Now in its 17th year, this international residency exchange gives an Irish artist a superb opportunity to spend three months at HIAP - Helsinki International Artist Programme. The selected artist has access to production facilities, visiting curators and an international network of artists. In return, TBG+S hosts a Finnish artist in Dublin for two months, funded by the Finnish Institute London.
Blaine O’Donnell is an artist working primarily in sculpture. Taking an experimental approach to the materials and debris of photography, architecture and geology, O'Donnell investigates the art object as a starting point for tracing networks of relationships between objects, humans and places. Contrasting materials are used in new ways, making space for material agency and chance. In a time of increasing dematerialisation and alienation from natural rhythms and shared ecosystems, O'Donnell explores artistic practice as a method of engendering moments of connection and affinity, revelation and wonder.
Projects include hinder / further, a two-person exhibition with Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch, The Complex, Dublin (2022); a permanent sculptural installation for Office of the Rest, VOID, Derry (2021); and CAOL ÁIT, a group exhibition at the Burren College of Art, Clare (2019).