The first day of events at The Complex concludes with ‘fanvid: a mixtape’ curated by Alice Quinn Banville. fanvid is an exciting new platform for artists to screen their work and this screening comprises a selection of eight works from over a hundred films that have screened with fanvid since its inception in 2022. A DIY film club with a monthly open call, fanvid screens moving image work of all kinds: short films, TikToks, phone videos, archive footage and everything in between. Offering something of a licked finger in the wind, these films convey a shared sense of desire, hope and frustration in response to life in Ireland, online and beyond. This programme includes work by Claudine Chen, Michelle Doyle, Kerry Guinan, Megan Scott, Frank Sweeney, Venus Patel and Juno Claffey Hegarty.
Film Information:
Jonathan O’Grady, In Search of the Forenaughts Longstone, 2021, Ireland, 12 mins
Dan Callanan, TEMPLE, 2022, Ireland, 3 mins
Venus Patel, Egg Performance, 2021, Ireland, 2 mins
Claudine Chen, Michelle Doyle, Kerry Guinan, Megan Scott & Frank Sweeney, Palace of Purification, 2022, Ireland, 7 mins
Neil Quigley, The Universal Wand (Parts 1 & 2), 2023, Ireland, 10 mins
Juno Claffey Hegarty, Being and the Pasty, 2023, Ireland, 3 mins
Han Hogan, Vandalism at Wax Museum, 2022, Ireland, 2 mins
Megan Conery, put ur hands on me (Titanic edit), 2023, Ireland, 8 mins
Running time: 46 mins
Jonathan O’Grady, In Search of the Forenaughts Longstone, 2023, Ireland, 12 mins
This video records a pilgrimage of sorts, conducted in search of a hard-to-find menhir or standing stone within the area of Naas, County Kildare. One of three in the area, the Forenaughts Longstone is located within the grounds of a large private estate, inaccessible for visitation, or indeed, view from the nearby road. The works traces the artist’s attempt to try and reach the stone on his own accord, navigating the narrow lanes and looking for openings the might allow access to the monument. In the end the journey is a failure, leading to dead-ends and obstructed views of the land. The subsequent work becomes a way of speculating about movement through the landscape; its restrictions and potential new access points. Through the use of footage, graphic and colour interludes and text, the work mediates on the privatisation of land and heritage, inaccessibility as invisibility and trespassing as a necessary tactic for cultural reclamation.
Jonathan O’Grady is a visual artist and recent graduate of NCAD currently based between Dublin and Kildare. His work mainly takes the form of photography, film, sculpture and drawing, and is concerned with investigating rigid systems of organising knowledge and attempting to disrupt them in a way that opens up new forms of understanding. Recent exhibitions have included Juncture (2021), a group show at Pallas Projects and Studios, Dublin, Triad (2021), a performance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and SITE:SIGHT (2020) a duo show with artist Rosie Feerick.
Dan Callanan, TEMPLE, 2022, Ireland, 3 mins
A snowy climb takes an unforeseen turn. Shot on Temple Mount in the Galty Mountains in February 2022. Soundtrack by bethaniens dust.
Dan Callanan is a Cork artist based in Dublin. He is the founder of the DOE (Department of Energy), a DIY imprint exploring our relationship with the land through ambient-adjacent music, field recordings, text, video and photography.
Venus Patel, Egg performance, 2021, Ireland, 1’53”
‘Egg Performance’ is a response to a transphobic hate crime enacted against the artist, in which she was assaulted with eggs. The film follows Venus Patel as she walks through Stoneybatter, the site of this event, with a carton of eggs, dressed as a 60’s gogo dancer. By inhabiting a colourfully dressed alter-ego, she is able to access her true free queer expression. She performs with the egg and reclaims her power.
Venus Patel is a transfemme artist of colour who works primarily with performance and film. Her work deals with hate crimes, religious guilt, and Queer/POC suppression, and she utilises a unique mix of humour and absurdity to create multi-faceted performances and experiences. She has held solo exhibitions with Pallas Projects and Sirius Arts Centre. Her work has been exhibited at Crawford Art Gallery, Butler Gallery, and the Complex.
Claudine Chen, Michelle Doyle, Kerry Guinan, Megan Scott & Frank Sweeney, Palace of Purification, 2022, Ireland, 7 mins
Palace of Purification is a video manifesto for filth, presented by a beloved denizen of ‘Jigsaw,’ an anarchist social centre in Dublin (which closed in 2021).
