NSF News - 2008
Ciara Moore – first Artist in Residence for Australia/Ireland Exchange - in Tasmania now
Ciara Moore – letter from Tasmania
Open Submission Competition for Cork Artists
National Sculpture Factory Pilot Mentoring Scheme
The National Sculpture Factory Announces Residency Award Winners 2007/ 2008
Ireland / Australia Exchange Residency Award
Emerging Irish Artist Professional Development Award
Award for an international or Irish artist in Mid-Career
The National Sculpture Factory Announces New Film Screenings
The National Sculpture Factory, Cork, Ireland - Development Phase I
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The National Sculpture
Factory has commissioned Kerry-born artist, Sean Lynch to create a temporary
artwork for our building on Albert Road. The artwork Beuys (still a discussion) presents a larger than life scaled photograph of a mound of chalk dust and a short text (above*) on a panel positioned underneath.
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Sean made a couple of site visits to Cork in late 2007 and has been researching events that might be in the collective memory as well as historical photographs and signage in and of the city. Through this research and a previous project he has made, he became aware of the Joseph Beuys lecture that took place in the Crawford Gallery in 1974. The story goes that a priest wiped the chalk from the blackboard after the lecture (in other locations where Beuys lectured, the blackboards were kept and preserved as artworks or fetishised souvenirs of the 'shaman' artist). Sean recently met an artist in Cork who was present at this lecture and who gathered the chalk dust after the priest's erasure. The artist, who has asked to remain anonymous, has given this chalkdust to Sean, who has photographed it and presented it on the exterior of the National Sculpture Factory. For more information, see program http://www.nationalsculpturefactory.com/program_current.html
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Sean Lynch Beuys (still a discussion) National Sculpture Factory, Albert Road, Cork February – December |
A small mound of chalkdust was located in Cork in recent months.
This dust
originally fell from a blackboard used by Joseph Beuys in his lecture at the
Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, on 26 September 1974.
Afterwards, a
local clergyman erased Beuys’ notes and drawings. A young man in the audience
then collected the chalkdust off the floor, and put it in his pocket.
The next day’s
Cork Examiner summarised the ideas discussed that evening, ‘Beuys shows man as
an essential creative being in a state of evolution. He searches for a means of
restoring this sense of creativity in all spheres of life.’
The NSF's 2005 project
Cork Caucus: on art, possibility and democracy was partly inspired by Beuys'
naming of Ireland as the 'Brain of Europe' and his proposal to establish the
'Free International University' in Ireland and this topic was discussed during
the Caucus that year. In this context, the chalk is like a physical residue or
signifier of (a) history - a visual hinge on which stories and memories may
rotate and be brought back into consciousness. Even the story elucidated in
this paragraph has the potential to change or inform that story, or at least
to elongate it.
Sean's practice investigates the stories at the edges of main events, and often
references public sculpture and architecture as visual symbols of the collective
memory. Mike Fitzpatrick (Director of Limerick City Gallery of Art) has
described his practice as a type of 'activism towards history'. It is also a
way of remembering something sidelined or anecdotal, repositioning its place in
history through new framings and contexts, and like the moral of the time
machine, ultimately changing the nature of that history itself.
Sean Lynch
Sean Lynch
is an artist based in Frankfurt and County Kerry. He studied history at the
University of Limerick and Fine Art at the Stadelschule, Frankfurt. He has
exhibited solo exhibitions at Galway Arts Festival, Ritter & Staiff, Frankfurt,
and Limerick City Gallery of Art. He has taken part in recent group exhibitions
at Office Baroque, Antwerp, the Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen, the Lucas
Cranach Preis, Kronach, and the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork.
