Île Seguin 25/11/25

Black Church Print Studio & Valerie Connor present:

Île Seguin 11/25/11

Photographs by Tim Maul (USA)

With A&E guest Alexandre Quoi (FR)

And the participation of Black Church Print Studio members Ella Bertilsson (SE), Monika Crowley (IE), Janine Davidson(IE), Emma Finucane (IE), Mary A Fitzgerald (IE), Jane Garland (IE), John Graham (IE), Raymond Henshaw(IE/UK), Catriona Leahy (IE/UK), Anja Mahler (DE), Colin Martin (IE), David McGinn (IE), Sean O'Sullivan (IE)

Opening Thursday 9 January 2014, 6 - 8pm

The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2

Exhibition running 10 - 25 January 2014

Gallery hours: Mon-Sat 11am-6pm, Thurs 11am-8pm, Sun 12pm-6pm

"What is the place of photography in the contemporary print studio?"

In 2011, the artist Tim Maul accompanied curator Valerie Connor on a walk around the Île Seguin area in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris. Connor's interest in the area lay in how it was, and still is, a site for urban redevelopment using cultural infrastructure to spearhead change and a new identity. Money, ideology and politics have unsurprisingly all clashed as a consequence, with dramatic results, involving wealthy art patrons and influential critics, and outrage at the demolition of the iconic and symbolically important Renault factory in 2005. As Connor and Maul walked, they talked, with the artist taking photographs on a spontaneously purchased disposable camera. The visit ended and the artist gifted the exposed film still in the camera to the curator. The film remained unprocessed until 2013, when Connor, prompted by the invitation to curate a Black Church Print Studio exhibition, initiated the train of events leading to the exhibition Île Seguin 11/25/11.

Ile Seguin 11/25/11 is an exhibition which takes shape in three ways - the photographs on display in the gallery; an in-house discussion among a group of Black Church Print Studio members; and a public A&E event with the contemporary art historian, curator and researcher Alexandre Quoi.

The combined exhibition, event and activities are designed to open up questions about the place of photography in the contemporary Fine Art Print studio. Ile Seguin 11/25/11 is particular in this questioning. At its root, lies a multi-layered semi-authorless agency; Maul's photographs were shot without preciousness, nor an over-riding concept, nor a defined purpose, and then given away. And the context in which they were taken - the brown field site of Ile Seguin - is contested ground, not unlike the site of the exhibition itself - Temple Bar. Ile Seguin 11/25/11 aims to mark a point of purpose and become the catalyst for inquiry.

The full set of photographs from the original roll has been printed by David McGinn, artist, BCPS member and Technical Manager at Black Church Print Studio.

Tim Maul has printed a photograph from a detail in one of the negatives.from the original roll and shows this for the first time.

The digital scans of the photographs have been shared with a group of artist members of Black Church Print Studio, drawn together for their shared interest in, and use of the photographic image in their individual practices, to be used if and as they wish in the future. These artists form the focus group that will participate in a private discursive event with Maul. The public A&E with Alexandre Quoi is intended as a further expansion of the ideas generated from this intimate event, as well as of the work exhibited in the gallery space, and the overall premise of Ile Seguin 11/25/11.