world as it is lived and known on a What kinds of relationships is the artist The issue at stake was not so much the data (1596–1650). Best known for his which pulls an apple from a tree, is the same Pluto (a dwarf planet). Nicolaus Copernicus day-to-day level. However, she opens this daily exploring by filming old scientific instruments, being used but the use of appropriate models statement ‘I think therefore I am’, force obeying the same law as the force of (1473–1543) was a Polish astronomer who ‘reality’ onto new levels of experience by where there is no physical presence of a to visualise the complexity of science. in his theories he placed emphasis on gravity which holds the Moon in orbit around developed the Copernican system, a model of utilising and applying scientific knowledge and human being? Perhaps a starting point to understanding reason and the development of the the Earth, and the planets in orbit around the the Solar System in which all the planets orbit philosophical theory to question what we Do you think objects can evoke the natural sciences. He is also associated 2 these ideas better would be to consider how Sun. Exploring the concept of gravity creatively the Sun. Use card, tape, string, pencils and know and how we come to know it? Weir is absence/presence of the human? with the concept of dualism and the the Cartesian model – defined as a closed can be considered in terms of how we apply markers, to represent the Sun and the planets. also concerned with the notions of ‘reciprocal relationship between the mind and the system of mechanised parts – considered How does the artist use light and movement to materials to a surface. For example, normally Cut planets out of card in different circular sizes action’ or the relationship between the body. all biological entities as isolated and closed focus on the minute particles of dust? we paint with brushes that have been dipped in and colour code them so that each colour ‘knower’ and ‘knowing’. This process of enquiry (a practice of reductionism), whereas modern to paint. In a sense, the brush controls how we represents a particular planet. Make one large is activated by Weir through a playful What kind of mood is suggested by dust? CHAOS THEORY science is informed by a new model that A field of study in mathematics which paint – the speed and texture. Why not consider circular piece, from which you can hang the questioning of existing beliefs or knowledge The sound in this film has a particular quality – embodies human and social relationships as is concerned with the behaviour of dispensing with brushes altogether and fill planets. (Mercury goes in the inner orbit, Venus systems, usually by initiating conversations can you describe the sound? relational and connected. In this sense, Weir’s dynamic and random systems with a various sized containers with watered-down goes in the second orbit, Earth goes in the third, with other people. She achieves this by artistic practice opens a dialogue with science Does it remind you of anything you have heard view to finding order. paint or ink, then pour the paint onto a flat etc.). Tape the end of the string to the top-side spending time researching other disciplines by suggesting that knowledge is relational and before? surface such as card, paper or stretched of the cardboard. After all the planets (and the and working with scientists, moving easily DISCIPLINE canvas. Consider pouring paint from different open to discussion. Is it clear or distorted? Sun) are attached, adjust the length of the between disciplines. Category of learning, knowledge heights and using different movements. Try strings so that the planets (and Sun) all lie in a In this respect, scientists such as Does it suggest a voice or many voices that formation or arts practice. walking or running around the surface, pouring plane. To hang your model, tie three pieces of Robert Boyle (1627-91) and Albert Einstein have been simultaneously recorded? paint as you go and looking at the different string to the top of the cardboard – then tie INSTALLATION (1879–1955) have influenced her work: Boyle effects that can be created. Splash paint onto a Is the artist appealing to senses other than The configuration of objects in a space these three together. Then connect these to a because he believed that all experiments, sight with these works? surface, testing out the distance you stand from longer string (from which you’ll hang your regardless of discipline, should be exercised where the totality of the objects and the space comprise the artwork. the surface and the kinds of marks that can be model). You now have a model of our Solar and witnessed in public. This introduces other What kinds of objects are immediately recognisable to you in this film? created using different types of implements. System. complex notions such as ‘agent’ and ‘agency’. ORRERY Agent, simply put, means one who acts, while Can you tell from these objects who may have A mechanical device from the Moving drawings Pin-hole cameras and ‘drawing blind’ agency is the quality or mode of an activity. worked here and what kind of work they were eighteenth century, named after Most drawings are made holding an An instrument can change the world and These activities can be as far reaching as involved in? Charles Boyle, the Fourth Earl of instrument such as a pen, pencil or brush. Why compel us to rethink our place in the universe. digging, painting, bird-watching or reading. Orrery (1674–1731), used in science to not consider making a device that holds the The development of instruments such as the However, what is of interest is the context in illustrate the position and movement pen in place. For instance, I have created a series telescope, the camera and the lens – which these activities take place and how they of the planets and moons in the Solar of drawings, which I call ‘spin-top drawings’. all linked to the history and development of are influenced and controlled within different System with the Sun at the centre. I create these works by cutting out a circular scientific practice – did just this. Thomas kinds of social, cultural and political RELATIONAL form in cardboard. This can be any size – but it Harriot (1560–1621) was the first to use a environments and from different viewpoints Characterised by relations – between does have to be round. Find the central point in telescope to look at the moon, but he only at any given time. Weir has a particular interest individuals, objects, art and audience, the circle and cut a hole through it. Use a short grasped that it was covered with mountains in scientific practice because science, as a etc. pencil and push through the hole so that the and craters after he saw Galileo’s rendering of specialised model of practice, operates from nib of the pencil is positioned on the underside the lunar surface. The reason that Galileo factual evidence and/or proofs and relies THEORY OF RELATIVITY of the circle. Gripping the pencil, flick and spin – (1564–1642) was more successful is that he on mechanical models that test out various Developed by Albert Einstein like you would a traditional spinning top. Watch brought art to the aid of science. theories under a controlled laboratory (1879–1955), the Theory of Relativity as the pencil creates a series of circular looped You don’t need an expensive instrument to environment. is concerned with the notion that time lines as it moves over the paper. If you have view the world differently. You can make and space are relative and not fixed. access to a video camera, record the improvised cameras, lenses and viewfinders This theory had a radical impact on movements of the spinning top as it draws a from card and tape. Try making your own scientific enquiry in the 20th century. range of pencil patterns on the paper to create pinhole camera out of household items. Pinhole an animation piece. Different lengths of pencil cameras allow light through a tiny hole, making will result in different kinds of lines; however, pictures with a soft, blurred, dreamy effect (with if the length of the pencil is longer than the practice, you may be able to take sharply radius of the circle the pencil will not spin. focused photos).3 Using your hand-made view Find or build other devices to make finder or lens finder, create a series of drawings drawings that interest you. The force of gravity based on looking through the hole and and the gentle push and pull of the pencil, concentrating on particular aspects of an object paper and card act together to influence the that you are studying. Another alternative is to ‘spin-top model’ in very complex ways. It can get a sheet of card cut to A5 size. Push a pencil be very difficult to predict where the ‘spin-top through a hole made in the middle of the card model’ is going to go next. This sort of so that when you hold the pencil the card lies unpredictable motion is called chaotic motion. comfortably flat on your hand. The idea is that Scientists try to describe this order using the card covers the sheet of paper that you are models called strange attractors. Attractors drawing on. This means that, in effect, you can be strange, chaotic and steady. cannot see what you are drawing, so that you Diverse phenomena, such as the patterns of concentrate on what you are looking at rather Saturn’s rings, measles outbreaks, and the than on what you are drawing. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 15. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

This work is made in collaboration with Further Dark Mirror, 2004-05 German graphic designer André Pahl and animation and video, two-channel projection Explorations Further Further on floating screen Mexican composer José María Serralde. Amorales invited Pahl and Serralde to respond Grace Weir has developed a range of projects André Pahl (animation) reading reading José María Serralde (original score and piano to images in his Liquid Archive. Pahl selected in a scientific context, using conversation as a performance) specific drawings from the archive, which he tool to test out existing theories, particularly dimensions variable sequenced into this silent animation. Serralde, how knowledge as a process of mutual publications further reading on science duration: 6:14 min a silent movie pianist, also worked on a exchange can be transformative. Shared in Grace Weir: In my own time, essays James Gleick, Chaos, Viking selection of images and, without seeing Pahl’s context, these experiments dramatise the by Janna Levin, Francis McKee, Penguin, 1988 animation, composed music to accompany pragmatic interplay between the ‘knower’ and London: Science Museum, 2007, John Briggs and F. David Peat, this work. The animation and music were ‘unknown’ as a way of understanding complex catalogue/DVD The Turbulent Mirror, Harper united by Amorales to form Dark Mirror. ideas. Bending spacetime in the basement Grace Weir: A Fine Line, essays Collins, 1990 Carlos Amorales The animation and music combine as a double (2003), shows the artist with collaborator and by Francis McKee, Graham Parker Manuel DeLanda, Intensive Science projection on a two-sided screen – one side scientist Ian Elliott setting up a scientific and Peter Ride, Manchester: and Virtual Philosophy, 2009 is a video of Serralde performing his experiment, examining the universal Cornerhouse, 2003, catalogue/DVD composition on a grand piano, and the other gravitational pull of all objects.4 They use Grace Weir: Around Now, essay websites Dark Mirror side is Pahl’s soundless animation. Black and everyday materials such as tin cans, lead, by Noel Sheridan, Royal Hibernian Grace Weir white graphics of animals, humans and wood and string. The film reveals the two Academy, Gallagher