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28/7/2014

Mel O'Callaghan

First Park, New York

Curated by OSMOS in collaboration with First Street Green

With Mel O’Callaghan’s Ensemble we are witness to an act of struggle, triumph and retreat. Three men move into the frame and prepare their hose to fire. We watch as they lean into and against the elemental force of the water. After some time a lone man moves into frame and walks improbably against the extreme force of the hose. He fights against it yet ultimately prevails as he pushes forward and the men begin to retreat.

The site has become a stage for the performative act. The man is pushed to his physical limit and accordingly the space he is in speaks of this struggle. It is in the liminal threshold between the two screens that the greatest action takes place. Man protests against the violence of man and triumphs. O'Callaghan focuses on the experience of the self through the work's process. “By sculpting bodies of stone and water with one's own body, the physical labor might not only be seen as repetitive and violent, but also as introspective and meditative. In this way, the figures seem to be distancing themselves mentally from the act and the site of endurance.” Anja Isabel Schneider

Born in 1975 in Sydney, Australia, Mel O'Callaghan lives and works in Paris, France. Her work was presented in 2014 at The 19th Biennale of Sydney. In 2014 she will have solo exhibitions at the Museum Medeiros e Almeida and Encontros Da Imagem, Lisbon, Portugal. She is represented by Galerie Allen in Paris.

For more information contact: Cay Sophie Rabinowitz / osmos.address@gmail.com

First Park
33 East First Street, Manhattan, New York
Tuesday, July 29, 9 PM
Wednesday, July 30, 9 PM

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