Visual Arts

to hold or to be held

Mark Garry

Sat 20 Jan – Sat 16 Mar

Level 3 Gallery | Opening Reception: Sat 20 Jan, 2:30pm | All are welcome, no booking required

This body of new works developed for Solstice Arts Centre stems from a period of research that looked broadly and specifically at forms of empathy and altruism and the complicated nature of how these elements are utilised in social relations. Through this research, Garry became increasingly interested in forms of societal displacement and what occurs when socially shared aspects of belonging are eroded.

The title of the exhibition 'to hold or to be held', in addition to referencing human intimacy and connectedness, also acts as a form of methodological approach. Many of the art works that make up the exhibition implicate systems where modest two and three-dimensional elements combine, where the artwork is simultaneously contained and a container, where one form or material sustains another. This model acts as a means to consider modes of inter reliance between materials, form and meaning. The fold is a persisting element of the art works, where the fold acts as a method of enabling forms or possibilities that are simultaneously elaborating and stabilising.

Whilst located in research this work prioritises the poetic over the didactic, where research elements are subtly embedded, and the works combine to enable an encounter that merges modesty and complexity.

Gallery Information:
The gallery is located on level 3 in Solstice Arts Centre
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday / 11.00am - 4.00pm
Entrance to the gallery is free of charge
Solstice Arts Centre is wheelchair accessible

Resource & engagement for second level students & teachers supporting Content Area 3: Today’s World

This resource focuses on a new body of work developed for Solstice by Irish artist Mark Garry.

Exploring the artists Theory & Thinking, Processes & Media, Art & the Environment and Art as Social Commentary or Commentator, to hold or to be held uses delicate site-specific installations created with a select range of processes and materials, to broadly explore forms of societal displacement and what occurs when socially shared aspects of belonging are eroded.

RESOURCE | Content Area 3: Today's World

to hold or to be held Book Launch

Sat 9 Mar | 2pm | Gallery | All are welcome

This publication is the second collaboration between artist Mark Garry, and graphic designer Louise Reddy, coinciding with Garry’s exhibition at Solstice Arts Centre.

Rather than addressing Garry's artistic responses directly, the texts that make up this publication respond to the broader research area that informed the exhibition. The book implicates texts by Stephen Doyle, Mark Garry, Barbara Kneževic, Michael O’Hara and Louise Reddy. These authors respond to the research subject from a range of art theory, design, musicological, philosophical and psychoanalytical perspectives, and will join us in the gallery for an informal discussion on these elements.

Take a Virtual 360° Tour of the Exhibition

To navigate:

Click & Drag to look around the space, or use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to look in each direction.

Click on the rings throughout the space to move around, or use the up and down arrow keys to move forward and back.

Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out, or use the plus and minus keys on your keyboard.

When finished in the level 3 Gallery, click on the small blue circle to continue the tour in the level 1 Café Gallery.

Click 'view fullscreen' on the bottom right to enter fullscreen mode.