Gallery, Dublin www.graceweir.com machinery dissolve from one entity into participants as they discuss the making of the 2001, catalogue Science Museum, London another, merging and separating, creating a experiment and the issues arising. Their aim is ‘Man on Houston St.’, essay by www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/smap/ sense of ambiguity, and thereby deliberately to bend space time as suggested in Einstein’s Tanya Kiang, Temple Bar Gallery, collection_index/grace_weir_in_my_ thwarting any chance of identifying with one General Theory of Relativity (1915). This Dublin, 1996, catalogue own_time.aspx central character or engaging with a linear theory examines the spatio-temporal Sci Art / Wellcome Trust, fund to 5 selected films and commissions narrative. properties of physical processes. A previous promote art/science collaboration If only something else had happened, work The Darkness and the Light (2002), also www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/ film installation for Apertures & features Elliott. Here Weir documents Elliott Public-engagement/Funded- Anxieties, RHA Gallagher Gallery, entering a small observatory. Walking across projects/Awards-made/All-awards- Dublin, 2011 the room, he opens the shutters letting the made/WTX035067.htm In my own time, premiered at light in and, by doing so, he reveals the various Science Gallery, Trinity College, The Science Museum, London, 2007 telescopes and instruments that he uses in his Dublin work. In a later sequence, Elliott attempts to From here to, new media installation www.sciencegallery.com explain ‘superstring theory’. This he does by commissioned by GMIT, Galway- W5 Science Centre, Belfast Mayo Institute of Technology, 2007 continuously halving a sheet of paper with www.w5online.co.uk scissors until the task becomes impossible. Sight unseen, collaboration with He then projects a sunspot on the paper using Graham Parker, film commission by a telescope until the paper eventually catches Breaking Ground, Ballymun, Dublin, fire and burns away. As a metaphor, this 2005 exercise reveals the role and perhaps the Dust Defying Gravity, film value of failure in scientific experiments in commission Cornerhouse, general. Paper exercise (2003), consists of an Manchester, UK. Funded by the Arts unedited conversation between Weir and Council of England, 2003 Elliott, as they illustrate the basis of the Little Bang, web-project commission Theory of Relativity in a schematic drawing. by NIFCA, the Nordic Institute The film reveals the hands of the two for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, participants, drawing as they discuss the Finland, 2001 Theory of Relativity. There is a soundtrack, which is a recording of Elliott’s voice Carlos Amorales explaining the basics of relativity, while Weir b. 1970, Mexico. Lives and works in asks supplementary questions. Mexico

1 Carlos Amorales was born in 1970 and Ludwig von Bertalanffy, 1968 General studied in Spain and The Netherlands System Theory: Foundations, Development, before returning to Mexico City where Applications, New York: George Braziller, he now lives and works. Recent 1968. exhibitions include Yvon Lambert 2 John Gribbin, The Little Book of Science, NY: Gallery, Paris (2012); Orange County Barnes and Noble, 1999. Museum of Art, Newport Beach (2010); 3 Full details on how to make your own Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2009); pinhole camera can be downloaded from: Sala Verónicas, Murcia (2009); www.diyphotography.net/23-pinhole- Meet Factory Gallery, Prague (2009); cameras-that-you-can-build-at-home and and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, www.makingyourown.co.uk/make-your- Pennsylvania (2008). His work is own-pinhole-camera.html featured in many public and private collections including the Museum of 4 For further information on the Theory of Modern Art, New York; La Colección Relativity see www.virtualprofessors.com/ Jumex, Mexico City; , 8-lecture-course-einsteins-general-theory-of- London; and the Irish Museum of relativity Modern Art, Dublin. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 17. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

The second activity with this technique is to Background to Some trace the outlines of the shadows on a wall Animating Movement or Processes of Carlos Amorales’ questions to Activities Key words or large sheet of paper. Paint in the shadows Transformation. using black paint. Think about how you can This could be discussed and understood Making your own archive practice consider arrange or compose your shadows to make in relation to the life-cycle of a butterfly, Why not create your own archive of visual and Carlos Amorales’ practice uses drawing as the What are your immediate reactions to this two ANIMATION a weird or wonderful landscape of distorted which goes through four distinct stages of textual material that you find around you. basis from which to develop performance, screen animated installation? The suggestion of movement and odd shapes. transformation: egg to caterpillar (or larva), This can be achieved by collecting and cutting video animation, paintings and sculpture, through the rapid projection of caterpillar to chrysalis (or pupa) and chrysalis Is it shot in colour or black and white? images and text from newspapers and working both in an individual and collaborative still images (16 frames or more per Tracing to adult form (or imago). This is the butterfly What role does light play in these projections? magazines, taking photographs of things that capacity. In his multifaceted body of work, second). Place a sheet of tracing paper (I some- or moth visible during the summer months. interest you or even finding things on the he creates phantasmagorical worlds, which What role do you think the sound track plays times use tracing paper that you can buy