This is not a shop

The Writing Workshop in New York City

April 3, 2010 — April 10, 2010

at UnionDocs Thu April 8 - Sat April 10, 6-10pm daily (see details below)
at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center Sat April 3 & Sat April 10, 2-4pm

Based in Dublin, Ireland since 2007 and supported by Thisisnotashop Gallery, The Writing Workshop has become an open hub for people to explore & develop writing. The Workshop is catalysed by a shared desire to explore the expansive & pervasive possibilities of text & words, particularly when extended through transdisciplinary arts practices.

Core member artists of The Writing Workshop (Jessica Foley, Susan Thomson, Áine Ivers and Jessamyn Fiore) are journeying from Ireland to present their work and host a series of writing workshops at UnionDocs in Williamsberg, Brooklyn and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, Queens. This series will include sculptural/film installation, screenings, live readings and participatory workshops that will explore the work and also launch a New York branch of The Writing Workshop.

All Workshops are open to the public- please come along if you are at all interested in text (open to artists, writers, filmmakers… anyone who wishes to explore and play with words & ideas)

UnionDocs     Thu Apr 8 – Sat Apr 10
322 Union Ave, Williamsberg, Brooklyn 11211 www.uniondocs.org

Daily 6pm-8pm: Installation
- Jessica Foley’s film/audio installation entiled for one, for all.
Artist Statement: This work has developed in my head mostly, and only of late has become ‘visible’. In November 2008 I visited America for the first time with the resolve to film in Super 8 a personal experience of accompanying my friend to make her vote in what was predicted by many to be ‘an historic’ presidential election for America & the World. The films have only come to light (as in literally projected) in the past number of weeks, and during this time I have attempted to articulate for myself, & for whomever might come across this work, a kind of minor personal inquiry of Democracy, of Vision & of Unity. for one, for all is incomplete, though I hope that it will evolve through it’s exhibiting, through the eyes & voices & ears of those who encounter it…

- Áine Ivers sculptural installation entitled Pattern for moving through an element.
Artist Statement: Animals who roam our cities freely in the future…  This installation is an attempt to manifest in New York a pack of wolves, based on a pattern I have been developing over the past few months. A pattern for a wolf that moves over ground, that I can bring anywhere, and build where desired.

Thu Apr 8 at 8pm: Workshop
Jessica Foley will lead a Writing Workshop based on ideas extended from her work for one, for all, exploring the realtionship between writing and democracy.

Fri Apr 9 at 8pm: Screening
Fire Practice Theatre by Susan Thomson. Residing somewhere between fiction and documentary, this two screen film shows firefighters practicing their skills on a tall purpose built house in a fire station. This is depicted as if it were a piece of theatre, a rehearsal or ritual in a theatre where only one play is performed. There are different levels of fiction. A script is performed by actors playing firefighters; lines are swapped, dramatically forgotten and a scene arrives early. The house is unlived-in, sinister, the piece reminiscent of a psyche where trauma and desire are endlessly replayed.
Fire Practice Theatre runs for approx 15 minutes and will be followed by audience discussion with the artist.

Sat Apr 10 at 8pm: Reading
Live readings of members work including a theatrical reading of A Play About Lee Lozano by Jessamyn Fiore followed by audience discussion. A Play About Lee Lozano uses found text (articles/interviews/statement) to explore the mystery of 1960’s New York painter/conceptual performance artist Lee Lozano whose work led her to boycott the art world and women in general. The extremity of her boycott created a void that others have attempted to fill in order to understand her life and work.

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center   Sat Apr 3 & Sat Apr 10   2-4pm
22-25 Jackson Ave at intersection of 46th Ave, Long Island City 11101 www.ps1.org

Writing Workshop members Jessica Foley, Susan Thomson, Áine Ivers, and Jessamyn Fiore will lead two workshops at P.S.1 on the first two Saturdays in April. Please join us for one or both workshops that are open to any and all who are interested in exploring text and ideas.

