Curated by Sheena Barrett and Emer O’Boyle
“If you want to understand the causes made in the past, look at the results as they are manifest in the present. And if you want to know what results will be manifest in the future, look at the causes that exist in the present.”
(Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Vol 2 P.172.)
What will the world be like in the future and will there be a place for humanity in it? Art & Science help us to imagine answers to these questions. Both begin in the imagination, constantly questioning what we perceive to be true and looking at the world around us with new eyes all the time.
Future Proof brings together artists who work in scientific and technological contexts to contribute additional perspectives, re-frame debates, and create paths for new thinking to emerge. Their work is part of a shift occurring internationally in cutting edge educational and scientific organisations, that welcomes artists to work alongside experts in other fields. This way of working sees new questions being asked and new connections being made, between different fields of expertise. Why is this important? New knowledge comes from answering new questions and understanding deeply how things work is a pre-requisite to taking correct action.
There’s a word in Japanese, ‘inga’, which means cause and effect. The principle underlying ‘inga’ is that if there is a cause, there will certainly be an effect, and that if there is an effect, there will, without fail, also be a cause. The artists in this exhibition explore how by looking at our past and present behaviour we can take real steps towards making, imagining, shaping and safeguarding our future.
Brian Duggan lives and works in Dublin, at times his practice may include sculpture, film, installation, printing, publishing and sound, all depending on the specific context where, when, why and how the work is being presented. In 2016, Brian Duggan presented a solo-project Ryou-Un Maru at the Project Art Centre in Dublin, curated by Tessa Giblin (Publication) and Activating Pangea: The Voyage (MART) in CB1G Los Angeles. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Hugh Lane Gallery, the OPW national collection and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. He has undertaken residencies in UCD art and Science Parity Studios programme 2016-2017, ISCP New York, IMMA, CCI Paris, Braziers International, Project 304 Bangkok and ChangMai, Thailand. He was the co-Founder and co-Curator and co-Director of the multi platform Pallas Projects in Dublin from 1996 to 2009. Brian Duggan, (*1971) lives and works in Dublin. His work is represented by Balzer projects, Basel.
www.brianduggan.net
Sofie Loscher is a visual artist whose practice focuses on installation with a scientific underpinning. She holds an MA in Sculpture from the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and a BA in Visual Arts Practice from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.
‘My work has a very strong scientific underpinning. Physics is my main area of interest and more specifically the field of optics and perception. Fascinated by human perception, my work is the product of a belief in expanding and exploring this perception in terms of sensory experience. Currently I am creating large Installation works that are concerned with specular reflection, or the mirror like reflection of light from a surface.’ (UCD Art in Science Residency 2014)
www.sofieloscher.ie
Lucy McKenna‘s work is concerned with information systems that attempt to explain the universe and our place in it. Through her projects she traces different forms of data extraction, collection and communication developed by humans. This can include methods of scientific experiment, invention of technology, intuitive belief, or myth. The documented interpretation of anomalies, mysteries or unexplained phenomena in the world is very present in her work, along with semblances of the tools and equipment developed to perceive these events. Her works seek to unfold the information hidden in those spaces where the analytic and the intuitive concur. Her practice is a multidisciplinary one consisting of drawing, photography, film, installation, sculptural works and sourced object.
www.lucymckenna.com
Siobhan McGibbon is an Irish visual artist and researcher interested in trans-disciplinary practice, particularly the intersections between art and medical science. She works conceptually with sculpture, installation, drawing, animation, narrative and biomaterials. In 2014 McGibbon was awarded a Limerick Capital of Culture scholarship to undertake a practice based research masters in the ACADEMY research center at Limerick School of Art and Design, where she explored the notion of “The Modern Prometheus” through a series of unusual investigations in the in the sectors of anatomy, medical and biological exploration and centers of scientific enquiry. McGibbon is currently a PHD student in the ACADEMY research center at Limerick School of Art and Design where she is exploring the contemporary quest for the fountain of youth. The artist is currently collaborating with writer Maeve O’Lynn on The Xenophon project. McGibbon and O’Lynn are currently artists in residence in The Centre for Research in Medical Devices, (CÚRAM, 2017).
http://www.siobhanmcgibbon.com • www.xenophonproject.org
Maria McKinney is a visual artist based in Dublin. She recently took part in Skowhegan 2017, an International summer school in the countryside of Maine, USA. Her most recent body of work considers the use of genomics in modern-day cattle breeding. For this she collaborated with genetic scientists and received a Wellcome Trust Arts Award.
Previous solo exhibitions include the RHA, Dublin (2016) Lokaal 01, Antwerp, Belgium (2016), La Permanence, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2015), the MAC, Belfast (2012) and the Lab Gallery, Dublin (2010). She was shortlisted for the MAC International 2014 and has completed residencies in the UCD school of science 2015/16 and Fire Station Artists Studios 2012-2015. In April 2017 she started a three-year studio membership in Temple Bar Studios.
www.cargocollective.com/mariamckinney
Emer O’Boyle is co-founder and Director of UCD Parity Studios, Artists in Residence programme.
She is an artist/educator whose work explores individual stories within collective contexts and creates conditions for exchange between different interest groups. Her projects have been funded by the EU Partnership for Peace Programme, Amnesty International, an EUFP7 project called GLORIA – Global Robotic Telescope Intelligent Array and The Arts Council of Ireland. Since 2010 she has been collaborating with Professor of Astronomy Lorraine Hanlon and her team at UCD.
www.ucdartinscience.com
Méadhbh O’Connor (Dublin, 1984) is an artist who works at the conjunction of art, science and environmentalism. Most recently she was selected by an influential international jury which included Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Alexander Ponomarev, Nadim Samman and others to exhibit at the experimental Antarctic Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale of Art, 2017. She was twice awarded by Parity Studios the position of Artist in Residence at University College Dublin (UCD) College of Science in 2013 and 2017. She works through sculpture, sculptural installation and multimedia and exhibits both nationally and internationally.
www.meadhbhoconnor.info
Matt Parker (b. 1984) is an artist working with and producing archives that amplify hidden connections between every-day technology and the environment. His work is influenced by the sonosphere, unsound, ecology, the economy of noise, infrastructure studies and the internet. He has a Masters in Music Technology from Birmingham Conservatoire, is the winner of the Deutsche Bank Creative Prize in Music 2014, winner of New Art West Midlands 2016, was shortlisted for the Aesthetica International Art Prize 2015 and was artist in residence at Bletchley Park in 2015. He is the co-director of media infrastructural investigative collective The People’s Cloud.
www.earthkeptwarm.com
Originally from Bochum, Germany, David Stalling has been working as a composer, sound artist and musician since the early 1990s. His works have been performed and exhibited widely in Ireland and abroad. With a sensitivity to the sonic nature of both lived in and imagined worlds, David’s practice transcends the traditional definition of composing, utilising a variety of media: acoustic and electronic sound; field recordings and found objects; video and lighting. He also experiments and improvises with self-built instruments and microphones.
David is a recipient of the 2014 Artist-in-Residence award at the University College Dublin School of Science. He has curated and produced numerous festivals and events. He is a founding member and artistic director of the EAR ensemble (2002-2009). He is a former director of the Maynooth Chamber Choir (1999-2001) and the NUI Maynooth Guitar Ensemble (2007-2013). He is artistic co-director of the Hilltown New Music Festival since 2009.
www.davidstalling.com
This exhibition presented by Dublin City Council’s The LAB Gallery is a collaboration with UCD Parity Studios with thanks to the Arts Council, the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, Visual Thinking Strategies, the OPW and the RHA Gallery.