Related Event:
Chalk Talk by Sean
Lynch, as part of the NSF Open Day: 1pm, Thursday 17 April
This commission follows the success of Kenji Endo's Replicant
installation in 2007.
http://www.nationalsculpturefactory.com/program_past.html
Ciara Moore – letter from Tasmania
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Ciara Moore
is the inaugural artist-in-residence on the National Sculpture Factory’s new initiative, the Australia/Ireland Exchange Residency, a three month residency in Tasmania with a shorter trip to mainland Australia. Here Ciara reports on her experience mid way through her stay: click on image to enlarge
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I am now eight weeks into my 15-week residency in Tasmania. The first month was a quiet time of adjustment and solitude; visits to museums, tentative exploration of the city and a lot of reading. It was an interesting transition, like zooming the camera lens in on the subject. My idea of the island where I would spend the next three months altered quite dramatically during that initial period.
My first thoughts were of how our imagined notions of distant places are created and informed by maps, photographs and the Internet. Far off places seem smaller, we get an impression that we can arrive and experience it all. The reality is different. The shift between a formerly objective view and total emersion in Tasmania alters the perspective and I believe that's what makes foreign residencies such an intense and creative experience for an artist. Tasmania is no longer a dot on the Southern hemisphere. And yet it is - because, as I stand on a hot surface of dried out dusty earth in a landscape of burnt-out eucalypti trees and focus my macro lens on a spider web, that thought is always at the back of my mind. Someday soon this place where I'm standing will once again be 11,000 miles away.
My initial month’s reading provided me with a good background from which to proceed with my work here. The Aborigines lived on this land for 40,000 years before the Europeans arrived two hundred years ago. The impact the European settlers have had on the land and its native population raises huge political and philosophical issues. Tasmania is a fascinating and inspirational location both on a macro level and on a larger universal and philosophical level.
At this half-way stage
and after all the research and reading I've done, I feel that I am better
informed and can now trust my intuitive and creative responses to the place. I
don’t believe that as an artist you can simply dive into a place with
pre-conceived notions about what you will do on a residency. In a sense it is a
de-programming process, wading in from the shallow end until you find a level
where it is possible to see both ends of the pool. I believe I've arrived at
that point. I'm working at ground level now. I've been invited to join and
present to a group of artists, environmental scientists, zoologists and others
known collectively as the University of Tasmania Society and Animal Study Group
who have regular meetings to discuss issues, hold screenings and seminars etc. I
am taking a course "Art, Natural Environment and Wilderness" with the artist
Martin Walch. The college hold art forums by visiting Australian and
international artists every Friday which I attend and, as they stay in the flat
next door, I also get to meet them on an informal level which is a great
opportunity. At the end of this month I will be going on a 4-day field trip to
Maria Island with the Wilderness study unit along with other professional
artists and Phd students. I will be in a group show at the Plimsoll Gallery on
April 4th with established artists Leigh Hobba, Martin Walch and
Daniel Von Sturmer (who represented Australia at the Venice Biennale 2004).
So the pace has picked up and my time here has become even more precious
although I imagine that my experience in Tasmania will inspire work for a period
well beyond the 15 weeks I spend here.
- Ciara Moore
 Ciara on a field trip to Maria Island |
 'Transmission Still'
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 'Clearing' |
Ciara Moore – first Artist in Residence for Australia/Ireland Exchange - in Tasmania now
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Video artist Ciara Moore,
from Howth, Co. Dublin, is the winner of the inaugural National Sculpture Factory Ireland/Australia Residency Exchange.
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Ciara works primarily in video, sound and text and was selected from a competitive process in 2007. Her residency takes place over three and a half months, having started on 28th January in Tasmania (Hobart) and ending in Sydney (via Melbourne) on 11th May 2008. This award is valued at €20,000 + and includes travel costs, a stipend, a studio and accommodation (also in Sydney and Melbourne), access to the University of Tasmania School of Art’s facilities and an exhibition at the end of her residency. She will also spend time in Artspace, Sydney, and Monash University, Melbourne, making contacts with cultural practitioners and organisers there.
