Projector Collective - RADIANT CITY

This project opened to the public on Saturdays from 7th - 21st February 2009

The works in edition that are a result of the Project - Radiant City - are available to view or purchase by contacting CPP [commonplaceprojects@gmail.com]. A catalogue [pdf] illustrating editioned artworks that are a result of previous Commonplace Projects [listed below] is also available.

The Radiant City, an installation by Projector Collective at Commonplace, Dublin, borrows it’s title from a book by the French architect Le Corbusier. Projector Collective are interested in the idealism of Le Corbusier’s book and the optimism of his theories. In absorbing these ideas and viewing them through the contemporary urban environment, the Collective have sought to respond to locations where these ideas might once again be relevant. While focusing on examples of decommissioned buildings in the Dublin inner city the Collective were taken by the closing-off of function of what Le Corbusier himself referred to as ‘machines for living’. These shuttered and fenced houses carry a new skin that temporarily excludes them from use - they exist in a sort of dream state, sleeping buildings waiting for re-use.

The artists have used found elements from these buildings that form a barrier on or around their structure; shutters and fencing - objects that have been put in place to guard and protect them for a future purpose. These elements have been transformed and a given a new function situated in a new space and become talismanic emblems of the transitory state of these houses. Pure gold has been used as a material in this transformation and makes physical an aspect of Le Corbusier’s idea of Radiance.

Since 2008 Projector Collective have also been working on a project with Via Artists Group and Dublin City Council Arts Office to interact directly with a specific location in Dublin’s historical North Inner City - St. Agatha’s Terrace. The Radiant City offered a prologue or pre-meditation on some of the ideas that were further explored in project titled Bright Shadow.

http://www.viaart.org
One of the objectives of CPP is to promote the idea of editionable artworks and Projector Collective has responded on this occasion by producing a series of embossed prints in an edition of ten.

www.projectorcollective.org

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Workshop - August 2008

Challenging Myths and Misinformation about Asylum Seekers and Refugees took place on Wednesday 6th August 5pm, Commonplace, Studio one 10 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2

Challenging Myths and Misinformation about Asylum Seekers and Refugees is a free workshop led by Ismale Khurdi that provides the opportunity to: question definitions of refugee, asylum seeker and economic immigrant; challenge stereotypes and offensive labels applied to these groups; look at the meanings and perceptions of ‘home’; and facilitate the exchange of personal and professional experiences.

Ismale Khudri is an artist who has exhibited his work in Ireland and is participating in an Artist in Community awarded project, a project based at the Mosney Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers, led by artist Anne Kelly and supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Create. He has worked with SPIRASI (www.spirasi.ie) and TEAM Educational Theatre Company (www.teamtheatre.ie) lecturing at DCU and DIT, devising workshops for secondary school students and for parents of primary school children around the country. Earlier this year Ismale was nominated for asylum seeker of the year, an award organised by the African Refugee Network. He was born in Kurdistan and is currently seeking asylum in Ireland.

This workshop was organized by artist Anne Kelly and Kindly facilitated by Commonplace as part of a project at Mosney funded by the artist in community scheme awarded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Create.

For further information about Mosney Mobility Project phone 0877515123

www.mosneymobility.wordpress.com
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Paul Timoney - THINGS PRETENDING TO BE OTHER THINGS

Fridays and Saturdays from 13th until 28th June 2008

Press Release

THINGS PRETENDING TO BE OTHER THINGS is an interactive performance, which was devised by Paul Timoney. Visitors to studio one at Commonplace [CPAP] took on a character and played their part in a virtual world constructed from ordinary objects that have been dismantled and re-jigged in interesting and amusing ways

The sculptural objects or props that were created by Timoney acted as triggers for the enactment of critical, poignant, funny and confrontational scenraios

A shop keeper was fired for taking time to chat with his customers

A nurses aid entertained their critically ill patient by giving them a nice hair do

Throughout his time at Commonplace Timoney collaborated with individuals and groups to film many different scenes. The footage that he gathered will later be edited together to form a coherent story…hopefully.

Biography

Paul Timoney - AKA Peter Mulligan - has worked on a number of successful projects that have involved open and invited participation. These include SHOW at The Excursions Festival 2008 in Limerick and BIG MASSIVE PROTEST at Out Of Site 2006 in Dublin and Project 06 in Galway.

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Group Exhibition - Take me back to Trinidad

19th April to 17th May 2008.

Press no 3

Take me back to Trinidad is the title of the third exhibition to be commissioned by Commonplace - a unique project space based in Dublins city centre.

The exhibition includes the work of twelve artists who have been invited to make responses to a calypso tune titled Calypso Blues written by Nat King Cole in 1951 and recorded by vocalist Mona Baptiste.

With lyrics such as; me pocket full of empty I got calypso blues, the music epitomises a sense of diminishing values, identity, and place as an experience that remains relevant to Ireland in the 21st century. For this exhibition a recording of the tune Calypso Blues will accompany the editioned artworks that have been commissioned on a shoestring budget. All of the works have been specifically produced for this exhibition and include media such as; mechanical and electric machinery, photography, moving image, sculpture and drawing which remain innovative in their commentary through the aesthetic expression of desire.

