PRESS RELEASE
Venice at gtGallery opens on 30th May 2008 (runs until 23rd July) 2008 and brings together work from the Ireland and Northern Ireland exhibitions at last year’s 52nd Venice Biennale. The exhibition features video installations by Willie Doherty and Gerard Byrne.
Born in Derry in 1959, Willie Doherty continues to live in the city. Doherty first came to prominence in the 1980’s when he exhibited a series of photographic works overwritten with text, including The Walls, Fog: Ice and Sever/Isolate. These works, as with his subsequent photographic and video works, explore the complexities of living in a divided community in Northern Ireland. Much of his work refers to the undercurrent of fear, oppression and uncertainty that was the daily experience of life in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’. Doherty has been shortlisted twice (1994 and 2003) for the Turner Prize. The work shown here is Ghost Story newly commissioned by curator Hugh Mulholland for the Venice Biennale and supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and British Council.
Gerard Byrne, born in 1969, lives and works in Dublin. His work has been described as “exploiting the ambiguities inherent in historicising the legacy of cultural forms”. ZAN-*T185…the work presented here is based on microfilm records of early issues of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. The work is a meditation on fame, artifice, acting and the complicity between the interviewer and the interviewee. The work, produced by Ali Curran, was shot on location at the New York Theatre Workshop with acclaimed cinematographer Chris Doyle. ZAN-*T185…was commissioned by for Culture Ireland specifically for the Venice Biennale.
Mike Fitzgerald curated Gerard Byrne’s exhibition for the Irish pavilion and Hugh Mulholland curated Willie Doherty’s exhibition for Northern Ireland at 52nd Venice Biennale. Principal support for the exhibitions came from An Chomhairle Ealaion and Culture Ireland / Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council and DCAL. A selection of works from the two exhibitions was recently on view at Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin.
Hope to see you there!
Bye. |
