Civilising the Wilderness is the title and theme of this years Carlow Arts Festival Open Submission, Eigse 2012

Selected by Barbara Dawson with Brian Duggan, this exhibition was borne of the Éigse 2012 Open Submission, with an award of €3000 for the ‘most outstanding work in any medium’. Almost 500 works were submitted.

With ‘Civilizing the Wilderness’ as a broad curatorial theme artists were invited to make a new work between February and April this year – restricted in size to a maximum 12”x12” footprint to encourage fresh creativity.

In making their selection for the show, the curators looked for considered exciting ideas and a fresh approach to the theme which included both lateral thinking and a willingness from the artist to push the boundaries of their practice. For 2012 the selectors have decided to split the prizefund and have selected artists Tracy Hanna and Senija Topcic as this years winners.

Tracy Hanna
Places formed by time spent in other places (i),2011, miniature projection, HD video (3 minutes looped), cartridge paper, metal tack

Tracy Hanna works primarily with video projection to create sculptural objects and environments. Within her work the artist is concerned with phenomenological engagement. The work she creates is a response to her interactions with specific environments and objects. What she aims for with a work is that it becomes some sort of filter for the average perceptible data of a place. (The data being perceptually filtered through a human (Tracy) and being displayed in artwork form.) Her concerns are sculptural; within her installations she pays close attention to texture, scale, sound, light, darkness and all tactile and sensory elements.

http://www.tracy-hanna.com

Senija Topcic

Sulpher Baths, Photograph, 2011

Senija Topcic, born in the former Yugoslavia, currently lives and works in Dublin.
Her work is primarily lens based. Through her practice she seeks to present her personal world-view. She does so by drawing on her own life experiences, her individual perspective being one of fractured exploration. Her work navigates the liminal space of the ‘in-between’. Using a documentary style, Topcic aims to provoke and expose the juxtaposition of people and place, of man and environment and of order and chaos. Moving from the particular to the universal, she is attracted by stories of quotidian occurrences, taking seemingly banal situations and delving into them for another meaning.

http://www.lollipop.ie

Civilising the Wilderness also includes the work of:

Ceara Conway Cabaret – Carcass and Law of Opposites, Joanna Doyle The Plight of Birds and Tall Building, Jackie Askew Hut, Colm Desmond After the Fact II, Sarah Cadogan Baltimore Shipyard, Joan Connolly Underground, Winnie Pun Untitled (Line), Grainne Nolan Rusty Steps, Joanne Conlon Iphoneographic Office Reflection -What’s it doing out there?, Muireann Brady Home re Made # 1, Paul Hallahan, Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul, Alex Boyd Strength in Community, Eileen Mills Untitled 1 and 2 [Ulster Hall Belfast),David Begley Tidemarks , Helen G Blake Pool of Rhythms and Line Taming, Maria Brennan Circuit 2 , Cora Cummins Wii Golf Cliff, Joanne Donohue Doyle The Guardian of Fort Mountain, Tony Gunning’ Visitor Centre , Eithna Joyce’s Woodland Teepee, Deirdre Kelly Map Eye Land, Selma Makela Winter Watch , Conor McDonald Untitled work , Jules Michael Coastwatch, Catherin Barron The Magic Carpet and Relatives at the Gate

Barbara Dawson is Director of Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane. Brian Duggan is a Dublin-based artist whose work ‘Everything can be done, in principle’ is currently in the Main Gallery at VISUAL.