SHANGHAI AKADEMY, PUBLIC ARTS
PACC RESIDENCY
November 2023
Shanghai
China
Shanghai
China
Lara was invited by the Public Arts Coordination Centre in Shanghai to partake in a 2 week long residency with 5 other international artists - Community of Co-existence held by Shanghai Akademy of Fine Art
(SAFA) Shanghai Public Art Coordinaiton Center (PACC) and Shanghai University
(SHU). The program sought to proritise cultural exchange, public arts engagement and community.
The residency provided time and space in support of creative research and artistic experimentation, with an emphasis on the relationship between art, ecology and society.
Whilst there, Lara facilitated a sound walk for local residents with Mariano Carvalho (Argentina) through Lingyannanlu Road in Dong Ming in Shanghai. The walk allowed participants the chance to record sounds and present them at a public installation, heightening sonic awareness and illuminating the sonic complexities of the area.
Finally, a set of public installations designed by each artist will be realised in the coming months in the Dong Ming community.
The residency provided time and space in support of creative research and artistic experimentation, with an emphasis on the relationship between art, ecology and society.
Whilst there, Lara facilitated a sound walk for local residents with Mariano Carvalho (Argentina) through Lingyannanlu Road in Dong Ming in Shanghai. The walk allowed participants the chance to record sounds and present them at a public installation, heightening sonic awareness and illuminating the sonic complexities of the area.
Finally, a set of public installations designed by each artist will be realised in the coming months in the Dong Ming community.
STOA COLLECTIVE, INSTALLATION
HOME
June 2024
Unit 44 Stoney Batter
Dublin
Unit 44 Stoney Batter
Dublin
Stoa Collective launched their first in-person festival in June in Unit 44, Stoneybatter. The multidisciplinary exhibition showed work by six established artists based between Dublin and Spain showcasing a vibrant collection of art under the theme of Home. Lara’s commission entitled Motion premiered here on an octophonic speaker system loaned by the Spatial Music Collective.
The exhibition also contained improvisatory collaborative performances which Lara performed in alongside dancer Robyn Byrne and poet Sheila Ryder.
The exhibition also contained improvisatory collaborative performances which Lara performed in alongside dancer Robyn Byrne and poet Sheila Ryder.
L'ARGENTIÈRE LA BESSÉE, INSTALLATION
UNLOOSING A FLIGHT
March 2021
L'argentière la Bessée
France
L'argentière la Bessée
France
The spectators enter an abandoned space and are met with an array of delicately placed objects and sounds. The space slowly reveals itself to audiences as a display of numerous wind chimes; collections of found objects suspended from the ceiling ‘sensitive symbols of nature, of that profligate nature which squanders pollen while unloosing a flight of a thousand butterflies’. By moving closer and closer to each object, the audience affect the sound of the installation and hence unloose the flight of butterflies and become storytellers within a narrative.
With this installation I attempted to create something beautiful, fascinating and immersive for audiences by highlighting the contingent nature of reality always beyond our grasp. The objects on the windchime activate a semiotic level within the piece – the throttling kitchen utensils sliding past the home key; a symbol of security. Each object delicately chosen to create a fascinating clash of signs; a simulacra.
On a fundamental level, this immersive sound and visual installation seeks to affirm a contextual framework which highlights the perceptual and emotional synchresis that can occur when observing sound and visual events concomitantly (the wind chimes and their sounds). Perhaps alluding to a form of fictional realism, the installation seeks to juxtapose a realistic view of the world with elements which can be imagined.
With this installation I attempted to create something beautiful, fascinating and immersive for audiences by highlighting the contingent nature of reality always beyond our grasp. The objects on the windchime activate a semiotic level within the piece – the throttling kitchen utensils sliding past the home key; a symbol of security. Each object delicately chosen to create a fascinating clash of signs; a simulacra.
On a fundamental level, this immersive sound and visual installation seeks to affirm a contextual framework which highlights the perceptual and emotional synchresis that can occur when observing sound and visual events concomitantly (the wind chimes and their sounds). Perhaps alluding to a form of fictional realism, the installation seeks to juxtapose a realistic view of the world with elements which can be imagined.
SOUNDS ABOUT, VIDEO INSTALLATION
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
June 2019
Villa Kuriosum
Berlin
Villa Kuriosum
Berlin
A video/sound art piece exploring the creation and performance of narrative identity outside the home - who is the Berlin expat? Presented at SoundsAbout Gallery at Villa Kuriosum in Berlin.
BLUNT COLLECTIVE, INSTALLATION
MOTION
April 2022
Unit 44, Prussia Street
Dublin
Unit 44, Prussia Street
Dublin
Motion was an octophonic immersive sound and visual installation presented in Unit 44 by The Blunt Collective a female led multi-medium art collective based out of Dublin. The installation explored wave motion, the propogation of disturbances, deviations from a state of rest or equilibrium, movement from place to place as sonic and visual entities - the motion of all wavelike subatomic particles. Designed by Lara Gallagher and Becky Jones.
ISLO COLLECTIVE, INSTALLATION
AS YOU CAN TELL
May 2022
Studio 10, Wicklow St
Dublin
Studio 10, Wicklow St
Dublin
Female-led contemporary Dublin arts organisation, ISLO Collective, hosted their debut exhibition As You Can Tell in Studio 10, Wicklow Street April 30 and May 1. 'As You Can Tell’ immersed audiences in an audio-visual installation exploring the theme of magical realism. The installation featured the work of five female Dublin-based artists including sound artists Lara Gallagher, Aoife DeMille, and visual artists Alana McDonough, Suibhne Bichon Durand and Becky Jones.
The aim of this collaborative initiative was to provoke a sense of collective feminist identity and community, driven by a unique combination of auditory and visual stimuli. The inspiration for this work was derived from the dearth of sensual and community based art during the pandemic. From Sean-nós style sonic improvisation to immersive Arduino technologies this installation hoped to provide audiences with a meditative space to reflect and engage with an amalgamation of art forms. Funded by Arts Council Ireland.
The aim of this collaborative initiative was to provoke a sense of collective feminist identity and community, driven by a unique combination of auditory and visual stimuli. The inspiration for this work was derived from the dearth of sensual and community based art during the pandemic. From Sean-nós style sonic improvisation to immersive Arduino technologies this installation hoped to provide audiences with a meditative space to reflect and engage with an amalgamation of art forms. Funded by Arts Council Ireland.
© Lara Gallagher