Vanitas, 2010, mixed-media installation, dimensions variable.

Artist Statement:

Alissa Kleist’s installation engages with the themes of illusion and reality by blurring the boundaries between the two. She is interested in creating a moment of suspended disbelief before eventually disclosing the actuality of the situation. Using the traditional template of a “still-life”, in Vanitas the whole room becomes a set, where objects act as allegorical props and are not as they initially seem. The viewer is invited to engage in the pleasurable act of looking at an installation in which the artificiality of the work is ultimately laid bare.

This mixed-media installation consists of a mirror at the back of a room, suspended from the ceiling and framed to imitate a landscape painting. As the viewer walks in they are met by this suspended ‘frame’, which is positioned to reflect an installation set up in a second adjoining room.

The layout allows the viewer to see the reflection of the work in mirror upon first entry, after which they can walk on to view the actual installation.

The still-life, in the tradition of classical Dutch and Flemish still-life painting, is composed of an array of fruit, food, cutlery, etc. In the mirror this still-life appears as a painting, perfect and real. Yet when the viewer approaches the ‘real’ installation he/she discovers that everything on the table is hand-made and artificial and the food looks like it’s rotting and mouldy. This piece aims to create a visual interplay between reality, fiction and the artificial.

Alissa was selected for the Roscommon County Council Arts Office art@work Residency Programme 2010. The residency provides funding for 8 artists to undertake a three-week residency in a local business in county Roscommon, Republic of Ireland. The 15 days can be spread out over a total of 3 months.

The residency aims to create a dialogue between the artist and the business they proposed to work with, in some ways revealing the everyday working methods of the artist. The outcome is not specifically a finished piece, rather it is an opportunity for the artist in residence and the business and it’s staff to exchange ideas.

Alissa will spend her time working with the staff and owners of Gleeson’s Townhouse . Situated in the centre of Roscommon town it is a building with a rich historical past which has been renovated to include guest rooms, a cafe and a restaurant.

In her initial proposal Alissa states:

I am interested in the fact that Gleeson’s Townhouse is a mix of the old Presbyterian church built in 1830 and the newer additions that have been built over the years to accommodate the building’s shifting status into a large townhouse with rooms and a restaurant.

When giving her tour Mary Gleeson mentioned that she used to have a garden that has now been converted into guest rooms. As the building hosts both the past and present I would like to look at ways to somehow re-introduce Mary’s garden back into the building.

I am interested in the boundaries between the real and the artificial and possible options for this project could be to create an artificial garden that will never wither or a temporary new garden with plants (either reflecting the plants Mary once grew or possibly plants that would have grown there in the 19th century) that could temporary re-create the past.

I would, however, like to leave this very open ended and use my time in Gleeson’s to research how elements of the history of the building could be re-introduced in a contextual way.

However, the residency is geared towards a collaboration between artist and workplace. The above statement will act as a starting point but will ultimately develop in,as of yet, unpredictable ways.

STATION opened to the public for one night as part of Late Night Art on Thursday 4th of March, which included a radio interview for BBC Radio Good Morning Ulster featuring myself, Ruaidhri Lennon and Mairead Dunne.

The project space is situated on Queen Street in the heart of  Belfast city. The building itself, a former hospital and RUC Barracks is currently being used as an artist space until its renovation in two years’ time, when it will become a Bar/ Hotel.

Artist Statement:

Vacancy addresses the station building’s shifting architectural and cultural status from that of a police station to a hotel. The installation consists of a half opened door that allows the viewer to look in at a mirror reflecting the back of the room, in which one corner has been transformed into a hotel room. In the mirror the image of the hotel room becomes a possible reality, a glimpse forward. However, the illusion is broken once the viewer looks around the door at the actual installation, which is entirely fake, manufactured out of paper and everyday throw-away materials, and lit like a film set, with tools and rubbish left just “off-screen”.

Ultimately it is the concept of failure, the suspension of disbelief and the inevitable disclosure of reality that fascinates me. This listed building, full of traces of the past, will become just another hotel/bar, gutted and perhaps its history flaunted for commercial purposes. For now this building is an in-between space, with the potential to become anything and nothing, which exists both in the real and the imaginary world.

Below are images of  the piece, entitled Vacancy, made as part of this project:

Mirror image, view from the door

Full room view

Installation shot- detail

Installation shot- detail

Saturday 14th of November

(see Projects section for more details)

The Project brief was as follows:

I propose to purchase an item of flatpack furniture which, during my time spent in the gallery, will act as a catalyst for experimentation.
I feel that this residency would give me the opportunity to engage not only in the physical making of an art object (which will explore the possibilities and limitations of the flatpack itself) but it would also allow me to examine some of the themes behind the construction of space, the question of originality and the interaction of the two and the three-dimensional.
I would like to use the flatpack as a sculptural object, creating images and photographs describing the variety of different ways in which it may be assembled.’

Please click here for more details.

Suitcase Series 2

Suitcase Series 2 At Total Kunst Gallery, Edinburgh,  2nd – 15th November