microGALLERY Project 7

IS MISE

BY NIC FLANAGAN

SUPPORTED BY MTU ARTS OFFICE

CONNECT LE CHÉILE ARTS PROJECT FUND

CULTURE NIGHT // Artist Talk with Nic Flanagan // Friday 23 Sept at 7pm  

Nic is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cork city. Her work is currently being developed under the title Heritage Terror, a mischievous push and pull between preservation and progression, and the greater conversation of necessary conflict in contemporary culture.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is currently being developed under the title Heritage Terror, a mischievous push and pull between preservation and progression, and the greater conversation of necessary conflict in contemporary culture. I explore this conflict through performance, installation and illustration.

Heritage Terror exists between ‘past’ and ‘future’ Ireland. If Heritage is your great aunt who hates everything after showbands and Michael Collins, then Terror is your punky little brother with more trainers than sense. The gold lies between the two.

Research is important in my practice, but I am also drawn to the energy of fiction. I often use elements of folklore or history as the basis for scripting and storytelling processes. This allows me to see familiar characters and events in a new light, making them more accessible to me and others.

Heritage Terror encompasses two distinct strands; a completed performance piece, Má Deirim, and a developing installation, Is Mise. Both address the character and place marker of the ‘Cailleach’ as their central character. ‘Cailleach’ exists in the Irish language as both an otherworldly being and a portal connecting worlds, often in the form of standing stones. My performances and installation works are designed to engage participants in a conversation, issuing an invitation while also valuing and recognising autonomy.

Artist Bio.

Nic Flanagan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cork city. Her practice primarily takes the form of performance, installation, illustration and prose, with an emphasis on engagement and interaction. In early 2020, she completed a collaborative event series with artist Lucy Tevlin for Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, entitled Talking about talking/Speaking through speech. This series was used to highlight the practices of resident artists Celina Muldoon, Jenny Brady and Martina O’Brien, and will continue in the form of a gallery-supported publication in 2021. Most recently, Nic has completed two commissioned projects for The Model, Sligo in partnership with Creative Ireland; Connection in Crisis in June 2020. The projects took the form of distanced interaction and a conclusionary performance document, If I Say So, and Má Deirim, a collaborative performance with composer Owen Kilfeather, October 2020. In January 2021, her developing work, Is Mise, will be shown alongside 10 others in Cohost, an online exhibition and publication curated by Astrid Newman with the support of the LAB Gallery, Dublin City Arts Council and ARC Masters, IADT.

Artist CV

Selected works 2017-21

Instagram: nflanagan_artist

Email: nflanagan.artist@gmail.com 

Qualifications:

● 2019-2021: ARC Masters, in partnership with IADT and LAB Gallery, Dublin.

● 2012-2016: Fine Art BA First Class Honours, Crawford College of Art and Design.

● 2011-2012: Fine Art level 7 FETAC, Honours Diploma, Colaiste Stiofan Naofa.

Upcoming works (confirmed to date):

● January 2021: Cohost, exhibition and publication in partnership with The Lab Gallery, Dublin, ARC IADT, and Dublin City Arts Council. Curated by Astrid Newman.

2020 works and Relevant Experience:

● July-October: Má Deirim, commissioned by The Model, Sligo and premiered on October 31st, 2020. This performance film was created in conversation between visual artist Nic Flanagan and musician/composer Owen Kilfeather.

● June 10th: If I Say So, performance document and lecture delivered by the artist online as part of Artist Breakfast Club and The Model.

● May: Connection in Crisis. A performative and collaborative program exploring means of distanced, meaningful arts engagement for a varied audience. Commissioned by The Model, Sligo as part of Artist Breakfast Club.

● January/February: Talking about talking/ Speaking through speech. A three part event at the Temple Bar Gallery and studios with resident artists, Celina Muldoon, Jenny Brady and Martina O’Brien. Hosted in collaboration with Roisin Bohan, Mark Hill, Orla Goodwin and Lucy Tevlin. To be followed by a commissioned interview series and publication for Temple Bar Gallery and Studios under the same title, created in collaboration with artist Lucy Tevlin.

2019 Works and Relevant Experience:

● December: Fighting Form, a performance, movement and scripting workshop held in the Company Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa. Hosted in partnership with Dara Beth of The Furies Co-Op, a theatre and performance collective working with the Alexander Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, and The University of Cape Town (UCT).

● June: Doll Dáil Doll, Performance as part of art-duo ‘AB[F]LAB’, as part of ‘The State of Print’ at Cork City Hall. Interactive ‘madlib’ performance, social engagement and constructed disruption that utilized humour as a means of highlighting the inhumane conditions of Ireland’s ‘Direct Provision’ state in 2018.

● May: Sign Bearers, a poetic ode to Eire told through semaphore as part of See You Tomorrow at the Sirius Arts Centre,Cobh. Performance in partnership with Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong and the Australian Arts Council. Performed daily throughout Cobh over two weeks while interacting with the ‘Great Island’ community.

2018 Works and Relevant Experience:

● October: State of Print Symposium and rolling exhibition, Santander, Spain. Funded by CIT, the Arts Council of Ireland and Cork Printmakers. Representative print alumni of Crawford College of Art and Design.

● August: Performance and lecture as part of Food, Fat and Feminism under Dr Steele for University College Cork. Performance as part of art duo AB[F]LAB.

● June: Collaborative Performance as part of art-duo AB[F]LAB for Sample Studios, Cork. Interactive ‘madlib’ performance, social engagement and constructed disruption that utilized humour as a means of highlighting the inhumane conditions of Ireland’s ‘Direct Provision’ state in 2018.

● May: Solo Exhibition of portrait series, Modern Madonna, at Dali and Gala.

● April-June: Project Coordinator and Educational Facilitator, Bridges Project, Midsummer Festival, Cork. Officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Mick Finn, on June 21 st at Nano Nagle footbridge.

● April: Selected panel head on the topic Art and Activism: Grassroots Feminism in Ireland with Rachel Anderson and Cis O’Boyle of Idle Women, U.K. Hosted by Irish representative Jesse Jones.

● April: Performance of works by Rachel Fallon for the ‘Artists Campaign to Repeal the 8 th ’ at the opening of EVA International 2018.

2018 Features:

● April: Issue 15 of CCQ; featured performing for artist Rachel Fallon with the Artists Campaign to Repeal the Eighth during the opening procession for EVA International 2018. Coverage; Joeleen Lynch, photograph; Danny Ryan.

● April: Featured Artist in ‘Gaggle’, a publication curated by Mark Hicken to accompany the ‘Wales in Venice’ invigilators show.

● April: Featured Artist, Average Arts Magazine, Liverpool, UK.

2017 Works and Relevant Experience:

● December: Disassemble and packing of Tremble Tremble at the Venice Biennale, under technical designer Aaron Kelly. In partnership with the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, and the Arts Council of Ireland.

● September to December: Tremble Tremble by artist Jesse Jones at The Irish Pavilion of the 57 th Venice Biennale. Roles: Performer, invigilator, guest speaker and technical liaison.

● August: Panelist for Art and Site Specificity, hosted by Sophie Gough at the Uilean Arts Centre, Cork.