PERIPHERY SPACE is an artist-led art space in Gorey, Co. Wexford. It is an environment where new ideas, discourses, and processes in contemporary art, film and photography will be fostered and formed.
Through workshops and training, this space will support innovation in contemporary art as well as promote public engagement and exchange.
To whom it concerns,
Periphery Space invites artist Austin Hearne to do what he wills, dreams, desires over the course of a three-week installation in the gallery.
We wish the artist equal amounts of pleasure and struggle during this permissive contract.
Yours Faithfully,
the Facilitators,
Periphery Space.
IMAGES courtesy of Austin Hearne; photographed by Louis Haugh
15 JULY, 4PM: ARTIST TALK STREAMED LIVE FROM THE GALLERY
"In the 2016 Irish census 78.3% of the population identified as Catholic in Ireland; numbering approximately 3.7 million people." If you are one of the majority that grew up surrounded by images of the Catholic Church in the home or on Sunday mornings crawling around church pews with dirty hand, knees and desires, you will be very familiar with the images that artist Austin Hearne wrecks and ravages in his ongoing personal and political investment in the images and agents of the church that some might view as both propaganda and art, ugly and beautiful. It is this ambiguous familiarity, one both immanent -- contained within an all-pervasive god -- and transcendental, that I ignored (in the role of art critic) when visiting Austin Hearne's MFA show in 2016 at NCAD. (But now I see!) This disavowal I put down to resisting the familiarity of the church's marble vein that runs deep in his work, rather than investing in what lies beneath its familiarity, like Austin Hearne has in his burial and exhumation of the images that lie so deep in the Irish psyche. It is with these thoughts in mind that I approached the live-stream-from-the-gallery discussion with Austin Hearne. We discussed the religious protagonists that he introjects in his work; his day job as a painter-decorator which he gave up to be a full-time artist; homophobia; work ethic; offence and critical reception; and the conflictual relationship he has with the serenity he feels within the architecture of the church and the strong emotions he channels through the church's agents.
AUSTIN HEARNE BIOGRAPHY
Austin Hearne is an Irish artist living in Dublin. He holds an MFA from NCAD. In April 2018 his solo show Remains at Pallas Projects/Studios was awarded as part of their Artist-Initiated Projects. In December 2018 he was awarded a place in the prestigious annual Periodical Review #8 also in Pallas Projects/Studios. In 2019, two works were acquired by the State Collection (O.P.W.), and these works are part of an Ireland wide touring exhibition Life in Still Life. Austin is part of the artist Collective Child Naming Ceremony who performed Host at TBG+S. He was also involved in co-curating an exhibition and publication Orphan with Curator and Artist James Merrigan. Four works where included in the 2019 survey show Silver at The Kevin Kavanagh Gallery’s 25th anniversary exhibition. In 2020 Austin was awarded the Arts Council Bursary. He exhibited his zine Dead at the Dublin Art Book Fair in TBG+S, also work was shown in Covid Stories Ireland at Lismore Castle Arts in Waterford. He exhibited in The Complex, Dublin with Ann Ensor in a show titled Ceremony. In 2020 he also worked with Artist and Curator Brendan Fox on the online platform, Games for Artists and Non-Artists (GFANA) with the archive of this project shown as part of A Reluctant Mirage in NCAD Gallery. In 2021 he collaborated on a music project Satin Shadow with film maker and music producer Glenn McQuaid, with a live stream performance in The Complex as part of Tanad Aaron and Mark Swords exhibition Portico. His film work Whispers was recently shown on RTÉ Culture (online) with an essay about the work in VAN. Austin has an upcoming solo show The Complex in November. Child Naming Ceremony will perform in the Circe Pavilion in Gorey in July. He has group shows in the The Luan Gallery in Athlone, Ballina Arts Centre, Garter Lane Arts Centre and Catalyst Arts, Belfast.
Supported by Wexford Arts Office
CHILD NAMING CEREMONY | SAFETY DANCE
As part of our curated programme at Periphery Space we invited artist collective Child Naming Ceremony to perform at the Circa Pavilion, Gorey, 6pm, 5th August 2021.
Child Naming Ceremony’s SAFETY DANCE was a live semi-improvised performance.
Child Naming Ceremony brings together artists Michelle Hall, Austin Hearne, Celina Muldoon and Frances O'Dwyer. Melding their individual practices through site-responsive playfulness, they are unified around the exploration of various themes led by failure and disruption. At the core of their collaborative practice is a desire to push boundaries, move beyond comfort zones and experiment with a multidisciplinary approach to each project and encounter.
CHILD NAMING CEREMONY | IN-CONVERSATION
This conversation took place immediately following the art collective's performance "Safety Dance" at Circe Pavilion in Gorey.
With no time to reflect on what had just transpired at the Pavilion, we discuss what is behind artists Michelle Hall, Austin Hearne, Celina Muldoon and Frances O'Dwyer's shared bond, trust, playfulness, props, absurdity and the name Child Naming Ceremony.
We also consider bigger questions that concern the individual artist today, such as why collectives emerge primarily in art school, what social or political environments provoke artists to come together, and why there are not more meaningful art collectives in a time when the sovereignty of the individual artist is so sacrosanct.
Please be patient with audio — we were contending with a strong wind the day of the recording, which died down after a few minutes. The sound is good despite this. Headphones help.