Claudine Chen is currently a software engineer based in Dublin, Ireland, and a member of the artist studio A4 Sounds
Michelle Doyle is an artist and musician based in Ireland, working through sound, performance, set design and moving image.
Kerry Guinan is a conceptual artist based in Limerick, Ireland. Her multi-disciplinary practice critiques capitalist relations through interventions, performances, and digital media.
Megan Scott is an interdisciplinary artist, making interactive installations and interventions and experimenting with digital forms of artmaking.
Frank Sweeney is an artist with a research based practice, he uses found material to approach questions of collective memory, experience and identity through film and sound.
Neil Quigley, The Universal Wand (Parts 1 & 2), 2023, Ireland, 10’01”
Taken from ‘The Universal Wand’, a nonlinear descent through the modern workspace, misremembered early 2000’s pop culture, stories from Celtic tiger era Ireland, perceptual lip-reading research and rhabdomancy. With audio from a live solo performance which took place at the Cork Indie Film festival in December 2023, the film focuses on workplace dynamics and utilises phase alignment formant synthesis controlled by a phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer, along with field recordings from dole offices, text to speech conversations between unreliable characters and synthesised environment recordings. Inspired by the work of James Benning, the film focuses on machine learning variations of the famous windows XP desktop background Bliss, imagining what is beyond the borders of the desktop.
Neil Quigley is a composer from Kilkenny. Neil currently lives between Ireland and Scotland. His current work focuses in part on sonic skeuomorphism, divination, audio representations of space and interpersonal politics of the musical workspace.His work has been described as “very confident” by The Journal of Music. His recent work has been released on Amalgam Records (US), Moot Records (Irl) and Destiny Trax (US).
Juno Claffey Hegarty, Being and the Pasty, 2023, Ireland, 3 mins
‘Being and The Pasty’ uses a mascot to speak on fluctuations in identity and how they
manifest. The pasty represents a hidden space into which one can crawl, to safely and
privately wait out a transition in the self. The wearing and becoming of another identity acts as scaffolding for the true self. The arc of the piece attempts to show the fog of wanting to hide and the release of entering the world as the new self.
Juno Claffey Hegarty is a final year media student at NCAD Dublin, having recently completed an internship at EGG VFX. Her practice includes primarily writing and filmmaking with digital construction, sculptural and performative elements. Recent projects include ‘Party Prince’ with Alannah Davey and ‘The Cat Dreams of Her Old Names’. Currently working towards a collaborative exhibition at Unit 44 with Alannah Davey curated by Alice Quinn Banville.
Han Hogan, Vandalism at Wax Museum, 2022, Ireland, 1’20”
Made with materials from Mister Price
Han Hogan is a research artist with a background in science. They use the media of community radio, DIY punk gigs, video games, collage work and zines to learn about and oppose the financialisation of Dublin. Alongside collaborator Donal Fullam, they are currently developing a PS1 game entitled Grand Canal Demolition Derby under the moniker of NAMACO.
Megan Conery, put ur hands on me (titanic edit), 2023, Ireland, 8 mins
An irreverent tribute to Kate Winslet and white wine soundtracked by Celine Dion.
Megan Conery is a Dublin-based artist working with sound, textiles and moving image. They produce experimental ambient music as Covers Blown.
This event is screening as part of aemi’s DISSOLUTIONS Festival at The Complex Dublin. Tickets are available for individual days Friday or Saturday (15 euro per day) or for the full weekend (25 euro).
DISSOLUTIONS is proudly supported by Screen Ireland and The Arts Council.
Alice Quinn Banville is a creative producer, curator and DJ from Dublin. Having previously worked with various organisations in Dublin, Amsterdam and New York, she currently works as a producer for a selection of theatre, film and visual artists, as well as Unit 44 (Kirkos) and Pan Pan. Her curatorial practice is interested in DIY and experimental modes of performance, communication and pedagogy, with the aim of making visible systems of power which typically are not. She is one of the organisers of DIY film club fanvid, as well as Daylight, a cooperatively run space for art and community in Glasnevin. She can be found performing regularly as a DJ at venues around the country and monthly on dublin digital radio.