Image 1: Universe³. Oisin Byrne    Slide 2: Interval. Suki Chan. 2 minute preview.

MINUTIAE

The work of Oisin Byrne and Suki Chan illustrates the very human dilemma of establishing our position in world. Where Chan’s piece takes on themes of human presence in relation to physical structures, from the industrial to the domestic, there is a sense of looking outwards towards an unfathomable vastness. While Byrne’s “Universe in a Box” notion takes the opposite stance of trying to contain the vastness of the universe as a means of better understanding it and our position in it.

The preoccupation with celestial bodies and constellations allows Oisin Byrne to create works that radiates a sense of wonderment and enchantment whilst simultaneously developing an analytical, empirical and restrained idiom.

Universe³ is a collaborative project he conducted with Professor J Richard Gott, Head of Astrophysics at Princeton University USA. The stars pierced in boxes accurately map the visible sky as it surrounds the earth, gnomonically projected from sphere to cube where the size of the stars reflects their brightness.

Byrne was born in Dublin and work both at home and internationally. In the past year he has had studio space in Montreal, Paris, LA, and most recently New York. His work has been included in group and solo shows including: The Universe in a Cardboard Box (Project Platform, Dublin Art Fair, 2008), LIGHTWAVE (The Science Gallery, Dublin, 2008) and The Big Store (Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, 2007).

Suki Chan’s film premiere Interval II explores our transient relationship with our built environment through symbolic periods in history. Chan juxtaposes two contrasting types of architecture that mediate our relationship with our surroundings from a cast-iron pier in Northwest England to a roundhouse in Southwest China. Chan uses time-lapse to accentuate the transitory movement of light over the structures, highlighting their physical form within the altered landscape. Shifting from micro to macro, she investigates traces of human presence within the buildings, as well as the social and cultural shifts within the respective societies.

Chan was born in Hong Kong and currently lives and works in London and Manchester. She graduated with BA (Hons) from Goldsmiths College, London, 1999 and completed an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art, London, 2008. Chan has participated in solo and group shows, artist residencies and research projects in the UK and internationally including: El Tanque, Spain; Comme Ca Art, New York, USA; PKW, Singapore and Upriver Loft Arts Space, China. Recent solo shows include: Sleep Walk Sleep Talk, a major video work commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella co-presented at A Foundation and 198 Gallery, London, 2009 and Interval II, commissioned by Chinese Arts Centre, funded by Film London, 2008. Recent group shows include: Futuremap 08, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, 2008; Sequence and Repetition ll, Jerwood Space, London, 2007 and Reversing Horizons, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, China, 2007. Her work is in numerous publications, and public and private collections.