Thursday 12 December – Friday 20 December 2013
Opening: Thursday 12 December, 6-8pm
In ‘Jestertag’ (2013) Kieran Boland speaks with strangers in the streets and parks of Vienna about his memories of each place but is completely ignored, even when putting his arm around a sight seer posing for an off screen photographer. As a digitally composited moving image of two separate time frames, he watched people from a distance using a lens with a long focal length, entering each scene to improvise with randomly selected individuals only when they had already left it. The project explores the limits of what constitute free speech —in relation to social polarization surrounding surveillance and voyeurism. Through a multiplicity of references to collective memory, we are also encouraged to reconsider our perception of what is mundane, overlooked, and even forgotten. The title “Jestertag” is an amalgam of English and German. A Jester walked a fine line in an attempt to entertain at court. Tag is both the word for day in German and a social media term for the retrospective identification of individuals. This project was produced at the AIR-Artist in Residence program in Krems an der Donau, Austria (facilitated through RMIT University School of Art).
Kieran Boland has been the recipient of a number of grants and international residencies including an Australia Council New Work Grant (2006) and the Australia Council’s Los Angeles Studio (2007) He has been a lecturer in Drawing at Monash University since 2012. His recent solo exhibitions include I tell you most solemnly West Space (2012) When you’re in love with a beautiful woman BUS Projects (2011) Run it by me First Spare Room/ RMIT Project Space(2011) Recent Group shows include DOK Niederösterreich St. Pölten, Austria (2013) This is beautiful Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne(2013) 120 Seconds Federation Square (2013) Not Fair 2012: Primal Mutation (2012) Cinesonika Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Canada (2012) Beautiful Volcanoes Monash University Faculty Gallery (2011) Loop Video Festival, Barcelona Spain (2011) Like no place known Drawing Out Festival, RMIT University School of Art Gallery (2010) We now pause for technical difficulties [and Curator] Sunshine & Grease (2010).