Make your own hybrid creatures that merge street. Some of the images that you collect ARCHIVE are characterised by animated scenes made with the animated images in this work? from supermarkets that come in rolls for aspects of machinery with natural objects could evoke a range of strong feelings, such A collection of unique records or up of many elements capable of invoking baking) on top of an existing image and trace such as plants and trees. Write a descriptive Are sound and images synchronised (playing as happiness, sadness or fear, similar to the documents. collective experiences of anxiety, fear and the outline or details that are of particular short story to accompany or animate your at the same time) or are there gaps of time way that Amorales’ animations do. Keep your fantasy. Amorales applies a unique visual COLLABORATION / interest to you. hybrid object, asking a range of questions between the sound and the images projected images/data in a folder or scan them (if you vocabulary that stems from his expansive and COLLABORATIVE ART such as: on to the screens? have a scanner) and save them on your on-going archival project titled Liquid Archive, A form of arts practice where two Mark-making If so, does this experience heighten or computer or in a scrap book. Make a record for which he began in 1999. This is a digital or more artists, often from different You will have noticed that Amorales What does it look like? intensify the projection of animated images each image: write the date, where you found database of drawings and collected images disciplines, collaborate in the creates a range of wide, thin, crooked and What does it feel like (soft fur, sharp for you? them or even describe how you felt or what from books, magazines, the Internet and his creation of an artwork. jagged lines combined with a variety of spikes, etc.)? attracted you to a particular image. Perhaps it own photographs of the urban environment What sorts of animated techniques does the geometric forms or patterns mainly using Where is it from? reminded you of a place or a close friend or HYBRID of Mexico City. He applies a technique known artist use (e.g. close-up views, dramatic black on white. Lines of different thickness How does it move (walk, crawl, etc.)? family member. This may be the starting point Something of mixed origin or as Rotoscopy, used in the animation industry lighting, block colour)? can be tested using different materials, such Does the creature have a story to tell? for you to reassemble these images to composition. and which involves a range of digital and as sticks dipped into ink, markers or graded develop a series of books and collages of hand-drawn techniques to produce silhouettes MACABRE pencils that range from a light grey (HB) to Phantasmagorical hybrid creatures or imaginary landscapes. and line drawings for live animation. A term associated with ghoulishness an almost black (9B). Compressed charcoal The Phantasmagorical is characterised For Your archive does not have to be limited to the The images in Amorales’ archives include and death. is also a very good material to create a range by the use of fantastic imagery to recreate a visual. Why not think about recording sounds line drawings of animals, cut-outs or discussion of organic lines and marks. personal view of the world in which familiar from your environment. Most mobile phones MOTIF silhouettes of butterflies, birds, machines, What kind of imaginary landscapes does the images and objects are capable of invoking a can record images and sounds these days and A recurring theme, pattern, form or geometric patterns and people. Over the years, artist evoke with this work? Are they familiar Stories about real and imaginary landscapes. range of collective experiences of different there is a range of free and cheap sound idea. he has added to this archive, much like we add Carlos Amorales is influenced by the and contrasting emotions. However, it is not or unknown to you? software available, such as ‘pyro audio creator’ new words to our vocabulary. Now he has over iconography and religious systems limited just to the visual. Amorales is equally Why do you think the artist has created this (www.cakewalk.com/Products/AudioCreator). ŒUVRE 1,500 digital drawings. This growing collection associated with his native Mexico. This could informed by stories from literature. This installation using two screens rather than Or, if you do have a computer, compose your The total body of work of an artist. of images is the tool that unifies Amorales’ provide a starting point to learn about a new includes Edgar Allen Poe’s book The using a single projection? own animation based on the visual and sound artistic œuvre as its motifs migrate from PHANTASMAGORIA country in terms of historical traditions and Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, a tale of data that you have collected. Stop motion medium to medium transforming to create How do these projections relate to each other? A form of theatre presentation cultural practices. For example, exploration which concerns a fantastic animation (www.stopmotionpro.com) is a great unexpected hybrids that are both beautiful How does the particular use of sound and developed in the eighteenth century pre-Columbian Mexico has a long tradition of voyage to unknown lands. This work inspired place to start. and horrific. Hybridity in the context of image make you think about time? which involved the combination of mask making. The earliest evidence of mask Amorales to create a multi-media installation Amorales’ work refers to the bringing together live performance and the projection making in the Americas is a fossil vertebra of titled Discarded Spider (2009). Read about How does the artist manipulate the material? Different ways of drawing and/or distortion of objects in the broadest of ghoulish imagery using a moving a now extinct llama found in Tequixquiac in this work, focus on the type of horror Experiment with some of Amorales’ projector. It is associated with the sense to create something new, different or What kind of relationship do the animated Mexico. This was carved sometime between suggested and have a discussion relating drawing techniques. macabre and with Gothic culture. indeed fantastical. The use of these images drawings have with sound and video? 