Interiors is a solo exhibition of sculpture and video by Susan Giles at The Gallery | Burren College of Art. Focusing on how individuals perceive architecture through speech and gesture, the exhibition features work about Newtown Castle in the main gallery and historic Chicago libraries in the project room. Challenging the notion of a monument as a static form, this work brings individuals’ internal experience of place to the immediate context of the physical structure through performed acts of gesture. While photos, videos, or souvenirs communicate specific aspects of experience to others, gestures convey information that often operates on the periphery of our awareness. Language becomes sculptural through gestures. By physically constructing the moment of recalled experience through material interpretations of gesture, Giles seeks to provide the viewer with the opportunity to reflect on the way multiple individuals’ memories are part of the collective experience of public monuments.

Susan Giles is an artist working in video and sculpture. Her work has been shown in Chicago at THE MISSION Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Renaissance Society, as well as Mixed Greens and Galería Valle Ortí in Valencia, Spain, among others. She has received several grants including an Individual Artist Project Grants from DCASE in 2015 and 2017, Illinois Arts Council Grants in 2014 and 2009, a 2005 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and a 1998 Fulbright Grant to Indonesia. Giles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Contemporary Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This project is partially supported by an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Read a recent interview with Susan Giles in Chicago Artist Writers here.

Jeff Carter’s occupier_Castle is a site-specific sound installation utilising the unique physical and environmental conditions of Newtown Castle. In the installation the restored conical wooden roof is turned into a loudspeaker by attaching audio transducers directly to the beams. Signals generated by electronic sensors are processed by a microcontroller and used to activate the transducers, creating overlays of sound that will continually change. In this installation Carter is guided by the idea of the castle as an architectural “body” where history of place and acoustical architecture are explored. Central to the work will be a Shepard Scale, an illusory audio construction that simulates a continually rising (or falling) tone yet has no beginning or end. While this element responds formally to the winding spiral staircase in the tower, Carter also interested in using this sound to invoke a sense of anticipation, suspense or disorientation. Simultaneously, wind sensors placed outside the castle will trigger short samples to be played from transducers mounted along the stairway. These sounds, edited from recordings of street protests, rallies and demonstrations from around the world, reflect both the history of the tower as a defensive structure and the current social and political climate.

Jeff Carter is a multimedia artist living and working in Chicago, IL. He is a Professor in the Department of Art, Media and Design at DePaul University. Jeff earned his BFA at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1992) and his MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1998). Jeff has exhibited his work in Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Renaissance Society, The Hyde Park Art Center, and the Chicago Cultural Center. His work has been shown at the Hayward Gallery, London; the Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany; the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; and the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Ireland. His solo shows include Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL and Leipzig, Germany; Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, New York; and The Mission, Chicago, IL. His work was recently reviewed in Art in America, and profiled in the 7th edition of Bauhaus Magazine.

Friday, June 23, 1-5 PM at The Lecture Hall | FREE

This half-day symposium will examine the contemporary interpretation of monuments, history and place, focusing on the Burren and related rural environments. Participating Burren Annual artists Susan Giles and Jeff Carter will discuss their projects based on Newtown Castle with writer and researcher Michaele Cutaya. Renowned musician and sound artist Susan Stenger will discuss her audio work in relation to place and ‘sonic geology’. NUI Galway Emeritus Professor Rod Stoneman will present on the relationship between monuments and tourism, and the Burren GeoPark will foreground the context for the stewardship and mediation of monuments in relation to the Burren as a protected landscape.

Schedule:

12:00 – 1:00 BCA Cafe open for lunch

1:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks (Lecture Hall)

1:00 – 1:30 Susan Giles

1:30 – 2:00 Jeff Carter

2:00 – 2:30 Roundtable Discussion led by Michaele Cutaya

2:30 – 2:45 Coffee Break

2:45 – 3:15 Susan Stenger

3:15 – 3:45 Rod Stoneman

3:45 – 4:15 Eoman Doyle

4:15 – 4:45 Roundtable Discussion

4:45 – 5:00 Closing Remarks