Temple Bar Gallery + Studios embarks on four-month stay at Dublin Port Company’s Pumphouse
2 July 2024
Dublin Port Company (DPC) is pleased to welcome Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S) to the Pumphouse for ‘Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home’.
‘Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home’ features two solo exhibitions that will run simultaneously, and present ambitious work from two highly-accomplished artists, Yuri Pattison and Liliane Puthod.
The unique heritage of Dublin Port lends itself perfectly to the artists’ considerations of geographic, economic and transport networks. Both artists use symbolism of rivers and seas, capturing how the flow of time speaks to the idea of life as a circle and the transitory nature of things, making the Pumphouse the ideal venue for TBG+S to to curate two off-site installations.
Yuri Pattison’s dream sequence is a site-specific installation which includes a computer-generated video, sculpture and a soundtrack arrange on a ‘Disklavier’ piano (self-playing). Data collected from local monitoring sites at Dublin Port manipulates and alters the aesthetic, auditory and structural elements of the work.
Liliane Puthod’s new exhibition Beep Beep is a large-scale immersive installation which integrates personal family narratives with the social history of the Renault 4, a popular 60s car. For this exhibition, Puthod has reanimated her late father’s 1962 R4 from its dusty shed in her hometown of Reignier, France, and documented the journey of this ‘time machine’ to Ireland.
‘Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home’ includes an accompanying public event programme including weekly Saturday tours; Summer School, a series of free family and adult workshops from 25th to 28th July; and special events for National Heritage Week, Culture Night, Open House Dublin, and Dublin Festival of History.
The exhibitions are made possible through The Arts Council Visual Arts Project Awards.
The Pumphouse, a venue for artist residencies and workshops, is located on Alexandra Road inside Dublin Port’s Heritage Zone.
The two exhibitions will run from July 6th until October 27th, 2024. Opening times are Thursday to Sunday, 11am–5pm and admission is free.
For the duration of the exhibitons, the artists have been commissioned to make work for the Gallery window at TBG+S’ city centre location.
‘Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home’ follows DPC hosting the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club’s 150th anniversary exhibition ‘Shorelines’ in The Substation on Alexandra Road.
Lar Joye, Port Heritage Director at Dublin Port Company, said: “We are pleased to partner with Temple Bar Gallery + Studios for these amazing port-specific exhibtions at the Pumphouse.
“We have enjoyed a close and rewarding collaboration with Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and that has allowed us to bring these exhibitions to life.
“The Pumphouse forms part of our deep committement to port-city integration and exhibitions like these are part of Dublin Port Company’s ongoing effort to making the port more accessible to the general public. This includes partnering with leading arts organisations such as TBG+S and ensuring that the artists they work with have an appropriate venue to display their work for the public to enjoy.
“Yuri and Liliane have created something really special and I would encourage people to come to the port and see it.”
Artist Liliane Puthod said: “Dublin Port is a significant site for my new exhibition. I have revived my late father’s R4 and made the journey from France to Dublin as an ongoing investigation into Irish and French industrial landscapes.
“While this project reflects on global consumption and distribution network, I see the port as a special place that deeply encapsulates the passing of time, movement of goods, and narratives in relation to places and individuals.”
Clíodhna Shaffrey, Director of Temple Bar Gallery + Studios commented: “Temple Bar Gallery + Studios is honoured to bring two exhibitions of scale and ambition to Dublin Port’s Pumphouse landmark venue. This setting and what it resonates gives a vital aspect to both Yuri’s and Liliane’s work and allows people a poignant encounter with exemplary contemporary art.
“Dublin Port is now a desirable place for the artisic community. At a time when artists are increasingly finding it harder than ever to locate a place to create and exhibit their work in Dublin City, this partnership between DPC and TBG+S is more important than ever.
“We look forward to welcoming people to the exhibitions, made possible through this exciting partnership with Dublin Port Company.”
The Pumphouse is part of DPC’s Distributed Museum, which includes The Diving Bell on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and The Substation at Port Centre. The Distributed Museum route will be connected through 5.3km of dedicated cycleway and pedestrian walkways in the Port estate and the surrounding area. The Distributed Museum is part of DPC’s Port-City Integration programme to increase public access and celebrate Dublin’s Port-City heritage.