12,000 and 10,000 BC and represents the Poe’s works to Amorales’ works. Discuss might relate to his childhood when he was Do you feel part of the animation or simply an head of a coyote. One of the reasons that this what it is in the stories that make them scary Cut-out or silhouetted objects ROTOSCOPY attracted to fantasy and monster tales from observer? tradition of mask-making continues to the and how they compare to Amorales’ images. A starting point for creating silhouettes is Also known as ‘roto’, this term is Mexican folklore and, in particular, the role present day is because the Aztecs believed a What is your experience of being in the space to cut out a picture of a distinct or clearly used in the animation industry to and meaning of costume and masks in which refer to a range of digital and powerful relationship exists between humans with these two projections? visible outline of an object from a magazine. the transformation of human to animal form hand-drawn techniques to produce and animals, plants, and natural and super- Then turn the image around and paint it black. is common. For Amorales fantasy is a way of Moving through the space of the work silhouettes and line drawings for live natural phenomena. Among Mexicans today, The history of silhouettes is fascinating. It dissolving the lines between art and life. changes our perspective on the visual and animation. there are those who believe each man and combines magic lantern projections, shadow sound project as an installation. Do you think woman shares a destiny with an animal theatre and puppets with the advent of optical this is the intention of the artist? SILHOUETTE counterpart, and whatever happens to one illusions and the camera obscura. To create From the name of an eighteenth Familiar objects have been changed, to create will happen to the other, whether it is illness, shadow plays use a strong light that casts century French finance minister, a fantastic or scary landscape where man and hunger, injury or death. This soul companion shadows of objects and people onto walls in Étienne de Silhouette, associated machine morph or transform together. Can you is called a ‘Tona’. an enclosed space. You can carry out a range with austerity and frugality. identify any of the animals, moving objects, Historical information may provide the of actions with this activity. For instance if you Silhouette is the representation of plants or machines? inspiration to make your own mask that have access to a video camera (or indeed a a three-dimensional subject, such as identifies you with your favourite animal. Are there particular issues that concern the still camera) create a film of these shadows – a person’s profile, as a flat, opaque It can be simply made from re-cycled artist? What might they be? producing your own live animations. Consider form (usually black), where the outline corresponds with the outline cardboard boxes and painted using a range What are the advantages of artists working in a adding sound or narrative to add depth to your of the subject. of colours. Gluing different materials on to collaborative context with artists from other work. the mask found in the home can create disciplines? Do you think this adds more value textures. The mask can be worn by attaching to the working process? string from both sides of the mask making it easy to wear. Make sure to cut out either a hole for the nostrils or mouth so that you can breathe! STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 19. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

flies and locusts. The association of such In 2005, Tacita Dean was invited to Cork (the Presentation Sisters, 2005 Further a spectacular installation with a Judgement European City of Culture) to make a work in anamorphic film, optical sound 1 Explorations Day narrative indicates Amorales’ Further duration: 60 min response to the city of Cork . Initially she was interested in the Titanic Centre because of her One of Amorales’ first animations, propensity toward ambiguous scenarios loan, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork reading courtesy Crawford Art Gallery and Tacita Dean interest in sinking ships.2 During her time in Rorschach Test Animation (2004), was where the boundaries between beauty and awe, good and evil, calm and calamity are Cork, she wandered around the city and came made from a series of inkblots whose across a graveyard, which was of interest constantly blurred and where imagination publications shape changes as the black spots because the plots were small and some of the is called upon to mediate between multiple Carlos Amorales, Carlos Amorales, progressively increase and decrease in head stones were missing. In response to the interpretations of the work. Caca Grande, Trade Paperbacks, number, producing new forms against the site, and before she had even thought about While building this lexicon of the 2010 Tacita Dean white background. the content of her film, Dean came up with a macabre, the artist reveals his personal The work Manimal 6 (2005) combines Hans-Michael Herzog, Katrin provisional working title of The Last Plot. vision of the world and a profound three-dimensional animation techniques Steffen and Carlos Amorales, eds. These details of a specific place intrigued with two-dimensional drawings of involvement with the artistic process Carlos Amorales, Hatje Cantz, 2008 Presentation Dean and she