TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, Galway 2020 and The Dock present:

THREADS
Curated by Sarah Searson
28 March - 16 May 2020*
The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon

This year TULCA is marking its 18th year, and has invited three alumni curators Sarah Searson, Gregory McCartney and Helen Carey to examine our challenging and irreplaceable world, working with Irish and European artists in Galway and other locations.

To mark this special occasion Galway based artist Austin Ivers will be presenting a new body of work consisting of 'The World at War', a new multi screen video work, photography and installed objects along with a programme of screenings, readings and a publication to document these events. Ivers is an artist working in a variety of media, including, video, photography and installation. He has exhibited extensively including several solo shows in Ireland as well as participating in group exhibitions in 126 Galway, RHA Dublin, Belfasts Catalyst as well as in Graz, Kiev, Philadelphia, & Friedrichshafen. Ivers teaches at Galway Mayo and was a founder member of 126 Galway an artist led gallery and organaisation.

In these works and through a series of associated events, Ivers considers the psychic effects and the embodied materials of the Cold War on popular culture. As an adolescent on the 1980’s and early 1990’s the world appeared to be teetering on collapse. Nihilistic popular culture, aided by world events, promised the end of everything.  This was facilitated to no small degree by the emergence of domestic VHS technology.  Much like contemporary parents are scared stupid by the internet and the access (and understanding) their children have of it, Ivers  generation had video, “under the counter” tapes, “video nasties” and the world of cheap-to-license B-movies (as well as art classics) at thier disposal.  

“We were obviously in a demented frenzy as we had equal access to The Hills Have Eyes, THX 1138, Eraserhead ,The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Zardoz, A Boy and His Dog, Logans Run, Damnation Alley, Dawn of the Dead, Alien, Blasé Runner, Terminator, Brazil etc… and we were still asked to program the video recorder, which was like magic to our parents.”

First was nuclear annihilation, preceded (or succeeded) by social collapse, terrible drawn out deaths, corporate take-over of government, theocracy, zombies, Mad Max apocalyptic aesthetic. Much of the anxiety represented the time was fuelled by rapid changes in cultures. Middle class fear of post-war values being rejected by the next generation, fear of the centre not holding, fear of The Bomb, the Right, the Left, The British Army and the IRA, strikes, of things breaking down, of chaos especially well described in Terry Gillinghams film Time Bandits. Even the pop sensation Wham rejected any work ethic and sense of responsibility: social collapse as an aesthetic.

Associated events:

Sat 28 March 2pm (POSTPONED)
Exhibition Opening & talk with Austin Ivers

Sat 28 March 8pm (POSTPONED)
Film Screening; Threads (Mick Jackson 1984)

Sat 9th May 7pm (POSTPONED)
Reading: New writing commissions featuring , Pat McCabe, Cathy Sweeney, Ian Maleney and Joanne Laws in response to Threads. Followed by a  film screening of The Quatermass (1979)

Sat 16th May 8pm (POSTPONED)
Film Screening of Babylon (1980) followed by a discussion with Dr Kieran Cashell

*Following guidance issued by the Government of Ireland in relation to new measures to contain COVID-19, TULCA has made the decision to postpone Threads at The Dock, Co. Leitrim, from 18 March until further notice.