‘Exploring Spaces’ is an exhibition that examines place and space in its broadest sense from the macro to the micro, the global to the local, where both perceived and imagined spaces are investigated.  Architecture and the built environment; interior and exterior spaces, constitute the core of this exhibition, with other tangential threads leading from this.  It is designed to encourage the viewer to think further about their perception of the world that surrounds us and to view these diverse spaces that the artists offer as their own unique visions of interest.  Anne O’Byrne, for instance looks at the global and national context of construction, capitalism and its effect on community.  She references Jean Baudrillard and his thesis on how commerce and capitalism make human existence a matter of production and exchange.  The vulnerability of nature is articulated in the stark photographs of Brian Cregan, while Fiona Mulholland creates an artificial version of the natural world with her sculptural assemblages that manifest an inherent aesthetic beauty in unexpected manmade materials.

‘Exploring Spaces’ at the Braid Arts Centre and Mid Antrim Museum features the work of twelve established artists, namely; Adrian O’Connell, Martina Galvin, Eamon O’Kane, Fiona Mulholland, Jennifer Trouton, Nuala ní Fhlathúin, Brian Cregan, Betty Gannon, Jill McKeown, Julie Merriman, Anne O’Byrne and Ian Wieczorek. It is curated by Marianne O’Kane Boal and is part of an art and architecture programme for the town of Ballymena that builds on the autumn symposium ‘Space: A Social Agenda’ and promotes principles of Civic Stewardship in the urban realm. ‘Exploring Spaces’ is complemented by a series of artists/architects interventions within the town and Borough, by Culturstruction, Donnacha Cahill, Marie Connole and curator Marianne O’Kane Boal, delivered under the Creative Citizen’s Programme.

Combining a diverse range of practices; painting, drawing, sculpture, film, video, installation and photography; this exhibition offers the opportunity to the public to explore unique spaces conjured by the artists selected. It is an engaging and memorable exhibition of work.

picture credits to Martina Galvin Duo.

‘Exploring Spaces’ is NOT an IAF event and is delivered by Braid Arts Centre and Mid Antrim Museum for more information please visit this website.