Per/forming Circles
Per/forming Circles
Monster Truck Gallery, Dublin Ireland
24 September - 23 October, 2010
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Extended Circle
After a week long gallery residency at Monster Truck, Daniel Eatock’s Per/forming Circles has transformed from numerous social events, into an exhibition of nine works that are the residue of the many encounters and first-attempts that resulted from this collaboration. With the many co-authors; from the highly anticipated motorcyclist Robert O’Brien attempting to draw a perfect circle by performing a burnout, the sixty, one-minute-circle-drawers or the curious passers-by, Per/forming Circles comprises of materials, drawings and observations that, while mostly two dimensional in form, are the result of the social sculptures that occurred external to the presentation of the final object. The energy, noise, anticipation, time and generosity of the many encounters and co-authors while not obvious in the final works, divides the audience of Per/forming Circles in to those that were there and those that weren’t. However the strong element of labour in each of the works brings out a curiosity towards the context of each.
By approaching the gallery as a proving ground, where failure, success and chance encounters are embraced, Eatock’s actions resemble the many descriptions by Brian O’Doherty of alternate conceptual practices, where the gallery becomes “infiltrated with consciousness”.* Throughout these diverse works, from the crowd anticipation of the motorcycle burnout, the cognitive dissonance of attempting to draw the perfect circle in one stop-watched minute and the paradox of a spray can coated with its own contents, it can be seen that the pursuit of the perfect circle is the universal aim in an open and democratic project. Per/forming Circles effaces the expert and, as heralded by Joseph Beuys, declares the right of everyone to be an artist.
Sharon Phelan, Head Curator, Monster Truck Gallery
*As described in O’Doherty’s essay ‘The Gallery as a Gesture’ taken from his seminal collection ‘Inside the White Cube’.
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Check List
1
Burnout Circle Drawing
An attempt to draw a perfect circle on the gallery floor from a burnout on a motorbike.
2
White Gallery Wall Painted Black with Blackboard Paint then Coloured Back to White using Chalk
Chalk, blackboard paint
3
One Minute Circle Drawings
A4 cartridge paper, black felt-tip pen
60 freehand circle drawings, each made in exactly one minute, drawn in a clockwise 360 degree rotation without the pen leaving the page.
4
One Minute Circle Painting
A circle in spray paint painted freehand on the gallery window in a continious clockwise motion, following the second hand of the clock as a time guide.
5
Unwanted framed pictures from people’s homes temporarily loaned to the gallery for the duration of the show. The glass is carefully removed and white wash applied to the inside surface. At the end of the show the frames are returned to their owners with the original pictures obscured.
6
Permutations
A4 paper fixed to the wall using the 16 most commonly found masking tape configurations from public notice boards in Dublin.
7
Landscape (Horizontal Line)
A0 ink jet print
One meter line printed with one back and forth movement of the inkjet print head.
Portrait (Vertical Line)
A0 ink jet print
One meter line printed in minute increments with over 1000 passes of the inkjet print head as the paper advances a small amount for each pass.
8
Spray Can Sprayed With Its Own Contents
Gray paint (primer) sprayed from an aerosol canister directly into the oncoming air stream of a powerful desktop fan. The paint exited the aerosol and was redirected back towards itself, evenly covering the canister in the paint it previously held.
9
Whiteboard
Coloured black with whiteboard marker.
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Thank you:
