For more than a decade, Gerard Byrne (b. 1969, Dublin, Ireland) has been renowned for his film installations which re-enact specific moments from the past. Gerard Byrne’s work explores the way we understand the present through revisiting the past.
Always diverse, his sources have included Playboy articles, art history books, advertisements and Samuel Beckett plays. For the exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall, Byrne’s investigations range from the politics around sexuality to the production and display of the art object. Premiering in Sweden is A Man and A Woman Make Love (2012). This multi-screen installation reinterprets discussions about sexuality and eroticism held in the 1920s by Surrealist artists and writers, including André Breton, Jacques Prévert and Yves Tanguy. A Thing Is A Hole In A Thing It Is Not (2010) borrows its title from a statement by sculptor Carl Andre and re-examines seminal moments from 1960s debates around Minimalism.
Gerard Byrne transforms his installations depending on the space they are displayed in. Each of his works is anchored in the idea of the temporary exhibition situation, its possibilities and limitations. For the exhibition at Bonniers Konsthall, Byrne presents a compendium of works that use the particular qualities of the gallery space as a tool in addressing the present moment through encounters with the recent past.
The exhibition A State of Neutral Pleasure is organised by Whitechapel Gallery, London, in collaboration with Bonniers Konsthall. With support from Culture Ireland.