Several Limerick-based artists were invited to respond to the National Self-Portrait Collection to mark the 40th anniversary of the University of Limerick; Helen Carey explores the outcome.
In July 2012, John Gerrard co-organized with the philosopher Robin Mackay a round table discussion ‘Simulation Exercise Operations’. An interdisciplinary group of participants were invited to address the increased role of simulation in all aspects of our life, and whether a definite distinction between the simulated and the real was still valid. Simulation and its shifting relationship to reality is an ongoing concern in Gerrard’s artworks. The technology that he has appropriated, from 3D scanner to Realtime gaming engine into his practice as sculptor and photographer has enabled him to develop what he calls ‘sculptural photography’. According to Gerrard, ‘One aspect of the virtual, or real-time 3D medium that has always fascinated me is the extent to which the temporal becomes a sculptural component within it.’ His virtual ‘portraits’ – which include trees, storms, buildings or soldiers as well as faces – combine photographs and gaming technology to redeploy the subject in virtual time and space.
Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography at Belfast Exposed and the MAC this summer highlights the medium as a highly-charged, critical artform that constantly questions its own role in the construction of memories, writes Stephanie McBride
As a building commissioned by a State entity charged with the stewardship of a precarious energy resource, Bord Gáis Network Services Centre warrants some reflection on its relevance as a benchmark and path-finder, writes Seán O’Laoire