Declan Clarke The Hopeless End of a Great Dream

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios presents a significant new feature length film commission by Irish artist Declan Clarke. Entitled The Hopeless End of a Great Dream, the 16mm film work has been co commissioned by TBG+S, Belfast Exposed, Centre Cultural Irlandais Paris and Trinity Creative.

The film was shot entirely on the grounds of Trinity College Dublin, using the diversity of architecture within Trinity’s walls as a backdrop and metaphor for the last 100 years of Irish history. Taking a number of overlooked episodes in Irish history as its starting point, the film works along a fragmented narrative which sees unexplained actions taking place in academic and historical surroundings. Clarke grounds these episodes in the political present, so that they function as commentaries on the causes, effects, and ongoing ramifications of the past on the current political climate. Visually and thematically referencing the tropes of post war European cinema, Clarke blurs real and fictional stories to create film with a complex palimpsest of narrative development, compelling characters and mysterious events.

The exhibition will go on to be exhibited in Belfast Exposed in May and at the Centre Culturel Irlandaise in Paris in September.

The project received additional support from the Arts Council Project Award 2016.

Declan Clarke (b. Dublin 1974) studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and Chelsea College of Arts, London. Recent solo exhibitions include Torrence Art Museum, Los Angeles; Farbvision, Berlin, 2016; Geist Trilogie, Tromsø Kunstforening, Norway; Wreckage in May, Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane, 2015; Group Portrait with Explosives, Mother's Tankstation, Dublin, 2014. In 2015, Clarke's film Group Portrait with Explosives won the Jury Prize at the 31st Biennale of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.