merrion street

Brian Hayes, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works this evening officially opened a major new exhibition in the Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin. Entitled “Hall of Mirrors”, the exhibition is a collaboration between artists and scientists and forms part of the Dublin, European City of Science 2012 programme.

Speaking at the exhibition launch, Minister Hayes said: “This exhibition is a unique international collaboration between Paris based artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly and scientists from the Clarity Centre for Sensor Technologies in Ireland as well as the Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes & Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, among others”.

The Minister continued: “Among the stimulating pieces that you see here in the Farmleigh Gallery tonight are a ‘binocular post’ and ‘binocular films’ created by the Vision Lab at University Paris Descartes and pupils of St. Joseph’s secondary school in Castlebar; an interactive artwork featuring children from Ardfert national school, inspired by biological motion and created in collaboration with Clarity using gaming technology and tracking devices and also a new video artwork, created by the Railway Procurement Agency, inspired by deformations in visual perception while moving at speed through the city. This to mention but a few of the exhibits”.

The Minister concluded: “The exhibition challenges us in more ways than many traditional art exhibitions might. It is a sensory and visual feast and I would like to pay tribute to the many people who participated in putting this unique event together. We learned recently that there is a significant return to science subjects among school and college goers and there is no doubt that this sector will contribute significantly to this country’s return to economic well-being. I am delighted to see so many students here tonight and I know that this exhibition will be visiting further locations around the country, in association with the Arts Council, when it completes its run here in Farmleigh. I would urge you all to tell your friends about this exhibition and to bring it to the attention of as many people as you can. Shared learning and further collaboration between the arts community and the science sector, particularly given that Dublin is this year the European City of Science, can only be of benefit to us all in the longer term and I commend you all for this marvellous and groundbreaking initiative”.