John Russell

Spirituality and scepticism in As Above, So Below at Dublin’s IMMA, Apr 13 – Aug 27

13 April 2017

The As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics major exhibition is on at Dublin’s IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), opening April 13 and running to August 27.

Curated by Nottingham Contemporary’s Sam Thorne and IMMA’s Rachael Thomas, the project will begin in accordance with the Vedic astral chart with a ceremony and will carry on to be structured around four chapters: ‘Portals,’ ‘Below,’ ‘Above’ and ‘Beyond,’ each section accessing the theme from a different angle.

The program includes a large number of talks, events and performances that will take “a fresh look at the role of spirituality and transcendence in our global and sceptical present” and its relationship to visual art. The line-up features a selection of ‘modern masterworks,’ including Hilma af Klint, Steve McQueen and Bruce Nauman, as well as new commissions by Matt CopsonEoghan Ryan, Hayden Dunham, Nora Berman and John Russell, among many others.

There will be a number of live music events that will soon be announced, including one organized by Linder Sterling and Maxwell Sterling on July 15. 

See the IMMA website for the full programme and more details.**

 

 

 

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Mind controlling images at Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone at Limerick’s Ormston House, Mar 23 – May 27

22 March 2017

The Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone touring exhibition is on at Limerick’s Ormston House, opening March 23 and running to May 27.

Co-curated by Alissa Kleist and Matt Packer, the show’s title is a reference to Belfast-based novelist Ian McDonald and includes work that responds to the “science-fiction story of mind-controlling images” by exploring the impact of objects, images and new technologies.

The tour originated in Spring 2016 at Derry’s CCA, with a commission by Jennifer Mehigan, and is now coming to Ormston House to present a new work by Joey Holder, as well as other participants including Alan Butler, Clawson & Ward, Eva Fàbregas, Pakui HardwareJohn Russell and Andrew Norman Wilson. 

See the FB event page for details.**

Joey Holder + Viktor Timofeev, Lament of Ur (2015). Installation view. Courtesy of Karst Contemporary, Plymouth.
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Joey Holder + John Russell @ LD50, Apr 21 – May 29

21 April 2016

Joey Holder and John Russell are presenting joint exhibition, TETRAGRAMMATON, at London’s LD50, opening April 21 and running to May 29.

There’s little information available on the exhibition itself aside from its title: the Hebrew word for a deity consisting four letters (יהוה) that transliterates to YHWH, also known as ‘Yahweh’, also known as god.

The press image of a classical depiction of ‘Jesus Christ the Saviour’ beholds an unearthly bitcoin forum avatar and introduces the work of the two artists. Russell is a veteran video and net artist and Holder is an emerging artist who’s aesthetic grows from an interest in net art and science. Both of them share a similar aesthetic in what writer Augie March called the space where “the uncanny bleeds into the outright unsettling” in an aqnb interview-feature on Holder.

See the LD50 website for details.**

Joey Holder + John Russell, TETRAGRAMMATON (2016) @ LD50, London.

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Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone @ CCA, Mar 24 – May 21

23 March 2016

The Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone group exhibition is on at Derry-Londonderry’s CCA, opening March 24 then running from March 30 to May 21.

The title is taken from a book written in 1994 by science fiction writer Ian McDonald about a young graphic design student who is able make images that control and affect human emotion to the point and consequence of tears, healing and even induce the viewer to murder, with the exhibition responding to the central ideas of the above story.

The impressive line-up features artists Alan Butler, Bristol-based duo Clawson & Ward (Anne Clawson and Nicole Ward), Eva FàbregasPakui HardwareJohn Russell, and Andrew Norman Wilson, who has shown recently with Import Projects, Rowing Projects and Shanaynay.

The show will then move across Ireland, visiting Limerick and then Cork during 2017.

See the CCA exhibition page for more details.**

Andrew Norman Wilson. Image courtesy of the artist.
Andrew Norman Wilson. Image courtesy of the artist.
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‘RE PETITIONER’ reading @ Banner Repeater, Dec 20

17 December 2013

There’ll be a reading of Hannah Sawtell-led project and publication, RE PETITIONER, at at Banner Repeater, December 20.

In response to the rising pressures of realtime and rapid turnarounds, Sawtell’s itinerant Foundling Court imprint published The ‘RE PETITIONER’ Broadsheet Number 4, co-designed by the Morning Star’s Michal Boncza. It’s a four page tabloid-style paper featuring texts by the likes of Rachal Bradley, John Russell, Robert Garnett and Empty Set‘s Paul Purgas, across titles like ‘Sediment and Seduction’ and ‘The Capitalisation of Death’. Invited readers include artist Alan Michael and No Bra founding member Paul Clinton.

See the Banner Repeater website for details. **

Header image: Bluelou

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