Mariner II
Conor McFeely at WILD TULIPS
with text by Darran Anderson
Preview Friday 29th October 2021 | 6 – 8pm
Exhibition runs 30 / 10 / 21 – 27 / 11 / 21: Thursdays to Saturdays, 12 noon to 5pm
We are open by appointment on other days
Image Credit: Conor McFeely, 2021.
WILD TULIPS presents Mariner II, an exhibition by Conor McFeely with text by Darran Anderson.
This new installation at WILD TULIPS Gallery by Conor McFeely is a development of the Mariner light-installation designed for the graveyard at St Augustine’s Church, Derry, commissioned by Art Arcadia.
Mariner II considers the desire and need for the exploration and expansion of both our inner consciousness as well as the outer physical world. The title of the project references the NASA space missions of the early 1960s developed to probe and explore uncharted cosmic terrain, some of which were failed experiments. NASA in turn had appropriated the nautical term, mariner, to convey the impression of travelling great distances to remote lands. This work incorporates a wide range of processes, from sculpture to photography, video and audio in a combination and manipulation of ‘material’ in the service of finding new relationships.
Conor McFeely was born in Derry, N. Ireland, where he now lives and works. Conor McFeely’s previous exhibitions include The British Art Show 5, Hayward Gallery London, touring Edinburgh, Southampton, Cardiff and Birmingham; Something Else, Contemporary Art from Ireland, touring Finland; Dogs Have No Religion Czech Museum of Fine Art, Prague; The Case of the Midwife Toad, The Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin and Void Gallery Derry; Four cycles of the Weathermen projects were shown at NKD Dale Norway, 126 Gallery Galway, Franklin University Lugano Switzerland and The Golden Thread Gallery Belfast; The Prisoners Cinema, Corner College Collective Zurich and the Milan Art expo; His Pioneers project was shown as part of Tiny Deaths at CCA Derry. A further cycle of this project was shown at QSS in Belfast. As a member of the Void Gallery curatorial board, he curated solo shows by Andrei Molodkin and Andres Serrano. His project Mission Station was shown as part of Leviathan at MCAC Portadown. In 2021 he was commissioned by Art Arcadia to create a site-specific light installation for St Augustine’s Graveyard Derry.
Darran Anderson is the author of Inventory, which has been shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize, and Imaginary Cities, chosen as a best book of 2015 by the Financial Times, The Guardian, the A.V. Club, and others.
His writing has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, The TLS, Frieze, The Architectural Review and Wired. He has given talks at the likes of the V&A, the London School of Economics, Sir John Soane’s Museum, Melbourne’s Robin Boyd Foundation, and the Venice Biennale.
He has co-edited The Honest Ulsterman, 3:AM Magazine, Dogmatika, and White Noise.
WILD TULIPS is an initiative of Clarendon Street Studios C.I.C. in Derry, supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council. This exhibition, commission, and publication with text by Darran Anderson has been supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council Artist and Cultural Practitioner Award 2019/20 and Clarendon Street Studios C.I.C.
