The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, In Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh
Arsenale and Central Pavilion Saturday 9 May to Sunday 22 November 2026
Associated text
Catalogue essay
For more than three decades, Dublin-based artist Alan Phelan has worked across a range of disciplines, from sculpture and printmaking to video. Since 2018, however, Phelanโs practice has become increasingly entwined with the Joly screen process โ a short-lived, early colour photography method invented in 1894 by John Joly, an Irish physicist and professor of geology at Trinity College Dublin. Jolyโs pioneering work created the first practical and stable additive process for producing colour images from a single photographic plate. His technique used black-and-white film in conjunction with a screen filter made of thin red, green, and blue (RGB) lines, which laid the groundwork for later screen-plate photographic technologies like the Lumiรจre brothersโ Autochrome.
In reviving this technically demanding analogue process, Phelan has embraced and personalised the distinctive Joly aesthetic, characterised by RGB patterns and geometries. His ongoing body of unique, non-editioned Joly screen photographs draws on a fusion of art-historical and cultural references, chronicled within sometimes elaborate titles. The artistโs ambition is to cultivate a visual history for the Joly process where none previously existed.
Falsified, fictional, doctored, or queered, yet anchored by real people and actual events, these โcounterfactualโ histories span five centuries of image-making that predates the invention of photography itself.
In photographs of contemporary floral arrangements, Phelanโs references include seventeenth-century Dutch flower painting โ a genre associated with western imperialism and exoticism. Throughout the Golden Age, paintings contained vanitas (or hidden messages), variously linked to sexuality, the transience of beauty, and the inevitability of death. In a similar vein, Phelanโs self-portraits incorporate codes and signifiers (clothing, props, innuendo) that connect to the performance of queer identities and subcultures across the history of photography โ from Robert Mapplethorpe and Jimmy DeSana to Fรฉlix Gonzรกlez-Torres.
Unlike most photographic prints, which normally exist as reproducible elements of larger editions, Phelanโs Joly photographs are one-off, autonomous artworks that embody an illuminated intensity, small scale, and objecthood. Best observed within darkened environments, they are lit from behind by LED panels. Phelan often employs bespoke presentation devices of his own design, crafted from repurposed antique furniture, scientific instrument cases, cake boxes, and brass ribbon frames.
In recent years, Phelanโs interest in the Joly screen aesthetic and process has infiltrated his public artworks as well, in particular his hyacinth sculptures (both papier-mรขchรฉ and augmented reality) and the large, 3D-printed, RGB Sconce, Hold Your Nose (2021) for Dublinโs City Hall. Other interventions in the public realm have rendered architectural details and fence railings in RGB colours, with the palette gradually becoming a motif for expanded Joly exhibition-making. Similarly, windowpanes and glazed doors have been striped in RGB printed vinyl, casting colourful refractions onto floor, ceiling, and walls, as if transforming spaces into camera interiors, placing the viewer inside the process itself.
Given Phelanโs extensive critical engagement with contemporary art โ through writing, criticism, and experimental publishing โ it seems fitting that text art would manifest in his practice as an unyielding narrative impulse. Examples include an ongoing series of RGB text paintings (featuring short, pithy statements) and a wall text from 2019, which reads: โWhen the Idea is Extinguished, the Word Sparklesโ. This line, taken from Jean Genetโs unfinished epic poem Fragments (published 1990), emerged during Phelanโs research into the French writer for Folly & Diction (2020), a music video focusing on Joly and his collaborator, Henry Dixon, that recounts a tale of loss, abandonment, and obsolescence.
Across Phelanโs ลuvre, meaning emerges in the purposeful gaps and slippages between text and image. Neither anachronistic nor fully rooted in the contemporary moment, meaning, like Jolyโs near-forgotten process, is transitory, contested, and subject to erasure.
โJoanne Laws
GUIDE
Since 2018, Alan Phelan has explored the Joly screen process, an early colour photography method invented in 1894 by the Irish physicist John Joly. The first practical and stable additive process for producing colour images from a single photographic plate, it used black-and-white film in conjunction with a screen filter made of thin red, green, and blue (RGB) lines, laying the groundwork for later technologies like the Lumiรจre brothersโ Autochrome.
The artistโs unique Joly screen photographs draw on a fusion of art-historical and cultural references, cultivating a visual history for the Joly process where none existed. Fictional, doctored or queered, these โcounterfactualโ histories span five centuries of image-making, from Dutch flower painting to the performance of queer identities and subcultures in photography. Lit from behind by LED panels, sometimes in presentation devices made from antique furnishings, Phelanโs Joly photographs embody an illuminated intensity, small scale, and objecthood.
Phelan has extended the Joly process into public art projects and architectural interventions โ including new RGB and text-based works discreetly placed in the Biennale venues. In the gaps and slippages that he explores between text and image, meaning is neither anachronistic nor fully contemporary, but rather transitory, contested, and subject to erasure.
3 โ 30 July 2025 (and through August by appointment) Molesworth Gallery, 16 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Tel: + 353 1 6791548 Email: info@molesworthgallery.com Opening times during exhibitions: Monday-Friday, 10.30am-5.30pm; Saturday, 11am-2pm
For his third solo exhibition at the Molesworth Gallery, Alan Phelan showcases his distinctive RGB palette, blending photography, painting, and sculpture. The works address numerous temporal moments, toying with understandings of time and history.
Temporal Furniture is part of Alan Phelanโs ongoing investigation into the invention of colour photography. This is rooted in the work of John Joly and his colour screen process which gives the stripes and colours that pervades most of Phelanโs recent work.
There is furniture in the exhibition. Odd pieces sourced over the last year from auction houses, including a scientific instrument case, a canterbury, brass ribbon frames, a card table, and a cake box. All lovingly restored and now re-purposed to house Joly photographs.
Phelanโs works are guided by the concept of additive colour photography, using the Joly screen process as a metaphorical framework. Further research has led to various other additive methods from the early 20th century, which, much like the Joly process, fell by the wayside but employed unique patterns and geometries of RGB.
These have now been rendered as paintings with text overlays and 3d models photographed using the Joly process. Quotes from the American painter Mark Tansey provide a background commentary on generational failure, or rather the times when work fails to be seen and understood. Applied to the history of additive colour photography, this dialogue opens up the possibilities for a temporal shift in remembering.
There are a few twists in this narrative which brings the personal into the public discourse. Where the Joly, Thames, Paget, Krayn and Omnicore failed, the Autochrome succeeded. The Lumiรจre brothers, Auguste and Louis, won this early stage of colour photography. Fighting back for Joly, Phelan has cosplayed the brothers in three portraits with his husband. This queering of history is scattered throughout the exhibition from a large colour screen printed painting which expands the backstory to his RGB Sconce sculpture and critical commentaries on commodity culture via a โbespokeโ handbag and โcustomโ tote. Two zines made for the recent Paris Ass Book Fair at the Palais de Tokyo Paris will also be available.
History is subjective, temporal in as much as it relates to time, but also the order and importance of events that can be skewed or upended to serve other purposes. There are different versions how this can be understood depending on what physics or cultural theory you believe or control. The past, present, and future do not necessarily even follow a linear path. Perhaps temporal furniture is just another way of describing antiques but intros instance it is about inventing a different way of remembering.
This building has been an incredible place to mount an exhibition. I was approached to show here and asked Mark to work with me on tackling the task. Together we selected many existing works that were tuned in various ways to the decor iconography, materials and history. These were maybe superficial starting points that got the conversation going. Newer works connect more directly to the pleasure palace and the unavoidable post-colonial context. The essay in the brochure by James Merrigan asks a lot of difficult questions about this. The art answers indirectly and obliquely, taking multiple positions, coming from different places and narratives. There is a lot going on but a lot of goodwill also.
Briefly, it began with a list of things Mark posted online, this led to selecting โListโ โ a barrage of short sentences that formed the graphic identity for the show layered onto the exterior with RGB lines from me. Along with Larry, a bunch of male names are introduced through striped lined paintings. They are drawn from art history but anonymised here as first names, cleared to party or just fall down the stairs. Mark on the other hand is a family man and has several works made with and about his young children. Their dreams are mapped, games remade and obsessively collaged into fantastical landscapes or territories of thinking. Between us, new works reconfigure pizza boxes, an archive of paper, magic trick cabinets, board games and pebbles to connect to the iconography and history of the building. My Joly photographs are selected for form and content, layered spot works to relate to Mark and connect to the kitchen garden and ambitions of a possible futures for workers and party folk.
The link โAssociated Textsโ contains lots of written material generated for the show which includes an artistsโ statement, official press release, the brochure essay, full list of works, and interpretative explainers for the tour guides of the building.
The show is open until the end of July. Booking is not required but you may have to wait if a tour is happening. The building is a national monument and all visitors must be shadowed for security reasons. Please be patient. The guides recount the history of the building to visitors as there are no text panels and dreadful interpretative displays. The building is empty of any original furnishings and so an ideal place for contemporary art if it can dare to compete with the amazing architecture.
Documentation photography by Louis Haugh.
Low res PDF brochure with essay by James Merrigan and full list of works
The List and The Line Mark Swords and Alan Phelan at the Casino Marino
This exhibition brings together two very different art practices in a site specific and responsive installation at Casino Marino. Both artists interconnect conflicting histories through the act of making โ with complex collage paintings, layered Joly screen photographs, text works, assemblages and sculptures. The personal is thrown together with the national, consumerism is jumbled with colonialism, visual narratives tumble into abstraction, and pleasure is maybe more pizza box than portico perfection.
Over the last century in Ireland, as imperialism was replaced by nationalism, this unique building endured despite what seems like active neglect. The new Irish state was not very forgiving and gobbled up the estate the building was part of for social housing, deals with the Catholic church to build an orphanage, GAA pitches filling the 5-walled garden, rail lines, golf clubs and more, leaving only a small lawn around the Casino.
The Casino is not denounced in our time as an absurd folly or a monument to imperial excess and extravagance, but rather it is celebrated as an unlikely architectural gem and national treasure. Built as a pleasure-house, this little maison de plaisance or lustschloss, as described elsewhere, is so much more than kitchen, dining room and bedroom. The Greek origin of the word archive is arkheion, meaning house or abode. In its conception and design this casino, or little house, was a fusion of antiquity and early modern style. Now it can be an archive of other potential histories.
Where the Earl, James Caulfield partied, we now also play. In the initial selection of works there were so many direct visual connections with shapes and textures, exotic plants & animals, and indeed parallel symbolism. To this were added new works, responding to and sometimes working against the thematics of specific rooms. The List and the Line is where both artists meet, beyond stripes and potential inventories, to find a way to structure our thinking on this incredible place.
Alan Phelan and Mark Swords
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OPW Press release
Press release generated mostly by ChatGPT
OPW and Casino Marino Welcome an Exciting Collaboration of Artistic Practices โ The List and The Line exhibition
Casino Marino, one of Europeโs most esteemed neoclassical buildings, is set to host an unprecedented art exhibition, bringing together two divergent artistic practices in a captivating installation. The exhibition, titled โThe List and The Line โ new and recent work by Alan Phelan and Mark Swords,โ promises to be a transformative experience, intertwining conflicting narratives and challenging conventional perceptions through the creative endeavours of two remarkable artists.
Renowned for their innovative techniques and bold conceptualizations, the featured artists, Alan Phelan and Mark Swords draw inspiration from a rich tapestry of art historical context, seamlessly blending tradition with contemporary expression. Through an array of complex collage paintings, layered Joly screen photographs, assemblages, and sculptures, they invite visitors to embark on a journey through intertwining histories, reinterpreting familiar narratives in a fresh and thought-provoking light.
Samir Eldin, OPW National Historic Properties and General Manager of Casino Marino remarked,
โAt the heart of this exhibition lies a profound exploration of the intersections between art, history, and identity. By juxtaposing contrasting elements and challenging established norms, the artists invite us to reconsider our understanding of heritage and legacy in a rapidly evolving world. As stewards of cultural heritage, we are proud to provide a platform for artists to engage with our shared history and contribute to the ongoing narrative of artistic expression.โ
As visitors traverse the rooms of Casino Marino, they will encounter a captivating dialogue between past and present, tradition and innovation. From the lavish Georgian motifs adorning the walls to the intricate marquetry floors, each detail serves as a backdrop for the artistsโ creative interpretations, echoing the rich legacy of artistic patronage and cultural exchange.
Drawing upon themes of personal narrative, national identity, and socio-political commentary, the exhibition offers a dynamic exploration of the complexities inherent in contemporary art practice. Through their evocative imagery and thought-provoking symbolism, the artists challenge viewers to confront pressing issues such as consumerism, colonialism, and the evolving nature of visual storytelling.
From the whimsical musings of Alan Phelan to the introspective reflections of Mark Swords, the exhibition promises to ignite the imagination and stimulate conversation among art enthusiasts, historians, and curious minds alike. Through its innovative approach to curating and storytelling, โThe List and The Lineโ invites visitors to reconsider the role of art in shaping our understanding of the world around us.
โฆthe history of things to comeโฆ Sarah Connor, The Terminator: Judgment Day, 1991
This is not a catalogue essay, or a history lesson. It is a critical confrontation with a question I have on the occasion of an exhibition at a Dublin heritage site by two artists, Alan Phelan and Mark Swords:
What does it mean to make, place and be solicited by contemporary art in a heritage site (i.e., history)? Is this an occasion of contemporary art, or merely decoration?