Ciara was born in Dublin in 1966 and attended the National College of Art & Design from 1996 to 2000. She was awarded a first class honours degree in painting and was the recipient of the CAP Foundation Award in 2000. In 2002 she was granted an Arts Council of Ireland Commission Award to produce a video artwork for Cork Film Centre. She has also participated in the Pépinières Européennes pour Jeune Artistes, with a three-month residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Crete.
Her work is grounded in philosophical, sociological and cultural theory and the location of her residency accommodation and studio within the Hobart School of Art campus, should make for fruitful connections. She hopes to engage with the unique environment in Tasmania and conduct intense research there.
The NSF will host an Australian artist in Cork when we re launch our newly refurbished premises in 2010.
This residency is supported by Culture Ireland and the Arts
Council of Ireland.
Open Submission Competition for Cork Artists
The National Sculpture Factory is pleased to announce three new temporary commissions in Cork City’s Docklands/Port of Cork area, in 2008. The NSF is inviting a national and an international artist to create new temporary projects and providing a unique opportunity for a Cork artist to engage with the area in this transitional stage, via open submission.
Artists from or resident in Cork are invited to apply for the Open Submission commission. The project /artwork can be in any material. The total commission is worth €5000 including artist’s fee, and material /installation costs.
NSF’s commissions programme is intended to create opportunities for artists to make ambitious work in the public realm and to increase the breadth of work available in Cork. This particular commission is an opportunity for artists to engage with the area at this transitional stage.
Info session and Site visit: Tuesday 26 February.
Closing date for applications is 31 March 2008.
More information and application guidelines can be downloaded here: Full Brief. Open Sub. Docklands 2008
To register for the site visit, contact Treasa O’Brien, NSF Programme Manager: treasa@nationalsculpturefactory.com Tel: 021 4314353
National Sculpture Factory Pilot Mentoring Scheme
The National Sculpture Factory wishes to set up a mentoring scheme and is seeking interested candidates to take part in the pilot programme as either mentor or person to be mentored (mentee).
- Mentors should be experienced artists, practitioners within their field, with an interest in sharing their knowledge and experience with a less experienced artist.
- Mentees should be practising professional artists seeking to further their personal artistic development through the process of individual mentoring.
Mentors should also include a statement outlining what they would hope to offer an artist and mentees should include a statement outlining what they would hope to gain from the experience. Please indicate whether you are interested in being a mentor or a mentee.
If you are interested in further information or taking part in the pilot project, please email or send your letter of interest and CV/Biog to National Sculpture Factory, Mentoring Pilot, Albert Road, Cork, by 21st December 2007.
Please note:
The numbers taking part in the pilot programme will depend on the budget and the response to this call.
Ireland/Australia Exchange Residency Award
Video artist Ciara Moore, from Howth, Co. Dublin, is the winner of the inaugural NSF Australia/Ireland Residency. She was selected by a panel of three Irish visual art professionals – Tara Byrne (Director NSF), Valerie Connor (artist and Visual Arts Advisor to the Arts Council) and Gerard Byrne (artist and representative of Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2007). Ciara works primarily in video, sound and text. She will travel to Tasmania (Hobart) for three months in early 2008, where she will have a studio and accommodation, access to the University of Tasmania School of Art’s facilities and an exhibition at the end of her residency. She will also spend two weeks in Sydney to check out the art scene there. The NSF plans to receive an Australian artist in Cork to be resident in our freshly refurbished premises in 2009.
The panel for the following residencies comprised of : Tara Byrne (Director, NSF), Paul Sullivan (Static, Liverpool) and Sarah Iremonger (artist and co-founder of Sirius Art Centre).
This residency is supported by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland.
Emerging Irish Artist Professional Development Award
The winner of the Emerging Irish Artist Professional Development Award is Emma Houlihan. Emma recently graduated with a BA in Sculpture from NCAD Dublin and her work is concerned with urban exploration and spatial dynamics. This residency offers two months studio space, a stipend, NSF membership, free access to all Professional Development and Training workshops and free digital equipment loans. However, in 2007, this residency will also offer a new professional development opportunity via an intense two-week residency with Static, an art and architecture project space and think-tank, based in Liverpool, with which the NSF has commissioned projects in the past.
