OBJECTS AS BUOYS IN THE LIFE ACTED by Áine Mac Giolla Bhríde
objects as buoys in the life acted
15 April - 13 May 2023
Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny
Áine Mac Giolla Bhríde is an Irish artist working in the field of sculpture. This exhibition marked their first solo show in their hometown of Letterkenny. Their work makes manifest considerations of site and the situated body via staged sculptural arrangements. Building a self in the form of a room, piece by piece, this was an exhibition about the systems of understanding and modes of un/making with which we can engage.
The exhibition was made up of material elements that were sourced, selected and arranged by the artist. The various shades of paint on the walls were reclaimed from Bryson Recycling Centre, a refuse facility in Letterkenny where people can dispose of leftover house paint. The leather sofas were found on a local eBay site in Berlin, for selling and exchanging unwanted furniture. The mirrored wall cabinets were procured via the same website, and a similar one in Donegal.
These objects were removed from circulation and installed in the gallery as sculptures. Their usual trajectory, as domestic items that inhabit people’s homes, was interrupted. Estranged and disentangled from their ordinary purpose, these objects - reoriented as artworks - act differently, and in doing so they pose questions.
What are they doing? How are they positioned? Where did they come from? Who did they belong to? What are their formal qualities? Why were they chosen? Where have they been? What will happen to them? What might they mean to the artist? What could they represent to you?
Materials list:
Interior emulsion paint, Rolf Benz sofa, Lignet Roset sofa, KOINOR sofa, mirrored cabinets, motorised turntable, plastic sheeting, dust sheet, apples, ornaments, magnets.
Acknowledgements:
Mac Giolla Bhríde has worked with artist Anne Tallentire and curator Kate Strain of Kunstverein Aughrim in the development of the exhibition. The artist would also like to thank Jeremy Howard, Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile and the technical team at the Regional Cultural Centre, Roisín McBride, Martha McCulloch and Rebecca Strain at Artlink at Fort Dunree, Adrian Kelly at the Glebe House and Gallery, Dennis McNulty, Katie Watchorn, Lisa Weber, Halsey Rodman, Glenn Fitzgerald and Robin O’Shea.
Kunstverein Aughrim’s ongoing collaboration with Áine Mac Giolla Bhríde is made possible with the support of the Arts Council.