The heritage site in question is named the Casino at Marino, a Neoclassical temple designed in 1759 for James Caulfield, 1st Earl of Charlemont by Sir William Chambers, doing what postmodern architecture has been doing for the last 50 years, borrowing the culture of the past, augmenting it, and putting it back onto the present, like Doric columns and golden eagles on a 1970โs semi-detached.
And yet we have been postmodern ever since the Roman rebooted the Greeks. That fact is not in question. The question in question is: Is something lost in the translation, what some call the original context, motivation, passion, soul of cultural production? And if so, what is lost in the shuffle of past and present?
Words like โshuffleโ come easy when discussing a building named Casino (โLittle Houseโ in Italian; โgambling establishmentโ in English). The cards shuffled in this pleasure house during its colonial conception were dealt by the lords if not ladies of the manor. The Casino provided R&R for the few who ruled and harvested the resources and cultures of others, reified in the Casinoโs five-pointed star parquet floor (presented in the Casino as facsimile lino), but underneath made from marquetry and now extinct wood colonised from the near and far reaches of the British Empire.
The so-called โlittle houseโ built on the big house of colonialism seems like the biggest excess. From a distance the Casino Marino is modest relative to the mother that gave birth to it. But this is an illusion; an aesthetic indulgence of the privileged. Up close the devil is in the unfolding detail. The little house becomes (pick your Empire metaphor) a Tardis, a Matryoshka, a star-spangled Pentagon. What looks like one grand door fitting of the rhizomatic roots of colonialism, is in fact a small door within a big door. What looks like one storey with one room, is in fact three stories and sixteen rooms. If there is anything functional here, like the column drain pipes, it is disguised by the decorative.
Yet beyond the leisure and pleasure economy of the colonial class, far, far away from the Little House on the Prairie, the modern English word โcasinoโ, located underneath its idyllic and modest Italian etymology, interests me most in respect to the two artists, Phelan and Swords, who are partly responding to this building with its architectural slights of hands. If we dramatise the clandestine and subterranean gambling activity that might take place in such an establishment, casino in todayโs parlance suggests a den of possible iniquity. The modern casino spins on a die.
If we use โcathartic effectโ to question Phelan and Swordsโ proposal to exhibit in this space, not just as an opportunity to carefully curate work within the display constraints of a heritage site, but to conceptually and aesthetically reflect and interrupt the socio-historical mythology that eminent tour guides will surely perform during the summer months run of the exhibition, we might get a little closer to why institutional constraints and limits lead us to produce and experience aesthetic catharsis.
Speaking with the artists, who are responding to the Casino with both existing and new work, they talk of history, mending and repair. The artists, wrapped up in their own personal histories and contemporary anxieties, have been invited to transpose onto this jewel in the crown that casts colonial shadows in all directions, a building celebrated today for its architecture and survival of wars and rebellions that transitioned this country from colony to independence.
The shadow of the history is deepest outside the exterior walls of the building. Inside the Casino is the soft underbelly of Empire; a dollhouse interior held fast in a fist of stone. Stripped of its exterior stone walls and pillars, we are left with a house linked by winding stairs and secret doors. Without walls we can navigate the claustrophobic colonial history of the building. To move on, it almost seems necessary to burlesque and Barbie the Casinoโs historical heft and architectural excesses.
This is not the buildingโs fault, its very survival tells us so. The Casino is innocent under the cover of its facsimile lino, designed by a lively imagination that, in a leisure-class induced frenzy, eliminated all right-angles and shadows from his fretwork and plasterwork empire.
The artists also play innocent. Like all artists, Phelan and Swords have to navigate institutional space, its socio-political histories and market affiliations. In their works they respond to the Casino setting in words and a panoply of forms. Their response, especially existing works, is formalist and curated. Art objectsโfrom paintings to pebblesโcatch your eye on the floors, sills, corridors, secret rooms and vitrines that can easily be missed at first glance. This can all be read and appreciated as a fairytale romance; Phelan and Swords and the third wheel-house of imperium excess. And we can enjoy the formal invention of the past, alongside the present inventiveness of its current inhabitants.
That said, culture doesnโt sit comfortably within a civilisation of discontent, no matter how pretty that civilisation became to be under its ruling class. Yet the ruling class, in their moments of R&R, have an eye for art. Art and the ruling class go bejewelled hand in bejewelled hand. Phelan and Swordsโ artworks sit well here. So well they have to be discovered, inset as they are in a setting so replete with detail and decoration that it becomes a treasure hunt of ah and oh interpolation.
What cathartic effect or aesthetic of arousal undergirds Phelan & Swordsโ motivation to exhibit work at the Casino Marino? Is it significant that both artists are represented by commercial galleries, where other display constraints present objects for sale in a white cube? Is the Casino Marino a novel opportunity to display work in a setting that is not refrigerated from the outside world, but comes with its own aesthetic? And more generally, what pleasure does the artist get from the public display of their work in either commercial or heritage spaces?
Contemporary art is built upon both a rejection of the institution and its acceptance. Artists, like the masochist under the whip of the hired dominant hand, are contractually obligated and aesthetically motivated by the constraints and limits of the Law. The fleeting moment of art needs a house, a home, a museum to protect it from here into perpetuity. But what is art after the event of its lively and public intrusion upon the world? What does art become? An object? A memory? An artefact that represents a time, a people, a place, a class, a race, a traumaโฆ When the artists speak of mending and repair (we can include โreparationโ here) in the colonial context of its display, would a more felt cathartic effect and response be the razing of the Casino Marino out of existence?
Cultureโs conservation as dusty civilisation, or civilisationโs subjugation as lively culture? In an imaginary sense, the word โcasinoโ, presided over by the uptight and tightlipped functionary of the eighteenth-century Casino, versus the gasping heart and sweaty brain of the modern casino goer and gambler, summons time travel. The casino of timeโs past and present brings to mind the risk and radicality and catharsis of the gamble of contemporary art. To gamble the present and the future on the throw of a dice, or on the flip of a card, is a radical act; to make art in the present without distance, reflection and history on your side is also a radical act. There is nothing to lose: the present is all that matters; the future reception of art by the public is speculative at best in the artistโs absence. Artists are forever throwing dice. What sign the die lands on is dependent on where you stand in relation to where the die lies.
James Merrigan emerged as both an artist and art critic during the 2008 financial crash amidst an efflorescent blog culture. He continues to write under the frequency and critically confessional definition of an art blog. He cut his critical teeth as an independent, with a DIY back catalogue of online and printed identities, including +billion-journal and Fugitive Papers. He teaches at Gorey School of Art, and lectures in Psychoanalysis and Art at Trinity College Dublin.
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Credits
Special thanks to Samir Eldin, General Manager, Grace McMahon, NHP OPW; Siobhรกn Treacy, Supervisor Guide, OPW; Barry Byrne, BMS OPW; Ken Mooney, NHP OPW and Adrian Kelly, Curator, OPW. The artists would like to thank all involved from the OPW for their assistance on the exhibition as well as Naomi Lowe, Charlotte Swords and Julian Swords; Noel Kelly, ESS Archive, Small Night Projects. All works by Alan Phelan courtesy the artist and The Molesworth Gallery; all works by Mark Swords courtesy the artist and Kevin Kavanagh Gallery; and the lenders to the exhibition. Brochure design: Alan Phelan. Photography: Louis Haugh: Printing: Printrun, Dublin.
ABOUT CASINO MARINO
Casino Marino is one of Europeโs best neoclassical buildings dedicated to the Arts. It was designed in 1759 as a Pleasure House for James Caul eld, 1st Earl of Charlemont by Sir William Chambers, one of the finest architects of the time. Charlemont and Chambers created a unique and intriguing Garden Temple from which to overlook the magnificent panorama of Dublin Bay.
The Casino, meaning โsmall houseโ, surprises visitors as they discover the remarkable secrets of this architectural gem. The lavishly decorated and compact exterior cleverly disguises an interior of intimate rooms displaying intricately ornate Georgian motifs. Richly patterned marquetry floors and beautifully executed plasterwork act as an historical backdrop to the Casinoโs past which is lovingly brought to life by our friendly and knowledgeable tour guides.
Cared for by the OPW, Casino Marino is regarded internationally as a building of exquisite craftsmanship and great architectural signifcance, continuing the legacy of Lord Charlemontโs vision and his gift to the nation.
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Full list of works in the exhibition Alan Phelan (AP) Mark Swords (MS)
Basement
Reception (room on entry) โ Dot Banana, 2021 (AP) โ Lily Reynaud Dewar as Twister Morph 2015, when sitting was dancing, 2019, and when she didnโt know what a conceptual artist looked like โ Dot Bird, 2020 (AP) โ Dot Pineapple, 2021 (AP) Joly screen photographs in large display case. Each one comprises of toned gelatin silver sheet film (reverse processed), duraclear c-print screen, acrylic panels, LED panel, MDF support, electrics, archival paper tape, insulation tape, steel and rubber profiles, (coloured paper), each 25.3 x 25.3 x 5.5 cm
Old Scullery (with cased model of former estate and dado rail) Special Offer, 2018 (MS) acrylic on canvas, 71 x 47 cm
Word Wall, 2020 (MS)
Tipex on A3 hardback notebook, 30 x 42 cm
Corridor (in front of door to Butlerโs Room/Office)
Dot Satellite, 2020 (AP) Joly screen photograph in scale display case on metal box
Main Old Kitchen (with copper pot display)
Dot Oranges, 2020 (AP) Joly screen photograph in ball display case on metal box
Zig Zag Girl, 2024 (MS) various materials on painted bedside lockers, approx 180 x 50 x 50 cm
Panty (with sink)
Three primary forms 1919-1933, does this point more clearly to the fourth
dimension, or just the end of the world? (rose) 2019 (AP)
Joly screen photograph in scale display case on metal box
Boardgame, 2024 (MS)
various materials, 2 x 29 x 29 cm
Pantry (room with fire extinguishers)
Tedโs House, 2019 (MS)
various materials on canvas, 139 x 166 cm
Exterior basement gated tunnel
The Other Hand of Victory, 2009 (AP)
white marble, 40 x 40 x 60 cm
Placed in numerous locations throughout the building
Elements from a Cosmic Garden, 2024 (MS)
acrylic on found stones, various sizes
Main Floor
Vestibule (at front door)
Two psychic animals, 2012 (AP)
black marble, porcupine 22 x 13 x 32 cm, red river hog 22 x 22 x 32 cm
Blue Salon
Larry Larry, 2022 (AP)
framed screen print on paper, 67 x 56 cm
List, 2022 (MS)
various materials on board 65 x 55 cm
He turned to Joseph and appeared invaluable for once, 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Tony says he only knows what he can believe, 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Homage to Lost Lids, 2024 (AP)
cardboard lids, papier-mรขchรฉ, painted printed ribbon, 25 x 35 x 15 cm
RGBCCTB, 2023 (ribbon jacket), 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas with painted rib
Thousand Flowers, 2021 (MS)
various materials on canvas, 163 x 221 cm
Zodiac Room
Julianโs Dream, 2021 (MS) various materials on fabric, 190 x 190 cm
Archive Fever (boxes for drawer lining paper), 2024 various card stocks, 18 boxes, each 45 x 6.5 x 6 cm
China Closet
Second Hand, 2019 (MS) various materials on board, 93 x 61 cm
Empty Signifiers (grand tour), 2024 (AP)
pizza box cardboard, sugar paper, acrylic paint, metal stand, 64 x 34 x 20 cm
Upper Floor
Landing (hallway at top of stair)
Dead white men mentors falling down the stairs of art history, 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
RGBSS, 2023(ribbon square) (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas with painted ribbon, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
State room (bedroom with pillars)
Happy as Larry he entered Lawrence without resistance, 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
RGBTB, 2023 (ribbon suit) (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas with painted ribbon, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
I am the Goat (after Charlotte Devaney), 2024 (AP) ink on ripstop fabric with screen printed ink attached from single baton, 200 x 143 cm
Quelle Etoile, 2020 (MS)
various materials on canvas, 224 x 150 cm
Pink Room
AI made me do it say it make it love it want it, 2023 (AP)
acrylic and ink on canvas, tray framed, 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Nowhere, 2021 (MS)
various materials on canvas, 150 x 161 cm
Closet in Pink Room
Putting pieces together, 2024 (MS & AP)
canvas, paint, paper on PVC, various empty toiletries, printed canvas, papier-mรขchรฉ, painted pebbles, dimensions variable
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Notes for Tour Guides on works in the exhibition (full title info in the brochure)
Basement
Reception (room on entry)
The cabinet contains illuminated โJoly screenโ photographs, a colour photo method invented in the 1880s that makes colour through an RGB stripe screen over a B&W film. Phelan has revived this process over the past few years and is showing a selection of โDotโ themed photographs in display cases. These photographs are layered with coloured paper and dot patterns.
Images of fruit and fauna playfully relate to the kitchen basement albeit with a sheela-na-gig character disrupting the flow but maybe pointing to heroic women who once staffed this party house and the exotic fruits grown nearby on the estate.
