Gracelands: Circling the Square
Date uploaded: August 15, 2012
Gracelands: Circling the Square
For one evening only - on 2nd August 2012 - Gracelands presented Circling the Square: a site-specific programme of new and historical sculpture, performance and screenings by Irish and Internationally based artists, at The Milk Market Limerick.
Merging the formats of exhibition and festival, a series of artworks will transform the site into a unique and temporary platform where an evening of performances, readings and screenings will unfold. Responding to the canopy which covers The Milk Market, the exhibition event will include a number of fabric based sculptural works, some of which are incorporated into performative works, and many of which are specially commissioned.
Circling the Square takes the two geometric shapes as starting points. It considers the square as a central meeting point, the site of social exchange and civic or political gathering, as well as a site for the display and exchange of produce, artifacts and effects, and ‘circling’ as a kind of uncertain or preparatory gathering for these occasions. Here, the idiom ‘Squaring the Circle’, referring to the finding of a solution to a complex problem, is reversed, implying a return to complexity and problematics.
By taking over a site designed for another function, Gracelands inserts itself into an existing situation, layering the conventions of both. By re-configuring the furnishings and equipment, the display systems for the market square begin to resemble those of a museum. The inclusion of documentation of historic works and exhibition design from the Van Abbemuseum collection together with performance programme result in a focus on the process of unmaking and remaking which reveals some of the very specific choreography involved in the management of people, space and artworks.
Gracelands Circling the Square is part of eva International – After the Future, 19 May – 12 August 2012, curated by Annie Fletcher.
Gracelands is an annual screening, sculpture and performance event curated by Vaari Claffey, this year Gracelands has been invited to take place in The Milk Market, Limerick City, Ireland as part of EVA International 2012.
