Gerard Byrne

Irish artist Gerard Byrne draws his subject matter from the world of media. Whether it's a re-enactment of a debate published in Playboy in 1972 or the staging of a text published in 1928 in The Surrealist Revolution, Byrne's films show leading figures from the 20th century – artists, writers, businessmen – discussing the social and political issues of their times.

Commissioned for the 2017 edition of Skulptur Projekte Münster, In Our Time describes the daily activities of a commercial radio station and addresses the relationship between broadcasting, time, pop music and collective memory. In Our Time’s temporal frame remains hard to define; a presenter works in a studio, plays classic pop songs, takes calls and talks to his absent audience… The camera lingers over the details that make up Byrne's meticulous mise en scène: records and tapes, microphones, loudspeakers and various other broadcasting equipment. Indefinitely long, In Our Time establishes a relationship between the hidden space of a radio show and its viewers/listeners.

Between photography, cinema, theatre and installation, Gerard Bryne reconstructs conversations, interviews and performances. With terse humour he tests our perception of past and present as well as the challenges associated with recorded image, documentation and language. Gerard Byrne completed a degree at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. His work has been shown in many solo exhibitions across Europe and the USA. He represented Ireland at the 2007 Venice Biennale. He was born in 1969 in Dublin where he lives and works.