As The Story Was Told
YURI ANCARANI | GERARD BYRNE | JAMIE CREWE | DIEGO MARCON
10th-31st March 2017 | Opening Preview: 9th March, 6-9pm
As The Story Was Told borrows its title from a short story of the same name by Samuel Beckett published in 1987, which focuses on an exploration into frames of reference, stories told by an Other and the ongoing interplay of authority from a first person narrator. The text is concerned with the nature of the creative act, the struggle between the dissociation of storytelling, the split within the creative artist as embodied in the narration and the difficulty of uniting these two dwellings. This group show brings together four artists whose lens-based works re-consider and present gathered documents from recent history, texts and objects in a contemporary context using methods of restaging, re-enactment and narration.
Gerard Byrne’s visually rich and intellectually complex work encompassing photography, film, theatre and multi-screen installation, examines the slippage between time and the act of image creation. Characterised by a laconic humour, Byrne’s projects examine the ambiguities of language and of what is gained or lost in the translation from text to image. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include; Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK (2016); Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St.Gallen, Switzerland (2015); FRAC Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France (2014) and The Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013).
Glasgow based artist Jamie Crewe’s methods as a maker are born out of pragmatism and restraint; objects are made in a semi-improvised way, contrasting with the “high” cultural principles of their source references, and imbuing the work with the precocious care of an amateur. In contrast to this, other more precise and nuanced strategies are employed, building to an overall sense of embraced incoherence. Recent solo and group presentations include; Female Executioner, Gasworks, London, UK (2017), But what was most awful was a girl who was singing, Transmission, Glasgow, SCT (2016) and Like A Floral Knife, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, SCT (2016).
Italian video artist and film-maker Yuri Ancarani’s works come from a continuous mingling of documentary cinema and contemporary art, and are the result of a research aimed to explore regions not visible in daily life, realities in which the artist delves in first person. Recent screenings have been presented at Centre d’Art Contemporary, Geneva (2012); MAXXI of Rome (2014, 2012); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2012); The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th International Venice Biennale (2013) and the fifth Prague Biennial (2011). He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Short Film Grand Prize at the 10th International Independent Film Festival, Lisbon and the Grand Prix in Lab Competition, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival.
Diego Marcon works mainly with video and film, focusing his research on the relationship between reality and representation. His works have been shown internationally in spaces and institutions such as; Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK), Fondation d’entreprise Ricard (Paris, France), De Vleeshal (Middelburg, The Netherlands), Centre international d’art et du paysage (Vassivière, France) NAi -National Architecture Institute (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Artspace (Auckland, New Zeland), MATADERO (Madrid, Spain), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Torino, Italy), PAC – Padiglione Arte Contemporanea (Milano, Italy), MACRO and Palazzo delle, Esposizioni (Roma, Italy), Fiorucci Art Trust (London, UK), Peep-Hole, Gasconade, Careof (Milano, Italy).
Throughout the month of March, Catalyst Arts will host a Screening Room Series which will present a one day programme of curated screenings by Artist Moving Image Northern Ireland in response to themes within the exhibition. The programme will also host discussions and events which will run alongside the exhibition and act as a forum for dialogue and debate around current contemporary artist moving image practices in Ireland, the UK and Europe.
