TRAILS OF UNCERTAINTY

THE COMPLEX PRESENTS AN EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK BY

MARK BUCKERIDGE & VIVIENNE DICK

THE GALLERY | ARRAN ST EAST | D07 YY97

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Exhibition Run: 18 May - 01 June

Preview: 17 May 6pm - 8pm

Gallery Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturday 12pm - 5pm

When I first met Mark and Vivienne to discuss the possibilities around making an exhibition, the conversation started with music. Some specific interests of both included Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, and Robert Wyatt. After a while it became clear that the artists shared a desire to make work in relation to their local environments and everyday activities – walking, gardening, driving etc. They discussed particular ways to record footage in a manner that would capture the rhythms of daily life. They both understand that these rhythms carry complex frequencies that relate universally to people.

Early on Vivienne mentioned Mud Island as a place worth visiting together, a volunteer-led community garden in Dublin’s North East Inner City. Vivienne graciously introduced her friend, an integral figure in maintaining Mud Island, Maeve Foreman. We talked about the infrastructure of the community garden and how it operated cooperatively. Maeve invited the three of us to her home for tea and further discussion. It was an informative experience in relation to the exhibition's development. It preempted a series of events that Mark and Vivienne would embark on, such as kite flying in solidarity with Palestine at Sandymount beach, a dinner party at Vivienne’s friend Ray’s house with invited friends, and a trip to The Hill of Uisneach in Westmeath. These events have become points of contact that map out the acceleration of the exhibition. They also describe its core interests – people, place, and the importance of community.

Mark and Vivienne have been shooting footage at these events to make a collaborative video work that will poeticise their experiences. This activity between artists is something that interests me greatly. Coming together in real-time to record and edit work brings out responses in artists that are ephemeral to their collaboration. The core video work will be accompanied by a soundtrack mixed by both artists using sounds composed by Mark. An installation structure influenced by minimalism will be built in The Gallery to holistically accommodate the artworks created for the exhibition.

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Mark Buckeridge (b.1991 Carlow) is an artist working in performance, sculpture, video and sound. He holds an MFA from Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam and is the co-founder of artist-run organisation Muine Bheag Arts. Past exhibitions and projects include: performances at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2019) and Fylkingen, Stockholm (2023); solo shows at CCA, Derry (2022); PS², Belfast, (2022), Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2019); Rietveld Pavilion, Amsterdam (2019); Pallas Projects, Dublin (2016) and group shows at Outpost, Norwich (2019); Rongwrong, Amsterdam (2019) and Catalyst Arts, Belfast (2016). Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, (2017); Catalyst Arts, Belfast, (2016); and the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, (2016)

Vivienne Dick (b.1950 Donegal) makes single and multi-screen works which combine elements of documentary, performance and fiction. Her films are concerned with gender politics, social issues, ecology and possible futures. Her early films are associated with the Super 8 No Wave film movement of the late seventies in New York. Recent retrospectives/surveys include Queer Porto (2023), Jeu de Paume, Paris (2021), and IMMA (2017). Amongst recent group shows Women in Revolt, Tate Britain (2024), Light Years Ahead, Brighton (2023) ‘Who are you staring at, Pompidou (2023) and The Wayward Eye, Temple Bar Gallery (2021) Her feature documentary New York Our Time, received the Dublin Film Critics Award at DIFF in 2020. Her work is distributed by Lux UK.

Image credit: Uisneach (The Navel of Ireland) by Vivienne Dick

Exhibition statement: Mark O’Gorman

Proudly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council.

For further info and images: contact Mark O’Gorman, Curator / Producer, Visual Arts at The Complex. mark.ogorman@thecomplex.ie / 085 1433 858