Old Scullery (with cased model of former estate and dado rail)
Markโs Special Offer, positioned in the fireplace, visually connects with Phelanโs dot photographs. Itโs an obvious visual connection but Markโs painting relates to consumerism, as the dots derive from sales stickers on supermarket groceries.
A notebook sits on a ledge nearby. Possibly a book in this room once contained scullery notes or was a housekeeping inventory. Pointing in this direction, Markโs notebook cover is a different kind of list, more decorative than functional, it is based on a childrenโs word wall.
Corridor (in front of door to Butlerโs Room/Office)
The satellite image may seem at odds with the analogue photograph and small display case and box but it is the contrast that is interesting. Just like the oranges in the kitchen next door. Netted oranges and overlapping circles make it optically confusing.
Main Old Kitchen (with copper pot display)
Zig Zag Girl is a new sculpture or 3D painting by Mark. Based on a magicianโs prop but made from bedside lockers. It was conceived to disrupt expectations, much like the Casino itself. Covered in small drawings, paintings and patterns like stickers it implies stories but also overwhelms which encapsulate what Mark likes to do.
The Joly photos in these display cases on metal chests are a different way of presenting these works but suit the context as the vintage case and box match the historical surroundings somewhat. It makes the photos look like specimens or samples.
Panty (with sink)
Another Joly, this time a single dot with a rose in a fist with a wedding ring, a love photograph or political statement. The connection across these photographs is more than circles and context.
The board game on its plinth of bricks is not really one for playing. Instead, it is an artwork made by Mark directly inspired by the Casino. In a building designed solely for the purpose of entertainment it conveys a suggestion of play.
Pantry (room with fire extinguishers)
The painting fills the room with possible stories, exotic travels and strange, foreign cultures. Ted is in a wheelchair in front of his house. An Egyptian hieroglyphic figure possibly dances nearby. A chocolate Rice Krispie cake sits upon Tedโs shoulders where his head should be. There is a pink moon in the roof and a snakeโs body coils on the ground between the figures. Itโs a bizarre homage to the grand tour of the Earl which took him to Egypt on his 9 year trip away from Ireland.
Exterior basement gated tunnel
The marble hand without fingers is an enlargement of a wood modelling hand from Lidl but configured like the detached hand from the Winged Victory, the gem of the Louvre collection of classical statuary. Here itโs with the other failed fragments, and broken bits of copies, near the tunnels where Collins ricocheted bullets as recounted on tours.
To be placed in numerous locations
Elements from a Cosmic Garden are small painted rocks found throughout the Casino. Inspired by the Zodiac room on the ground floor in which you will find the 12 signs of the Zodiac in the ceiling dome, Mark wanted to make his own symbols which could be hidden inside the building. If the stones resemble something a child might do then you would be correct. Markโs daughter collected and painted the stones with him.
Main Floor
Vestibule (at front door)
2 marble animals, a porcupine and a red river hog, flank the front door, mirroring the toy-like lions outside. These are unlikely guardians as they are all psychic, football score predicting animals. The were made by craft workers in China, similar to the skilled foreigners who made this building.
Blue Salon
Alanโs striped paintings in this room introduce us to several characters โ Larry, Joseph and Tony. They never reveal themselves but point to stardom, futility, and deluded self-belief. They neither act as labels nor aids to the other works but add something elusive.
The ribbon tied to the painting over the mantlepiece is a decorative nod to the weddings that will be performed in this spot over the coming months. Empty lids stacked together with a ribbon offer a kind of gift, a depleted one, a nod to fancy luxury used up goods, exhausted like the building, blank yet meaningful.
The big red painting shows us Markโs infatuation with decoration. It references a series of tapestries known as The Lady and the Unicorn. This artwork has 1000 elements, not just flowers, itโs exotic and domestic all at once. Collaged cartoon graphics and flowers cut from lots of sources create a garden for the room and Casino that it is missing. The beauty in the beast.
Having lines or stripes in common, List (by Mark) and Larry Larry (by Alan) flank both sides of the door from the Vestibule, they reveal nothing but obsession.
Zodiac Room The painting that fills a wall in this hidden gentlemenโs room shows the collected dreams of Markโs young son. The marquetry background connects it to the amazing floors below. Also, the panels in the painting reveal an illusive dreamscape of signs and symbols which add to those in the room itself from the signs of the Zodiac to the egg and dart mouldings on the door frame.
In parallel the coloured card boxes that fill the bookshelves hide secrets, stories and histories. They are boxes for rolled sugar paper standing in for possible manuscripts or maybe simply lining for drawers for furniture that has disappeared.
China Closet Markโs Irish dancing costume seemed a good physical and conceptual fit for this room. The painting has been assembled from other paintings resulting in repairs or scars throughout. This room shares similar histories and compositing in the plasterwork which was repaired after a fire with carvings from different time periods.
The signpost on the table is the 3D version of what is under Phelanโs word paintings โ the configuration of words on signposts. Based on French road signs but made from pizza boxes. This is a sign of some good times but gone elsewhere now.
Upper Floor
Landing (hallway at top of stair) More striped paintings by Phelan but now with painted ribbon, concealing clothes underneath, and all the men falling down stairs when history is lost.
State room (bedroom with pillars) The bedroom is for dressing and undressing, play-acting and fantasy. Again Phelan introduces named characters into the party. The flamboyant stripe figure with Larry and Lawrence.
The large hanging screen print has lyrics from a dance track by Charlotte Devaney. Itโs a nod to bedroom antics and the architect Chambers who put goat motifs throughout the building.
Markโs large painting asks What Stars? in French. It has a myriad of recognisable forms โ black statues, chandeliers, stars, a clock, graffiti โ framed by a pattern of black and white decorative squares. The pattern and decoration movement from the 1970s connect to the 1770s. A lavish explosion of references.
Pink Room
This room contained maps and it was a good starting point for Mark and his painting titled Nowhere. The building plans and former site and estate plans inspired the assemblage in the closet also. Itโs a combination of pieces by both artists.
The text painting is a declaimer of sorts, one to push the exhibition back into this century by remembering that we are on the edge of giving away our intentions to machines instead of believing in ourselves. Some of the press material was generated by AI, re-writing boring statements into happy blank verse.
Pink Room Closet
This small toilet or wardrobe is a mess. Here bits and pieces from both artists are scattered on the floor. Itโs either a dumping ground for ideas or just a dump in a messy closet. On closer inspection there are lots of references to the building โ the walled garden, the egg and arrow, stains, poos, puddles, spills, luxury goods, used and reused.
Alan Phelan and Mark Swords: The List and the Line review โ A riveting dialogue between past and contemporary aesthetic attitudes
The artistsโ work, with its overt sensuousness and colourful bombast, is perfect for show at Casino Marino
Tom Lordan
Mon May 6 2024 โ 05:00
Alan Phelan and Mark Swords: The List and the Line
Casino Marino, Dublin
โ โ โ โ โ
If you havenโt visited Casino Marino, in north Dublin, there has perhaps never been a better time than now. This 18th-century national monument, which contains 16 impeccable rooms across three floors, is the fruit of the architectural and aesthetic education of James Caulfeild, 4th Viscount Charlemont, who as a young man travelled for many years, immersing himself in the cultures of Europe, Turkey and north Africa.
Amid the splendour of a building described as โperhaps our finest neoclassical jewelโ, the work of artists Alan Phelan and Mark Swords sets in motion a riveting dialogue between past and contemporary aesthetic attitudes.
Phelan and Swords are perfect collaborators for an endeavour such as this: their practices are sharply distinct, but the styles of their artworks are, on a formal level, complementary, and they clearly share a penchant for playful interrogations of institutional space. In his last solo exhibition, for instance, Swords hacked the architectural infrastructure of the RHA by constructing a small enclosure at the centre of the room, like an extemporised artist sanctuary, which forced his expansive paintings to cluster together in anxious proximity.
In this setting, however, there is an abundance of space, and the pair take great advantage of the Casinoโs layout, including a magnificent state room, the Zodiac room, and basement kitchens, as well as of architectural features such as its hidden recesses and parquet flooring. Phelan deserves credit for his imaginative opening salvo along the lower floors: at the entrance, his sculpture The Other Hand of Victory subversively nestles among some forlorn stonework; when you step inside, his Joly screen photographs proliferate throughout, the antique technology producing primary colours that contrast vividly with the cool, dimly lit interior, all of which serves to firmly set the tone, a performative dynamic that stages the interplay between old and new, past and present.
Fittingly, Swords and Phelanโs work is characterised by an overt sensuousness and colourful bombast, perfect for an exhibition within a historical pleasure demesne. Unlike a white-cube gallery, the Casino is, in the words of the critic James Merrigan, โa novel opportunityโ to encounter work โnot refrigerated from the outside worldโ. The state room in particular provides a sumptuous experience: the luxury of the environs, including gold-filigreed Ionic columns, amplifies the large-scale works Quelle Etoile, by Swords, and I Am the Goat (After Charlotte Devaney), by Phelan.
Phelanโs preoccupation with the red-green-blue colour model is writ large here, imbuing the oblique language and half-formed sentences splashed across the canvas with a visual heat. Swordsโs offering is a painterly tapestry, where childlike abstractions mutate into butterflies and ambiguous plantlife, and black starfish swim gracefully within the borders of a rainbow mosaic that frames the centrepiece. The artworks pulse with an electric current, lighting up the room, giving its flavour of old licentiousness a thrilling nuance.
The List and the Line continues at Casino Marino, Dublin 3, until Monday, July 29th
Captions on images:
Swords and Phelanโs work is characterised by an overt sensuousness and colourful bombast, perfect for an exhibition within a historical pleasure demesne. Photograph: Louis Haugh
Phelanโs preoccupation with the red-green-blue colour model is writ large here, imbuing the oblique language and half-formed sentences splashed across the canvas with a visual heat. Photograph: Louis Haugh
The Casino is, in the words of the critic James Merrigan, โa novel opportunityโ to encounter work โnot refrigerated from the outside worldโ. Photograph: Louis Haugh
Issue 4 + limited edition box set of issues 1-4 to be launched at Libarie Yvon Lambert, 19 March 2024
Issue 4 TALK launched December, 2023
Issue 3 TEXT launched May, 2023
Issue 2 TOLD launched October, 2022
Issue 1 TONE launched July, 2022
TONE, TOLD, TEXT and TALK by SMALL NIGHT PROJECTS are screen-printed art publications dedicated to text art, what we call a lowercase journal. It is edited by James Merrigan, Laura Fitzgerald & Alan Phelan. It is not available online as a pdf, or by post, but distributed only in-person on the launch nights at โฌ20/50 each.
TALK IN PARIS
Launch of Issue 4 of Small Night Projectโs text-based art publication TALK, and an exclusive special edition box set at Librairie Yvon Lambert, Paris, Tuesday 19 March, 2024 at 6pm
Small Night Projects are delighted to announce the launch of issue 4 of their screen-printed text-based art publication TALK at Librairie Yvon Lambert on 19 March 2024 at 6pm. An exclusive box set of all four issues TONE, TOLD, TEXT & TALK will also be available.
Working directly with artists, estates and galleries, the publications include significant international artists who use text in their practices. 24 artists are evenly represented across all four issues:
Jack Pierson, Laure Prouvost, Mark Verabioff, Isobel Wohl, Laura Fitzgerald, Alan Phelan, Fiona Banner, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Claire Fontaine, Jaki Irvine, Darran McGlynn, Walker & Walker, Orla Barry, Tony Cokes, Erik van Lieshout, Adrian Piper, Paul Roy, Cesar van Pinsett, Cem A., Darren Bader, John Giorno, John Latham, Naomi Sex, Susan MacWilliam.
Issue 4 TALK (our first international launch at Librairie Yvon Lambert, Paris) mixes the historical and contemporary, working with the John Giorno Foundation in New York, and the Flat Time House London on behalf of John Latham. Giorno and Latham (early pioneers in text-based art) are set against more contemporary international artists, who have gone out on a lexical limb in there deployment of text in a world becoming increasingly self-consconscious of the meanings, definitions and free delivery of words in the public sphere.
We invite you to come and find out more on 19 March, 6pm, at Libairie Yvon Lambert, where a launch and introductory discussion to the project will take place with the co-editors. We will discuss the project in light of its local context and the international artists who have generously acknowledged our conceptual and critical aims by accepting our invitation.
We are thankful and thrilled to launch our latest issue TALK and this limited edition box set at Librairie Yvon Lambert and very grateful to Culture Ireland for funding this international venture.
Who are Small Night Projects?
Small Night is a studio, in a garage, in the tail end of Ireland, which, for the last four years has screen-printed artistsโ ideas and images for dissemination through zine and exhibition. It is a modest setup, one beset by technical constraints and limitations, but with raw possibilities.
โSmall Nightโ infers the crunch of the all-nighter, the self-inflicted deadlines, the chase of time to find a small place to work outside of big daily life. Small Night is a product of a love and nostalgia for printed artist pulp, and a deep criticism of our online dependent and less physical art scene.
With such emphasis on the โphysicalโ, we only sell the journals at live launch events in the presence of the editors and sometimes the contributing artists. The small run of 130 copies per issue, and large A3 format, are ways in which we perform the importance of the physical in art.
The publications are priced low to allow dissemination and access, with screen-printed reproductions of original artworks that are affordable and collectable.
