Lá Breithlá Shona Duit and Gone Phishing, 2009.

Installation for 'Behind Smoke and Mirrors', Limerick City Gallery, Ireland.

Five artists were invited to work in Limerick City Gallery for five weeks as part of Behind Smoke and Mirrors, a project curated by Susan Holland. With the aim demystifying artists practices, participants used the gallery as a studio for four weeks while visitors could interact with them as they developed work. A number of artist talks and seminars also took place. The work that resulted from this time was then exhibited in the Limerick City Gallery. Carl Giffney exhibited two works, Gone Phishing and Lá Breithlá Shona Duit in the form of an installation, along with two videos documenting the residency.

The five week process that lead to this installation took the form of two strands of performative research. The first involved the slow reconstruction of a marble Catholic altar. Visitors to the gallery were drawn into a conversation about the religious object. Taking place at the time of the Ryan reports publication, these conversations were about the possible uses of an altar removed from a church and its material worth. The second strand, which happened simultaneously throughout the residency, saw contact being made with internet spammers. After replying to spam emails asking for Christian help in securing a huge inheritances, a series of month long conversations with four families claiming to be African Christians were recorded. Personal details, images, photocopies and gifts were exchanged. Email, post and telephone conversations were recorded.

Marble altar (338 x 170 x 112 cms), cardboard, paper, party materials, printed correspondences, recorded telephone calls and photographs. Dimensions of installation variable.

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Limerick City Gallery