switch2008

switchmoving images for moving people

switchmobilis in mobili

www.switchspace.org

Switch is both verb and noun. It can be understood as an exchange or a shift, the act of changing one thing or position for another.

Equally it indicates a device that links separate paths, connecting and disconnecting established circuits.

The public realm is a complex place, composed of closed and open spaces, vertical and horizontal surfaces; it is defined by an invisible architecture of regulations, laws and customs, socially acceptable behaviouurs, norms and taboos; it is governed by a multiplicity of signs and symbols. In the act of traversing such a place we each read the signs, adopt an attitude, select an approach, navigate a route.

The more familiar the place, the less likely we are to think about those choices that we make, operating on a kind of auto-pilot, experiencing ourselves as separate from all that is around us; the ‘subject’ self distinct from the ‘object’ environment through which we pass. While this binary distinction of ‘subject’ self and ‘object’ environment is useful for our survival, it also impoverishes us. We ‘forget’ our continuity with all of existence, ‘forget’ that we are composed of the very same materials that we see around us. We ‘forget’ that what happens around us is also what happens to us. What does it take to switch from forgetting to remembering? What kind of switch can disconnect the circuits of dull habit, trip us from one circuit to another?

In its capacity to surprise and confound us, to confuse and perplex us, art can be one such switch. It can flip our perceptions of where we are, so that where we are is no longer where we were.

Fiona WoodsOf every place, a centre

Switch then, this very moment. It’s Nenagh, it’s October; the light is fading from the skies, the heat is seeping from the land. There

is culture and commerce, there is bustle and night-life. Shops open, shops close, people congregate and disperse, economies rise and fall. Daily life has its rhythms and routines, its dramas and dreams deferred.

Into this moment comes something unexpected, something unlikely; eight artworks inserted into places where they should not be. Their purpose is not to distract or entertain us; they do not promise to answer any questions or confirm any positions - instead, they stop us in our tracks, ask of us that we reconsider where it is that we think we are. Artworks are things, but they are not only things. Sometimes, they are conduits for the forces that pass constantly around and through us.

Most of us long for those moments when the world fills us up, when our self becomes continuous with our environment, making of every place a centre. North Tipperary Arts Office embraced Switch, this artist-led initiative, so that people going about their business in Nenagh on a dark autumn evening might find themselves, unexpectedly, at the very centre of a world; they might find themselves present, continuous, remembered.

2008

Michael WurstbauerNorthbound And Back 01

Pearse Street, Nenagh

In the work of Michael Wurstbauer, time and space, repetition and intense mental states are focused by and interrogated through, the use of drawings and lens-based media.

‘The past coexists with the present that it has been; the past is preserved in itself, as past in general (non-chronological); at each moment time splits itself into present and past, present that passes and past which is preserved’.

[Gilles Deleuze’s summary on Henri Bergson’s theses on time]

By engaging with time itself, Wurstbauer is attempting to throw light on to the ways in which this dimension is at the mercy of our own personal subjective responses.

Northbound And Back, a digital stills animation, 2004, Michael’s first film of this kind, saw him with dolly and tripod pushing a camera forward little by little through the cycle and pedestrian tunnels under the river Clyde in Glasgow. A wooden stick measuring 25 cm was used to follow a certain rhythm which when translated into film, resulted in a moderate cycling speed. ‘Filming’ for about a week the work was about exploring the space under the river coupled with interests in time as described above. Connecting Partick with Govan, the tunnel would have been used first mainly by workers when it opened in the 60’s, with shipyards on either side still working.

Michael Wurstbauer is based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Catriona RyanCCTV 02

Summerhill, Nenagh

A cyclist moves in & out of the frame, constantly being caught by the camera; we are waiting, searching for him to enter and leave and re-enter.

We are observing, monitoring. The cyclist is caught up in a network of images and cameras reflecting society’s need for documentation, for security, for evidence. It is a story of an event that has happened, is happening and without conclusion.

CCTV is a performance to surveillance cameras, taking place in a city, in the early hours. The cameras link up and follow a persons journey. Most of these cameras are positioned quite high, a birds eye view, in gaming terminology called ‘god’s view’. Surveillance cameras are almost unnoticeable, we know they are there but we do not see them.

Ryan’s work focuses on narrative, memory and imagination. Her work is performative based and employs photography, video and installation. She has exhibited throughout the UK & Germany.

Catriona Ryan is based in Tipperary, Ireland.

Sam Holden70 Still Frames and 5 Minutes 50 Seconds of Video 03

Pearse Street, Nenagh

Using a range of approaches and a variety of media, Sam Holden examines the representation of the self; exploring issues such as identity, hyperconsciousness, multiplicity, self-image and the image repertoire.

In his latest video piece ‘70 Still Frames and 5 Minutes 50 Seconds of Video’ he examines how much we simply don’t see when encountering someone’s photographic reproduction and underlines how problematic photography can be as a representative medium.

Holden’s work has been exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, including shows in London (most recently at The Photographer’s Gallery), Cyprus, Spain, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, Germany and the USA.

Sam Holden is based in London, UK.

Mari LagerquistTo Swing over a Field 04

Pearse Street, Nenagh

To Swing Over a Field

A girl is swinging over and into the landscape. Two movements are accentuated by the film: Firstly, the swinging that constantly moves forward and backwards emphasising the horizon line as she moves in and out of frame. Secondly, the cyclic movement of the two sequences playing one after the other; summer turns into winter and winter fades back into summer in an everlasting loop. In the uncanny and nostalgic image, the girl doesn’t grow old and the seasons remain.