decided to further explore this silhouettes, allowing the artist to produce through which he expresses it. In combining site and the convent on which the remains of the effect of a virtual shadow theatre. the visual motifs of the Liquid Archive and Nestor Canclini, Jose Falconi, this small graveyard stood. On closer The accompanying soundtrack by Julián transposing them in various mediums, Jens Hoffman and Carlos Amorales, inspection, Dean discovered five nun’s living Lede is characterised by an electric Amorales creates new and exhilarating Carlos Amorales: Discarded Spider, Sisters in the convent – known as the order of the Yvon Lambert ED, 2009 heavy-metal rhythm whose mounting works of art demonstrating not only that a Presentation Sisters. This resulted in the intensity creates a sense of tension as a unique visual language can still emerge original work retitled as the Presentation Liquid Archive – Why Fear The Sisters. story slowly emerges. In a post-apocalyptic but also that, as he strongly believes, the Future? Carlos Amorales, The project was curated by Sarah Glennie landscape dominated by barren trees and artist’s critical voice is imperative as the Universidad Nacional Automa de and over a period of time, Dean came to know two glowing moons, a pack of wolves art and the everyday become more Mexica, 2007 indistinguishable. and spend time with the nuns in the South migrates from the wilderness to an urban Presentation Convent. Using film, she environment by crossing an abandoned Patricia Martin, Guillermo Santamarina, Cuauhtemoc Medina documented their daily rituals of prayer, airstrip where several passenger planes are and Gabriel Kuri, eds., Mexico City, making tea and scones, cleaning, chatting and positioned. The only indication of a human P.S.I Contemporary Art Centre, New watching television. These everyday routines presence is the erratic flight of a number of York, 2003 became the main subject of Dean’s hour-long airplanes in the dark sky. Although the film, which explored the life of the nuns and elements of a traditional narrative are in Julie Rodriques Widholm. their close quarters at the convent, alongside place, making sense of the sequence Escultura Social: A New Generation the broader issue of female domestic labour. demands an imaginative effort. This is of Art from Mexico City, Dean decided that the film had to be an hour undoubtedly a dark tale, one in which, Yale University Press, 2007 long because the nuns read hourly and daily as the title suggests, man and animal have from The Book of Hours (in the Christian websites Church this is a book containing the prayers morphed into one sinister creature. www.nuevosricos.com In staging the drama of Manimal 6, or offices to be said at the canonical hours www.yvon-lambert.com of the day, particularly popular in the Middle Amorales chose for his cityscape adobe- Ages). Dean was especially drawn to the style houses that resemble dwellings in the www.highpointprintmaking.org/ editions/amorales_carlos/bio.html continued presence of these five women in the working-class districts of Mexico City. By www.vimeo.com/21253921 [Carlos Tacita Dean original building built by the order’s founder, choosing a familiar setting, the artist makes b. 1965, , England. Lives Amorales. Remix by Agave Film] Nano Nagle, a local to Cork. The film, made in the game of free association personal, as and works in Berlin full collaboration with the sisters, captures the www.vimeo.com/24613759 [Caca aspects of his own life permeate the work. daily life of these sisters and their convent in Grande (Big Poop)] Tacita Dean studied art at the Falmouth With Black Cloud (2007), Amorales School of Art in England, the Supreme an evocative series of moving images. The takes the Liquid Archive into the three- School of Fine Art in Athens, and the mundane acts of washing, ironing, folding and dimensional realm, materialising its in London. cooking are recognised by Dean as unique and In 1998, she was nominated for a potential for communicating terror by giving and was awarded a DAAD far from the everyday. it an overwhelming physical presence. scholarship for Berlin, Germany, in The artist replicates thirty-six types of 2000. She has received the following prizes: Aachen Art Prize (2002); moths – all culled from his archive – the Primo Regione Piemonte Art Prize in thousands of life-size, black paper cut from the Fondazione Sandretto Re outs that are individually hand glued to the Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2004); the walls and ceiling of a space. Multiplied to Sixth Bennesse Prize at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005); the Hugo Boss Prize create a dense mass with both wondrous Nomination at the Guggenheim and threatening qualities, Black Cloud Museum, New York (2006); and the becomes a surreal yet sublime gathering of Kurt Schwitters Preis Award, Germany (2009). Dean also participated in the insects delicately poised in sculptural Venice Biennale in 2003 and 2005. formations that suggest the potential for She had a solo exhibition at the Dublin harm, destruction and irreversible doom. City Gallery The Hugh Lane in 2007 and forthcoming solo exhibitions The biblical plagues of the Old Testament include Five Americans at New come to mind, as two of the ten calamities Museum, New York (2012) and Tacita inflicted by God on Egypt, and recounted in Dean at Norton Museum of Art, Florida the Book of Exodus, involved swarms of (2012). STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 21. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Background to Tacita Some For discussion Dean’s process questions to What does this film tell you about Cork? Key words Activities Originally trained as a painter, Tacita Dean consider Why do you think Dean chose the Convent? Making films works primarily in 16-millimetre film, but also This exhibition could be the starting point What are your immediate reactions to the film? What role do the nuns play in this film? ANALOGUE uses other media such as drawing, sound and for a range of film-making activities. What role does sound play in this film? Something which bears a photography. Many of her projects are located Is it shot in colour or black and white? Experiment with some of Dean’s Why do you think there is no dramatic action resemblance to something else. in and respond to a particular place, story, Is there a soundtrack? If so, how does it relate In digital technology an analogue techniques such as slow fixed shots, wide or dialogue? object or event both from the past and in the to the visual imagery? device transmits and encodes sound horizontal views, collaged sounds and fading present. In art practice we use the term site- What sorts of film techniques does the artist Is there a story within this film? and imagery as a continuous flow light. specific, to denote this way of working. What use (e.g. close up views, awkward angles, In what ways is Dean’s film different from a of signals. Think about your daily activities at home this means is that an artist will investigate/ slowing down the frames, dramatic lighting)? documentary film? or school by yourself, with family or friends, respond to their immediate surroundings or to CONCEPTUAL both visually and in terms of sound. How new and strange places. They may have either How long is the film? Dean is described as being ‘obsessed with A mode of arts practice which might you record these events? researched before they get there or decided to What do you think the film is about? time’ in her films. How does she convey a emphasises the idea or concept over sense of time here? the production of a tangible art lose themselves in a place in order to What particular issues is the artist concerned Stories about places discover/uncover something new or different. Why do you think Dean slows time down – is object. emerged Seen together Dean’s films create an with? in the 1960s and has continued to Framed within this context, Dean will often Dean making a comment on our overworked unfolding story about the nuns in the convent. influence contemporary art. combine historical narrative in a contemporary How does the work make you think about and busy lifestyles or is she commenting on Develop your own work about a place you time? and/or new context. This is a process of how important our daily activities are? DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY know well. Create a story about this place, re-telling forgotten stories or indeed stories Do you feel part of the film or simply an Can you identify with the daily activities of the Electronic data storage and using film or photography, text and sound. left out of the canon of history. What informs observer? nuns? transmission technology that enables Dean’s work is her interest in people. This has immense amounts of information Filming light How does this particular film and gallery space Why do you think she rejects new technologies resulted in a series of films described as make you feel? to be compressed on small storage Everyone has tried to capture that special relational portraits of a person and/or in favour of analogue filmmaking, which is a devices, such as computers and sunset or full moon but how do you really community. Dean is interested in older people much slower and time-considered activity? telephones, that can easily be capture changing light, weather and the as subjects for her films ‘because they carry preserved, retrieved and transported. passing of time? Develop work that contrasts so much information in their bodies and have painted and drawn records with film and THE EVERYDAY an incredible grace about them at that point in photography. Referring to commonplace, ordinary their lives’.3 or routine events and activities. Dean’s principle medium is film, in Symbolic buildings particular 16mm film which is considered by INSTALLATION What do buildings tell us about past and some to be an out-dated medium because of The configuration of objects in a present times? How does architecture speak the proliferation of, and easy access to, digital space where the totality of the to us about social, political and economic technologies. For Dean there are qualities to objects and the space comprise the history? Develop project work based on the film making that cannot be expressed in digital object. theme of symbolic buildings – churches, town form. These qualities include rough edges and halls, courthouses, convents, etc. – apply a flickering light, lush colours, the use of RITUAL range of techniques such as collage, Activities or tasks which involve shadow and space, silence and filmic time photography and other mixed media. repetition, habit and monotony. which, in film terms, is known as a ‘roll of time’. This process reveals slow panoramic views of SITE-SPECIFIC a landscape that often capture changes in Artwork that is created in response natural light or subtle shifts in movement, to a specific site with the intention taken from all angles to build up a sense of of being located in the site, and time passing. The manipulation of film as a where removal from the site would physical material revealed in the editing change the meaning of the artwork. process is essential to the making of her Often associated with Installation works. Here she cuts and pastes sections of Art, Land Art and Public Art. the actual film by hand restructuring the film 16-MILLIMETRE FILM sequence after it has been shot. She records Film stock developed in the 1920s sound separately from film work and, through for amateur and industrial use. an intense editing process, sounds are Since the 1960s, when it became overlaid onto the final cut of the film. Dean’s more affordable, it has been used films are presented using a film projector, widely by artists in experimental which maintains a prominent position in the filmmaking. gallery space. This is a noisy contraption that projects films onto a surface – be it a wall, floor, and/or specific material or built environment designed for each film. The use of the projector is intentional in Dean’s work because it creates an atmospheric dimension to the film as it unfolds in real time. This is due, in part, to the sound the actual projector makes as it reels through the film systematically as a looped installation. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY 23. STRANDS 1: CHRISTINE MACKEY

