Diagrams—Exhibition, Talks & Symposium

Colin Martin, Bea McMahon, Elvira Santamaria Torres, Craig Donald, Martin Boyle, Brigid McLeer, Jackie Holt

Curated by Niamh McDonnell

‘Diagrams’ is a cross border collaborative project that involves the participation of artists, filmmakers, architects, new media designers and visual cultures theorists. It creates a range of platforms for arts practitioners and theorists to exchange perspectives on their approaches and it gives audiences insights into this learning process.

‘Diagrams’, a mixed media show of work by 7 artists, comprises lens-based media, drawings, paintings and sculptures. Each artist uses the diagram to describe a previous work or to make a preliminary sketch for a new work. The diagrams apply a logical procedure to the spatial organization of elements in order to experiment with material production. The show explores how the dynamic space of the diagram visualizes different sets of relations between elements and so generates multiple reading narratives.

The approach through the diagram involves the play with various media to create different narratives for the viewer to read the work in terms of the process of its material production. The show provides these artists with the opportunity to explore making diagrams as a way of engaging with the possibilities for disseminating their work, thus making the documentation of the work a focal point of the work itself.

The exhibition will be open from Thursday, 10th September, with a special opening reception on Friday, 11th from 5–8pm as part of Dublin Gallery Weekend.

The exhibition will travel to Queen Street Gallery, Belfast, 1 October – 15 November 2015

More info on the project can be found at on-off-states

Events

Biographies:

Martin Boyle, born Donegal, 1982, lives and works in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Martin completed a Masters of Fine Art in 2008 at the University Of Ulster, Belfast, having previously graduated with a BA Honours in Sculpture and Combined Media from the Limerick School of Art and Design. Recent Work include this is authenticity, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2014) Instant advice a solo show in Platform Arts (2013); Genuine Replica, Ulster Museum (2013); Scope Art Fair, New York (2013); Instances of Agreement, Taiwan (2012); Household Festival, Belfast (2012); and Arrivals, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast (2010); Truth does not matter, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2010); Switch Festival (2009); Capitalyst Arts, Catalyst Arts, (2009); OK. Video COMEDY Indonesia (2009); Live @ No. 8 Tulca, Galway (2009)

Craig Donald, born Belfast 1987, lives and works in Belfast.  Craig ompleted BA Hons Fine and Applied Art at the University of Ulster in 2010.  Recent shows include 'Taking Back Bearings...', Platform Arts, Belfast 2014, 'Presently', Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown 2014, 'Line: An Ambiguous Journey', The Drawing Project, Dun Laoghaire & Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast 2013, 'Craig Donald & Bartosz Kolata', Queen Street Studios Gallery, Belfast 2012, and 'Cursed', Catalyst Arts, Belfast 2012.

Jacqueline Holt, born London, lives and works in Belfast. Jacqueline completed an MFA at the University of Ulster in 2012. Notable exhibitions include, ‘Transition’ 2014, a two-hour solo exhibition at the Playhouse, Derry; ‘In a Certain Light’ 2013, Lismore Castle, Eire; ‘De la Pluie & du Beau Temps’,  2012, La Station, Nice, France and ‘The Birthday Party’ 2009, Hovel, Camberwell, London.

Colin Martin, born Dublin, 1973, lives and works in Dublin. Colin is a graduate of DIT 1994 and NCAD 2010. Recent exhibitions include ‘Collection’ City Assembly House, Dublin 2013, ‘The Garden’ Broadcast Gallery, Dublin 2012 and ‘Cyclorama’ Basic Space, Dublin 2011. He is the recipient of the Arts Council Bursary, Thomas Dammann Award and Hennessy Craig Scholarship.

Brigid McLeer, born Drogheda, 1970, lives and works in London. Brigid’s Fine Art studies were at NCAD, Dublin, University of Ulster, Belfast and Slade School of Art, London. Recent exhibitions include ‘One + One’, at Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda and Wexford Arts Centre; ‘Horizontal Ontologies’ Art Currents Institute, New York; ‘Unspeaking Engagements’ curated by Steve Dutton and Brian Curtin, Chulalongkorn University Gallery, Bangkok, LGP Coventry; ‘Vexations’ and ‘Platform, In the Making’, Site Gallery, Sheffield. She has published critical and creative writing in journals such as Performance Research, Visible Language, and Circa and lectured in various UK universities including the Royal Academy, Goldsmiths, Dartington College of Art and Coventry School of Art & Design. She is currently studying for a PhD by project, in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, London

Bea McMahon, born Dublin, 1972, lives and works in Amsterdam. Bea McMahon’s recent exhibitions include Cover, Salzburg Kunstverein, Austria 2014; ‘In the House of Mr and Mrs X’, Temporary Gallery, Köln, 2013; ‘Volcano Extravaganza’, Stromboli, Italy; ‘Root’, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, 2012; ‘All humans do’, White Box, New York, 2012; ‘A series of Navigation’s, The Model, Sligo, 2012; ‘Warp and Woof’, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, 2011; <trinity> Flat Time House, Peckham, London 2011; ‘Nothing is Impossible’, The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh 2010; ‘True Complex’, Void, Derry, 2008; ‘The Curated Visual Artist’s Award’, The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 2008. Bea was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten.

Elvira Santamaría-Torres, born 1967, lives and works between Belfast and México City. Art graduate, ‘Esmeralda’, México, graduate Masters Degree, University of Ulster, Belfast, 2009. First Month Performance Art, University Museum, El Chopo 1993. First Prize, 3rd Performance Art Month Award, 1994, invitee to Rencontre International de Art Performance in Quebec. 2nd Festival del Performance, Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, 1993; Germany performance art tour: Colon, Essen, Dormunt and Bon organized by ASA European, 1997; Expo Hannover 2000; Nippon International Performance Art Festival, NIPAF in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagano and Nagoya, 2002. Mercosul Biennale in Brazil, 2005; National Review of Live Art Glasgow 2000, 2005, 2007, and 20011. In place of Passing, Bbeyond, 2006; Black Market International performance art group member, 2000. Actions on Route, Interventions in Mexico City 2001 and 2003; InterSERO, International Action Art Encounter 2009 in the Carrillo Gil Museum of Art. Urban Actions project, Bogotá, 2007. Committee member, Bbeyond, 2010. ARTRAKERS Award 2013 nominee.