Launch of Issue 4 TALK at Iโll Be Your Mirror (Part II) at The Hugh Lane Gallery, an event curated by PE Moore. Saturday 2 December, 7-10.15pm featuring artists JOHN GIORNO, CEM A., NAOMI SEX, DARREN BADER, SUSAN MAC WILLIAM, JOHN LATHAM.
Launch of Issue 3 TEXT at Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin, 3 May 2023, 6pm featuring artists ORLA BARRY, TONY COKES, ERIK VAN LIESHOUT, ADRIAN PIPER, PAUL ROY, CESAR VAN PINSETT.
โTalk is dirty, writing is clean.โ Gilles Deleuze
We, the editors, have been working on this text-based art project for 18 months. During that time, a time of conversation, correspondence and production, we have performed an ambivalence as to what this project is, as if it was so present-tense or prescient we have yet to confront its essence formally or conceptually. We have embraced this ambivalence, even tried to hang on to it a little, in an effort to retain the spirit and energy of what first-issue contributor Mark Verabioff calls the โfirst waveโ.
Our launch at the Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin heralds a trilogy of publications, TONE, TOLD & TEXT. What has emerged during this time of production, discussion and sometimes debate, is the question of language-use in culture, culture being defined here in philosopher Gilles Deleuzeโs terminology as โresistanceโ.
In our small art scene there have been text-as-art moments that have been ancillary and provisional. But this is what is important about text as art, it erupts and disappears like every speech act. Text as art works differently than the art object. There is something subversive about its literalism, brazenness and dumbness that seems antagonistic to what we call โvisual artโ, which works with meaning covertly through image or form.
Text as art is efficiently defined by text-based artist Larry Johnson in an interview with David Rimanelli,
โMy job as an editor is to cram a big story into a small space: to forego the short story, to forego anything but the blurb. The idea is to maximise the attention span the reader/viewer has for the work of art, which I imagine to be equal, say, to that of a daily horoscope or beauty tip.โ
Text is somehow read as empty in an art context, fugitive, always referring to something full, object or experience of objecthood, or what we might conjugate as object-experience. If we take this line, that text is empty and dependentonsome object-experience, then what is an art object?
Today we could claim the art object is not resisting its online reification, but leaning into it. Bruce Hainley writes: โWhether abstract or seemingly not, todayโs art is not produced to complicate, disrupt, intensify or question what anything (the world, existence, etc.), is taken to be; nor to move anyone (risking vulnerability, soul); nor even to float new trippy kinds of meaning or meaningfulness or meaningful meaninglessness: it is produced only to have been produced. Reification, Iโm pretty sure Uncle Georg warned, isnโt critique, but, you know, whatevs.โ
This view could be put down to a hardening of veins on Bruceโs part, through years of breaking down art experience with words, which is another form of reification, like these words written (or spoken) right here, right now. In a sense we reify with words to make sense of a world and a fate that is outside of words. The stranglehold of identity politics and political correctness via the labelling of things and experience feels like it comes out of a desperation to name the unnamable.
In 1976, in his novel Ratnerโs Star, the American writer Don DeLillo writes how:
โTo bear a name is both terrible and necessary. The child, emerging from the space-filling chaos of names, comes eventually to see that an escape from verbal designation is never complete, never more than a delay in meeting oneโs substitute, that alphabetic shadow abstracted from its physical sourceโ
In 1989, Slavoj ลฝiลพek writes something similar in The Sublime Object of Ideology via Hegel, that โthe word is a death, a murder of a thingโ. If the word is the murder of a thing, in how a thing named no longer exists as a thing or experience in the world, but as a word, what are the 18 artists who have contributed to the three issues thus far, expressing or resisting by fetishising (in respect to the specificity and exclusivity that the fetish defines) in the name of the word?
The answer is something antagonistic. Text as art is antagonistic to what we call, inadequately, โvisual artโ. And yet text is visual, and there is a lot of visuality taking place in all three issues we have produced over the last year: typed, handwritten, colour, font, scale, format and so on. In a sense we experience the form and the content โ what is being said โ at the same time, which is always a kind of intentional dumb, or what co-editor Alan Phelan described as โsillyโ in relation to his recent text and stripe-based paintings presented at Molesworth Gallery Dublin. We have come to learn that dumb or silly are the most important things for the artist who is considering text as part of their tool bag.
We are told in art school to not be literal. Artists who use text in their art are going against this dictate, to the point of clichรฉ. They are embracing clichรฉ, believing in clichรฉ, or making clichรฉ more real. These are sentiments or statements that speak the name of art with force and farce. They are essentially dumb, unlike the jargonistic catalogue essays that follow as afterthoughts. Text as art is about puncturing the present, while at the same time vanishing from view. Text as art is about time and timing.
Text as art is an attitude, an attitude tested by the current policing of language. Distilling art into text at this moment of verbal self-consciousness and correctness seems like the worst time (in respect to the mainstream), but best time (in respect to art as something distinct from the mainstream). Language is complicated. Artists are complicated. When art and language come together it is really complicated. But when artists become conflicted, not complicated, art is lost.
From the outset we have asked our contributors to try to avoid, at all costs, the use of images as a backdrop to text, to avoid memes in essence. This editorial directive has not always landed: images, or rather the residual effect of images, have survived the editorial process. This is a symptom of the hold images have on us as artists.
So why adopt pure text as art? Has the image failed us? Is text as art a recognition of the imageโs failure to speak for the artist. If so, text as art is a device that gives permission to the artist to express with words, words that are otherwise read or unread in the side-show of gallery literature. Whatever way we take on text as artists, viewers and readers, whether rhetorically, poetically, politically, formally or ironically, text as art poses a particular type of resistance in the visual field of art, especially at a moment when AI language models (GPT) are beginning to do the textual work for us, minus the awkward subjectivities and opinions of what it means to be human.
We invite you to come find out more on May 3rd, 6pm, at Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin, where a launch will take place with the co-editors and some of the contributing artists.
The third issue TEXT (and a limited number of first and second issues) will be for sale at the launch night. It will NOT be available online as a pdf, or by post, but will be distributed only in-person. 50 copies will be available on the launch night at โฌ20 each, strictly one copy per person. Cash only.
A limited number of copies of Issue 1 *TONE* & Issue 2 *TOLD* will be available for purchase at the launch.
TONE features artists: LAURA FITZGERALD, ALAN PHELAN, JACK PIERSON, LAURE PROUVOST, MARK VERABIOFF, ISOBEL WOHL.
TOLD features artists: FIONA BANNER, GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON, CLAIRE FONTAINE, JAKI IRVINE, DARRAN MCGLYNN, WALKER & WALKER.
Funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council
TOLD
Welcome All to the launch of TOLD at RHA Dublin, on Wednesday October 5th, 2022 from 6.30pm featuring artists FIONA BANNER, GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON, CLAIRE FONTAINE, JAKI IRVINE, DARRAN MCGLYNN, WALKER & WALKER.
TOLD is the second in a series of screen-printed art publications dedicated to text art, what we call a lowercase journal.
Although text is the thing we are concerned with most, TOLD is an object that contains no real narrative โ beginning, middle, or end. Like all sequels, TOLD acts as a corrective to the original issue, TONE, with the hope of retaining the spirit, energy & risk of the โfirst waveโ original (repeating first-wave contributor Mark Verabioffโs phrase).
What has been retained from the original is the front cover, which is still inked up with a slab of text that badly describes TOLD in the very same words that described the first issue TONE. The only difference is the colour red, which, in contrast to the black cover of the first issue, could infer the red pen of correction, which, in the season of the return to school, is perhaps appropriate, especially with a title like TOLD.
What is new is the 6 invited artists bound together in the issue: FIONA BANNER, GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON, CLAIRE FONTAINE, JAKI IRVINE, DARRAN MCGLYNN, WALKER & WALKER. They are artists, individual & in collaborative pairs, that we respect and hero worship a little.
We have tried to distill what the artists do in 8-page signatures, that broadly speaking, transcend the socio-political gamut, from death to shattered love, from inscribed body to meta language.
Itโs a colourful issue in terms of content & form. Red is the primary note. As the bad joke goes: What is black, white & red all over? And yet we have also embraced colour & the layering of colours in the issue, pushing the limitations of our DIY setup.
The second issue TOLD (& a limited number of first issue TONEs) will be for sale at the launch night. It will NOT be available online as a pdf, or by post, but will be distributed only in-person. 50 copies will be available on the launch night at โฌ20 each, strictly one copy per person. Cash only.
Launch of TONE at TBG+S 8 July 2022, 6pm featuring artists: JACK PIERSON, LAURE PROUVOST, MARK VERABIOFF, ISOBEL WOHL, LAURA FITZGERALD, ALAN PHELAN.
TONE is the first of three issues to be launched at Temple Bar Gallery & Studios on June 8th at 6pm, followed by issues 2 & 3 launched at The Royal Hibernian Academy & the Douglas Hyde Gallery on May 3, 2023. It is screen-printed by Small Night Projects, in a garage, in Waterford City. It will change name with each issue โ the second being TOLD and the third being TEXT. At 40x34cm itโs close to A3 in size with a page count of 53.
Text is prevalent in our visual economy, especially in the proliferation of memes on social media. However the three co-editors of TONE, two of whom are contributing artists Laura Fitzgerald & Alan Phelan, have invited contributions wherein text stands alone without the crutch of the image. This is what editor James Merrigan calls TEXT AS IMAGE.
In what contributing LA artist Mark Verabioff called โthe first waveโ, we have researched far & wide for artists who prioritise text in their art as a standalone thing, divorced from the visual, but intimating a imaginary space that brings images & emotions to bear on the reading of them. Our hope is the reader will experience the chiastic structure of text as experience & experience as text.
The texts come in a variety of forms, from typed to handwritten, repetitive to rhetorical. What brings all six contributors together is what is intrinsic to words detached from their grammatical system: vulnerability. In this vulnerable & disjointed lexical space, artists tease out images & emotions through the silent saying of things without a pictorial representation to bridge the gap or rupture. Things said can never be unsaid. Is this the artist saying the words, society, or a verbal echo of you, the reader?
We invite you to come find out more on July 8th, 6pm, at Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Dublin, where a launch & introductory discussion to the project will take place with the co-editors. We will discuss the project in light of its local context & the international artists who have generously acknowledged our conceptual & critical aims by accepting our invitation. The TONE artists are: Jack Pierson, Laure Prouvost, Mark Verabioff, Isobel Wohl, Laura Fitzgerald, Alan Phelan.
The first issue TONE will be for sale at the launch night. It will NOT be available online as a pdf, or by post, but will be distributed only in-person. 50 copies will be available on the launch night at โฌ20 each, strictly one copy per person. Cash only.
Funded by The Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council
3D printed eco-plastic, bonding adhesive; paper, glue, paint, and varnish; padded steel supports.
On longterm loan to TU Dublin, Grangegorman.
In May, 2023, the sculpture was moved from City Hall to the Central Quad building foyer at the Technological University Dublin in the Grangegorman campus.
โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ celebrates emancipation in all its forms and offers itself to the city as a symbol of hope. The design references the ornate stucco plasterwork found in Dublinโs iconic Georgian buildings. Red, green, and blue signify the diversity of modern Dublin, as all colours can be made from mixing these three. The subtitle is drawn from the 1884 Dublin Castle Scandal, acting as a counterpoint to Irelandโs progress as a forward-looking nation. A reminder that history is never straightforward, but messy and also sometimes flamboyant.
Unveiled originally at City Hall by The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Alison Gilliland on 29 September 2021.
The sculpture was made for the OโConnell Plinth which was constructed to support a monumental statue of Daniel OโConnell, โThe Liberatorโ by John Hogan, that is now located in the Rotunda in City Hall.
โRGB Scone, Hold Your Noseโ was commissioned by Dublin City Council as part of the Sculpture Dublin programme. It was located outside City Hall for one year (but extended to 20 months).
David Archbold made a 5-part video series, โRGB Sconce in Contextโ which will be released progressively on social media but also available to watch in full at the Sculpture Dublin website and the David Archbold website.
Associated text
Sculpture Dublin launches โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ
A new sculpture by Alan Phelan
For the OโConnell Plinth at Dublin City Hall
Sculpture Dublin is a Dublin City Council initiative set up to raise awareness of sculpture in Dublin and to commission six public sculptures for parks and public spaces city-wide. โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ by Alan Phelan is the first commission to be launched.
Alan Phelan was awarded the OโConnell Plinth commission in December 2020 and invited to create a temporary sculpture for a historical plinth that has remained empty in the centre of Dublin for over 150 years. The plinth was originally constructed to support a monumental, marble statue of Daniel OโConnell, a key figure in Irish history who played an important role in securing Catholic emancipation in 1829. The removal of the statue in the 1860s dispossessed the plinth of its intended purpose, which Sculpture Dublin has sought to restore with a contemporary artwork.
โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ is an exuberant sculpture that brings together a wealth of references. As a free standing 5.5metre-high, eco-plastic and paper covered sculpture, the work challenges the materiality of monuments, more typically made in stone or bronze. Building from the Pop Art enlargements of Claes Oldenburg, and Duchampโs ideas around the readymade, a small-scale model was created at home during lockdown and then 3D scanned and printed to scale before assembly, papering and finish.