Workshop 1 on Sat Apr 3, 2-4pm:
Introduction to The Writing Workshop – in this workshop we will talk about what the Writing Workshop is and how we work. We will do some fun exercises that will get members thinking creatively and working together. We will also share and discuss work in process so if you have a piece or idea you would like to share please bring it along (nothing too long so everyone has time to present).

Workshop 2 on Sat Apr 10, 2-4pm:
Imaginative Tourism– this workshop will explore the idea of travel writing and trying to capture a place and experience- both for somewhere you have and have not been. Do you need to ‘experience’ in order to write comprehensively about something? We will tease out ideas of Truth & Fiction - writing about an experience never experienced, and seeing if the reader can identify the limits of this, ie: can you tell whether this is true or not? Believe the text or not…

The Writing Workshop at P.S.1 is supported by ARTBOOK.

The Writing Workshop in New York City is generously supported by Culture Ireland.

If you have any specific questions about workshops or events please email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Aoife Giles as part of St. Patrick’s Festival Art Trail

March 12, 2010 — March 17, 2010

Pieces of Cake

As part of The St. Patrick’s Festival 2010 Art Trail

OPENING NIGHT FRIDAY 12 MARCH 2010, 6:30-8:30pm

Exhibition Continues thru Wednesday 17 March, open daily 2-6pm

2010 is a year of new beginnings for Thisisnotashop as we have let go of our gallery space to present a series of independent exhibitions in Ireland, New York, and Internationally. This series began in New York with The Writing Workshop at P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center last month and we are now delighted to announce the next exhibition opens this Friday in Dublin as Thisisnotashop presents new work by Aoife Giles at the Crow Gallery in Temple Bar as part of the St. Patrick’s Festival Art Trail.

Aoife Giles (1980, Dublin) is a visual artist currently based in Dublin. She works in a variety of media including, photography, performance, video and installation. Her work explores the relations created between spaces and activities that we deem sacred or profane, the crossover between our public and private lives and the challenges of representing subjective experiences. This will be her third show with Thisisnotashop. She has exhibited and worked in Ireland, Brazil, England and Sweden.

For more details visit www.stpatricksfestival.ie

The Crow Gallery is located on the 1st Floor at 6 Crow Street (above Shan Indian Restaurant) in Temple Bar, Dublin 2. For a map visit www.crowgallery.net

Writing Workshop Exhibition at P.S.1 MOMA

February 11, 2010 — February 27, 2010

Glass I…

The Writing Workshop will exhibit an installation of work by four of its members in the vitrines at the cafe in P.S.1 MOMA from February 11th to 27th 2010.

Based in Dublin, Ireland since 2007 and supported by Thisisnotashop Gallery, The Writing Workshop has become an open hub for people to explore & develop writing. The Workshop is catalysed by a shared desire to explore the expansive & pervasive possibilities of text & words, particularly when expanded through transdisciplinary arts practices. Each of the Vitrines at P.S.1 Cafe will contain individual work specifically developed in response to the particular space of exhibition (the glass vitrine) by Áine Ivers, Jessica Foley, Susan Thomson & Jessamyn Fiore.

P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center Opening Hours Thursday through Monday, 12-6pm
Address: 22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
www.ps1.org

Behind the glass you will find…

Free Energy City by Áine Ivers. Through text and drawing an imaginary ecological town is depicted. A lost lover guides us through streets where houses photosynthesize and wolves roam freely…

Allegory for Occupation by Jessica Foley sketches rough outlines of an experience in a crumbling workhouse in the midlands of Ireland, agitating currents of history & myth…

Susan Thomson’s The Swimming Diaries, excerpts from a 25,000 word book where each word corresponds to a stroke swum during the month when her mother was dying

Jessamyn Fiore’s remnants and text memory from a month spent living in the wilds of Patagonia, Chile, as well as A Play About Lee Lozano.

For more information please see:
www.thewritingworkshop.wordpress.com
www.aineivers.org www.jessicadfoley.com www.susanthomson.co.uk

The exhibition is supported by ArtBOOK and Culture Ireland.