Sarah Kelleher reports on Jesse Jones’ collaborative project for the 57th Venice Biennal featuring Olwen Fouere and sound by Susan Strenger
Jesse Jones, Ireland’s representative at the 57th Venice Biennale, makes work that fuses film, performance, sound and sculpture into urgently compelling provocations, fuelled by feminist politics. Intensely collaborative and invariably deeply researched, Jones’ projects distil unexpected, esoteric elements – in this case, an archaeological dig of a 3.5 million-year-old female specimen, the suppressed voices of the witch trials of the 16th century in Europe and a 1970s labour strike – into viscerally affecting, and richly aesthetic experiences. Given that this year’s Biennale, Viva Arte Viva, directed by Christine Macel, stresses the role of art in unstable times and argues that ‘the role, the voice and the responsibility of the artist are crucial in the framework of contemporary debates,’ Jones’ prescient and committed work makes her a particularly apt selection.
Peter Murray recalls the independent spirit Edith Blake, diarist and artist and one-time occupant of Myrtle Grove, Youghal, County Cork
While working as an intern at the NPA Mike Bors gained access to a remarkable collection created by talented amatuer, Sir Robert Ball, astromoner and scientific adviser to the Commissioners of Irish Lights
Peter Pearson welcomes a new chapter in the management of Johnstown Castle, County Wexford