Murder Machine

MURDER MACHINE

Ormston House, in partnership with EVA International and Making Histories Visible, is pleased to present Murder Machine a project curated by Christine Eyene in collaboration with Ormston House, featuring Ceara Conway, George Hallett, Linda O’Keeffe, The Otolith Group and Rusangano Family.

Education should foster; this education is meant to repress.
Education should inspire; this education is meant to tame.
Education should harden; this education is meant to enervate.
Pádraig H. Pearse (1916)

Murder Machine revisits thoughts and writings by Irish linguist and activist Pádraig Pearse (1879-1916), one of the leading figures of the Easter Rising, who voiced criticism against the English educational system imposed on Ireland. In his eponymous pamphlet The Murder Machine (January 1916), compiling articles and notes dated between 1912 and 1914, Pearse spoke of a system devised “for the debasement of Ireland”. He described it as a system doing “violence to the elementary human rights of Irish children” and compared it to slave education.

His criticism echoed many of the concerns expressed by leading African intellectuals and anti-colonial activists who challenged the effects of colonisation on African cultures. In South Africa for instance, the usage of European languages in the formation of African modernity quickly became a matter of debate. This was, for instance, the case of the New African Movement (1860s-1960s) that championed the cause of African languages. The iconic Heinemann African Writers Series launched with Chinua Achebe’s seminal novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was not spared such questioning about vernacular languages. In a similar vein, of the Négritude movement that emerged in 1930s Paris, South African writer, activist and educationist Ezekiel Mphahlele once asked: “is African writing in French not French literature?”

Murder Machine brings together Ceara Conway (Ireland), George Hallett (South Africa), Linda O’Keeffe (Ireland/UK), The Otolith Group (UK) and Rusangano Family: God Knows, MuRli and mynameisjOhn (Zimbabwe/Togo/Ireland) for an interactive display and a series of monthly public interventions around language, text and literature across histories, geographies and political contexts, through art pieces, performances and archival material previously unseen in Ireland.

These include The Otolith Group’s One out of Many Afrophilias (2014), an installation that summons the energies of the controversial literary magazine Transition, founded in 1961 in Kampala by Rajat Neogy. The piece conjures Transition’s influential Afropolitanism into a fictional environment that combines interior décor with display system and reading room. George Hallett’s original 1970s and 80s photographic compositions for Heinemann’s African Writers Series and his portraits of African writers are presented alongside rare editions of the series, and books from the curator’s collection documenting the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

Also programmed in the project: a live performance by Ormston House artist in residence Ceara Conway who will give a dramatic reinterpretation of Roisín Dubh (Dark Rosaleen), the symbolic poem marking the end of Gaelic Ireland; a new piece produced by Limerick-based DJ Deviant (16 April). Linda O’Keeffe will premiere a newly created sound piece responding to 19th and 20th century Irish Independence movements through two key texts: The Irish Declaration of Independence and Pádraig Pearse’s The Murder Machine (12 May). Finally, Rusangano Family will host an informal, interactive workshop looking at the creative processes involved in writing, recording and producing their new album Let the Dead Bury the Dead (2 June).

Murder Machine is presented at Ormston House in partnership with EVA International and Making Histories Visible as part the Federation of arts organisations and institutions responding to the curatorial concept of Ireland’s Biennial 2016: Still (the) Barbarians.

Murder Machine
16 April – 17 July 2016
Press preview: Thursday 14 April
Opening: Saturday 16 April, 12 – 2pm, with a curator’s tour by Christine Eyene and DUBH, a live performance by Ceara Conway produced by DJ Deviant.

Ormston House
9-10 Patrick Street
Limerick City
V94 V089
Ireland
www.ormstonhouse.com

Opening hours:
Wed – Sat | 12 – 6pm

For press information and images, please contact:
info@ormstonhouse.com

Download Murder Machine press release (PDF) with the artists and curator biographies, and venue information.

Murder Machine project logos

D. M. Zwelonke, Robben Island. Published by Heinemann, African Writers Series. Book cover by George Hallett. Photo: eye.on.art.

George Hallett, The creation of a book cover. London, 1972. Photo: eye.on.art.

Installation in progress at Ormston House. Photo: eye.on.art.

Installation of works by George Hallett. Photo: eye.on.art.

George Hallett’s selected work installed. Photo: eye.on.art.

A selection of books for the vitrine. Photo: eye.on.art.

Selected books in vitrine. Including covers by George Hallett, writing by Dambuzo Marechera, poetry by James Matthews, pieces selected by Richard Rive, and books on the Soweto Uprising with images by Sam Nzima and Peter Magubane. Photo: eye.on.art.

Books in vitrine. Photo: eye.on.art.

The posters have arrived. Photo: eye.on.art.

The Otolith Group, One out of many Afrophilias (2014), detail of installation. Photo: eye.on.art.

The Otolith Group, One out of many Afrophilias (2014), detail of installation with curator Francois Larini. Photo: eye.on.art.

First visitor. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors arriving for the launch of Murder Machine. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors at Murder Machine opening. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors in front of George Hallett’s work. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors at Murder Machine opening. Artist Mary Evans in the foreground. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors at Murder Machine opening. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors looking at the display of Transition magazines in The Otolith Group’s installation One out of many Afrophilias. Murder Machine opening. Photo: eye.on.art.

Visitors looking at the display of Transition magazines in The Otolith Group’s installation One out of many Afrophilias. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitor at Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors at Murder Machine opening. Photo: Francois Larini.

Visitors reading copies of Transition magazines, part of The Otolith Group installation. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitor reading a copy of Transition magazines, part of The Otolith Group installation. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

A copy of Transition magazines, part of The Otolith Group installation. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitor reading a copy of Transition magazines, part of The Otolith Group installation. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors reading copies of Transition magazines, part of The Otolith Group installation. Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Murder Machine opening. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors gathered for the opening speeches by Koyo Kouoh, curator of EVA International 2016, Mary Conlon, co-director of Ormston House, and Christine Eyene, curator of Murder Machine. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors gathered for the opening speeches by Koyo Kouoh, Mary Conlon and Christine Eyene. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Murder Machine curator Christine Eyene giving an exhibition tour. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Visitors gathered for the opening speeches by Koyo Kouoh, Mary Conlon and Christine Eyene. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Artists Godfried Donkor and Tracey Rose. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Before Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Audience being blindfolded for Ceara Conway’s immersive performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Audience being blindfolded for Ceara Conway’s immersive performance. Left: Woodrow Kernohan, director of EVA International. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Audience being blindfolded for Ceara Conway’s immersive performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Ceara Conway performing her new piece DUBH, to a blindfolded audience. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Member of audience during Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Children, during Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Dj Deviant, producer of Ceara Conway’s performance DUBH, with his drone machine. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Dj Deviant during Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Members of the audience during Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

Member of the audience during Ceara Conway’s performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.

End of performance. Photo: Shane Serrano.