Hidden Currents | February 2012 | Dublin 1

‘Hidden Currents’ was an exhibition by Niamh Heery uncovering the near-invisible movement of commodities across the great oceans of the world.

In 2010 1,270,000 shipping containers full of commodities passed through Dublin port. As consumers we claim little knowledge of the origins of our material possessions.  We are ignorant of the epic journey undertaken by our decaffeinated coffee or our new Smartphone. We are content to pluck them from the shelves with no thought as to their start point.

Hosted in a disused travel agency, Bulk is a body of video and photographic work resulting from Heery’s investigation into the global logistics of the movement of consumer goods.

During April and May 2010, the artist embarked on a 24 day transatlantic voyage on a freighter ship from Buenos Aires to London - stopping at six different commercial ports in Latin America, Africa and Europe.

Bulk explores the homogenised, anonymous steel domain that is the working port. Bulk’s video piece splices together footage of multiple ships leaving port, offering a panoramic and synchronised window on the world of cargo shipping.

Bulk’s photographic images are composed using a mirror-like doubling effect which elongates the faceless metal tombs enshrining the docks and heightens the overwhelming sense of the unknown.

As a continuation, Juggernaut is a sculptural work made from black Lego bricks. A cargo ship built to scale, the mass-produced Lego bricks respond to the stacks of container blocks seen in the video work.  Juggernaut will sit in a darken space, lit solely by a single spotlight, much like a cargo liner's voyage through the void of the empty mid-Atlantic moonlit ocean.

Niamh Heery is a Dublin-based multimedia artist.  She graduated from IADT with a BA in Visual Arts Practice and went on to complete her MA in Film Production & Direction, NUI Galway. Niamh's work has been shown most recently at University of Toronto, JCIA Gallery, New York and the 126 Gallery, Galway.

The Launch of 'Hidden Currents' is took place on Thursday 2 February from 6pm at Unit 5 (former Delta Travel), Sackville Place, Dublin 1 The show continued at Sackville Place until 11 February and opening hours are 1 - 6pm (closed on Monday)

'Hidden Currents' was brought to you with the support of Clerys.

'Hidden Currents' was also part of First Thursdays