ART IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

ACW Events April 2019

1) ACW is delighted to welcome Dan Adler as this year’s ACW/ IMMA fellow.

During his time in Dublin Dan will lead a seminar on the Assemblage and what it means for thinking about both making and writing about art.

Dan will deliver a public lecture on the artist Isa Genzken and the Berlin Aesthetic on:
Thursday, 18th April, 6pm at the Goethe Institut, Merrion Square, Dublin. ALL WELCOME

2) Adrian Duncan discusses the influence of art, architecture and Berlin on the writing of his debut novel Love Notes from a German Building Site (The Lilliput Press 2019)

Tuesday 16th April, 6pm at the Goethe Institut, Merrion Square, Dublin. ALL WELCOME

In the book, Paul, a young Irish engineer, follows Evelyn to Berlin and begins work on the renovation of a commercial building in Alexanderplatz. Wrestling with a new language, on a site running behind schedule, and with a relationship in flux, he becomes increasingly untethered. Set against the structural evolution of a sprawling city, this meditation on language, memory and yearning is underpinned by the site’s physical reality. As the narrator explores the mind’s fragile architecture, he begins to map his own strange geography through a series of notebooks, or ‘Love Notes’. Paul’s story will speak to anyone who has known what it is to be in love, or exiled, or simply alone.

Both of these events are part of “Common Denominator: Art in the Contemporary World” at the Goethe-Institut Irland, a two-year programme of exhibitions, events, seminars and workshops in collaboration with Masters Program, Art in the Contemporary World at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin.

3) ACW Scholarship Deadline approaches

Every year ACW offers 1 MA scholarship to incoming students worth full tuition fees. It is are awarded on academic merit and all applicants are eligible, including EU and non EU students.

To be eligible for consideration for one of the Scholarship awards applicants should apply for admission to the programme in the normal way. Please refer to Postgraduate Admissions for application procedures.

Priority deadline on applications to all postgraduate programmes for 2019 – 20: 30th April. All applicants are encouraged to submit their application by 30th April. Only applications received by 30th April will be considered for an MA scholarship award. (The 30th April deadline does not apply to PhD Studentship awards.)

After 30th April, NCAD will operate a rolling closing date for postgraduate applications. Applications will be reviewed on receipt, and offers will be sent also on a rolling basis. Applications will continue to be accepted until a programme is full. Applications will remain open only if a programme has open places remaining, so please plan to submit your application as soon as possible.

Please contact the Admissions Office for further information admissions@ncad.ie

4) Dublin Digital Radio, Podcast – new episodes coming soon.
A show about art ideas and some other stuff too. In Episode one, we discuss artist Liam Gillick, the satisfaction of aesthetic disappointment, modesty in the age of capitalism and spectacle, and much more.

Listen again here: https://soundcloud.com/dublindigitalradio/current-on-liam-gillick-and-the-art-of-disappointment
Podcasts: https://listen.dublindigitalradio.com/podcasts
Blogpost: https://listen.dublindigitalradio.com/editorial?id=5c67ebf96426a80014290a19

Further Information

MA / MFA Art in the Contemporary World
Visual Culture is concerned with the spectrum of human creativity: art, design, architecture, advertising, film, media and aesthetics. We interrogate social theories and practices of visual culture and seek meaningful connections between history, theory and practice.
The MA / MFA Art in the Contemporary World is a taught programme that examines contemporary art practices and their critical, theoretical, historical and social contexts.
The course offers an opportunity for focused engagement with the varied challenges of today’s most ambitious art, bridging the relationship between theory and practice by creating exciting study options for artists, curators and writers.

