The Anthropocene is a universalising and unifying mechanism ceaselessly invoking the largest possible frames, in which art’s manifold horizon of representations can easily fade into the background. Art in this context cannot be reduced to a representation. Art is not merely a conversation of what we were or a reaction to what we are, but a proper commitment to what we could be; it is the material formalisation of the possible.

This exhibition, Over Nature, has been shaped to activate a new vision, a new optical experience of the landscape and environment which surround us with greater ecological awareness and responsibility.
The six artists involved are distinguished by their proactive and resourceful attitudes, and their abilities to engage audiences with ecological, social, political, and artistic issues.
There is equally a desire on the part of artists to redefine the limits of vision to incorporate and represent new points of view.
The artists involved have been called to contextualise their research within the Anthropocene, and to face the challenge of addressing how we live with our human impact on our environment.
A new body of works realised for this show has encouraged the creativity of each artist. One of the great benefits of the recent introduction of the Anthropocene as a concept into artistic discourses and practices pertains to the re-evaluation of art’s relationship to rationality. This has the reinvigorating effect of questioning again art’s potency for knowledge and rational explorations, and not merely aesthetics.

The exhibition consists of a video and paintings installation from Shane Finan, an innovative and interactive pictorial practice from Beata Piekarska-Daly to move towards painting and now tiny sculptures, an abstract method of landscape representation with paintings and printings from Mary O'Connor, an in-depth analysis by videos and photographs of the botanical and environmental condition of the Irish landscapes from Louis Haugh, photographic installation from Guillaume Combal which virtually connect his country of birth, France to Ireland, and a multidisciplinary installation approach to nature, especially in Dublin, from Kathy Herbert. This variety of methodologies allows us to understand how our different histories and experiences position us concerning each other: Who you are, where you come from, what your commitments are, what your experiences have been.

The desire of this group show is also to acknowledge and honour the significance of the relationship we have with others and how our futures as people in the world are tied together. It is an ethical imperative to see that despite our varied place-based cultures and knowledge systems, we live in the world together and must constantly think and act regarding those relationships.

More information is available here: https://overnature20192020.wordpress.com/