Category Archives: Sucrose Series

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月亮之约——夏日展览，通州

《被困的明亮树枝》 蔗糖混合媒材，直径40cm，Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018

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衷心感谢艺术家/策展人吕美邀请我参加这次五位艺术家共同参与的展览，也十分感谢FOR觅艺术空间主理人庞春慧。非常感谢一同参展的各位艺术家同行陈庆庆、秦秀娟、吕美和张戈。

这是一个令人愉快的下午，在很长一段时间减少出行居家办公之后，很高兴能与这么多新老朋友相谈甚欢。

 

《月亮之约》开幕式 2022年6月

 

 

展览概况链接  《月亮之约》

 参展艺术家:   陈庆庆，秦秀娟， 吕美， 张戈， 倪芙瑞莲-Niamh

媒体链接 2

几幅蔗糖系列作品在本次展览中展出.

地球之柱-奥林匹克公园，蔗糖系列 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018 

 

元大都城墙遗址公,蔗糖系列 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018 

迷雾露珠——武侯祠 蔗糖系列 100 x 50cm Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018

蔗糖系列

蔗糖系列作品通过一系列过程和材料的运用，探索失去与改造。在创作过程中对作品画面多次干预，探索材料本身的物理性质如何推动了改变的进程。有些干预如同缝补画面，“烧掉”表面的数字图像，添加色彩，改变的过程当然也包括糖的结晶所产生的影响。艺术家完成了“蔗糖绘画”之后，结晶过程有可能持续使画面发生变化，擦除。画面的自然风景和环境取材于城市中的公园绿地，这些地方强烈地吸引着艺术家(这些地方包括她家附近的奥林匹克森林公园，她曾参加划龙舟训练的后海)。她的作品反映了我们生活中存在的张力，来自于转变和摧毁、建设与解构的过程对我们的塑造。

 

版纳漩涡  Niamh Cunningham 倪芙·瑞莲 布面丙烯  120x100cm 2021

版纳林冠  Niamh Cunningham 倪芙·瑞莲 布面丙烯  100x120cm 2021

参展作品除了蔗糖系列之外，还有两幅“森林的呼吸”布上绘画，这两件作品是在去年云南西双版纳在地艺术项目中创作的。

本次展览也是装置“种树”首次展出，这是一个社会生态艺术实践，旨在向公众宣传植树并用来支持当地植树项目。展览中使用的海棠树由昌平的北京林学会捐赠。这棵树整个夏季结出的“果实”将捐赠给北京林学会种树项目。

策展人吕美向媒体介绍“种树”

纸做成的树

这棵海棠树由北京林学会捐赠，它所结的“果实”将捐赠给植树项目。树上的叶子是折纸做成，花是用一元人民币纸币做的。

“种树”使用流通中越来越少出现的纸币，以此促进人们对物质世界的觉察。所有物质都有物理持久性，其中一些物质，比如水可以改变其物理状态，变成冰或者蒸汽。就像水一样，实物的现金也具有转化能力，在这个项目中，纸币的物理形态将转化为即将种下的小树苗……在这里，纸用来种树。

更多相关阅读请点击链接 摇钱树的传说

非常感谢通州格拉斯小镇的FOR觅艺术空间。展览将在夏天持续整整两个月。如果您对“种树”工作坊感兴趣请与我联系。

 

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Moon Covenant – Summer exhibition in Tongzhou

‘Bright stick trapped’ sucrose mixed media, 40 cm diam Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018

Click here for 简单中文

A big thank you to artist/curator Mei Lu for inviting me to this five artist exhibition and also to gallerist Hui Peng Chun of For Mi Gallery and to fellow participating artists including Chen Qingqing, Xiujuan Qin, Mei Lu ,Ge Zhang.

It was a really pleasant afternoon connecting with people, old and new friends after a long spell of isolation.

 

 

Opening Reception  Moon Covenant June 2022

 

Link to the overview  with details of the five participating artists  Moon Covenant  Media Link 1

Chen QingQing, Xiujuan Qin, Mei Lu, Ge Zhang and Niamh 

Media Link 2  

Several of  the sucrose works are exhibited at this venue.