Sources: Further Dieter Schwarz, ‘Teignmouth Electron’ 5. Tacita Dean in Tacita Dean – Parkett 62 – 2001, Explorations Parkett, 2001. Further Floorplan This exhibition focuses on Dean’s response to Tacita Dean, Analogue Drawings reading IMMA at NCH Cork through her film Presentation Sisters. 1991–2006, Steidl Verlag /Schaulager, 2006. Look also at other works by the artist, such as www.tate.org.uk/context- Fernsehturm (2001), which records the nightly comment/video/tacita-dean publications List of illustrations and daily activities of diners in the revolving Film – Tacita Dean, Tate Publishing, restaurant of a television tower in Berlin. This 2011 1. Cristina Iglesias Untitled (Vegetation Room X), 2002 was Dean’s first film shot in Berlin where she Tacita Dean, Tacita Dean: Film Resin and bronze powder, has lived since 2001. Also consider Pie (2003), Works with , 250 x 230 x 245 cm, based on the view from her studio as well as SteidlVerlag/Sprengel Museum, Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, the sound piece Berlin Project (2002), where Hanover, 2009 Purchase, 2003 4. Carolos Amorales Dean uses recorded sounds interlaced with Tacita Dean, Introduction by 2A. Dorothy Cross radio and other commentaries. See also curator, Juliana Engberg, Australian Dean’s Berlin work Die Regiementstochter with Professor Tom Cross Centre for Contemporary Art, 2009 Medusae, 2000 (2005), based on opera and theatre Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar, Video, duration: 30 minutes programmes of the 1930s and 1940s. Dean’s PLACE (Art Works), Thames and Courtesy Kerlin Gallery, Dublin and earlier work was preoccupied with land and Hudson, 2005 Dorothy Cross, 2012 sea such as Disappearance at Sea I (1996), Tacita Dean: Die Regimentstochter, which focused on the tragic story of the 2B Dorothy Cross SteidlVerlag, 2006 amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst who Parachute, 2005 Lecture and reading room 3. Grace Weir attempted (and failed) to win a round-the- Jean-Christophe Royoux, Marina Parachute and gannet, dimensions Warner, Germaine Greer, Tacita variable world race without ever leaving the Atlantic. Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art This film features a lighthouse off the coast of Dean (Contemporary Artists), Phaidon Press 2006 Purchase, 2005 Britain. Like Fernsehturm, the film records the fading evening light and the gradual shift from Tacita Dean: Berlin Works, St. Ives, 3. Grace Weir inside (the lighthouse) to outside (the vast 2005 Dust Defying Gravity, 2003 expanse of sea). See also her film portraits of Tacita Dean and Martyn Ridgewell, 16mm film transferred to DVD, artist Mario Merz (2003), which she recorded Tacita Dean: Teignmouth Electron, dimensions variable, duration: 4 minutes Steidl Verlag, 2011 Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art in San Gimignano in Tuscany, motivated by Purchase, 2004 his resemblance to her father. Also consider websites her collaboration with the dancer and 4. Carolos Amorales choreographer Merce Cunningham (2007), Frith Street Gallery, Dark Mirror, 2004-05 who choreographed and performed a tribute www.firthstreetgallery.com/dean Animation and video, two channel to the artist John Cage. Unilever Series Commission, 2011, projection on floating screen, 2B. Dorothy Cross Tate Modern www.tate.org André Pahl (animation), José María 1 www.cork2005.ie/programme/strands/ Serralde (original score and piano Tacita Dean’s 2001 exhibition at performance), dimensions variable, architecture/tacitadean.shtml , 2 Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, See Disappearance at Sea I & II (1996/1997). www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibtion/ 3 Tacita Dean in conversation with Robert purchase, 2005 tacitadean Ayers, 2008, www.artinfo.com/news/story/ 27914/tactita-dean Indepth Arts News – “Two-Part 5. Tacita Dean Commission Presentation Sisters and Presentation Sisters, 2005 the Presentation Windows” – 16mm colour anamorphic film, optical sound 2A. Dorothy Cross www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/200 Loan, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, with Professor Tom Cross 5/12/09/33524.html courtesy Crawford Art Gallery and Tacita Dean: In Search of Tacita Dean, Frith Street Gallery, London Inspiration, The Independent, and Gallery, 1. Cristina Iglesias www.independent.co.uk/travel/news- New York/Paris and-advice/tacita-dean-in-search-of- inspiration-440791 ENTRANCE Acknowledgements

Published by the Irish Museum of Modern Art Royal Hospital Kilmainham Dublin 8 tel: + 353 1 612 9900 fax: + 353 1 612 9999 email: [email protected]

ISBN Number ISBN: 978-1-907020-90-2

Text: Christine Mackey

Series Editor: Lisa Moran, Curator: Education and Community Programmes

Copy editor: Imelda Barnard

Image sourcing: Marguerite O’Molloy, Assistant Curator: Collections. Felicia Tan, Registrar, Collections. Nuria Carballeira, Acting Registrar, Collections. Brian Cass, Curatorial Co-ordinator, Collections.

Design: Peter Maybury www.petermaybury.com Print: Impress Printing Works, Dublin

Texts © Irish Museum of Modern Art and authors 2012 Images © Irish Museum of Modern Art and artists 2012

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