Anne Tallentire | ‘Drift 2002-2006’ | 2006 | 6 channel video installation | Dimensions variable
Since the Arts Council collection was established in the early 1960s there has been a huge growth in the number of artists using the camera to create photographs and make moving image artworks. At this time when we are all looking at an abundance of images
online, we wanted to highlight some key works in the collection. There are over 100 lens-based works in the collection, and we’ve selected 14 works that are maybe not as familiar to our audiences. Works in the exhibition were created between 1987
and 2013.
Here, Anne Tallentire, whose work is showcased under the ‘Four Decades of the Lens’ theme, tells us more about the featured artwork and what it means to have her artwork as part of the Arts Council collection. Explore this and more from the Arts Council
collection at instagram.com/artscouncilireland/
Drift 2002-2006 consists of 21 video clips depicting activities of workers at various times of day and night within the financial district of the City of London, such as cleaners, painters and construction workers. The footage has been decelerated to
consider the potential of gesture as an embodiment of agency, specifically in relation to the figure of the worker in public revealing how bodily comportment and gait bring us to think about how we might occupy space differently depending, on our
subject position. The video works vary between 24 seconds and 6.16 minutes and are screened according to the scope and context of each space the work is shown in, such as IMMA (2010) when configured as a large scale installation screening all 21 video
works within a scaffolding structure or in the group show Arbeit, presented as a single screen compendium. Drift reflects an interest in re-figuring materials and systems, primarily in relation to the overlooked in social and political life that characterizes
the practice overall. I welcome the potential of new contexts and publics that the Arts Council Collection will bring.
—Anne Tallentire
Since 1962, the Arts Council has been buying art from working artists. The Collection that evolved tells the story of modern and contemporary Irish visual art in a unique and fascinating way. Today the Collection continues to grow and its more than 1,100 paintings, sculptures and other works are on display in public spaces all over Ireland for people to experience and enjoy first hand. You can find out more at: www.artscouncil.emuseum.com