Temple Bar Gallery + Studios announces the recipients of the TBG+S/HIAP International Residency Exchange 2024

Now in its 18th year, the TBG+S/HIAP International Residency Exchange gives an Irish or Ireland-based artist the 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 or Finland-based artist in Dublin for two months, kindly funded by the Finnish Institute London.

Léann Herlihy (they/them) is an artist, researcher and educator based in Dublin. Their practice is informed by trans*, queer ecological, feminist and abolitionist theoretical frameworks which deploy alternative modalities of expression through an array of mediums including performance, video, billboards, sculpture, text and radical pedagogies.

Select solo exhibitions include the middle of nowhere, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2022); Beyond Survival School Bus, Dublin Fringe Festival, Dublin (2022); STUNTMAN, ]performance space[, London (2020). Select group exhibitions include The Gleaners Society, 40th EVA International, Limerick (2023); Reflex Blue, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (2023). Awards include the Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award (2022); and Visual Arts Bursary (2021; 2023). Their work is a part of the Arts Council Collection and they are a recipient of a Three Year Membership Studio (2024-27) at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.

Hanna Ijäs is a multidisciplinary artist. In times where technology moulds and forms interactions, Ijäs aims to grasp this through performance, ways of communication and methods of understanding. Writing and performing are the tools to reveal, discover and frame the value systems, power structures and conditions of humans. At the very core Ijäs re/de/constructs identity and the question of what it is to be a human within expanding and contracting borders and boundaries in a vast fluid changing world. The core of research is the mapping of the modern human at large in digital and physical realities.

Recent exhibitions and performances include Lie Down Where You Want To Be Stepped On, presented as part of Respawn, Atletika Gallery, Vilnius. Recent grants include Arts Promotion Center Finland (2020-21). Recent studio residencies include Sodas2123, Vilnius, Lithuania 2021. In June 2024 Ijäs will be delivering two performative workshops in Helsinki as part of her continuing artistic research practice.

Image descriptions: (1) Léann is resting between workout reps. They wear sports apparel; a matching set of blue running shorts and a training bib with neon green trim which they pair with neon green elbow pads. They are sat on a deep blue circular crash mat with a chalkboard detailing a workout plan to their right. Their gaze meets the viewers as a layer of glowy sweat is misted all over their body. (2) Hanna stands facing the camera. In her right hand she is holding a microphone to her mouth and her left hand is down and holding a piece of paper. Under her eyes, on both cheeks, she wears clear eye masks which catch a reflection from the cool light that illuminates her. She is wearing a light nude coloured bodysuit with an image of a palm tree and a yellow sun on the front. Underneath the suit she wears a golden nude raglan-sleeved blouse and ivory white tights. Behind her an audience watches her perform.