A recognisable visual starting point for the work is the stucco plasterwork that adorns the interiors of many iconic Georgian buildings in Dublin. Phelan however, wanted the sconce, or wall mounted candle holder, to sidestep restrained Georgian repetition and symmetry. Instead, the work uses Baroque and Rococo styles, which were more rebellious, theatrical and illogical. The original source for the work was an anonymous French 18th century design for a sconce.
While markedly different to the monumental and traditional sculpture supported by the plinth previously, this new work still draws its context from the surrounding buildings and nearby recent histories. Phelan was inspired by the different forms of emancipation that have occurred in the area, moving through Irish independence, EU Presidencies, tribunals of inquiry, and important civic events related to marriage equality and reproductive choice.
The subtitle of the work โHold Your Noseโ refers to a collection of โsanitary songsโ that was published during the 1884 Dublin Castle Scandal, located in the adjacent building complex which was the site of the British colonial administration. Irish Nationalists revealed homosexual activities of high-ranking British civil servants, using this as proof of corrupt and immoral British rule. The poetry pamphlet instructs โdecent menโ to โhold their nosesโ so not to breath in the perceived debauchery of the castle. Reclaiming this little-known history and subverting this olfactory phrase into the visual realm, builds in a self-critique where flamboyance and failure are united to reveal different narratives about the past.
Ends///
Notes to Editor
Media contacts
Q4 Public Relations โ Sabrina DโAngelo sabrina@q4pr.ie +353 86 0323397
About Sculpture Dublin
โSculpture Dublinโ is a Dublin City Council initiative. Launched in July 2020, it is leading the commissioning of a series of new works and rolling out several initiatives to raise public awareness of sculpture in the city, encouraging people to rediscover Dublin through sculpture, imagine new possibilities for art in the public realm, and engage in shared processes of learning and making. Sculpture Dublin is spearheading the investment of โฌ600,000 in the commissioning of six new sculptures for parks and public spaces across Dublin. The full details of the new commissions are available at www.sculpturedublin.ie
The location of OโConnell Plinth outside City Hall on Dame Street for the temporary sculpture was chosen following initial consultation and a survey of sites conducted in 2019. Locations for the new commissions were identified in each of the 5 Dublin City Council Local Administrative Areas. Sculptures will be created by Breda Marron for Ballyfermot Peopleโs Park, Ballyfermot; Corban Walker for Bushy Park, Terenure; Alan Butler for Smithfield Square Lower, Sara Cunningham-Bell for Kildonan Park in West Finglas and TBA for St Anneโs Park, Raheny.
About Artist Alan Phelan
Alan Phelan studied at Dublin City University and Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. His practice involves the production of objects, participatory projects, as well as curating and writing. Selected exhibitions include: Void, Derry; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris; RHA, Dublin; The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon; The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, IMMA, The LAB, Dublin; LCGA, EVA International, Limerick; Solstice, Navan; Chapter, Cardiff; Bonn Kunstmuseum; Detroit Stockholm; Treignac Projet, France; Bozar, Brussels: ล KUC, Ljubljana; SKC Gallery, Belgrade; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Public works include Kevin Street Library; Fr Collins Park, IMMA formal gardens and Void Offsites Derry. www.alanphelan.com
Alan Phelan likes words. The artist uses words both precisely and perversely to complicate his things. He is one of our best writers on art in the playfully critical Wayne Koestenbaum vein. The words that inhabit his work โ energetically abbreviated and pointed, but promiscuously flirtatious with meanings โ hone in on the handsy materiality of his objects, which collapse and conjoin in an amorphous play between thoughts and things while never settling on either (i.e., Once Phelan titled a series of works โCabbages and Thingsโ influenced by โ among many, many other things โ The Thing from The Fantastic Four).
Thereโs a particular handsiness and craftiness (in words and material) to Phelanโs sculpture โ something I have personally missed in his detour and dรฉtournement into the photographic and filmic of recent years. When thinking of his work, past and present, I cannot shake his earlier papier-mรขchรฉ sculptures and a specific reference to Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, the changeling who couldnโt shape-shift properly. (*Side note: Odoโs purest form was simple liquid but his failed endeavour to mimic the human form was his desire. Like Plato claimed, the poets (artists and I suppose Odo) were bad imitators of reality.)
Like Platoโs poets or Star Trekโs Odo, Alan Phelan is a bad imitator of reality. His things stick out from reality to align with Aristotleโs notion of art as being not how reality is but how it ought to be. His latest work, a giant, colourful and again handsy candle holder with Play-Doh precision displayed on a plinth flanked by slender and black lolly-pop head street-lights outside Dublin City Hall in the surrounding splendour of Georgian architecture continues this meeting and marriage between things and thoughts in the odd title of the work โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Nose,โ a title that brings some RGB light to some marvellous hidden histories from colonial Dublin.
In this new sculpture, strayed from the gallery and spawned in the most public of spheres โ City Hall and that yellow latticed junction of bus and passerby, Phelanโs โRGBโ reference is transposed from a body of work the artist has been working on (and exhibited) for several years (and in several spaces) via his committed revival of an obsolete method of photography, The Joly Screen Process, invented in Ireland in the 1890s by John Joly. Phelan writes somewhere that every colour can be mixed from red, green and blue (RGB). Obviously Phelan is referring to light not pigment, hence the candle holder, or โsconceโ (a typical Phelan word), to denote a decorative and bracketed tool for light in times and places when there was none. Today there is no escape from light so Phelanโs candle holder becomes a metaphor for other things, such as emancipation, transparency, liberty and hope. That said, the artistโs candle holder performs thingfully as pigment but thoughtfully as light, and so double binds become double entendres in a doubling up between what we see and what we imagine, what we can touch and what we desire, what is symbolic and what is allegory.
The word โsconceโ has more to it than meets the eye or the mind too. From old French, esconse can be translated as โlantern, hiding place.โ Whereas abscondre โ โto hideโ originates from the Latin abscondere โto hide, conceal, put out of sight.โ Itโs very complicated (but fun if you are into this type of thing) in terms of the words that denote the things in Phelanโs art. This hyperlinked etymology is counter-intuitive to what a candle holder does in the world, show the way, especially โsconceโ: a bracketed candle holder attached to a wall for a torch or candle. Obviously, โhiding placeโ or to โput out of sightโ also plays into the subtitle of the work which, if you do your homework (in the artistโs words) โrefers to a collection of โsanitary songsโ that was published during the 1884 Dublin Castle Scandal, located in the adjacent building complex which was the site of the British colonial administration. Irish Nationalists revealed homosexual activities of high-ranking British civil servants, using this as proof of corrupt and immoral British rule. The poetry pamphlet instructs โdecent menโ to โhold their nosesโ so not to breath in the perceived debauchery of the castle.โ
Nowโฆ if you are one of those New Critics or Object Orientated Ontologists who believe art or objects exist in and of themselves, autonomous from the world in which they inhabit in the appreciation, interpretation and experience of them in the world, then Phelanโs candle holder, sconce or whatever you want to call it, will rise up out of the grey city as a colourful, somewhat gaudy and kitsch sculpture to inflame or douse you as you pass by. Without words or context you may pick up on the RGB and foliage that snakes up the arms of this thing. Stall your bike or stride you might notice the form of the sculpture has a tactile appearance like that of hand-raised pastry. From across the road you might even pick up on the contrasting classical and straight architecture that helps to project this kindergarten splat forward from its grey institutional perch directly beneath and opposite the Georgian buildingsโ plasterwork and marvelous hidden histories that inspired it. You might even speculate towards some reference to light or liberty in the upward thrust of its historical purpose and form. But contemporary art comes with passengers and baggage, and they are called context, history, and us.
Can we desire Phelanโs new play thing outside City Hall? Surely not! Is it a matter of taste? No! The sculpture does that thing that Andy Warhol did so well by vying taste against desire, so we are left unstuck. The threesome of red, green and blue work as light, or with light, but not pigment. The RGB of Phelanโs John Joly screens is lovely because it disguises the monster with three backs, a mรฉnage ร hulk, devil, smurf. Here RGB wrestles rather than blends in Baroque drama and Rococo frivolity. Itโs like modern art has once again become a victim of a nutcaseโs bucket of paint (three in this instance); the artist anticipates offence before it can be performed.
Alan Phelanโs sculpture at City Hall is not a symbol, like Lady Liberty, but a free-floating allegory drenched in signification. Itโs cloaked in ideas of emancipation from the back alleyways of history and the sensible redescription of those histories in unlikely and unwieldy forms that can melt the heart but will invariably melt the mind. What RGB Sconce uncovers is the silhouette of history, a candle that shines a light upon itself to demystify and liberate itself from symbolism, from one meaning or message, from us tasting and desiring machines. This is not a healthy classical sculpture โ like the grey civic building that looms behind it with a bad taste in its mouth โ but an unhealthy baroque one. It disrobes its pluralism in plain sight, a sad clown wearing a flasherโs rain-mack underneath red, green and blue makeup with a knowing smile. Layers.
There is a spot in Dublinโperhaps you know it wellโ
โTis opposite the Castle gate, but, oh! it has a smell;
A foul one, too, och wirrasthru! for Erin pure and mildโ
For Erin of the saintly sons and maidens undefiled.
Chorusโ
But hold your nose, and use your toes,
And like an arrow fly;
Take care, donโt wait outside the gate
Wheneโer you pass it by.
II
Worse than the odour of the tree that spreads destruction round,
Worse than the stench of charnel house its fetid fumes are found;
Worse than the wind in torrid climes that desolates the plain
Is the odour at the Castle gate that stupefies the brain.
Chorusโ
But hold your nose, and use your toes,
And like an arrow fly;
Take care, donโt wait outside the gate
Wheneโer you pass it by.
III
They say that lime is very good to cleanse the foulest air,
And acids, too, that doctors use, are good beyond compare;
Then whitewash all inside the wall, and use your acids wellโ
Donโt let them out without a coat, for, phew! they have a smell.
Chorusโ
But hold your nose, and use your toes,
And like an arrow fly;
Take care, donโt wait outside the gate
Wheneโer you pass it by.
No. 3.
A SPRIG OF LAVENDER
BY J MโD DROMOD
I
Thereโs a stronghold of the Saxon on Cork-hillโ
Hold your nose!
Its foul odours all the Christian virtues killโ
Hold your nose!
Our fair cityโs darkest blot,
Scene of many a fiendish plot,
As you near the noisome spot
Hold your nose!
II
In a naseous moral cesspool near the gateโ
Hold your nose!
Countless filth-engendered vipers congregateโ
Hold your nose!
And pollute our Irish air:
Shun it as the hydraโs lair,
But should business take you there
Hold your nose!
III
Forget not โtis the spawning ground of sinโ
Hold your nose!
Remember all are lost who enter inโ
Hold your nose!
Do not lightly venture nigh,
From its baneful shadow fly;
As you pass it swiftly by
Hold your nose.
IV
Were its grimy, blackened walls with tongues endowedโ
Hold your nose!
Every cranny, every stone would cry aloud,
โHold your nose!โ
There opiates strong and deep
Truth and justice lull to sleep,
Through the gates hellโs vapours creepโ
Hold your nose!
V
Lowest parasites and panderersโ resortโ
Hold your nose!
Where the โfirm and gentle Spencerโ keeps his courtโ
Hold your nose!
There, by corruptionโs flood,
Upas plants unnumbered bud,
And the floors are stained with bloodโ
Hold your nose!
VI
Moral reprobates and lepers throng his hallโ
Hold your nose!
And prone before the shrine of Mammon fallโ
Hold your nose!
Skilled in every knavish art,
Base of mind and black of heart,
Oh! their souls are in the martโ
Hold your nose!
VII
โThe Castle, with its tenants, stands confessedโ
Hold your nose!
A hideous cancer on our countryโs breastโ
Hold your nose!
There the vilest wins the prize,
While its strangled victimsโ cries
Ascend and pierce the skiesโ
Hold your nose!
VIII
Since OโBrien with a spirit strong and keenโ
Hold your nose!
Has placed the odious den in quarantineโ
Hold your nose!
Evil things with hell allied
In its dark recesses hide:
Till โtis cleansed and purified,
Hold your nose!
No. 4.
A WALL-FLOWER BY HENRY MโANALLY, OF PARTICK, GLASGOW
I
The smell of Dublin Castle
Defiles the passing air,
So great is the corruption
That grows and lingers there,
Den of abomination,
Source of unnumbered woes,
When passing it, good people,
Be sure to hold your nose!
II
Alas! the grimy Castle
Grows dirtier with time,
Still adding to its record
Of base and filthy crime.
Each dayโs new revelation
Fresh light upon it throwsโ
When passing it, good people,
Be sure to hold your nose!
III
The ghosts of dead men wander
Within its hateful walls;
Hear cry is, โMurder! Murder!โ
Each voice for vengeance calls;
The smell of Sodom rises
Upon each wind that blowsโ
When passing it, good people,
Be sure to hold your nose!
IV
Let Spencer and Trevelyan
Enjoy the frightful placeโ
What shocks the rest of Europe
To them is no disgrace.
But while from Dublin Castle
The vile pollution flows,
When passing it, good people,
Be sure to hold your nose!
No. 5.
