GRANITE LEAP
Forerunner
Granite Leap
October 2021
Kunstverein Aughrim
In 2021 Kunstverein Aughrim commissioned Forerunner to develop and produce its inaugural artwork, Granite Leap, a site-specific, permanent installation.
Granite Leap is a system of use, an ideological anchor, and an artistic proposition. Inhabiting the entire 45sq meter footprint of Kunstverein Aughrim, it is Forerunner’s most ambitious work to date, activating and embodying their ideas of ‘material navigation’, and echoing the founding principles of Kunstverein Aughrim (performativity, embodiment and necessity).
Granite Leap’s physical framework is comprised of everyday construction materials such as wood, steel, concrete and granite, that come together to produce a space. This space is Kunstverein Aughrim, a multifunctional curatorial agency for encounters with artistic practices. It has been collaboratively designed to display artworks, host exhibitions, house artefacts from the town's collection, facilitate performances, accommodate gatherings, exhibit publications, and provide hospitality. As an artwork, it is influenced by its geographic location (positioned along north western Europe’s largest batholith), its planned functionality (as the physical, publicly accessible site of Kunstverein Aughrim), its aspirational goals (as a jumping off point for big ideas through large-scale artistic projects), its temporality (as a permanent artwork time-stamped by a 300 million year old rock) and its potential role in the community (as an anchoring post for creativity). Granite Leap was unveiled on Sunday 9 October 2022 at 12 noon, marking both the launch of Kunstverein Aughrim and the beginning of our wider public programme.
