First Person Report of “Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream” in Birr, Ireland
Each of the eighteen artists–from eleven countries–in “Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream” used the photograph, The Square, Parsonstown by Robert French (1841-1917) from the Lawrence Photograph Collection, to imagine a monument that speaks to a world where all people enjoy safety, security, well-being, and dignity on their own terms. The exhibition of twenty-one works debuted at the 53rd Annual Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival where it won a 2021 National Heritage Award. Two of the exhibition’s artists, Marta Janik and Anthony D Kelly, set out from their respective homes in Warsaw, Poland and Castlebar, Ireland to attend in person. Based in the town’s Tin Jug Studios, they were able to directly experience the festival, the project and the magic of Birr. They report on their travels and the exhibition in Kolaj 34.
This article by Anthony D Kelly and Marta Janik appears in Kolaj 34. To read the full article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.
Collage is at its heart an integrative medium, an engine of disruption, reorganisation and coming back together, of making meaning, making sense. Another advantage of collage as a medium is it allows us, through imagery, to have a direct discourse with a place and its history.
This article by Anthony D Kelly and Marta Janik appears in Kolaj 34. To read the full article, SUBSCRIBE to Kolaj Magazine or Get a Copy of the Issue.
“Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream”, curated by Ric Kasini Kadour, took place as part of the 53rd Annual Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival, 13-20 August 2021. A presentation about the exhibition, including a display of the collages in the exhibition, was part of Kolaj LIVE Knoxville, 5-7 November 2021. The exhibition will be on display at the Knoxville Museum of Art, 4 January-19 February 2022. A forthcoming book about the exhibition, Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream, is available for pre-order at Kasini House ARTSHOP.
Warsaw-based collagist Marta Janik has taken part in exhibitions in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, and the USA. Her works have appeared in Przekrój (Warsaw) and the annual journal Maintenant (A Journal of Contemporary DADA Writing and Art) published by Three Rooms Press in New York. She is also one of the founders of the “Collage Language” project launched in Warsaw in 2019. Her article, “Collage Language: Report from Warsaw” appeared in Kolaj 29. Learn more at www.planetmarta.com.
Anthony D Kelly is a collagist in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. He studied arts administration, arts participation and global development and humanistic integrative psychotherapy. He was Gallery Administrator, Curator and Project Facilitator at the Basement Project Space Gallery in Cork, Ireland. His work has been shown in Belgium, England, Italy, Scotland, Portugal, and the United States, as well as across Ireland. His work has been published in Kolaj 32, Art Reveal, Creativ Paper, and Murze Magazine. He is also the creator of the Freeform Trouble Rare Monster Sighting Archives. Learn more at the Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory and www.freeformtrouble.com.