New Paragraph
Artists in Residence 2020/2021
Rosie O'Reilly
UCD College of Science
My practice is concerned with the rationalist-constructivist view of nature that separates it from human experience with a focus on building connections in a world we are physically entangled with but have been trained to think apart from.
I use drawing, sound art, installation, photography and video as investigative strategies to question existing knowledge structures and metaphors related to the core issues concerning anthropocentric change and human behaviour.
Over the last 5 years I have worked to develop a contemporary art style that recognises the combined roles of philosophy, aesthetics and science have in reorienting how we approach the framing of environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It recognises how linear - mainly capitalist -models continue to reverberate old thinking and to dig deeper trenches between the human and the non human and between nature and culture. The UCD Parity Studios residency presents a unique opportunity to place this ongoing inquiry within exciting and cutting-edge research in the field. In these strange times it has never been more important that we have cross-disciplinary encounters to build new worlds together. It is these ways of being in the world, what Donna Haraway would call ‘Staying with the Trouble’ that can create possibilities for a community to go beyond the reductive notion of what a human, subject or environment is so we may respond with Response-Ability.
My particular interest is in anthropomorphic oceanic change - over the course of the residency I will explore the entangled processes of the Anthropocene and look forward to conversations across multiple fields of research, engaging with spatial, poetic, imaginative and scientific explorations, addressing the world’s oceans.
I have identified three key UCD research projects, Land2Sea, Coastal Communities Adapting Together and The UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life, each working under SDG 14 with a focus on oceanic change and the relationships between the human and non human. These will form springboards from which to launch investigation into two key themes:
- Oceans as offering an alternative way of viewing the world. Through the combined lenses of art, science and philosophy I will explore the ocean as the ‘Other’ in order to build new worlds and create possibilities to go beyond the reductive notion of what a human, subject environment is so we may respond to the current trajectory.
- Life under water as a new sensorium offering insights into other conceivable worlds and other ethical parameters. Through audio visual
exploration I will explore both philosophical and scientific scenarios and other worlds that are conceivable.
Rosie O’Reilly is visual artist based in Dublin. Recent solo shows and performance include ONONO Rotterdam (2019), performance lecture,
CIMMAR Porto (2018), Fringe Dublin (2014); recent group shows include Platform Belfast (2019), Sirius Cork, 2019, Tulca Galway 2018, Guest
Appearance, The Museum Building TCD, April 2018, Tombolo (2017), Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto Gijon, Spain (2014). She has been
awarded a number of national and international residency’s most recently artist in residence at Basic Space residency 2019, Callen Workhouse Union residency (2018), Lay of the Land (2017) and Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto Gijon, Spain (2014). Her collaborative experiential music project with Colm O’Ciosoig & Bartholomew Ryan - Headfoot - released their debut EP in 2019. She holds a BA in Philosophy and sociology from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Art & Research collaboration at IADT.
Previous Works
4/704: We Are Islanders
An installation on Sandymount Strand inspired by her Mum Catherine O'Reilly 1950-2013
There are 704 high tides a year. This installation physically recorded 4 of them and transferred the mark of their rise and fall onto garments over 48 hours highlighting our vulnerability in the face of rising sea levels.
‘4 of 704’ uses rising tide levels to invite discussions about our changing landscapes – physical, social and cultural. In an urban and Dublin context cycles that exist around us, like rising tides, go mainly unnoticed until they hit a tipping point.
A rising tide line can represent a system under pressure, a breaking point. In the case of global climate change this has resulted in landmasses engulfed in water and human struggle. Irish sea levels will rise by ½ metre by the end of the century. Flooding and coastal storm surges will become the norm and Dublin will face this struggle. (NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute) New Yorks visit from Sandy has left the mark of rising sea levels around its bay and now an unseen tide mark exists on their economic, political and human systems as they struggle to adapt.
On a metaphorical level and in socio-cultural terms a rising tide can also represent revolt, change, stress, apathy anything that builds with time. These rising levels dominate our personal, physical and social landscapes, yet are rarely noticed until a system collapses or a risen tide falls. The socio-cultural zone of fast fashion has increasingly been home to rising tides and tipping points. An industry engulfed in human and environmental violations – where livelihoods and habitats are played out in the game of global economics.
The garments constructed for this project are dipped using oceanic rhythms into a dye vat stamping them with a once off mark; a texturised time lapse. ‘4 of 704’ aims to engage Dublin in this discussion around rising tides and the changing landscape of our time and the systemic teachings of simple structures that exist around us.
We are Islanders: Rosie O'Reilly, Kate Nolan, Deirdre Hynds
Design: Design Goat (Cian Corcoran & Ahmad Fakhry)
Sound Artists: The Electro Bank Collective (Mark Colbert & Mark Murphy), Slavek Kwi
Production: Susanna Lagan
Engineer: Dudley Stewart
Photography: Sean & Yvette
Dye r&d: Elisa Monahan
Built By:
Mark Colbert, Steve Reddy, Peter O'Gara, Gildas O'Laoire, Des Moriarty, Pat McIntyre, Olivia Hegarty, Sam Weber, Sean Breithaupt, Annie Howlett, Joanne O'Reilly, Rory Kennedy, Cathal Kenny, Jack Gorman, Declan Morrisey, Davan Byrne, Alison O'Reilly, Peter Murray, Trevor O'Rourke
With Thanks To:
Fundits!, Le Cool, South Studios, Shane Cox, Niamh Kirwan, Clare Nally
A film by Heather Thornton
