All of the known Universe

A residency that provided an opportunity for Ireland to develop and exhibit a large-scale project and to develop and produce a publication. This residency and the work developed out of it saw Ireland’s work explicitly deal with the use of architectural space within his production. This work opened up a new area of practice and significantly shifted the emphasis in the work away from representation. The residency also allowed Ireland to significantly shift scale within his working practice.

‘All Of The Known Universe’ developed from a direct relationship to the particular architectural space of Spike Island. This was achieved through strategies such as utilising the changing light conditions, a play on the physical attributes of the space, and emphasizing the height through the waterfall towers and playing off the symmetrical nature of the exhibition space. The work framed the exhibition space as an environment and therefore stood as its own landscape, one composed of abstractions and fragments of representations of a picturesque landscape. The process of folding representations of the natural into the man-made became much more explicit with this work and techniques of arrangement and dispersal of the work’s components were developed here (many of the objects were returned after their exhibited ‘use’).

Working with a corporate signage company to produce the filters was also developed during this residency, a relationship that continues in Ireland’s current practice.

• http://www.spike-island.org.uk/node/338