A FORGET-ME-NOT
BY โROSS TREVORโ
I
Thereโs a tainted spot in Dublin quite convenient to Cork-hill,
It was foul and rotten years ago, โtis foul and rotten still,
From poisoned gases rising there a public peril grows,
So if Fate should set you near it you had better hold your nose.
When you pass it raise your elbow, and your fingers tightly close
On that dainty nasal organ which is briefly called your nose.
II
In the backwoods of Columbia thrives the inoffensive skunk,
But if you were asked to touch him, well I calculate youโd funk,
And youโd think of flowery regions where the mignonette and rose
Load the breezes with those perfumes rare that fascinate the nose;
But the skunk is clean and wholesome, as upon his way he goes
To the offal in the Castle that makes each man hold his nose.
III
People say malignant vapours lie upon the Poddleโs breast,
And that darling Anna Liffey carries on her wave the pest.
True, perhaps; but sweet and fragrant seems each river, as it flows,
To the mind when โmid the odours which on Cork-hill greet the nose.
And while Poyntz presides within it, arch-dis-Spencer of our woes,
Not a child should pass the Castle without holding its small nose.
IV
The Chinese with their stink-pots are in battle very bold,
And with these unsavory weapons they slay myriads untold,
But theyโd vanquish all creation, quickly rout their bravest foes,
Were they armed with those vile vapours against which we hold fast the nose.
Oh! the science of the chemist nought more horrid can disclose
Than these fumes from Dublin Castle which now make us hold the nose.
V
If brave Erinโs noble rivers were all waters of Cologne,
If the scented streams of Araby were ours, and ours alone,
And they washed the Castleโs basement till the century would close,
Still, if George and John were reigning there, youโd have to hold your nose.
Oh! until the mass of rubbish lying there to decompose
Shall be carted off, whoeโer goes by will have to hold his nose.
No. 6.
A TULIP
BY โPHOENECIAโ
I
Pray, honest folk, be mindful
Of the alienโs social pest
Which now defiles our cityโ
I mean the โFelonโs Nest.โ
Should business bring you nigh it,
While the wind unkindly blows,
Youโd better hurry by it
And firmly hold your nose!
The smell from it is trying,
All laws of health defying,
For disinfection crying,
So youโd better hold your nose!
II
Within its slimy chambers
What loathsome spectres dwell!
Corruption, falsehood, bribery,
And crime as foul as hell;
While in its secret dungeons
Poor victims decomposeโ
Each decent man that passes
Must surely hold his nose.
Now let us agitate it,
And rightly fumigate if,
Until we all abate itโ
But meanwhile hold your nose!
III
Methinks how must poor โFoxyโ
Contrive to eat and drink
With George, the โEnglish gentleman,โ
โMid such a moral stink;
But usage and the salary
Which yearly from it grows
May make it aromatic
To the autocratic nose.
But we shall not be stifled
That our pockets may be rifled;
Too long with it weโve trifled,
So now for manly blows!
No. 7.
A SPRIG OF MIGNONETTE
BY โCLONTARFโ
I
Passing round by Dublin Castle
I on yester evening saw
At the gate a bobby sitting
With his baton in his paw.
I went oโer and said, โPoor fellow,
Have you corns upon your toes?โ
But the Blue gave back for answer,
Hurry by and hold your nose!
Chorusโ
Hurry by and hold your nose!
Hurry by and hold your nose!
Master Nick is in the Castleโ
Hurry by and hold your nose!โ
II
โFriend,โ he said, โin yonder palace
Thereโs distemper, fatal, dreadโ
Binns Trevelyan is in trouble,
Foxy Jack is sick in bed;
And I know of something rotten
Hidden there by Erinโs foesโ
Oh! the stench is diabolic,
Hurry by, and hold your nose,
Chorusโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
There are lepers in the Castleโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
III
I upraised my nasal organ,
And I felt a horrid smell
Coming from that den Satanic
Where the foes of freedom dwell!
Such an odour surely never
From the deep, black pit arose;
โTwas no wonder bobby told me
Hurry by and-hold your nose!
Chorusโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Thereโs a plague-spot in the Castleโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
IV
Soon I fled away in terror:
From that nasty, evil place,
Where base men are plotting ever
To destroy the Celtic race;
And while rushing on I vowed me
That till lifeโs career would close
Iโd remember well the warning,
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Chorusโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Where the Cork-hill rats are prowling
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
V
Now, to each true son of Erin,
Who will read my simple lay,
My advice is, in conclusion,
To remember what I say:
When you meet a swell official,
Dressed in gaudy Castle clothes,
To escape contamination
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Chorusโ
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
Oh! when passing Brimstone Castle
Hurry by, and hold your nose!
No. 8.
A SPRIG OF HAWTHORN
FROM KILLARNEY
I
Iโve been up in Dublin lately
On a visit to a friend,
And Iโve seen its buildings stately
And its streets from end to end.
Need I say I was delighted
At the scenes that round me rose?โ
When my friend, somewhat excited,
Cried out quickly, โHold your nose!โ
II
โFriend, (in accents reprehensive),
โYouโre,โ said I, โon joking bent;
Surely there is nought offensive
To a nose of keenest scent?
In this place so grand and splendid
Everything in order flows,โ
But my friend abruptly ended
My remarks with โHold your nose!โ
III
โYou on hoaxing me are bent, sir,โ
I replied He answered back,
โDonโt you know โtis Earl Spencerโ
Lately known as Foxy Jackโ
Dwells herein; but wait a minute:
Mark that crowd as on it goes.โ
As I live thereโs something in itโ
Each one sings out, โHold your noseโ!
IV
โWhat means this?โ I cried in wonder;
โNought unclean could live, Iโm sure,
In that noble castle yonder,
And the fields look fresh and pure.โ
Quoth my friend, โYouโre simple, very;
Stolid as the cawing crows
Down there โmidst the hills of Kerry,
Else like us youโd โhold your nose.โ
V
โKnow you not famed Dublin Castleโ
Den of infamy and sin,
Scene of shame and crime and wassail,
โFair without and foul within,โ
Hotbed where each bitter evil
For our land luxuriant grows,
Haunt of ghost and ghoul and devil?โ
Now, my friend, just โhold your nose.โ
VI
โHere โtis said that Georgie Bolton
And his master, Johnny Poyntz,
Sights have seen so dread, revolting,
As to shiver all their joints;
Poor Myles Joyce, by Marwood strangling
His avenging spirit shows,
In mid air before them danglingโ
Ha! I see you โhold your nose.โ
VII
โBut some chaps are undertaking
All the Castleโs crew to routโ
See its walls already shaking;
Soon weโll see them all cleared out.
Good, OโBrien! Bravo, Healy!
Break upon their dark repose!
Use your lingual weapons freely,
But rememberโ โHold your nose!โ
VIII
โWhat a blessing for our nation
When the day all-glorious comes
That shall see the degradation
Of Red Spencer and his bumsโ
That shall see her rise victorious
Oโer her mean, intriguing foes,
And her flag wave proudly oโer us:
Then we need not โhold our nose!โโ
No. 9.
A BIT OF SWEETBRIAR
BY DENIS CAVANAGH, MOUNTRATH
I
You tourists so gay who day after day
Pass through our fair city some pleasure to find,
Beware lest you chance, in escaping from France,
To meet a worse plague than youโre leaving behind,
Thereโs a house on Cork-hill where our rulers distil
A poison that blights, wheresoever it goes;
Should you pass by the gate, either early or late,
Donโt neglect the precaution of holding your nose.
Chorusโ
Keep a hold of your noseโkeep fast hold of your nose
When you pass by that grim, gloomy chamber of woes;
For the air all around is the worst to be foundโ
So donโt offer to loosen the grip on your nose.
II
You peasants who come from your Western home
To escape for a week all the toils that perplex,
Should you happen to be a bit curious to see
The place where the nooses are made for your necks,
If you speak of Myles Joyce you must lower your voice
Or else in Kilmainham your visit will close;
So when passing that way, in the night or the day,
Just keep one of your hands tightly pressed to your nose.
Chorus โ
Keep a hold of your noseโkeep fast hold of your nose
Upon every road where the โfoxy oneโ goes;
For when he is out thereโs contagion about,
And you should be careful to muffle your nose,
III
You citizens all, from Kingโs-bridge to North-wall,
Who always are loyal, determined, and trueโ
Who cherish a strong recollection of wrong
Which recent occurrences serve to renewโ
Keep away from that spot where each murderous plot
To strangle the nation is hatched by her foes;
Itโs neighbourhood shun, or else pass in a run,
And still keep your handkerchief up to your nose.
Chorusโ
Keep a hold of your noseโkeep fast hold of your noseโ
For the ghosts of its victims are standing in rows,
Pointing each fleshless hand at a foul, filthy band,
And the other hand rigidly grasping the nose.
IV
You broad-shouldered โBโsโ and you crime-sniffing โGโsโ
Who pass every day through those portals of sin,
So stately erect, did you ever โdetectโ
The cauldron of villainy seething within?
Though for a long time overflowing with crime,
Its odour increases as older it grows,
So be sure ere you pass to let down a stiff glass,
And keep two of your digits at least to your nose,
Chorusโ
Keep a hold of your noseโkeep fast hold of your noseโ
Imagine itโs one of the empireโs worst foes;
Hold it tight to your lip with inflexible grip,
For when searching for pantries youโll want all your nose.
No. 10.
A BUTTERCUP
BY โNINETY-EIGHTโ
I
In the grimy den upon Cork-hill
The English lepers lie;
They hear in deep, sepulchral tones
Their murdered victims cry.
They see within the ghost of Joyce,
And watch his dying throes;
They hear without the peopleโs shout,
โPass by and hold your nose.โ
II
Upon the sights they witness there
They look with bated breath;
They see brave men in dungeons bound
And others โdone to death.โ
They vainly close their weary eyes,
They vainly seek repose;
For still they hear the mocking cry,
โPass by and hold your nose.โ
III
They smoke havannahs, sip their wine,
To drive away their care;
But still their victims, pale and grim,
Surround them everywhere.
And still the memory of the past
Keeps piling on the woes;
Stentorian voices still call out, |
โPass by and hold your nose.โ
No. 11.
A CARNATION
BY โCLAN RANNAILโ
I
Oh! sure it is a blessed thing
To live in darling Dublin city:
At least it was in days gone by,
But โtis not now, and moreโs the pity.
The Castleโcalled the seat of โlaw
And orderโโnow the fact discloses,
Is but a sink of vice and sin,
And to all evil predisposes.
Oh! purest, sweetest Erin dear,
Thy virtueโs light its crime exposes:
Its moral atmosphereโs so foul
That men in passing โhold their noses.โ
II
โTis said Augeus, king, of old,
Had stables famed in mythic story:
With thousands three of beasts โtwas storedโ
Its dirty state he deemed his glory!
Till Hercules in one short day
Cleared out the reeking, rank enclosure
From all the filth which in it lay
For thirty years in soft composure!
That horrid Castle, mother dear,
Thy virtuesโ light its crime exposes;
Yea, eโen the dogs while running by
Put up their paws against their noses!
III
Sure โtis a charnel fetid, dark,
Its ancient rival far outvying,
To our pure land a very curse,
Its hateful scenes to Heavโn outcrying!
Ah! weโve a Hercules as strong
As he who cleansed the Augean stableโ
One worthy of a nationโs loveโ
And heroes great as those in fable:
Theyโll cleanse that stable, mother dear,
From every stain Heavenโs light discloses.
No wonder when theyโre walking near
Thy sons look pained and hold their noses.
IV
Now, brothers all, both great and small,
Give ear unto my humble ditty,
And listen to the warning cry
Thatโs running through your noble city:
Wheneโer youโre bound to pass Cork-hill
Just turn your faces to the Liffey,
And, sisters dear, donโt stop anear,
But shun the Castle in a jiffy:
Rush by as from an open drain
Which every sort of stench discloses,
And raise meanwhile the bold refrain
Of โHold your noses! hold your noses!โ
No. 12.
A DAISY
BY THE โDOORKEEPER OF THE SOUTHWARK CLUBโ
I
Come, all ye sons of Granuaile, I hope ye will draw near,
And listen to the simple lines Iโll lay before you here,
Concarninโ of the Castle crewโthe cause of all our woes:
Oh! when ye pass that festerinโ mass be sure to hold your nose!
II
โTis many a day since oโer the say they came to Erinโs isle
To crush us with their cursed laws and lure us with their wile;
They wrecked and racked, they hewed and hacked, as well poor Granue knows,
And now her name they drag in shame, and make min hold their nose.
III
No friends they made whoโd give them aid since first they landed here,
But scoundrels base that shame our race, from Antrim to Cape Clear;
And now, indeed, their dirty breed in deeper evil grows,
Till every hand throughout the land is lifted to the nose.
IV
In times gone by snakes had to fly when bould Saint Patrick spoke,
On Clontarfโs plain Brian crushed the Dane and broke the tyrant yoke,
And, oh! were they alive to day, โtis bravely theyโd expose
These sarpents vile who rule our isle and makes us hold our nose.
V
So now, my frinds, my verses inds; if I could have my way,
Itโs quick and true this filthy crew weโd hunt across the say.
But this I say, God sind this day the curse of all the crows
On Foxy Jack and all his pack who make us hold our nose!
No. 13.