MA Duration: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time 90 ECTS credits/Taught Masters/Visual Culture Pathway

MFA Duration: 2 years 120 ECTS credits/Theory-Practice Pathway

Find out more or apply for a place on the MA / MFA Art in the Contemporary world:

https://www.ncad.ie/postgraduate/school-of-visual-culture/ma-art-in-the-contemporary-world/

Programme Contact:
Dr. Declan Long, longd@staff.ncad.ie
Dr. Francis Halsall, halsallf@staff.ncad.ie
Dr. Sarah Pierce, pierces@staff.ncad.ie

Contributors

Dan Adler is Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Arts & Art History at York University in Toronto. Adler’s areas of research include the history of art writing, modern and contemporary sculpture, German modernism, and the development and reception of the conceptual art movement. His other books include the monograph Hanne Darboven: Cutural History 1880-1983 (Afterall Books/MIT Press, 2009). He co-edited (with Mitchell Frank) German Art History and Scientific Thought: Beyond Formalism (Ashgate Press, 2012) and co-edited (with Janine Marchessault and Sanja Obradovic) Parallax: Stereoscopic 3D in Moving Images and Visual Art (Intellect Books/University of Chicago Press, 2013).

A former senior editor of the Bibliography of the History of Art at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, he regularly contributes reviews to Artforum. An alumnus of the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program, he co-curated (with Lesley Johnstone) a Liz Magor retrospective exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, which traveled in 2017 to the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich; the Kunstverein in Hamburg; and the Musée d’Art Moderne et contemporain in Nice, France (the accompanying catalogue, Liz Magor: Habitude, was published by JRP Ringier).

His other curatorial credits include the exhibitions “Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty”(2014) held at the Art Gallery of Ontario and “When Hangover Becomes Form: Rachel Harrison and Scott Lyall” (2006), held at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE).

Adrian Duncan is a Berlin-based Irish visual artist who originally trained as a structural engineer. He is an alumnus of the NCAD MA Programme Art in the Contemporary World.
His short-form fiction has appeared in The Stinging Fly, gorse, The Moth, The Dublin Review and Meridian (US), among others. His feature film Flying Structures on Irish engineer Peter Rice, co-directed with Feargal Ward, premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival 2019.

ACW Alumni Adrian Duncan’s New Novel, Love Notes from a German Building Site.

In April The Lilliput Press will be launching ACW alumni Adrian Duncan’s debut novel entitled ‘Love Notes from a German Building Site.’

‘Love Notes from a German Building Site’ follows the story of Paul, an Irish engineer in Berlin, involved in the renovation of a commercial building in Alexanderplatz. Constantly aware of the cracks in its foundations, the text moves calmly towards a manifest cohesion and stability
as Paul’s daily experiences fragment, collapse and are formed anew.

Duncan recently premiered his documentary on the work of structural engineer, Peter Rice, ‘Floating Structures’ at the Dublin International Film Festival. His process of making and the aesthetic of his works derives from an interest in language, and the processes of construction, both amateur and professional, he has carried this through beautifully to his writing.

The launch will be held at the Goethe Institut on Tuesday 16 April at 6pm.

IRISH FILM “Memory Room” TO PREMIERE IN PARADOCS SECTION OF IDFA 2018

A new short film by Adrian Duncan and Feargal Ward will have its world premiere
next month at the prestigious IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam).
Memory Room (2018, 17 mins, Arts Council) was shot in the Arctic Circle and
retraces the steps of an Irish forester sent to Finland in 1946 to secure poles for the
rural electrification project being undertaken back home. The film has been selected
for the Paradocs section of IDFA 2018 – a programme that showcases what is
happening beyond the frame of traditional documentary filmmaking, on the borders
between film and art, truth and fiction, and narrative and design.
The film was written and directed by Adrian Duncan (Bungaló Bliss) and Feargal
Ward (Yximalloo, The Lonely Battle Of Thomas Reid). Actor, Barry Ward (Jimmy’s
Hall, Britannia, Save Me, Maze) was cast in the role of the forester. The film was
photographed by Feargal Ward and Jonathan Sammon, with the score created by
Declan Synnott. The film was funded in 2016 by the Arts Council as part of their
Project Award strand. A version of the film and accompanying sculptural installation,
which was titled The Soil Became Scandinavian, was selected for Ireland’s biennial,
EVA International 2018 – curated by Inti Guerrero.
Co-directors, Duncan and Ward say, “It’s great to have the opportunity to bring this
type of film to IDFA. Our film exists at the outer fringes of what might be called the
‘traditional documentary form’, which is of course an area we are very excited to
work in. Making unconventional works that challenge the medium are incredibly hard
to get funded. We can’t thank the Arts Council enough for making this possible – we
are indebted to them for giving us the freedom and confidence to make this happen.”
Trailer here:
https://vimeo.com/292075357

