Denis Connolly + Anne Cleary; Here There Now Then

Denis Connolly + Anne Cleary;   Here There Now Then.

An interactive exhibition conceived for the Limerick City Gallery of Art

 I've had this research about Connolly and Cleary saved in my drafts since last week, when I went to Limerick City Gallery of Art to see their exhibition 'Here There Now Then' . Following advice from my tutors I went to the gallery yesterday only to realise I missed the exhibition by just a few days! I was so disappointed but the lovely gallery workers gave me a book about the works and some leaflets so  I was still able to learn about the works.

  I researched the couple on the Limerick City Gallery of Art website and found out about their backgrounds...'Paris based collaborative duo, Denis Connolly and Anne Cleary working collaboratively have developed a practise which they call 'observer participation', bringing the public and other collaborators into works that they call 'entanglements'. This has led them into partnerships with musicians, dancers, writers and teachers. Their work has a uniquely personal style, combining documentary, experimental film, installation, performance, photography, computer programming and text, with a recurring theme; the boundary between art and life. There is a strong message of active civic engagement behind their work, which engages with ecological and social that are significant today. '

Here There Now Then

  The artists work with either a fixed camera computer and plasma t.v. screen or they project images onto a wall. I don't full understand the technical side...but I learnt that with some installations some images taken with the cameras are sped up or slowed down to highlight peoples movement through a space...past and present......like their trace upon that space! See  how relevant this is !!! 

  I read through the book from the gallery and it also had a great c.d, on which I could watch the actual exhibition work....almost like I was there...but without the personal engagement.
The ideas/concepts I liked the best were :

• Encounter between the spectator and his own image.
• Movement in front of the camera generates sounds...appealing to several senses.
• The installations focus the visitor on his/her presence in time and space, through movement and through stillness.
• The work makes visitors consider the path they have taken through the space, therefore making them aware of their 'trace'. 
• The cameras supply feedback of immediate past, as well as present and long-ago past.
• Mixing stream of video, previously recorded from camera with live video coming directly from the same camera. 
• Transparency to the works.

  

It was only this week that I realised Connolly and Cleary have an installation here in the college...in the form of a  camera and plasma t.v screen. It mixes live and pre-recorded videos on screen. It challenges the viewer to verify what is happening on screen with what is happening in the reception area behind you. Standing in front of it for a few minutes today was almost unnerving, as you had to keep looking over your shoulder to see were those people really behind you....9/10 there was no one.......

So here is the evidence...

Even when I was no longer standing in front of the camera you can see my 'trace'...

I'm not posing...someone just walked past saying ' ah taking pictures of yourself is it?'  : )