Pillars of the Earth OP , sucrose series mixed media oval 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 2018

Yuan Dadu Relics Park canal , sucrose series mixed media oval 40 x 30cm Niamh Cunningham 2018

Foggy Dew- Wu Hou Ci.  (武侯祠)  sucrose series 100 x 50cm Niamh Cunningham 2021

The sucrose series explores loss and reclamation through process and materiality. It involves a sequence of multiple interventions and explores how the physical matter itself can continue to push the creation event. Some of the interventions include sewing, ‘burning off’ the digital image from the surface, adding colour and of course the crystalisation process of sugar. Once the artist has stopped working on ‘sugar painting’ the process of crystalisation may continue to transform and obliterate. The imagery itself is of nature and the environment in urban park areas for which the artist has a strong affinity. (These places include areas around Beijing such as Olympic Park where she lives next door to and Hou Hai where she used to train in dragon boat racing) Her paintings reflect the tensions we experience in lives which are shaped by the processes of transformation and obliteration .

Banna Vortex  Niamh Cunningham 倪芙。瑞莲 acrylic on canvas 100x120cm 2021

Banna Overstory Niamh Cunningham 倪芙。瑞莲 acrylic on canvas 100x120cm 2021

Apart from the Sucrose work there are also  two “Forest Breath” paintings on canvas which were made last year during an artist residency in Xishuangbana,  Yunnan. 

This exhibition is also the first time to show “Tree Planter” which is a socio eco practice aiming to inform the public and support local tree planting initiatives . The crab apple tree used here was donated by the Beijing Forestry Society in Changping and the “fruits” it yIelds over the Summer will be donated to their tree planting program.

Curator Mei Lu talking about “Tree Planter” to media.

Paper Makes Trees

This Crab Apple Tree was donated by Beijing Forestry Society, the “fruits” that it yields will be donated to tree planting programs.  The leaves are made from origami leaves and flowers made of one yuan bills.

Tree Planter uses a bank note that is decreasingly being used in circulation to raise awareness of our material world. All material matter has a physical permanance although some matter such as water can change its state for example  to ice or steam . Like water, physical cash also has transformative power and in this case the physicality of paper notes will be transformed into planting new saplings. .. paper is used to grow trees.

Read this link for ancient folklore on money trees.

Many thanks to the gallery  “For觅 “ in Grasse Town Tongzhou . The exhibition runs throughout the Summer for another two months. Please contact me if you would like to participate in the Tree Planter workshop. 

 

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Sucrose Series showing alongside Microbe Art in online ‘Artists from Ireland’ catalogue

 

Thrilled to be showing “Sucrose” series side-by- side with “Microbe” artwork in this online catalogue at the Sasse Museum of Art, LA, USA.

This online exhibition hosts thirteen Irish artists including :

 

 

Abigail O’Brien

Una Sealy

Diana Copperwhite

Niamh Cunningham

Sile Walsh

Trudi Van der Elsen

Mick O Dea

Tom Fitzgerald

Eamon Colman

James Horan

Maurice Quillinan

Stephen Lawlor

Diane Henshaw

 

Here is the link to the catalogue where you can learn more about each artist here,  

https://view.publitas.com/inland-empire-museum-of-art/artists_from_ireland/

 

 

On Saturday  15th January PST,  interesting  artist talk on Zoom was moderated by John Brantingham and hosted by Gene Sasse held on Saturday 15th January PST

https://sasseartmuseum.org/tv/art-talks.htm

 

Sasse Museum of Art link is

https://sasseartmuseum.org/museum_catalogs.htm

 

 

Special thank you to curator Maurice Quillinan for gathering a wonderful exhibition together , for bringing it to the right people at the Sasse Museum of Art  where it  was produced with perfect care and insight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Interpretations of Art and Heritage -Suzhou Classical Gardens

Winding Wall  – Sucrose Series Niamh Cunningham 2021 

 

“Silent and Soft – It moistens everything -New Deconstruction of Art and Heritage” 

This current exhibition held at the Couples Garden Retreat  which is one of the nine World Heritage Gardens in Suzhou Classical Gardens .

 

 

 

 

 

The exhibits involve sculpture, painting, calligraphy, photography, video and installation. These works of art use contemporary art language and garden heritage dialogue, in the deep courtyard of classical gardens, “moisten things silently” into the garden, into the world cultural heritage.

 

A special thank you to curator Rong Chen, and all the Suzhou team involved.

Thank you also to artist friend 朱志刚 Zhu ZhiGang  

For a long time, I have been fascinated by the complicated and often disorienting landscapes of Chinese gardens. In these highly regarded gardens, scholars borrow from the Confucian geometric order, the Taoist search for an elixir (which is closer to the natural world than Confucian ceremonial). Gardens can also assist in meditation, as in Buddhism. The picture extends in an uncanny way in time and space, revealing long-ago insights into the natural world.

