Temple Bar Gallery + Studios is pleased to present an exhibition by Irish artist Rhona Byrne. Huddle tests transforms the gallery into a testing ground for the exploration of social relations, group dynamics and associated anxieties. The installation, including sculpture, drawing and wearables, reflects on the desires and tensions experienced between private thought and public behaviour, feelings of isolation and belonging, connectivity and relating, distraction and attending and the fragile state between comfort and discomfort. Rhona Byrne will present her new project, ‘Huddlewear’, a series of wearable artworks/ social clothing developed by the artist during an artists residency at Facebook HQ Dublin.

For this exhibition, Huddlewear becomes a tool for activating exchanges in relationships between individuals, groups and communities.  The exhibition invites and encourages visitors to wear and inhabit Huddlewear and to explore the intimacy and complexities of connection in real time. The interconnected designs of the garments can be worn by pairs and groups and aim to explore the wearer’s sense of self and vulnerability during moments of interaction and gathering. By inviting participation and reflection the ‘Huddle tests’ exhibition will involve a series of events and activities as well as an open invite for ‘group work’ for the duration of the exhibition.

Rhona Byrne lives and works in Dublin, Ireland. Rhona makes sculptural objects and spatial environments combining sculpture, performance and processes of participation that explore a negotiation of object, place and social practice. Recent selected projects and exhibitions include, Facebook Air program, Dublin; On that Note, Heart of Glass, Liverpool; Uillinn, Skibbereen, Moving Thresholds, National Gallery of Ireland; Verksmi∂jan, Hjalteyri, Iceland; Cowper Care home, Dublin;  Its All up in the Air, Norfolk and Norwich Arts Festival, Uk;Bolthole, Open Studio, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, IMMA

www.rhonabyrne.com