CCA Derry-Londerry: Out There Thataway. Artists: Stephen Brandes, Nathan Coley, Aleana Egan, Fergus Feehily, Kevin Gaffney, Rana Hamadeh (DAI,2009), Merlin James. Curated by Francis Halsall and Declan Long.
08/08/2015 - 26/09/2015
CCA is pleased to present Out There, Thataway, a group exhibition curated through dialogue between Francis Halsall, Declan Long, and CCA. The exhibition takes its title from the last words spoken at the end of 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture': they are Kirk’s vague but determined directions as the Enterprise begins to venture further out than ever before beyond known frontiers.
Out There, Thataway has two conceptual starting points: first, a concern with imagining or navigating territories that are ‘beyond knowledge’; and second, an interest in ways that metaphors of geography shape our thinking and behaviour. The exhibition includes artworks that refer to terrains that are traversed through strategies of fiction and historical association (Stephen Brandes, Kevin Gaffney, Rana Hamadeh); works that imply hesitancy or potentiality regarding location and direction (Merlin James, Fergus Feehily); and others that suggest spaces that are beyond the horizons of our geography altogether (Aleana Egan, Nathan Coley). While not explicitly addressing the contested narratives of territory in the history of Derry/Londonderry, the exhibition is further animated by this context. The speculative journeys and destinations alluded to in these artworks often suggest an urgent need to think beyond immediate predicaments and situations; extreme ideas of 'elsewhere' that might offer no fulfilment, promising only further solitude or uncertainty.
Out There, Thataway opens on Saturday 8th August at 7pm and runs until 26th September 2015. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of commissioned playlists coordinated by Dublin based artist Jonathan Mayhew, released on CCA’s website during the run of the exhibition, and a public programme of events. Further information on these programmes will be posted on our website and social media over the coming weeks.
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Francis Halsall is an art writer and academic who lectures in the history/ theory of modern and contemporary art at National College of Art & Design, Dublin where he is Director (with Declan Long) of MA Art in the Contemporary World. He’s currently involved with several projects related to the theme of “Systems Aesthetics.” More details of his work can be found at: www.alittletagend.blogspot.com
Declan Long is a lecturer at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Ireland, where he is Programme Director (with Francis Halsall) of the MA Art in the Contemporary World. He is a regular contributor to Artforum and other contemporary art publications. In 2013 he served as a member of the Turner Prize judging panel.
Artist biographies:
Stephen Brandes has shown in numerous exhibitions both in Ireland and internationally, including From Safety to Where?, Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam (2014); From the Last Travelogue of A. Sitzfleisch, Norfolk & Norwich Festival (2014); Phoenix Rising - Art and the Civic Imagination, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin (2014); Undercover: A Dialect, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland (2013); and Twenty, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2011). In 2005 he represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2005 as part of ‘Ireland at Venice’. Brandes has also worked on several curatorial projects, most notably Superbia, commissioned by Breaking Ground in Ballymun, Dublin, and with artists Mick O’Shea and Irene Murphy formed the absurdist culinary performance group, The Domestic Godless.
Nathan Coley has exhibited widely as part of various group shows and exhibitions, including: Portraits of Dissension, House Festival 2015, Brighton; Contemporary Art and Architecture in Brugge; Triennale Brugge (2015); You Imagine What You Desire, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh (2014); The Theatre of The World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico (2014); You Imagine What You Desire, 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2014); From the People, to the People, for the People, Future Perfect, Singapore (2014); Mom, Am I Barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2013); A Place Beyond Belief, NDSM-Werf / Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (2013); Burn the Village, Feel the Warmth, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (2013); Nathan Coley, Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany (2013); Knowledge, Kindliness and Courage, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2012).
Aleana Egan’s works have been shown in exhibitions nationally and internationally including Shapes From Life, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2015); light on a leaf, Galerie Konrad Fischer, Berlin (2015); Contemporary Drawings, Kettles Yard, Cambridge, curated by Drawing Room (2015); There are all sorts of lives, Mary Mary, Glasgow (2014); Dukkha, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2014); Deep One Perfect Morning, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2014); The Sensitive Plant, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2013); The Line of Beauty, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2013); Several Species of Small Furry Animals gathered Together in a cave and grooving with a Pict, Veneklasen/Werner, Berlin (2013); A Reader of Materials and a Writer of Forms, MOT International, Brussels (2012).
Fergus Feehily has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions including Dukkha, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2014); Nothing and Everything, Galerie Christian Lethert, Cologne (2014); Why Not Live for Art? II, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo (2013); Floating & other Metaphors, Misako and Rosen, Tokyo (2013); Painter Painter, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2013); disappearance, Mother's Tankstation, Dublin (2013), Into the Light: The Arts Council – 60 Years of Supporting the Arts, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin (2012-2013); The Paradise [37], The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2012), Concentrations: Fergus Feehily and Matt Connors, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2011).
Kevin Gaffney graduated from the Royal College of Art's MA Photography & Moving Image in 2011, where he received an Honorary Mention from the Startpoint Prize for Emerging Artists. He was awarded a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship for the development of a new body of work (2015); was selected for a UNESCO-Aschberg laureate artist residency at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Changdong Residency, South Korea (2014); and received a Film Project Award from the Arts Council of Ireland for the creation of a new film while artist in residence at the Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan (2014). His work has been shown in exhibitions and film festivals internationally, including: the Contemporary Art Institute CAI02 as part of the Sapporo International Art Festival, Japan (2014); the London Short Film Festival (2012); and Abandon Normal Devices at Cornerhouse, Manchester 2012).
Rana Hamadeh’s work has been shown nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include The Written City, Triennial Brugge (2015); A Needle Walks into a Haystack, Liverpool Biennial (2014); Many Places at Once, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2014); AGITATIONISM, EVA International (2014), A River In A Sea In A River, KIOSK, Ghent (2014); Here and Elsewhere, New Museum Of Contemporary Art, New York (2013); Meanwhile… Suddenly, and Then, 12th Biennale de Lyon (2013); The Magic of the State,The Lisson Gallery, London/ Beirut, Cairo (2013), The World Turned Inside Out, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2013); The Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2012); Another Work of Astonishing Economy & Monumentality, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2011).
Merlin James’ work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions including Freestyle, Kunstverein Freiburg (2014); Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin (2014); Parasol Unit, London (2014); SIGNAL BOX, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2013); Sex Paintings, OHIO, Glasgow (2013), In the Gallery, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2012), Merlin James: New Paintings, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2012); Sikkema Jenkins, New York (2011); Frame Paintings, Mummery + Schnelle, London (2010). He represented Wales at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. In 2010, James received the Scottish Arts Council Visual Artists' Award.