As with my other work, the starting point lies in the mundane, in the small encounters or observations that happen in daily life: it can be a meeting between people or objects, but contained by a specific situation. My interest lies in what happens within this encounter, and what emerges from it. Through the work a shift occurs, a slight shift where one’s perception changes slightly, which is followed by a re-confirmation or re-valuation of the experience. My background is in photography and video, however, at present, I use any tool disposable. I also have a working practise that tries to balance between the individual and the collective, between my own artwork and working with other groups of artists.

Mari Lagerquist is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

05David Bickleyswim

Pearse Street, Nenagh

Like gazing into a river or stream our focus is constantly forced to shift, what is under and what is over? By giving our mind up to multiple motion imagery we are forced to use a different set of principals and mode of thinking. It is here, at this point of contact that our subconscious searches for something meaningful and satisfying with which to feed our hungry imagination, like a cat on the edge of a pond full of fish. And it is here where lies the whole of man’s inventory of symbol and myth.

David Bickley is a filmmaker, musician and new media artist and has exhibited extensively in Ireland and Europe. He has been awarded a Sony Video award, an O2 Digital Media Award and a Hotpress award.

“My audio visual works/installations are abstracted, largely process led adventures mainly on themes of nature/landscape but also with points of reference to mythology and symbolism. They rely heavily on texture and mood and tend to sacrifice the topographical in an attempt to capture the spirit of the places depicted using memory or feeling. Other works are digitally manipulated landscapes designed to evoke a sense of animation and accelerated time-scale.”

David Bickley is based in West Cork, Ireland.

David TheobaldNew Atlantis 06

Connelly Street, Nenagh

A fish slowly circles in its tank at night.

Taking its title from Francis Bacon’s 17th century utopian novel, in which he portrayed a shining vision of human discovery and knowledge, this work attempts to see where we’ve got to.

Today, location is not so much defined by geography, but by our position within the complex web of processes that make up contemporary society. My work attempts to capture such a situation, caught in a perpetual state of transit where increasing complexity is often presented as an illusion of ‘progress’. Frequently, my films are animations which are structured from photographs or downloaded images, blending these together to create a familiar yet alien environment. Poised between photography and film, they explore the space between the still and the moving image, both how we experience and constitute time.

Working with video inevitably raises questions about mediation in modern society and the seemingly endless pursuit of much digital animation and game technology towards ever more spectacular optical effects, the spectator held in thrall of the screen. In contrast, the use of a restricted viewpoint, repetition, and mundane subject matter in my work seem more likely to generate feelings of futility, frustration as well as humour which, in some cases, might give way to a deeper contemplation of the systems in which we live – no bad thing.

David Theobald is based in East Twickenham, UK.

Hugh WattVapour 07

Kenyon Street, Nenagh

Hugh Watt is a Northern Irish artist based in Glasgow, known for his evocative work in film and video. Hugh graduated from the Master of Fine Arts course at Glasgow School of Art in 1999 where he now teaches. Since graduating Watt has exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2004 he was the recipient of the three-month, Cove Park Residency in Scotland and in 2007 completed a three-month residency at the Chandrasevana Residency Centre in Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka.

Hugh’s work is an intimate response to the places where he has spent prolonged periods of time. Much of Hugh’s work focuses on remote locations where his interests are centered on issues of loss and belonging; a result of the inevitable passage of time & events, which makes up our day to day existence. Watt’s work pulls into question dualities played out between the observer and the observed.

Observations draw parallels between repetition & change, between elements of beauty & states of uncertainty, when describing relationships to places, both physically & psychologically. They constitute states of connectedness, as well as exposing the fractures, which put in motion, notions of displaced-ness.

Vapour is a continuous video loop depicting a view from the passenger seat of a stationary car. As the ice fills our field of vision, Vapour, sees an outward gaze slowly invert upon itself, leaving us with a sense of separation and internalization.

Hugh Watt is based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Harald TurekHinterland 08

Kenyon Street, Nenagh

Harald Turek’s practice is largely based in photography, however, it also encompasses performance, video and installation. He graduated from the Master of Fine Art course at the Glasgow School of Art in 1999 and has since exhibited in the UK, Europe & Internationally.

On a 7 week artists’ residency in the Summer of 2006 in Kemijärvi, Lapland, Finland, Turek examined the romantic notion of the landscape, which is, of course entirely human-managed. Man-made structures such as roads, electricity & telephone lines cut corridors onto & into nature, replacing it with the means of transport, communication and, effectively power. These are the structures that feed the machine that makes the life that we live comfortable but through familiarity is seldom noticed.

Returning to Kemijärvi during the Winter of 2006 for 3 weeks, he filmed extensively during the few hours of daylight. Travelling on a regular bus between the cities of Rovaniemi & Kemijärvi, following the Arctic Circle, this roadmovie documents a landscape which conjures a feeling of isolation, loneliness and beauty.

Harald Turek is based in Tipperary, Ireland.

supported by

Jim BerginAnnette Tobin

Michael TuckerLiam Heffernan

Eoin Dillon AuctioneersWhelan’s Music Centre

Sherry Fitzgerald Talbot Auctioneers

Woodville Designworks

Nenagh, C

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switch2008

switch is an initiative based in North Tipperary which aims to promote & show contemporary video art in a public context.

October 27 - November 2 2008, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary

www.switchspace.org