Coalitions

Alignment

A selection of images documenting Alignment from the Mutual Exchange Exhibition in the Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, October 20-Nov 15, 2009.

This process of  artistic intervention is a coalition: supporting 2 different art practices. Fiona Woods initally intervened in the space by suspending 3 assemblages from the ceiling. In a performative intervention over 4 performance Maria Kerin was invited by Fiona to respond to the sculpture. This time based cumulative research process brought 2 practices into temporary alignment as the work unfolded through the making. As part of the research the work was documented in different ways; through Fiona photographing the moments of alignment, through stationary video from above the space and finally 5 artists were invited in to record video snips on their mobile phones.

Collaborations

Freeze

Freeze is a site specific dance piece that was commissioned by Inis Cealtra Arts Festival, Mountshannon.  

A collaboration between Maria Kerin, Alex Boethcher and Jance Schurrman over 6 weeks rehersal to create a 20 minute piece choreographed many of the individual phrases but not the seqence. Informed by our daily practice of inner listening together in search for awareness and presence through embodied movement, release technique, contact improvisation and body-mind centering, inspired by a visit to the cliff edge at the Cliffs of Mohar. Body movements explored balance, weight shift and groundedness and finding edges within and out.

Biography

Biography
Trans-disciplinary artist Maria Kerin combines embodied movement through dance with process-based visual art practice to create installations, performances and new media body works.

Through body-based art work Kerin explores points of meeting with site, artist and audience in an autobiographical enquiry into sites of contention. Often this response includes working with other artists using the model of friendship to form creative coalitions.

A graduate of Fine Art from DIT ’98 and a Bachelor of Business Studies from UL,’91, Kerin also holds an MA in Contemporary Dance performance from UL ’06. Her work has been included in group and solo exhibitions, theatres, art festivals, public commissions, and reaches audience through alternative site-specific locations, printed publications, the internet, mobile phones and live through skype.

Maria Kerin has also curated and mentored nationally and internationally. Founder member of Outrider Artists her web presence includes danceworkslive.com and sitemeetings.blogspot.com.

Estonia, recorded performance

Detailed documentation from a recorded performance made on Raadi Airport an old abandoned ex Russian airport that is now the proposed site for the new Estonian History Museum, Tartu, Estonia.

Temporary once-off performances

Croatia
Piece entitled Croatia developed in Nigal Rolfe’s 2 week workshop with the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance students, alumni graduates and Limerick College of Art students, week 2, January 2009. Sourced from a collaboration with Michael O’Brian, sculpture student, Maria Kerin went on to develop a solo piece using the materials: an old tyre and an old door. The piece was performed live with a video projection of the performance instantanously projected huge scale direcly on to the wall behind the performer to an audience in the Church gallery of Limerick College of Art and Design. 7 minutes long. Concept inspired by the childrens playground, the movement explored edges, balance and boundaries.

Kitchens 
Live stite specific performance piece developed in Nigal Rolfe’s workshop with the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance UL students, alumni graduates and Limerick College of Art Students week 1, November 2008.  This short performance piece lasting 5 minutes uses the sound of tearing kitchen magasine paper echoed in the hall, hidden from the audience and reveals slowly movement generated from the task of the body reaching out to its full stretch and trying to reach beyond, framing edges and marking boundaries.

Residency and Commission- Sculpture in Kells

Sculpture in Kells Commissioned to do residency and create new work along with Aileen Lambert for Sculpture in Kells, in response to the Priory, Kells, a fringe event of the  Kilkenny Arts Festival, ‘08. Worked with the primary school children, invited them to listen to the wall for sounds of the past and I photographed this task. The image was printed up 8 ft by 4 ft and left up against the Priory wall during the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

The chain link motif was carried through to gathering childrens used clothes and asking the community who visit the priory to make a prayer chain, knotting them together. This sculpture piece was then placed in the Priory but unfortunately not at the site originally chosen by the artist. 

 

Installation from movement and poloroid camera stills

Bog Lining i,

An embodied response to our bogs as sites of contention, this piece was shown live in the Courthouse Gallery for Anois/Aris gallery exhibition of artists who had studios there over the years. 16 minutes long, this live multi-media performance involved bags of turf, a polaroid camera that was used during the performance and a red dress that was worn and stitched during this once off performance which was witnessed by the gallery audience.

The polaroid image taken during the performance and the position of the turf were left as an installation for the duration of the exhibition.