The artists who exhibited include David Beattie, Sarah Browne, Karl Burke, Rhona Byrne, Carol Ann Connolly, Susan Gogan, Cliona Harmey, Anne Kelly, Carly McNulty, Seamus Nolan, Andrew Salomone, Paul Timoney

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Andrew Salomone

1st December to 15th December 2007.

press no 2

‘Say Anything’ was the second commissioned project to be exhibited at CommonPlace Amateur Projects, Studio One, 10 Burgh Quay, Dublin. Work will be available for viewing from Saturday 1st December and the exhibition will continue each Saturday until the 15th December 2007. Directions and appointments can be arranged via email or phone. Alternatively, call by the studio over Saturday 1st, 8th or 15th December between 12pm and 6pm

Biography

Andrew Salomone was born in California and spends time between Southern California and Ireland. Trained as a fine art printmaker, Salomone has developed a unique means of merging forms of image reproduction with contemporary social and political concerns. He recently undertook a residency at the Mantua Art Project in Roscommon and is currently based between Dublin and Cork. He will be participating in the second Human Resources exhibition that will take place in Barons Self Storage, Galway in November titled: City Of Ideas. CPAP is his first solo project.

www.andrewsalomone.com

Say Anything

The works in this project are based on the infamous Ouija Board, but have been re-designed to relate to contemporary social and technological issues that influence our everyday lives. An example of one of these works is called the Offline Oracle. The Offline Oracle is basically a take-off on the standard Ouija Board, but instead of using it to contact dead people, it is based on the idea that our subconscious mind records information that our conscious mind does not always have the ability to access. This is similar to the way that a computer saves information about webpages that it accesses on the Internet. The ‘Offline Oracle’ works by answering questions that you don’t consciously know the answer to but have stored somewhere in your subconscious such as, where did I leave my car keys? or how much did I have to drink last night? this way you can use the Offline Oracle’ to find out whatever it is you want to know, and think that you might know, even if you don’t have access to the internet [A. Salomone 2007]

The concept behind this project is to create devices to help us deal with the plethora of options and opportunities at our disposal in contemporary life. These devices rely on emotional response rather than factual evidence and logical analysis as a method of making rational decisions in our lives.
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Karl Burke

29th September to 20th October 2007

Press Release

This was the first commissioned project to be exhibited at Commonplace Amateur Projects, Studio One, 10 Burgh Quay, Dublin. The back catalogue of all wors in edition is available through visiting studio one by appointment or by emailing commonplaceprojects@gmail.com to receive a pdf price list with illustrations of all of the artworks in the back catalogue.

Biography

Karl Burke is an interdisciplinary artist and active musician whose practice includes sculpture, sound, installation works, photography and film. Exhibiting both nationally and internationally, his work is concerned with our relationship to and perceptions of our three dimensional world endeavouring to form a physical and emotive relationship between the art object, space/place and the viewer.

Visual

‘wooden drawings’

A current body of work ‘wooden drawings’ involves the placement of uniform lengths of processed wood in various situations in a particular environment, specifically in relation to different aspects of that landscape or space. To date a prominent landscape for these installations has been a forest situated in County Sligo.

These three dimensional interventions endeavor to form a physical and emotive relationship between the art object, space/place and in particular the viewer. It is my intention to subtly cause the viewer to take account of his/her surroundings, natural or architectural. I wish to not just draw attention to the art object but to focus on the spaces/places that surround us, to take stock of the world that envelops us. The material used for this work is basic 3 by 2 wood (as used in the construction trade) cut to manageable lengths and sourced locally. The works titled ‘wooden drawings’ are not fixed with nails or any other fixing material which allows me to be very fluid allowing the work to act as a three dimensional notebook tracing the time I have spent at a site

Due to the temporal nature of Burkes work, the lasting effect has become the photographic image. This is now a very important part of the process of Burkes practice and has reached significance in some recent exhibitions where the photographs have been shown alongside site-specific installations.

Sound

Burke also practices as a musician under the name Karl Him and released his critically acclaimed debut album ‘Electronic Laments’, on the Spitroast Label in 2002. His music can be described as acoustic, ambient electronic. He has also recently composed music and soundscapes for the acclaimed Irish theatre company Loose Canon.

‘The Forest Project’ - a sound and music work - as part of the exhibition ‘your position as much as your environment’, took place in the Model Niland Gallery in Sligo and ‘Union Woods’, (a forest in County Sligo) respectively. This project was inspired and influenced by the uniqueness of place. In this case, a forest. The objective, to make soundworks and music for and from these forested environments included a performance in the gallery followed by a sound piece and performance in said forest. An audio cd will be released at a later date and will feature works of music, soundscapes and found compositions inspired by this unique place, creating a sonic diary of time and place.

www.karlhim.com