 

Participating artists: 

DIRD / Cai Dongdong / Chen Rong / Chen Naiqian / Cong Yunfeng / Donal Turner / Dai Jiafeng / Ding She / Fang Minyao / Guo Kewei / Hang Tianyi / Liu Changming / Liang Yajie / Lu Junzhou / Luo Bonian / Ni Fu Ruilian / Qian Ruya / Rushi Humanity Space / Sun Cunming / Tang Huawei / Tong Yan Runan / Wang Dameng / Cao Yonghua / Wang Qingsong / Wang Yabin / Wumen Aesthetic Art Institute / Wu Mengyuan / Yang Lidan / Zhu Xinyi / Naga Art Studio / Zhao Rongjun / Zhu Zhigang

 

 

The UNESCO World Heritage Training and Research Center in the Asia-Pacific Region (WHITRAP) is UNESCO’s Category 2 International Institution (Category 2 Centre), the first professional institution in the field of heritage protection established in a developing country. It serves the signatory countries of the World Heritage Convention in the Asia-Pacific region and other UNESCO member states, and is committed to the protection and development of world heritage sites in the Asia-Pacific region. The UNESCO World Heritage Training and Research Center in the Asia-Pacific Region is composed of three centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou. Suzhou Center (contracted by the Suzhou Municipal Government) is mainly responsible for traditional building technology and restoration, analysis of protection materials, and restoration and maintenance of historic gardens.

 

润物细无声

艺术与遗产新解构

Silent and soft, it moistens everything

New Interpretation of Art and Heritage

2021.6.12 — 7.11

开幕时间：6.12 下午1:00-2:30

分享时间：6.12 下午2:30-3:30

苏州耦园  

苏州市姑苏区仓街小新桥巷6号

 

主办单位 Organizer：

联合国教科文组织亚太地区世界遗产培训与研究中心（苏州）

The World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO(Suzhou)

 

苏州对外文化交流促进会园林文化专业委员会

Suzhou Association for the Promotion of International Cultural

Exchanges, Suzhou Gardens Committee

 

苏州吴门美学艺术研究院

Suzhou Wumen Institute of Art and Research

 

承办单位 Undertaker：

苏州市耦园管理处

Management Office of the Couple’s Garden Retreat

 

支持单位 Support unit：

西湖当代美术馆

Moca Westlake

骆伯年艺术基金会

Bonian Luo Art Foundation

如石人文空间 

Rushi Cultural Space

 

 

To view all the participating artworks in this project  the below links can be autotranslated into English

 

Link 1

 

Link 2

 

Link 3

 

Link 4 

 

Link 5 

 

Link 6 

 

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Memory Palace of Trees – an overview

 

Web of fabulous grass, sucrose series, Niamh Cunningham 2018 

Memory Palace of Trees:

In October 2019  after reading the Pulitzer prize winning book ‘The OverStory’ by Richard Powers I started my plans for the socio-eco art practice ‘The Memory Palace of Trees’. It began in January 2020 at a time when the pandemic was just about to reveal itself as the most urgent global emergency of our lifetime. The pandemic is very much part of our ecological crisis and how we ‘utilize’ the natural world.  Throughout a most turbulent year, people worldwide have reappraised their relationship and dependance on the natural world. Many have turned to nature to claim a space of sanctity and sanity and some people have shared their stories with us in the Memory Palace of Trees.  

Gingko Palace  Sucrose Series 83 x 120 cm print on Aluminium  Niamh Cunningham 2020 (week 15)

Most of these are personal stories.  Submissions came from a range of different people in the US, Europe, Australia and Asia including a children’s writer, poets, dendrologists, artists, a dancer, a forester, an ant forest app user, photographers, academics and more

Ginkgo Palace UV print on Aluminium 80 x 120 cm  Niamh Cunningham  2020 

…..many of these stories inspired the makings of new artworks .

 

Here is a one minute video clip of the artwork for the November tree story . 

Ladybird of DongXiaokou (6 min 40 secs) video Niamh Cunningham 2020   Dancer: Zhang Yi , Music Credit: Ciorras 

 

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to ALL contributors and I will be in contact soon to thank each of you properly. Your stories will act as important stations (or installations) in the Memory Palace of Trees and will be a part of larger future artworks

 

 

 

The Second Beech  Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲2020 (week 17 of the Memory Palace of Trees)

Ice Willow , Sucrose 8.7.2020 Print on Aluminium , Niamh Cunningham -Kosimas Willow Story 

 

 

 

Chestnut – Park Tree Sucrose Series original Sucrose 50 x 50 cm  Niamh Cunningham 2020 (week 12)

 

 

 

What is a memory palace?

