Finnegans Woke – Rua Red hosts exhibition
By William O'Connor
Rua Red will be hosting ‘Finnegans Woke’ presented by kennardphillipps between January 25 and March 29.
Pointing the finger at those in power, the exhibition speaks of the hypocrisy, greed and trauma that is driving world politics today.
Cat Phillipps and Peter Kennard
The exhibition is a call for civic engagement. Community-led work serves here as a platform to counter mainstream coverage. A workshop was held by kennardphillipps in the Clondalkin Intercultural Centre last December, which forms part of the exhibition.
This process can be seen at Rua Red in a broader historical context, reminiscent of the possible cyclicity of history, explored by James Joyce in Finnegans Wake in 1939.
The exhibition urges people to learn from the past and stay alert to the social injustice in the making.
This marks the fourth collaboration between a/political and Rua Red in bringing some of the world’s foremost socially and politically engaged artists to Dublin.
Cat Phillipps and Peter Kennard formed kennardphillipps in 2002 to protest against the allied British invasion of Iraq (2003), recalled in their works ‘Untitled (Iraq), 2005’, ‘Presidential Seal, 2006’ and the iconic ‘Photo Op, 2005’.
Kennardphillipps stepped in to resist media propaganda playing an instrumental role in allowing the military intervention to move forward. The artists cut through layers of newspapers to reveal the perpetrators of contemporary horror.
Their gallery of complicit world leaders has recently been joined by Theresa May and Donald Trump, the latter in ‘Kill Story, 2018’.
‘Finnegans Woke’ is a rich body of work, featuring photomontages, prints, paintings and mixed media installations; centred around a monumental raft built by the artist as a symbol of civil resistance and the struggle for a better future.
Rafts featured heavily in the press reporting on the desperate migration of people from the Middle East and North Africa. Its inclusion in the show is a welcome to the survivors of such journeys who now live in Tallaght and the surrounding county.
The raft is ringed by one hundred and seven anonymous portraits: Untitled ‘Men in Suits, 2018’, portraying an embodiment of the bureaucratic systems perpetuating power.
The beating heart of the show is the open studio titled ‘War on War Room’, located in an antechamber to the gallery.
Throughout the exhibition, kennardphillipps and their collaborators operate the ‘War On War Room’ as a working space to produce new works with the people of Dublin.
These new works are to be added to the installation by the artists during the course of the exhibition.
