CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART DERRY-LONDONDERRY
8TH AUGUST – 26TH SEPTEMBER 2015
Stephen Brandes, Nathan Coley, Aleana Egan, Fergus Feehily, Kevin Gaffney, Rana Hamadeh, and Merlin James
CCA is pleased to present Out There, Thataway, a group exhibition curated through dialogue between Francis Halsall, Declan Long, and CCA. The exhibition takes its title from the last words spoken at the end of ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’: they are Kirk’s vague but determined directions as the Enterprise begins to venture further out than ever before beyond known frontiers.
Out There, Thataway has two conceptual starting points: first, a concern with imagining or navigating territories that are ‘beyond knowledge’; and second, an interest in ways that metaphors of geography shape our thinking and behaviour. The exhibition includes artworks that refer to terrains that are traversed through strategies of fiction and historical association (Stephen Brandes, Kevin Gaffney, Rana Hamadeh); works that imply hesitancy or potentiality regarding location and direction (Merlin James, Fergus Feehily); and others that suggest spaces that are beyond the horizons of our geography altogether (Aleana Egan, Nathan Coley). While not explicitly addressing the contested narratives of territory in the history of Derry/Londonderry, the exhibition is further animated by this context. The speculative journeys and destinations alluded to in these artworks often suggest an urgent need to think beyond immediate predicaments and situations; extreme ideas of ‘elsewhere’ that might offer no fulfilment, promising only further solitude or uncertainty.
Out There, Thataway opens on Saturday 8th August at 7pm and runs until 26th September 2015. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of commissioned playlists coordinated by Dublin based artist Jonathan Mayhew, released on CCA’s website during the run of the exhibition, and a public programme of events. Further information on these programmes will be posted on our website and social media over the coming weeks.
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Francis Halsall is an art writer and academic who lectures in the history/ theory of modern and contemporary art at National College of Art & Design, Dublin where he is Director (with Declan Long) of MA Art in the Contemporary World. He’s currently involved with several projects related to the theme of “Systems Aesthetics.” More details of his work can be found at: www.alittletagend.blogspot.com
Declan Long is a lecturer at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Ireland, where he is Programme Director (with Francis Halsall) of the MA Art in the Contemporary World. He is a regular contributor to Artforum and other contemporary art publications. In 2013 he served as a member of the Turner Prize judging panel.
Image: Kevin Gaffney, selected still from Our Stranded Friends in Distant Lands. Duration: 5mins 37sec, Korean with English subtitles, 2015.