Award for an international or Irish artist in Mid-Career
Maddie Leach is the winner of the NSF Artist in Mid-Career Award, the only award open to international artists as well as Irish. Maddie is from New Zealand, and works primarily in installation and video. This residency offers two months accommodation, studio space, and a stipend of €2,500. One of the aims of this award is to build a relationship between the NSF and the artist in order to develop a Cork-based commission at a later stage.
NSF Residency Award for a Crawford Graduate 2007
Graduate James McCann was announced as the winner at the CCAD Degree Show opening night on 22nd June. As well as the studio space and stipend normally offered, this year we are delighted to team up with CIT and offer the winner an opportunity to exhibit or present a project or event in a CIT venue, during or at the end of their residency. James’ work is performance-based video and sound installation and we hope he will make good use of our new media facilities and digital equipment.
For more information, please contact the NSF Programme Manager:
E: treasa@nationalsculpturefactory.com T: 021 4314353
www.nationalsculpturefactory.com
The National Sculpture Factory, Cork, Ireland Development Phase I
With the help of a major capital grant from ACCESS II (funded through the Department of Arts, Sport & Tourism), the National Sculpture Factory can realise its next phase of development in supporting the stimulation and development of the arts both nationally and internationally.
Development Brief
The National Sculpture Factory (NSF) is seeking expressions of interest from
suitably qualified design teams to incorporate Architectural Design services,
Mechanical & Electrical Engineers, Civil Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and
others services which may be required in the refurbishment and development of a
protected structure (a sculpture facility) in Cork City Centre. The development
will require planning permission. Specifically, we wish to create a flexible and
architecturally exceptional production and support facility for artists working
in all sculptural media (traditional materials, technology, installation,
film/video, photography), while retaining large-scale workshop spaces. To
refurbish and develop the interior of the workshop building, through creating
new studio-type enclosed spaces, a new public reception area, separation of the
glass and ceramics areas, kitchen and office facilities and greater overall
storage capacity. Design team will be expected to provide full project
management services, including Project Supervisor Design Stage, for the
planning, tender, construction stages to commissioning and hand-over.It is
intended to contract out the Design Contract to a competent service provider or
to a consortium under a single Design contract. Experience in the design,
specification, operation and management of sculpture facilities or public or
cultural facilities would be an advantage. The facility is to be versatile and
fully accessible to all and should provide a landmark architectural
building.
Deadline for expressions of interest: 24th August 2007, 12 midday
For further information on The National Sculpture Factory please contact Tara Byrne, Director, The National Sculpture Factory, Albert Rd, Cork City on 021 4314353 or email info@nationalsculpturefactory.com
The NSF are hosting film screenings the first
Thursday of every month Autumn Sonata Previous Films in the series:
Slum Cinema
the film and introduce it
on the night. The subsequent programming will be decided by
the the
audience.
Introduced by
Gerard Staunton
7 pm, Thursday 6 December
Introduced by Dobz O'Brien & Patricia Baker
7 pm, Thursday 1 November
Undressing My Mother
Films from a Dark Room
Introduced by Isabelle Meerstein & Ken Wardrop
7 pm, Wednesday 12 September 2007
7 pm, Thursday 5 July
Fear Eats the Soul (1974) directed by Rainer Werner
Introduced by Catherine Harty
7 pm, Thursday 7 June
Fire
directed by Deepa Mehta (1996)
introduced by
Lisa Fingleton
7 pm,Thursday 3 May
Weekend directed by Jean Luc-Godard (1967)
introduced by Rory Mullins
7pm, Thursday 12 April
Our Lady
of the Turks
introduced by Max le Cain
7 pm, Thursday
22 March
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