A PRIMROSE BLOSSOM
SENT BY โSANITARIANโ
I
Theyโre talking of the Liffeyโs smell,
Of โdwellingsโ moaning sadly;
But sure each โcitโ can plainly tell
Where cleansingโs wanted badly.
Just walk towards the Castle Yard,
Where โJackโ betimes reposes;
But when youโre there be on your guard,
And tightly hold your noses.
II
If Jack should go abroad again
To take a small vacation,
Petition him, and ask him then
For better sanitation.
And if with phrases bland and sweet
Before a crowd he poses,
Youโll quickly get him to retreat
By holding tight your noses.
III
The other day at the hotel
Of cleanness he was telling;
Before his speech it had been well
If he had cleansed his dwelling.
So if you pass that hateful spot โ
Be sure to take some roses;
And if perchance you have them not,
Walk fast and hold your noses.
No. 14.
A VIOLET
BY โTDโ
I
Ye that visit or are citizens of Dublin city fair,
Of a castle foul and dangerous Iโd have you to beware;
โTis the plague-spot of our country, and the smell that from it flows
Is so vile that when youโre near it you had better hold your nose.
II
This pestilential castle has its place upon Cork-hill;
Grim monsters throng its chambers and its vaults and cellars fill;
They lap our countryโs life-blood, and they fatten on our woesโ
But you need not fear the creatures if you only hold your nose.
III.
A hateful breed of sable rats that came from Englandโs shores
Have taken up their lodgings on the Castleโs slimy floors,
A nationโs curse lies over it, dishonour in if growsโ
If youโd shun its foul miasma when youโre near it hold your nose.
IV
It has been the grand promoter of our countryโs woe and strife;
lts bribe of gold oft whetted the assassinโs ready knife;
Long has it been the rendezvous of Erinโs crafty foes
And no one eโer should pass it without holding fast his nose.
V
Oh! never, dear old Ireland, can your sons know peace or rest
Till this plague-producing Castle has been swept from off your breast:
If the rats and all would leave us when their foxy keeper goes,
Then need Dublin ring no longer with the cry of โHold your nose!โ
No. 15.
A MOSS ROSE
BY โCABRAโ
I
Go, get your cats; weโll hunt the rats
In alleys, lanes, and corners,
Not Irish bred, but Irish fed,
Black, brown, and foxy foreigners.
My brave young men, youโll know the den
Where this vile brood reposes;
I need not tell, youโll get the smellโ
So mind you hold your noses.
II
The Red Buck first, he is the worst,
A famous one for tearing;
The next to Bolt in wild revolt,
Has caused a lot of swearing.
The next is French, but mind the stenchโ
Itโs aught but oil of roses;
You seem to smell the brimstone cell,
So mind you hold your noses.
III
Weโll soon see fall the Corn(er)wallโ
Weโve seen the Pillars tumble;
Then left and right the rats take flight,
With many a squeak and grumble.
Hurroo! they go! thereโs tallyho!
Not one behind reposes.
Go, run them down through all the town,
But mind you hold your noses.
No. 16.
A FUSCHIA
BY J MULHERN
I
Thereโs something rotten in the Castle-
What the mischief must it be,
When a neighbour or a stranger
Cannot pass its gateways free
From a loathsome kind of feeling
Caused by gusts of noxious air
Spreading from the gloomy casements
Oโer the public thoroughfare?
Chorusโ
Hold your nose and press it tightly
When you near the Castle gates;
Bide your time and watch it rightly,
Give the wink to all your mates.
II
Thereโs something rotten in the Castle;
Poisonous vapours gather there;
Noxious odours fast are spreading
From each chamber, hall, and stair.
Lest this new and strange contagion
Should unconscious mortals meet,
Haste to pass some words of warning
To your friends in every street.
Chorusโ
Hold your nose and press it tightly
Wheneโer you near the Castle gates;
Bide your time and watch it rightly,
Give the wink to all your mates.
No. 17.
A SUNFLOWER
BY โJ Nโ KILMORE
I
Now โHold your noseโ is all the rage
When passing by Cork-hill,
For there a fetid spot is seen
That makes one sorely ill.
If travelling nigh that sodden ground,
โNeath which the Poddle flowsโ
Where nameless crime pollutes the airโ
Iโd have you โhold your nose.โ
Let each one this a warning take,
As on through life he goes:
When Dublin Castle meets your view
Just grin and โhold your nose.โ
II
Pandoraโs box of bitter pills,
That vex us on lifeโs road,
Could not afford such frightful ills
As that corrupt abode.
Then stigmatise, both one and all,
The spot from whence there rose
Such tainted, foul, mephitic airs
As made you hold your nose.โ
Let each one this a warning take,
As on through life he goes:
When Dublin Castle meets your view
Just grin and โhold your nose.โ
No.18.
TULIP BY โNEPHINโ
I
Oh! the scenery is fair
That delights us every where
As this isle of ours we Views
Famed for worth, and beauty too.
But there 1s to taint its air
Still one pestilential lair:
When from thence the zephyr blows,
Hold your nose, boysโhold your nose!
II
Dublin Castle foul and fell,
Tile to sight and rank of smell,
How each virtuous sire and son
Strives thy tainted air to shun!
Traveller, make no delay
If by the Castle lies your way:
Through its gates what foulness goes โ
Hold your nose, boysโhold your nose.
III
Phoenix Park or Stephenโs-green
How delightful is the scene!
Dublin with its noble stream,
Silvered by the bright sunโs beam,
With its monuments and spires
How each patriot heart it fires
But the Castle comes in view;
Mark the stenchโ what shall we do
Why, till out of sight it goes,
Hold your nose, boysโhold your nose!
No. 19.
A BACHELORโS BUTTON
BY โTHOMONDโ
I
Iโm a simple country gossoon who has lately come to town
To see your public buildings of world-wide renown;
And as Parliamentโs not working I hoped to see the foes
Of that horrible old nuisance which made me hold my nose.
II
The other day, while gazing on the House in College-green,
And thinking of poor Erin and the glorious days sheโd seen,
I saw great crowds pass by meโโtis the truth I tell, dear knowsโ
They had just passed by the Castle, and each man held his nose.
III
For some time I had been wondering why Henry Grattan stood
With his back towards Dublin Castleโwhich l thought was very rude;
I wondered now no longer, for the smell that from it rose
Made even bronze King Billy put his hand up to his nose!
IV
I had seen your great museum and old Trinity as well;
I then went towards the Castle, but I could not stand the smell:
For โtwas here that John and Georgieโat least so the story goesโ
Tried to hide that nameless horror which made me hold my nose.
V
With pity for the bobbies who loitered round the gate,
I rushed away like lightning, before โtwould be too late;
To a druggistโs shop I hurried, for I shivered to the toes,
And found relief in smelling-salts for my offended nose.
VI
I very soon recovered, and was just upon my feet
When Foxy Jack came prancing with his soldiers through the street.
For โhats offโ he looked around him, but the cause of all our woes
Got his proper salutationโevery Paddy held his nose.
VII
Now, all you country gossoons, Iโll give you some advice:
If you should come to Dublin, and would still keep spruce and nice,
Donโt go near to Dublin Castle, for the smell would spoil your clothes,
And should you meet the Red Man put your fingers to your nose.
No. 20.
A SPRAY OF HONEYSUCKLE SENT BY JAMES CAMPBELL
I
We daily hear,
With growing, fear,
Of telegrams apprising
The plagueโs advance
Through Spain and France,
The sons of men chastising;
But, friends, a plague
Much worse, more vague,
The fruit of pagan wassail,
Quite near us lurks
And havoc worksโ
Its hotbed is the Castle.
So hold your noses;
Remember, health imposes
On all who will
Not shun Cork-hill,
To tightly hold their noses.
II
The dread simmoom
โMid fearful gloom
Sweeps oโer the desert, sowing
The seeds of death
Unless the breath
Be held while it is blowing.
More baneful still,
More sure to kill,
Ts that dire exhalation
Which hangs around
The Castle groundโ
Cork-hillโs abomination.
Then hold your noses
The scent of all the roses
That ever grew
Were vain for you,
So therefore hold your noses.
III
Take my adviceโ
Let nought entice
You oโer the infected border.
Though those within
For ever din
The cry of โlaw and order,โ
Yet all the time
Inhuman crime:
Finds there full many a vassal:
Therefore beware,
Donโt breathe the air
Round French and Cornwallโs castle.
Hold your noses;
A horror there reposes
Of which a sniff
Would leave you stiff,
So mind and hold your noses.
No. 21.
A DAFFODIL
BY WP RYAN
I
Wheneโer you roam by old Cork-hill
To hold your nose take care,
Or else you surely will inhale
The smell that rises there.
Oh! filthy rats and reptiles vile
Upon that hill repose;
So when you pass it on your way
Take care to hold your nose!
II
Though you might roam from day to day
This weary world around,
Not one such vile or filthy place
Could anywhere be found.
The balmy breeze becometh foul
When oโer Cork-hill it blowsโ
So when you pass the Castle gates
Take care to hold your nose!
III
How strange that in our lovely isle
So foul a den could be:
Sure, Innisfail was ever famed
For lore and sanctity:
She knew no filthy Castle rats
Till came our Saxon foesโ
Now when you pass that horrid den
Take care to hold your nose!
IV
But soon the light of liberty
Shall shine upon our isle:
Then from the Castle shall depart
All creatures foul and vile.
The gentle breeze shall then be pure
When past Cork-hill it blows;
But till that time, when passing by,
Take care to hold your nose!
No. 22. AN ASTER BY BERNARD JAMES DUGGAN, OF WORKINGTON
I
As I sat one evening musing,
With my elbow on my knee,
Methought I heard a whisper,
And a warning came to me
To beware of Dublin Castle
And the things that dwell therein,
For thereโs nothing decent near itโ
Naught but vice and crime and sin.
Just then there came a murmur,
And these solemn words arose:
When youโre passing the Castle
Be you sure to hold your nose.
II
Being curious, out I sallied,
And towards the Castle went,
And I observed some hundred others
In the same direction bent.
Just then I saw the Castle,
And the atmosphere was thickโ
Its effect was so unpleasant
That I soon was feeling sick.
I essayed to pass the building,
But the odour that arose
Set me very soon retreating
With my hand upon my nose,
III
I returned then to my chamber
A sadder, wiser man,
And I now would say to others
Take a warning when you can
For if I my own [ โฆ ]
I would neโer [ โฆ ]
Which unto t [ โฆ ]
Leaves me [ โฆ ]
Still, [ โฆ ]
T [ โฆ ]
T [ โฆ ]
[ โฆ ] loss on original document
Lord Mayor Unveils First Work of the Sculpture Dublin Programme at Dublin City Hall
Alan Phelanโs โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ offers itself as a symbol of hope for all of Dublin
For immediate release: September 29th, 2021: The Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland today formally unveiled โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโby artist, Alan Phelan. This is the first of six new sculptures as a part of the Sculpture Dublin initiative.
Following a competitive commissioning process, Alan Phelan was awarded the commission in December 2020 for the temporary sculpture on The OโConnell Plinthwhichwas unanimously agreed by the judging panel as the most appropriate for the site.
The brief asked artists to respond to the historical plinth that has stood empty outside of City Hall in the centre of Dublin for over 150 years. The plinth was originally constructed to support the monumental statue of Daniel OโConnell, โThe Liberatorโ by John Hogan, that is now located inside the building. The removal of the statue in the 1860s dispossessed the plinth of its intended purpose that Sculpture Dublin sought to restore.
The newly unveiled sculpture stands over 5 metres tall andbrings together a wealth of historic and contemporary references to celebrate emancipation and hope. This is a temporary artwork will be on view outside City Hall for one year.
The New Sculpture โRGB Sconce, Hold Your Noseโ
Alan Phelanโs work frequently questions traditional historical narratives or perceived truths. He looks at small and, sometimes, forgotten details and cross connects and expands them to bring about new understandings and stories.
Emphatically different to the monumental and traditional sculpture that stood on the plinth previously, this new work still draws its context from the surrounding buildings and nearby histories. Alan was inspired by the celebration of different forms of emancipation that have occurred in the area, moving through Irish independence, EU Presidencies, tribunals of inquiry, and important civic events related to marriage equality and reproductive choice. City Hall itself contains many histories and stories from commerce through to civic council chambers, to active participation in a new Ireland. Alan wanted to emphasise the symbolic power of the location.
The strongest historical reference in the proposed work is stucco plasterwork, which all Dubliners know as the familiar and iconic Georgian architecture that is all over the city. However, Alan wanted the sconce or wall mounted candle holder to sidestep the restrained, decorative aspect of Georgian architecture and to play off its roots in the Baroque and Rococo art style, which was more rebellious, theatrical and illogical. As a free standing 5m high 3D printed plastic and paper covered sconce, the sculpture challenges the materiality of monuments normally made in stone or bronze. The work also builds from the Pop Art enlargements of Claes Oldenburg, and Duchampโs ideas around the readymade that is a foundation of contemporary art practice.
