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IMMA presents the first major exhibition in Dublin by Duncan Campbell, recicipient of the 2014 Turner Prize. Irish-born artist Duncan Campbell ‘s (b. 1972) is best known for his films which focus on particular moments in history, and the people and objects at the centre of those histories. He uses archive material as a route to research subjects and histories that he feels are important. The process of making the films becomes a means to further understand his subjects and reveal the complexity of how they have been previously represented.

Although these histories are located in specific times and geographies they resonate with and inform our present. Extensive research into the subjects through archive material underpins all of the films and the histories Campbell chooses to focus on reflect his interest. Using both archival and filmed material, his films question our reading of the documentary form as a fixed representation of reality, opening up the boundaries between the actual and the imagined, record and interpretation.

His solo exhibition at IMMA comprises four of his major film works: Bernadette (2008) is about unity candidate MP and socialist activist Bernadette Devlin. Make it new John (2009), takes as its subject the American automobile manufacturer John DeLorean, the iconic DMC-12 car he produced, and the West Belfast plant where it was made. Arbeit (2011) is about the German economist Hans Tietmeyer who played a key role in the European monetary union. It for Others (2013), the work which won the Turner Prize, takes Chris Marker and Alain Resnais’ 1953 film Les statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die) as a starting point for an examination of cultural imperialism and commodity and includes a performance made in collaboration with the choreographer Michael Clark.


About the Artist

Duncan Campbell b.1972

Duncan Campbell is best known for his films which focus on particular moments in history, and the people and objects at the centre of those histories. He uses archive material as a route to research subjects and histories that he feels are important. The process of making the films becomes a means to further understand his subjects and reveal the complexity of how they have been previously represented.
View Artist

Talks and Events

Falsifying Narratives | Friday 28 November 2014
Sarah Durcan (MFA Coordinator, NCAD) explores the intersection of the fictional with the real in the film work of contemporary artists. This talk takes into consideration the work of Duncan Campbell and Hubbard/Birchler on the occasion of the artists’ exhibitions at IMMA, and is informed by Sarah Durcan’s PhD research project; Falsifying Narratives: an Aesthetic beyond Fiction and Documentary – a Study of Selected Moving Image Installations by Contemporary Artists. Listen back to this talk on soundcloud.

Artist Conversation | Duncan Campbell | Saturday 31 January 2015
Duncan Campbell discusses his current exhibition at IMMA with Dr. Maeve Connolly (Lecturer, IADT). Listen back to this talk on soundcloud.

IADT ARC + IMMA  | Media Archives in Transition |  Maeve Connolly | Thurs 26 Feb 2015
Dr Maeve Connolly explores the changing form and function of broadcast and film archives, focusing on issues of access, dissemination, archive oriented art practice, and the role of the artist as mediator of the archive.


Additional Resources

The exhibition is accompanied by a guide, which is freely available at IMMA reception, or you can click here to download (pdf).

Duncan Campbell spoke to The Irish Times in this short film interview (6mins) about his work.

There was an in-depth Campbell profile (1 hour special) on Arts Tonight, RTE Radio 1, which you can listen back to on the RTE player. Following an opening introduction from IMMA Director Sarah Glennie, Vincent Woods then visits Campbell in his studio in Glasgow where he talks in great detail about his practice.


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