Elaine Byrne – Classic material with a contemporary context

By Roberta October 12, 2016

In this 33-minute podcast interview, Elaine Byrne -- whose videos were featured at Slought recently -- talks about classic texts from James Joyce and Dante, which she uses as source material in her work to raise issues with today's world. It's a good listen! - Artblog Editor

Irish artist Elaine Byrne makes work that uses Dante, James Joyce and other heady source material for her video and sculptural works with political and social commentary on contemporary issues. In one video, “Hellgoers,” she is calling out an Irish bank scandal, using Dante’s Purgatorio and a pilgrimage location in Ireland called St. Patrick’s Purgatory; in another she’s raising issues about anti-Semitism in the context of Joyce’s Cyclops section of Ulysses. The videos are captivating, and give so very much to chew over. Elaine’s Irish accent is part of the treat of this 33-minutes long podcast.

Thank you to The Galleries at Moore TGMR radio project for making this podcast possible, and especially to Matt Kalasky for inviting Artblog to participate in the Moore radio project. Listen to the interview with Elaine Byrne at the TGMR site here.