The subtitle of the work โHold Your Noseโ points to an historic reference that is a reminder that history is often dif๏ฌcult and problematic. The title comes from a poetry pamphlet that was published during the 1884 Dublin Castle Scandal, when Irish Nationalists revealed homosexual activities of high ranking British civil servants, using this as proof of corrupt and immoral British rule. The poem instructs โdecent menโ to โhold their nosesโ so not to breath in the perceived debauchery of the castle. Reclaiming this little known history and subverting this term to show how much Ireland has changed was of significant importance to Alan.
The bright red, green, and blue colours of the sculpture are used a lot in Alanโs recent work. Photographic references point to every colour coming from the mixture of red, green, and blue- signifying the diversity of modern Dublin. The candle flames can also be seen as torches. These are often associated with ideas of the enlightenment, as the torch of knowledge, but also ideas around commemoration. Ultimately the work remains open to interpretation.
Speaking today at the unveiling, Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland said, โIt brings me great pride to unveil this important inaugural piece for the Sculpture Dublin Programme today. Sculpture has played such a vital role in Dublin life, now and historically, and the various stories and perspectives reflected in the artwork strive for a shared sense of place. The past 18 months have been incredibly difficult for the entire world and the people of Dublin are no exception. As we move together and begin to slowly emerge from the pandemic, I welcome this glowing symbol of hope in the centre of the city. I encourage Dubliners to go out and engage with not just this newest sculpture, but all the fantastic pieces throughout the city. I want to congratulate Dublin City Council for continuing this ambitious programme throughout the pandemic and I wish them all the best in future unveilings.โ
Commissioned artist, Alan Phelan, said: โI am honoured to have been selected to create this very special work for the city. Sculpture Dublin is an incredibly important initiative to bring contemporary sculpture into the public awareness. I would like to thank all the team for their wonderful work and support over the past year in reaching this point. I have always been very interested in presenting alterative and inclusive readings of our shared history and the location of City Hall is the perfect emblem to express these interpretations. I wanted to make a sculpture that looked familiar yet was rooted in a tangle of historical references that bring different contexts and content to the work. I hope Dubliners will enjoy this new sculpture and create their own multiple interpretations and personal meanings from it.โ
Programme Director of Sculpture Dublin, Karen Downey, said; โThe OโConnell Plinth has stood empty in the centre of Dublin for over 150 years; a plinth without a purpose. Alanโs sculpture has brought it back to life in a really exciting way that reflects the historic, contemporary and diverse city of Dublin and its inhabitants. This unveiling is the culmination of over a year of hard work and collaboration and I am looking forward to the rest of the programmeโs unveilings.โ
Molesworth Gallery, Dublin 3 February โ 3 March, 2023
A series of humourous aphorisms with the occasional neologism best describe the text paintings Alan Phelan has made for this, his second solo show at the Molesworth Gallery, and first ever exhibition of paintings. These new works are accompanied by several new Joly screen photographs, and the striped method of this colour process carries over into the paintings as painted stripes with words. Red, green and blue continue to dominate Phelanโs visual lexicon, ever expanding into further formats, objects and now paintings or as he prefers to call them โpainted photographsโ. Imagery shifts from image into words and back again as the illuminated photographs interconnect ideas around art history, internet algorithms, romance, gay sex, and short attention spans.
.
Phelan subverts gestural minimalism and the once radical interventions of Daniel Buren into the commodity of the painting. Mechanical production collides with the hand of the painter, adding a thin layer of authenticity. The texts also seem to come from somewhere else, familiar bits of soundbites or memes, edited into sharper, shorter, sentences. Appropriated fashion images replace text in two instances, connecting to a Joly photograph, interlocking body parts with flowers and mass advertising.
.
Joyously fragmented, a broken narrative emerges, reflecting a broken world. Fragments have always been important in Phelanโs practice, pieces that the audience have to assemble for meaning. Embracing the contradictions of history and pushing through timelines in the wrong direction is a recurring theme, resembling meaning en route.
.
The mechanical reproductive quality of photography has been already called into question with his unique Joly screen photographs which are non-editioned. It is important to have this in mind when navigating this new painting territory for Phelan. The root of this work is the first issue of the Small Night Projects โtext artโ screen printed publication TONE, also on display. Phelan has taken his artwork and edited his text differently onto single canvases. The first versions of this new work began last summer with experiments in the โLarry Larryโ works which took on several formats and locations, one of which can still be seen in Wilton Park, the result his RHA/IPUT residency at Wilton Park Studios 2021-22. This work has also been facilitated by a Visual Arts Bursary from The Arts Council 2021-22, which Phelan would like to acknowledge.
.
Acrylic and ink on canvas, all 2023, 12ร12 inches
Various versions of a work from print to public made during 2022, starting with a page in TONE and then screen printed in colour, then as a small print for the Broduil fundraiser, then a wall poster on a graphic design agency wall, then a flash poster in a park for a property development company. Various versions available for anyone who wants one. Size, colour, context variable.
And who is Larry?
They are a bunch of different people, starting with a Lawerence and then a Johnson, two artists I much admire, the root of art as text and photography as text. The arrangement is signage, taken from road signs, using basic warp push and pull image editing to squeeze words in badly into shapes that are no longer there.
But who is Larry?
He is slight (with a bit of a spare tyre), short-sighted (wears glasses), bearded (maybe), dead (not always), embedded (insider posing as outsider), reclusive (but loves a tipple with friends), metro (yet toying with the rural), married (with no kids), not me (but who cares?).
More importantly Larry made something special once. And then repeated that in different permutations. One Larry is better than another Larry, they do different things. They broke rules nobody knew needed breaking. Forced a complacent retinal experience back inside the head. Made you look twice. Made you wonder what you were looking at, why you were looking, how you were looking.
As part of the Eco Showboat 2022 Shannon Expedition on an Eco Sunday.
A one day intervention in the Marina in signature red, green and blue fabric, a public talk about geology and climate change, all within the Eco Sunday activities of the Eco Showboat with Anne Cleary and Denis Connelly. Red, green and blue paper flyers were posted around the town the week prior with questions around climate change and a QR code to the event information. The RGB colours relate to the Joly screen colour photography process which was invented by Offaly native John Joly in the 1890s โ one of the first colour photography processes. The talk was given in the Pangolin Pavilion (umbrella dome) about Jolyโs contribution to science with Dr Patrick Wyse Jackson from the TCD Department of Geology where Joly also worked. This was a broad ranging discussion on geological discoveries and histories that relate to climate change and art. Specifically how Jolyโs scientific research contributed to contemporary knowledge in the field from the minerals used in solar cells, lithium found in granite, carbon sinks, and the understanding of geological time.
The fabric intervention was to cover three public sculptures at the Marina dock. The purpose was to signal the events of the day with the dramatic colours which popped against the grey stone walls and pavement. The covered sculptures were a signal of protest, repair and newness. Something to be uncovered or revealed not a negation of the original stone works by Cliodna Cussen. The fabric covers will be used subsequently as covers for inflatable beds used for talks in the pavilion.
The Eco Showboat expedition is a four month arts voyage from Limerick to Enniskillen aboard the Mayfly, flagship of the Eco Showboat project, and the first solar electric boat to make this journey. (Expedition Map here). The project is the brain child of artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly, aka School of Looking.
The Eco Showboat project has received the Arts Council Open Call Award, the SFI Discover Award, the Limerick Arts Strategic Award and is supported by Creative Ireland, Waterways Ireland, Dublin City Council, the Local Authority Waters Programme, Offaly County Council Arts Office and local authorities and universities right across the country. (full list of partners here)
The RGB Hyacinth โ with Void Offsites Paper, glue, steel, wood, paint
Void Gallery is delighted to announce that artist Alan Phelanโs sculpture The RGB Hyacinth will launch on 18 June 2022 as part of Void Offsites.
Phelanโs project is a crowd-sourced sculpture made by individual participants in isolation during lockdown in 2020. A bucket of supplies was provided for collection at the gallery with instructions on how to make a โbucket flowerโ. Over 60 were made and, after many pandemic related delays, the sculpture is now to be finally assembled into a 4 metre high sculpture in Brooke Park, Derry.
This project celebrates isolated-collective activity, mirroring many public health slogans used during lockdowns of โstaying apart but working togetherโ. The sculpture marks the shared experience of this difficult period of time.
The RGB Hyacinth connects back to a 2020 exhibition at Void Gallery, echos are always more muted, during which Phelan explored RGB โ red, green and blue colours. These three colours combine in various ways to make a colour spectrum โ which is what happens on a LED television or phone screen. RGB colours are also the root of Phelanโs Joly screen photographs which were exhibited at Void in 2020.
The sculpture also draws on the rich symbolism of the hyacinth. There are several memory metaphors associated with the flower in Greek mythology, such as prophecy and the ability to control and manipulate memories. In the Victorian language of flowers the hyacinth represents jealousy, sport and play but the meaning changes according to different colours of the flower- blue means sincerity, purple signifies forgiveness and white โ beauty. As a Spring flower (albeit now out of season) it imparts potency and rebirth yet in the Roman Catholic tradition, the flower represents prudence and constancy. And letโs not forget Hyacinth Bucket from โKeeping up Appearancesโ TV sitcom, who inspired several social media stories when participants were being recruited to contribute to the sculpture.
The sculpture will be displayed at Brooke Park in Derry, from 18 June โ 14 August, 2022. Stay tuned to our social media channels (@derryvoid) for more information.
An augmented reality version of the sculpture will be made available by QR code at Brooke Park and on the Void website. This can be activated to digitally plant the sculpture in any size or in multiples using a smartphone.
Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Government of Ireland.
Supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council and GB Engineering
In July, Void will host a celebration event โ including a performance โ in response to the sculpture.
We would like to thank the following people for their generosity in building the sculpture:
Participants: Action Mental Health, Lenka Bance, Julie Benson, Maeve Butler, Sarah Browne, Helen Carey, Angela Carlin, Norah Church, Dee Costello, Mary Cottrell, Jason Cottrell, Beth Cottrell, Orla Cottrell, Alex Cottrell, Teresa Coyle, Ava Cunningham, Mary Dalton, Michael Dawick, Mary Cremin, Claire Doherty, Mimi Doran, Tommy Finlay, Eadoin Finnegan, Ciara Finnegan, Annie Fletcher, Stephanie Gaumond, Maureen Grey, Louis Haugh, Sinead Hughes, Dominic and Sorcha Kearney, Ann-Marie Kirwan, Carie Logue, Briege Lowth, Isabel McDonald, Marta McDonald, Niamh McGuinne, Rory McLaughlin, Zoe McSparron, Marie Therese Newton, Deirdre Oโ Callaghan, Marguerite Oโ Molloy, Maeve Paris, Harriet Phelan, Stanislava Stoyanova, Rebecca Strain, and Colette Ramsey
Fabrication crew: Colin Graham, Stuart Porter and all at GB Engineering for the fabrication and installation of the sculpture. Chris McKeown at McCloskey Engineers, and architect Colin McCelland.
Parks: Colin Kennedy, Emma Barron and Ciaran McGowan from Derry City and Strabane District Council
Void Production team: Maeve Butler, Stephanie Gaumond, Tansy Cowley and Zoe McSparron
Video Production: Louis Haugh and Oonagh Young Gallery
Spectacular Vernacular In the Open | Faoin Spรฉir โ Offaly 24 March โ 27 April, 2022
Colours have lots of different associations, generate different moods, or imply different meanings. Flowers too, have a long history of associated meanings which peaked with the Victorian Language of Flowers, where coded love messages could be sent via the selection of flowers in a bouquet.
In the realm of physics and light, the primary colours are red, green and blue. Isaac Newton discovered that by using prisms and mirrors he could combine the red, green and blue (RGB) regions of a reflected rainbow to create white light. Newton deemed those three colours the โprimaryโ colours since they were the basic ingredients needed to create clear, white light.
John Joly, a native of Offaly and Professor of Geology and Physics at Trinity College was the first person to make a stable, fixed colour photograph using red, green and blue light in the 1890s. For the past 4 years Alan Phelan has been using this way of making colour photographs with the Joly Screen method which was abandoned from use over 100 years ago.
Working with this historic process has led Phelan to consider what kinds of images could have been made with it. He has subsequently worked through several genres to create photographs and an ever-expanding image bank for the process that was never used.
Several historical narratives intersect in the work on display at Birr Castle the poses in the photographs reference early male nudes shot by the Von Gloedenโs in Italy; the flowers on the costume are gentlemanโs buttonholes that relate to the poems adjacent which are from a homophobic nationalist pamphlet decrying the Dublin Castle Scandal of 1880s; the pronounced used of red, green and blue paint and paper mirrors the process, an additive colour process.
Three sites around Birr town have painted railings in the Joly screen RGB. These serve as framing devices for possible striped camera phone photographs of views of the castle, a river and theatre building. Locations are the Marian Hall opposite the Castle Courtyard entrance; Birr Theatre on Oxmantown Mall; and the bridge on Croghan Road just past the Arrabawn Co-Op.
Thanks to everyone who made this exhibition possible in these difficult times. Many thanks to Birr Castle for hosting and facilitating the project. The project was curated by Brendan Fox and produced by Terri Dale-Kearney and with the assistance of Simone Martelloni. Photography was by Louis Haugh, working with Stephen Quinn as model.
Supported by The Museum of Everyone, The Arts Council, Birr Castle Demese, Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, Offaly County Council, Bord na Mรณna Lough Boora, Birr Music Festival, Offline Film Festival and Hullabaloo.
