Audéoud lives in London and Amsterdam. The show itself is reviewed by Brian Kennedy in this issue.
Omen of better times to come
 |
| 'Fort Jericho', Springfield Road, Belfast, prior to its being dismantled in 1999; courtesy Belfast Exposed/SeánMcKernan; |
With decommissioning in the air, the Upper Springfield Road in Belfast is going biblical. The walls of a British Army fort, in the area since 1979, were apparently in the habit of blowing down in the wind. Honest. So much so that it came to be called Fort Jericho. It has recently been dismantled (winds of change), and materials which were salvaged from the demolition have been used in making a piece of public, community art, with the assistance of local artists Frank Quigley and Farhad O'Neill. The work is to be installed in the Upper Springfield Road Trust's new offices which are - more biblical echoes - at the Top of the Rock complex.
 | The sculpture being made ( L to R : Farhad O'Neill, Sinéad O'Reagan, Deirdre Mackel, Hugh Clawson, Raymond Watson); courtesy Andersonstown News/Mal McCann |
Project: Kathy McArdle resigns
Long embattled over staff grievances, in particular the letting-go of Visual Arts Director Valerie Connor and simultaneously over the departure of Technical Director Debbie Behan, the Director of the Project Arts Centre tendered her resignation to the Board of Project on October 15. She is expected to leave some time before mid-January. According to the press release sent out on October 17, "She will be sorely missed by her colleagues and the constituencies of artists of all disciplines who worked with her in her time at Project."
The announcement of McArdle's departure follows soon after news that Tim Brennan, Curator of Talks and Critical Events, is leaving Project. It also came very soon after Project settled with Behan, who had taken Project to the Employment Appeals Tribunal for constructive dismissal.
Dear editor,
I am writing in response to an article written by Brian Kennedy in CIRCA 96. I feel it's necessary to respond to this boyist and sexist report of the exhibition, 50 FATHOMS by WORLD ART ALLIANCE (W.A.A.), where he simply reported a one-sided story without attempting to inform himself of the full facts. He simply responded to his knee-jerk reaction and delivered a bitchy report on behalf of the Triskel Arts Centre.
 |
| World Art Alliance: View of Installation; courtesy Triskel Arts Centre |
Brian talks about professionalism, in fact he based his whole article upon some notion of this, yet he never attempts to define what professionalism might be. Should art practice be limited by such terms as professionalism? Is this not a control mechanism, stick to the formula or else you will find yourself left out? Why can't a black polythene sheeting, covering a hole in a wall, not be as valid a work of art as any? 50 Fathoms on one level was an expression of disillusionment, frustration and anger with a publicly funded visual art industry, its dominance, control and vindication of particular types of visual art. Basically rubber stamping the status quo, from time to time creating red herrings, while keeping the visual arts nil, fragmented into details often irrelevant to issues of contemporary life. Making a large percentage of the visual arts redundant. Artists also play a vital role in supporting this. 50 Fathoms is a project, constructed to force critical interaction between the artists and the institution, the institution and the art work, the artists and the art work, the institution and the audience, the audience and the art work, and the artists and the audience.
The project attempted to open a debate on issues of artistic freedom, by tackling a dogmatic position and refusing to play the ever-grateful young artists. WAA was dispassionately aware that our audience would be limited to a majority art audience, and a very small audience at that. While we agree with industries facilitating minority audiences, how can one justify so many institutions in one industry being solely dependent on hand-outs from the public purse. Yet the majority of these institutions take the position that they know better than the so-called public, believing that art is somehow good for the public.
However this total dependency on the public purse leaves the visual art industry fundamentally flawed. I sense many art administrators and artists feel the same but continue to manipulate this situation for their own personal gain. The people most threatened by this will angrily try to put it down, others care less. While we have little respect for the Visual art department in how they responded to 50 Fathoms, I feel most other Visual art institutions in the country would have dealt similarly, be it more fine tuned. We have little or no mechanism for measuring the success or failure of these institutions. There may be many unanswered questions in the visual arts, but for us , far more fundamentally interesting is the institutionalisation of the visual arts.
Contact WAA at worldartalliance@hotmail.com .
Brian Kennedy responds: Was all that hidden meaning behind, in front of, or on the black plastic sheet?
Better bet
The Irish Hospice Foundation have launched Art:Pack , a deck of 52 cards plus two jokers, all designed by Irish artists or artistes (Bono's one of the jokers). Aimed at the Christmas market, and certainly a good way to collect a lot of artists at once, it costs only IR£20. More from Dublin 676 5599 or at www.artpack.ie .
 |  |
| Rachel Joynt: nine of hearts in Art:pack ; courtesy Irish Hospice Foundation | Alan Ardiff: Take a step forward , commissioned by Irish National Committee on Volunteering; couresy the artist |
Good causes get another boost, this time sculptural: the National Committee on Volunteering has commissioned a memento "as a gift to each County in Ireland." Designed by Alan Ardiff, it represents a balance supporting silver and gold feathers. The motif reflects the subtle but pivotal contribution volunteers can make to the lives of those they enrich. The endeavour is part of the UN International Year of Volunteers.
So ring me...
 |
| Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle De Valera, TD , Patrick Murphy, Chairman, the Arts Council and Olivia Dobbs, Public Affairs manager, Eircell |
Not sure what to make of this. Eircell have presented the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon with a stack of mobile phones to assist arts-festival directors with their directing. It's also to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Arts Council.
Back to School
 |
| Brian Kennedy; courtesy the artist |
Brian Kennedy, CIRCA columnist and Contributing Editor, has been awarded a residency at the British School in Rome. The award goes to an artist resident in Northern Ireland only every other year; it bring with it a studio, accommodation and a stipend for up to a year in the eternal city. Coincidentally, Kennedy's stamp is to be found throughout this issue - see his column, page 9, the CIRCA Project he co-ordinated, pages 13-18 and the Belfast I review, pages 38-39.
Critic's Bursary article held over
The next Critic's Bursary article, by Paul O'Neill and David Blamey, will appear in the Spring edition. 