Contact:
Adrian Duncan – +49 152 02767503 – a@adrianduncan.eu
Feargal Ward – +353 86 3313690 – feargal@fsefilms.com

“Bungalow Bliss”, TG4, Saturday 26th March, 19:50

“Bungalow Bliss” revisits Jack Fitzsimon’s housing catalogue of 1971, and the extraordinary effect it had on Irish house design and rural ways of living. Adrian Duncan and Feargal Ward’s cinematic work presents these bungalows, and the landscapes they were built on, in a radical new way. Their response recognises this period of building and dwelling as a major architectural movement in the history of the Irish state.

“Bungalow Bliss” stems directly from research Adrian Duncan undertook and thesis he wrote during his MA ACW studies in 2010/11.

http://www.tg4.ie/en/corporate/press/press-releases/2016-2/15-03-16/

There Are Little Kindoms

Adrian Duncan, Sabina MacMahon, Eamon O’Kane and Kathy Tynan curated by Emma Dwyer

Thu 11 Feb – Sat 19 Mar 2016

There Are Little Kingdoms features the work of four Irish artists – who each tell us their own story. From King James II enjoying a meal under a sycamore tree at the house of John Keyes and later burning everything in the area but that house, to the submerged forest of Bray beach, the logs from Finland which have turned our soil Scandinavian and the motivational wheelie bins of Dublin 8. Every tree, house, town and mountain has a story. Whether it’s the absurd, historical, fictional or anchored in unbelievable fact. Meaning can be slippy and a slight change in the way we look at something can completely change how we see it. What these four artists have in common is a sideways glance at the world and their place in it.

http://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/exhibitions/details/there-are-little-kindoms

The Lie of the Land

An exhibition featuring works by Helen Devitt (Cork), Kenneth O’Halloran (Dublin/L.A), Adrian Duncan (Dublin/Berlin) and Jill Quigley (Belfast)

Curated by Miranda Driscoll.

Opening Wednesday 11 February 7pm
Exhibition runs until Sunday 22 March 2015

The Lie of the Land; a multi-part project that will take place at Sirius Arts Centre in
Cobh, Co. Cork, will encompass an exhibition and a reading / listening night. The project
examines the idea that there are certain materialities (both in the work and in the
landscape) that seem to serve as cultural remnants. These remnants can sometimes
define a certain Irish aesthetic in the landscape, or what might be perceived as one.
Tackling well-trodden arguments around the monument, the ruin and modernity in
Irish landscape and architecture, the project considers perceptions of contemporary
rural Ireland as shown through visual art and writing. The Lie of the Land is curated by Miranda Driscoll and features work from Adrian Duncan, both alumni of the art in the Contemporary World Masters programme.

The Lie of the Land Reading/Listening Night
Friday 27 February 7pm

To accompany the Lie of the Land exhibition, this reading / listening event will include
a reading of short stories from Cork based writer Sara Baume and Berlin based artist
Adrian Duncan. In addition to this, radio producers Kevin Brew (RTÉ Radio 1) and Luke
Clancy (Soundsdoable / RTÉ Lyric FM’s Culture File) will play sound and stories from the
radio archive reflecting their experience of the Irish landscape. The event will include an
informal discussion. More info here

Adrian Duncan – Talk in Monster Truck

Adrian Duncan talks about his exhibition, How the Mighty have fallen, tomorrow in Monster Truck.

There will be a brief reading, then a chat about the work at 4.30pm on Thursday the 17th.

How the Mighty have fallen is a body of work comprising a video piece and an assemblage of objects.

The sculptures are delicate, temporary, and in some cases barely perceptible constructions. These objects are installed in a manner that relates to the Monster Truck gallery space and its location. This work creates a situation that brings to bear the instability of the concept in relation to another unstable construction – the fleeting and unspeakable individual physical encounter.

This work sits between story-telling and sculpture. It is an attempt to describe something about compulsion and my interaction with material.

Variations of the work has been shown in The Joinery in 2010, and Queen Street Studios, Belfast in 2011. This work continuously changes, and the variation for Monster Truck will shift in emphasis conceptually, architecturally, and aesthetically relative to the previous two versions.

Adrian Duncan: How the Mighty have fallen

Preview: Thurs May 3rd
Exhibition Runs: Fri May 4th – Sat May 26th.
MA ACW alumni Adrian Duncan has a new exhibition, entitled How the Mighty have fallen, opening at Monster Truck next week. How the Mighty have fallen is a body of work comprising of a video piece and an assemblage of objects. Full details below from the Monster Truck website:

The sculptures are delicate, temporary, and in some cases barely perceptible constructions. These objects are installed in a manner that relates to the Monster Truck gallery space and its location. This work creates a situation that brings to bear the instability of the concept in relation to another unstable construction – the fleeting and unspeakable individual physical encounter.

This work sits between story-telling and sculpture. It is an attempt to describe something about compulsion and my interaction with material.

Variations of the work has been shown in The Joinery in 2010, and Queen Street Studios, Belfast in 2011. This work continuously changes, and the variation for Monster Truck will shift in emphasis conceptually, architecturally, and aesthetically relative to the previous two versions.

Adrian Duncan (b. 1978) is a Dublin based artist, writer and engineer. He studied then worked as a structural engineer in the UK and Ireland for over a decade before returning to study fine art and contemporary art theory at IADT, Dun Laoghaire, and NCAD, Dublin. He has exhibited in Ireland, Europe, South Africa, and the U.S. He is a guest lecturer at UCD School of Architecture, and tutor at the Some Blind Alleys writing classes. He is co-editor of Paper Visual Art Journal to which he also contributes.

The Drawing Project: Spaces Of Art and Architecture

Thursday 19th April: 2-5pm
The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire

A seminar exploring the relationship between art and architecture takes places at IADT’s Dun Laoghaire space, The Drawing Project, in the afternoon of Thursday April 19th. The panel includes MA ACW alumni, Adrian Duncan. Full details as follows:

Adrian Duncan artist/writer, www.adrianduncan.eu

Fiona McDonald
artist/architect,www.fionamcdonald.ie

John McLaughlin UCD, Irish curator at the Venice Architecture Biennale www.johnmclaughlin.ie


Blaithin Quinn artist/architect,www.transcolonia.org

Des Ward artist/lecturer, IADT,www.deda.ie

There is currently a lot of interest around the status of the objects of art and architecture and their relationship to place, community and the built environment. This seminar hopes to open up discussions around the different practices and theories operating in the shared and sometimes hybrid spaces between art and architecture.

Harbour Sq, Crofton Rd. Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin (opp. DART Station)

Event: Emmet Kierans in Conversation

Emmet Kierans In Conversation at the Talbot, Dublin
Thursday, 1st March 2012 | 6pm |

As part of Temple Bar Cultural Trust’s First Thursdays Dublin, Emmet Kierans will be in conversation with Adrian Duncan from Paper Visual Art Journal, to discuss his solo show ‘Inside Out, Outside In’. Kierans’ practice is concerned with exploiting the inherent malleability of material, the artist elicits notions of the plasticity of the reality we inhabit. The Gallery will remain open until 8pm, on March 1st 2012.

Booking is essential contact E: info@talbotgallery.com to reserve a place | www.talbotgallery.com

Event: Two Towers In A Forest

Installation: 6-9pm Wed 7th December
Reading: 7pm Wed 7th December

Recent MA ACW graduate, Adrian Duncan, presents a new work entitled, Two Towers In A Forest, at The Joinery in Arbour Hill on Wednesday 7th of December. The work consists of a short story, an audio/video installation, and a sculpture.

The short story can be downloaded as a pdf here. Continue reading…