Installation

Packing In

Plan A

I installed these five works on Saturday and left for the day feeling that it wasn't right, but I was too invested in it all to see why it wasn't right. Coming in on Monday with fresh eyes and some welcome advice, I realised it was too busy. Too much. In the context of that space they were cancelling each other out. I took down two of the earlier works and immediately the more recent pieces, particularly the very large one, were able to breathe. The agonistic tension of the work in the space became more evident.

Plan A Revised.

Statement

Kerin Casey

Un-Done

MFA Year Two

Artist Statement

Assembled without the permanent stability of glue or nails, each of these works holds in a momentary state of transition, reliant on provisional interconnectedness to maintain form. One piece cannot sustain a curve or appear to hover without the assistance or resistance of another. These opposing forces create tension that is necessary to the structure of the work.

Through working in this way, I have developed a framework based on Chantal Mouffe's theory of Agonism which examines how conflict can be harnessed in a positive, inclusive way by acknowledging opposing forces rather than suppressing them. With an agonistic approach, conflict is made productive by holding tension in a state of abeyance and agreeing to make temporary decisions, or de-cisions. Each work then exists as a perpetual sketch, collapsing the binary between rough and final versions. They land in a suspended moment but still hold the potential to be un-done and re-assembled, challenging the idea of being finished, instead being finished for now.

Individually, and as a collective, these works then consider both abstract and socially conditioned notions of shifting ground, the weight of expectation and the fragility of inherited narratives. Referencing feminine stereotypes while simultaneously challenging them, they explore the dynamics of navigation in a present misaligned with the future once envisaged in an earlier time. To be adaptable is to be resilient, and that requires both flexibility and strength. The ability to connect, adapt, and evolve speaks to my experience of the human condition and the need to be open to learning new ways of being in the world with each other, relinquishing fixed ideas, and adapting to positive change.

1  Soft Girl Energy, 2024, plywood and acrylic paint. 

2  Kamala Wore A Burgundy Suit, 2024, plywood and acrylic paint.

3  Pamela Goes Make-Up Free, 2024, plywood and acrylic paint.

Catalogue