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Left: Kevin Gaffney, still from A Numbness in the
Mouth, 2016, 4K video, 17 mins 32 sec, Irish with English subtitles, courtesy of the artist Right: Hertta Kiiski, still from Milky Way Below right: Ana Nunez Rodriguez, Cooking Potato Stores from Critical Recipes Left top: Michele Horrigan, Stigma Damages (detail), 2021. Video and sculpture. Left bottom: Libita Sibungu, Quantum Ghost series 2 (detail), 2019. Dibond mounted photograph. Right top: Laurie Robins, double vision, 2021. HD video. Right bottom: Catriona Leahy, Critical Zone: Bog Study I, II, III, 2020. Analogue silver gelatine prints on resin coated paper. All images courtesy the artist. Photography by Kate-Bowe O’Brien Agitation Co-Op is on in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios until July 10. Agitation Co-op’s sister exhibition, Wayward Eye, will open in September 2021, featuring Vivienne Dick, Sarah Pierce, Marcel Vidal, and Eimear Walshe the background, a harmony of cow’s lowing is counterposed with the intimate sounds of a woman breathing, chewing and humming. The third object is a large screen filled with the image of two teenage girls. They carry carafes of milk that also incorporate udders. The girls are wearing clothes that I recognise as elements of one of the assemblages behind me. They stare at the camera or look away bashfully, and at other times look completely bored. In my hand I have a guide written by the Dublin-based artist Róisín White, commissioned in response to the installation. The guide is titled ‘Young Milky Way Explorers’ and contains sentences like “What about when you squat down, do you see anything different from down low?” and “Why don’t you document all the animals in your life”? The general effect, to employ a word that is dramatically over-used, is one of liminality; we are between seriousness and play, between child and adult, between stars and livestock. Kiiski’s exhibition will soon move to Rathfarnham Castle, where it will join the large group show Bite the Hand that Feeds You and Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation by Mathieu Asselin. However, Gelezova and her colleagues were keen to build on the strengths of last years’ mostly digital festival. “Last year there were aspects of the online exhibition that we thought worked well. We decided to continue with them, which is how, for example, the Critical Recipes channel came about. We loved the idea of taking inspiration from cooking shows, and I approached some artists to make a work especially for this purpose. Speaking about the merits or flaws of the digital exhibition, I have to say that I think it makes a really big difference if the artist produces work for that medium. All of our artists in the Critical Recipes channel have made new video work, and in the case of Ana Nuñez Rodriguez and the Centre for Genomic Gastronomy, they will perform live events which will be recorded and screened.” There is also a section of the festival devoted to cinematic artworks. Julia approached the Irish moving image collective ‘aemi’ to curate: “I really wanted to work with them. They thought about the project and then proposed Kevin Gaffney as a co-curator. It’s funny because before I knew whether aemi would join our project, I made a list of films to suggest for the screening and Kevin Gaffney’s A Numbness in the Mouth was one of them! And my list was very short – I think there was only five films. So, for me, I knew that we had made the right choice.” Speaking to Gaffney later in the day, the artist expresses his delight at being invited to curate the show, and praised Gelezova and her team for including moving image: “I think expanding the festival to include artists using film and video is a great idea because so many of us have photographic backgrounds and our work is informed by photography. Vicki Thornton, Byrony Dunne, Viktoria Schmid and Greta Alfaro all have both a film and photographic practice, while Jennifer Mehigan and Lana May Fleming work across many different mediums like sculpture, painting and installation.” The film section is held on aemi’s website. Gaffney’s A Numbness in the Mouth is indeed a rich, irresistible work of art, and the other contributions are fascinating. Critical Recipes is available on YouTube and Rathfarnham Castle is the location for the festival’s onsite exhibitions. Whatever aspect of this year’s PhotoIreland Festival you decide to sample, I can assure you, you will not be disappointed. PhotoIreland Festival runs until July 31. festival.photoireland.org 53