Gerard Byrne

Following numerous solo exhibitions and the participation in group shows, Byrne’s “A Late Evening in the Future”, shown in 2014 at the FRAC des Pays de la Loire and in 2015 at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, presented the first opportunity for a more in-depth encounter with the work of an outstanding representative of contemporary art. Here the title points to the different time levels that clash in Byrne’s expansive works in order to “create” the present as it were. The artist’s primary interest here is the installation of complex multimedia pieces: his presentations go far beyond the usual conventions of multimedia works, and in terms of spatial structure and temporal sequencing are closer to a piece of performance art. The lavishly illustrated publication that is the fruit of close cooperation between the artist and graphic designer Peter Maybury focuses particularly on this aspect of the presentation, and with essays by Maeve Connolly and Tirdad Zolghadr offers key insights into a unique body of work that given the multifaceted nature of its content leaves much more to be discovered.