The artists in EV+A will take your picture, video your complaints and even cook for you. It all springs from one big idea, writes Aidan Dunne
If there was such a thing as a standard EV+A, this year's exhibition, Give(a)way, would not be it. That is to say, although every EV+A, in reflecting the predilections of a single selector, is to some extent distinctive, this year's stands out as being exceptionally focused and uncompromising. Greek curator Katerina Gregos arrived with a theme in mind: the idea of generosity.
Every second EV+A incorporates an "invited" section whereby, as well as selecting work voluntarily submitted, the curator is empowered to invite a significant number of artists to participate. Gregos was so empowered and, forearmed with her theme, she was able to significantly determine the tenor of the event.
Simply put, Give(a)way is dominated by projects that fall into a specific category of contemporary art, works that adopt a view of art practice as a site of social intervention and engagement. A pre-eminent example of that is probably Johanna Lecklin's Story Cafe in Denmark Street, which is literally a site where the artist offers visitors a cup of coffee in exchange for a story, but there are many other examples on offer, including more overtly philanthropic ones. While Gregos's approach means there are whole swathes of artistic endeavour that are not represented in her show, she has, it must be said, fulfilled her self-imposed mission.
A graduate of the Courtauld Institute, with perfect, beautifully articulated English, Gregos has been working as a curator for 10 years, and as a freelance curator for the past three. She is passionate, committed and hugely energetic (there are more than 70 artists in the show). Several EV+A veterans, no slouches when it comes to the mind-boggling logistics of making world-class exhibitions on minimal budgets, noted her hands-on commitment to the project.
In other words she is not a "fly-by" curator who drops in, dispenses judgment and is on the next plane out. In fact, she has spent almost two months in Limerick over five visits since accepting her task. Nor, as she is quick to point out, does she believe in merely grabbing art from the international circuit and showing it in Limerick.
She is openly critical of the phenomenon whereby, she says, "international" curators and artists effectively colonise different locations without any meaningful interaction, and then simply move on to the next stop.
"I know it was idiosyncratic to start with an idea, because there was a huge amount of work in the open submission." She spent 10 days going through the open submission and, while obviously opting for pieces that happened to accord with her theme, she also incorporated works that didn't quite fit. "After all," she says with a twinkle in her eye, "it would have been a bit ungenerous not to."
In any case, she had a generously relaxed attitude to what she meant by generosity. "What I wanted was not something that offered a narrow, didactic definition of generosity. Rather I wanted to throw open the question, to ask what the practice of generosity might mean today when, in a global context, it seems to be in such short supply. I think that art is by definition generous to some extent. I wanted to address the areas of the personal, social and political. That is, I don't mean generosity in the sense of giving material goods. I was looking for work about creating situations that promote social exchange and generosity. In the first instance, that depends on an openness. Giving away includes being willing to give away in terms of one's own prejudices." It's important to her that EV+A is "a process-oriented exhibition".
"I wanted to give artists the opportunity to make new work." That is, she encouraged artists to explore the context of the show, Limerick - "the city is our canvas" - so that the work emerged from interaction, "with a sense of synergy".
She points with approval to Ciara Finnegan's social turkey, a dance video, made to Maria Mackee's How Glad I Am, with a group of 60-plus Limerick residents and choreographer Jenny Roche. Equally, to make his three-screen video installation, Mario Rizzi immersed himself in the city, including inside the prison, to engage with people and offer them the opportunity to tell their stories and reflect on their experiences, illuminating the personal histories, talents and aspirations that constitute the social fabric.
STRANGE AS IT may seem, the substantial gallery at the Limerick School of Art and Design on Clare Street hadn't previously been satisfactorily integrated into EV+A. "I couldn't understand why no one had thought of approaching the students," Gregos relates. So she did. She counts the resultant show of student work at Clare Street, curated and managed to the last detail by the students themselves, as one of the significant achievements of the project.
It is an impressive show, professionally designed and presented. Organising it probably counts as one of the most instructive and useful experiences for participants during their time at LSAD.
One of the best pieces overall is Neighbours, presumably derived from the open submission. Áine Nic Giolla Coda and Michael Minnis have installed large-scale formal photographic portraits in the four high alcoves on the stone facades of the buildings on St John's Square. This remarkable square is one of Limerick's, indeed Ireland's, architectural gems, and perhaps should not be a conduit for traffic as it is as present. The portrait subjects are all residents of the square and are engaged in a variety of professions there. One of the most pleasing things about the work is that it tactfully draws our attention to the historical character of the place and simultaneously reminds us that it is a living environment.
Another outstanding piece is a blow-in, from Birmingham, and a welcome one. Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen quote comedienne Lily Tomlin as their source of inspiration: "Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
They collected complaints from Birmingham residents. With help of local musician Mike Hurley the complainants set their words to music and became a very impressive Complaint Choir, entertainingly documented on video. People, it is clear, complain about pretty much the same things everywhere.
There is more local resonance in The Centre of Attention's installation around a painting in the City Gallery's permanent collection, a portrait attributed to Charles Jervas and tentatively titled Stella, ie the Stella associated with Swift. The artists expand on the local mythology surrounding the painting, which is said to have curative powers. One of the Munster rugby players who participated in the celebrated victory over the All Blacks is said to have visited the work prior to the match and been miraculously cured of a debilitating injury.
Clutching bags laden with cooking ingredients and drink, Jennifer Nelson and Dimitri Kotsaras have knocked on doors throughout the city, offering to cook and share a meal with residents. Initial acceptance took a while, but word seemed to spread quickly. Equally obliging, Seamus Nolan has offered a room for the use of anyone who cared to take it, during office hours, in the Granary.
Miriam Cuddy's map-based wall drawings and sketchbooks, based on her journey between Galway and Limerick, provide an intriguing account of an experience of the Irish landscape as a domain of urbanisation. One of the most effective installations is Susan MacWilliam's Kuda Bux, the title referring to a man who became a media celebrity in the 1930s and 1940s through his music hall demonstration of "eyeless sight".
Also impressive is what might be described as Otto Berchem's remix of a song by the American rock star Dean Read, a socialist who became celebrated in Russia. His Love Your Brother is brilliantly reworked in an Irish idiom by local traditional musicians.
Unfortunately, one of the event's damp squibs happens to occupy one of the most prominent locations, the open space one encounters on entering the City Art Gallery. Here, Dan Perjovschi's graffiti cartoons offer a rough-and-ready commentary on the state of the world. But they are curiously un-energetic and half-hearted for graffiti and - there is no diplomatic way to say this - very poorly drawn, with no spark or flair.
Gregos might have been better off giving the space to Nevan Lehart, who occupies the whole of the new gallery with his own contemporary-baroque blend of scabrous social commentary. Lehart invests his installations with ferocious, anarchic energy and always sails close to the wind. And, despite his ascerbic wit, there is an unstinting generosity to his approach that accords perfectly with the curator's intentions.
Give(a)way is at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, The Granary, Daghdha Space, Belltable Arts Centre, The Hunt Museum, Bourn Vincent Gallery, Limerick School of Art and Design, St Mary's Cathedral and other venues in the city until May 21
