A pioneering work by the British-German artist Tino Sehgal made up entirely of live encounters between people opens to the public on the second floor of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s temporary exhibition space in Earlsfort Terrace on Friday 12 April 2013. This Situation offers Irish gallery-goers the first opportunity to experience Sehgal’s approach to art, in which he responds to and engages with gallery visitors through the use of conversation, sound and movement. His recent project in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall was described by The Observer’s art critic, Laura Cumming as a potentially life-changing experience for visitors, enabling people to learn about other people and themselves, and by The Guardian’s Adrian Searle as the defining art work of the year. This Situation has toured globally with the support of the Goethe-Institut and is a unique unmissable experience.

In this most recent version of This Situation at IMMA, the gallery is occupied by a group of six ‘participants’ or ‘interpreters’ whose choreographed actions generate a discussion of cultural, economic and philosophical issues. As with previous manifestations of This Situation, the work comprises of both local and international ‘participants’ who have been carefully selected by the artist.

Sehgal studied both political economics and choreography, working in dance before focusing on his ‘constructed situations’. Revealed only as experiences in the time and space they occupy, his works exist for those who encounter them and in their memories, but not as physical objects. Sehgal’s practice explores social processes, cultural conventions and the allocation of roles, reconsidering fundamental values of our social system while questioning definitions of materiality, authenticity and ownership. Sehgal does not photograph or record his work perhaps suggesting that the memories of the participants and the visitors engaging with the work are given the responsibility for remembering and interpreting the experience.

Tino Sehgal was born in London in 1976 and currently lives and works in Berlin. He represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize 2006 and the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst 2007. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Villa Reale, Milan; ICA, London; as well as showing in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and Documenta 13 Art Festival, Kassel, Germany in 2012.

This Situation is curated by Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA, and co-curated by Georgie Thompson, Assistant Curator: Exhibitions, IMMA and produced by Louise Hojer.

Supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland.