The Douglas Hyde Gallery reopened its doors last week for the first time since its closure in March. Dedicated to bringing the work of international artists to Irish audiences, the gallery is currently playing host to the works of Gabriel Kuri and Kirsten Pieroth.
In Gallery One, visitors can now view “Spending Static to Save Gas” by Mexican-born Gabriel Kuri. Known for playing with the principles of minimalism and the history of consumption, Kuri’s work focuses on the objects and spaces that mediate human relationships.
In this site-specific installation, Kuri drastically transforms the usually bare and cavernous interior of the Douglas Hyde by using a grid to drop the height of the ceiling, and thereby reduce the building’s energy consumption. The plastic-covered grid is littered with a haphazard selection of societal detritus – moth wings, coins and cigarette butts. Each smoked cigarette or dropped coin serves as a minute, yet poignant reminder of the debris created by human interaction.
Kuri further interferes with the structure of the Douglas Hyde in “Chart” – a series of abstract brown wall drawings that have been made with the smoke produced by sheets of paper that once contained figures charting the artist’s attempt to cut energy costs. Kuri’s exhibition displays the potential for the transformation of familiar surroundings by presenting them from an unconventional angle. The exhibition also showcases a selection of Kuri’s new thermally insulated sculptural works.
Acknowledging the collaborative nature of artistic influence, the Douglas Hyde’s “The Artist’s Eye” series asks those who are exhibiting in Gallery One to invite another artist to present work in Gallery Two. Kuri has invited German artist Kirsten Pieroth to showcase pieces from her newspaper-based series, “Abrasives (Equestrians)” alongside her newer sculptural work.
Pieroth’s exhibition negotiates concepts of offering and rejection – of supply and its denial. Arranged over two walls, original newspaper layouts are disrupted by traces of everyday objects and actions that have been reworked by the artist with frenzied strokes of black paint.
A testimony to the fragility of the human condition, Pieroth uses gestural interferences to speak as extensions of the body, thus evoking notions of battle, exhaustion and defeat. Pieroth further alters the newspaper pages by rotating them counterclockwise by 90 degrees to reflect the “landscape of society”. She describes the haunting atmosphere of “Abrasives (Equestrians)” as that of a “paradise lost”.
As part of her first solo exhibition in Ireland, Pieroth also showcases her newly produced sculptural work. Upon entry into Gallery Two, the viewer is confronted by a three-legged sheet metal screen, “Reservoir” which somewhat impedes entry into the room. The sculpture’s arched posture and precarious physicality serves to evoke a sense of instability.
Both Kuri and Pieroth use their tenacious art to mediate feelings on the inescapable consequences of being human. The reduced gallery spaces and tarnished goods are jolting reminders of the fragility of our existence in a modern world.
Both exhibitions will run until September 12th in the Douglas Hyde Gallery.