This is a map of a physical space with ‘stations’ containing information you want to remember, these stations are arranged in a linear journey . Here is a link to a  blog from last year  : Journey Image and Space the Memory palace workshops.

 

Open Call for your tree story on video 

Memory Palace of Trees will continue in 2021. This year the submissions will be in video format. If you have a story you can tell in less than a minute (less than 60 seconds), please  find your favorite tree sit under it and video yourself  on your phone telling the story. I can help with the editing and add the English or Chinese subtitles.  Please ensure the sound quality of your recording is clear.  If you are in Beijing I can come and video you if you wish. Please ask if you have any questions about this. 

Looking forward to hearing from you.  Please email me at niamh@niamhcunningham.com

 

 

Jinan Tree Song  Sucrose Series, print on aluminium 158 x 120cm  Niamh Cunningham 2020
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Resilience Thinking – building a safe living space for humanity

 

TreeSong Jinan,  sucrose Series,  (3.7.3.b) Niamh Cunningham 瑞连 2020

Resilience is the capacity to be able to deal with change, to live with change, to make use of change , not just incremental change but also sudden shocks and crises and develop the ability to turn those crises into opportunities.

When we acknowledge we are in the driving seat of change and defining the conditions for world development, this profoundly shifts our potential in terms of our social well being , development and economic growth. And so we are able to look at the Anthropocene directly in the eye and deal with it in a more manageable way.

Having completed the Planetary Boundaries on line course presented by the SDG academy (all of the lecturers are from the Resilience Centre in Stockholm.) I wanted to mull over some of the things I have been thinking about.

The nine boundaries begin with the three main large scale processes : climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and ocean acidification. Slow variables are biodiversity loss, interference with nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, changes in land use and fresh water use. The last two are heavily human induced chemical pollution and aerosol loading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discovered more about positive and negative feedbacks , regime changes , tipping points and to a more limited extent the interactions between boundaries.The main presenter Johan Rockström raises the chilling concept of the Quadruple Squeeze . These include Affluence and Population, the second is Climate Change crisis , the third is the Loss of our Ecosystems ability to buffer the changes (such as carbon buffers in seas) and the fourth is Surprise leading to tipping points where there is an ‘abrupt knock out’ after a period of resilience.

 

There is no doubt that we are facing the largest and fastest transformation in the history of humanity . We are the first generation to witness the changes directly and the last generation to have the capacity to exert meaningful change to these biospherical processes. 

 

Even though delivery of the talks are brief and persuasive it makes it easier to absorb the weight of the content.  One of the lecturers Gary Peterson whom I view as an eco philosopher spoke on resilience thinking. He explained the use of optimisation can only be used when the variables are known and when things are under control.

Resilience Thinking , Niamh Cunningham 2020

 

In order to act collectively there needs to be shared ability and shared trust. We need social, technical and institutional ways to enable new understandings which cope with uncertainty and the evolution of new things. Ways in supporting the Biosphere underpins our wealth and our wellbeing

However simply increasing resilience is not the issue, we also need to consider where resilience is harmful. Understanding circumstances when  increasing resilience in one thing can decrease resilience in something else. We need to understand what creates , destroys and trades off these things and also not focus simply on increasing resilience but what kind of resilience do we want to increase. For example the fossil fuel economy is amazingly resilient, we need to reflect how can we undermine the resilience of these things? 

 

 

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The course can be taken free of charge on EdX  platform

https://www.edx.org/

 

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Week 6 On the Stroll to Work- Vilma’s Story

简体中文

I hope you are all keeping well out there , washing your hands and keeping safe . Special wishes go out to all the people in Wuhan. 

This weeks story comes from an old friend Vilma B. Thank You Vilma 

 

Leafy with Love (Nanhu nanlu ) photo 10.02.18 sucrose on cotton, thread, Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2018

‘I grew up in a neighborhood on the east side of Caracas, Venezuela. There used to be some mango trees and others , the names of which I don’t remember right now. There was a wide stretch of avenue where I used to walk to and from work. Nearby there was a park with a sports field lined very tall eucalyptus trees. I remember sometimes closing my eyes smelling the pleasant fragrance of these trees. I loved it. It made me feel good.’

Vilma B Feb 2020

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