Radio ……….Not as you know it!!!

Black Brain Radio will be broadcast to the County of Dublin
only on 89.9fm
19th January - 17th February 2006.

To hear the broadcast on line from January 19th go to http://www.garrettphelan.com/now.htm

Preview: Thursday 19th January 2006, 6-8pm at Temple Bar Gallery

Radio as Art - Discussion Forum - February 17th

Black Brain Radio is an unconventional and innovative radio artwork created by Irish artist Garrett Phelan with Temple Bar Gallery and Studios and in partnership with the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). The transmission will be broadcast around the clock over a thirty-day period from 19 January 2006 to listeners within the greater County Dublin area on a frequency of 89.9fm. In addition, Black Brain Radio will have the capacity to reach a wider global audience through its dedicated on-line presence, located at http://www.garrettphelan.com/now.htm from January 19th 2006.

The project will be further extended by two gallery installations at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Phelan's Black Brain Radio is a continuation of his most recent large scale drawing projects, which explore the processes through which ideas or values enter into society. In a similar manner to the drawing projects, the listener is presented with an onslaught of regurgitated information, in this instance, reprocessed through the artist's voice presented as a series of confusing, disjointed, sound works. Black Brain Radio provides the listener with the opportunity to access through their own radio the core of Phelan's current practice, which is an exploration into the 'formation of opinion'.

In both Temple Bar Gallery and Studios and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Phelan will broaden the scope of understanding for his ideas through on-site installations. Black Brain Radio is public art in the true sense of the phrase, yet the experience is accessible to people on an intimate and private scale. The radio represents a metaphysical gallery within peoples' own homes, their cars and their offices. Wherever there is access to a radio or the internet, it will be possible to tune in and engage with Phelan's artistic practice on a personal level.

Garrett Phelan, a Dublin-based artist, has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally and has been involved in a number of groundbreaking projects that explore the relationship between radio and art. Phelan's most recent projects, NOW:HERE 2003, LUNGLOVE 2004 and GOD ONLY KNOWS 2005 were large-scale drawing installations presented through site-specific projects in non-gallery spaces including the Dublin Civic Offices as well as Manifesta 5, European Biennial in San Sebastian, Spain. The drawings are part of an extensive exploration into the formation of opinion, the first phase, including this radio project, focuses directly on 'reception of information'.

An in-depth forum discussion on alternative ways of considering radio and art will happen over the morning of Friday 17 February 2006. The key speakers will be Anna Colin from Resonance 104.4fm, London's first radio art station, Heidi Grundman from Kunstradio, Austria, Lorelei Harris, Features, Arts & Drama Editor with RTÉ Radio 1 and artist Garrett Phelan - Venue: The Irish Museum of Modern Art. Booking essential - Automatic Booking line 01 6129948 or email talksandlectures@imma.ie

Temple Bar Gallery & Studios would like to acknowledge the help of the Embassy of the Republic of Austria, Dublin, for their assistance in this discussion.

Black Brain Radio represents the first partnership between Temple Bar Gallery & Studios and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and is co-curated by Noel Kelly (TBG&S) and Seán Kissane (IMMA). Black Brain Radio can also be accessed on-line at www.templebargallery.com and www.imma.ie.

Further details will be available from information centres at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) for the dates of the exhibition.

Further details from the gallery or by emailing info@templebargallery.com