DUBLIN.- Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane announced the opening of its major summer exhibition Two exercises in awareness and observation by Lee Welch curated by Michael Dempsey, Head of Exhibitions.

For Two exercises in awareness and observation gallery eight has been filled with a regular rhythmic pattern of vertical stripes, a measure that plays with the parameters of the gallery, like a concertina that swells and contracts. The repetition of lines also induces an order and structure, yet its monotony on such a large scale is at times potentially overbearing. As a counter to this (within this space) can be found interruptions, variations and intimacies drawn out by way of objects, video and text.

A shelf with a mirror top supporting 12 invitation cards can be found in this oscillating chamber. Six of the cards bear quotes; one card reads: “Every movement reveals us”. The other six reveal a place and time, co-ordinates to a future event. The dimensions of the invitation cards replicate the golden rule ratio. Their placement on the shelf reveals the mirror that lies underneath, a device that acts like a re-framing structure, while also supporting a gathering of objects that sit and share a space with the invitation cards. This choreography of the objects will change and be replaced over the course of the exhibition, each configuration charging and changing how we read the text. A second mirrored shelf displays the six invitation cards propped up against the wall. A third display takes the form of a projection onto a stretched canvas with a sequence of images from the artist’s studio.

Each invitation card is bidding the visitors to partake in various events scheduled inside and outside The Hugh Lane. The card “Every movement reveals us” is an invitation to Tai Chi workshops hosted by Natalia Krause in the Sculpture Hall of The Hugh Lane that will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the three month exhibition period. These workshops commence during the opening of the show.

Each of the invitations elicits the audience to a different place where particular modes and forms of rhythm, repetition, movement and placement are practised. On a closing note to the exhibition and in collaboration with The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series there will be a concert held in the Sculpture Hall entitled The Portsmouth Sinfonia (A Homage). The philosophy of the Portsmouth Sinfonia is that anybody can join; there is no basis of skill required. The only guiding rule of the orchestra is that the musicians should not be able to play the instrument they hold in their hands.

Last but not least Simon Cummins will present Walking through doorways causes forgetfulness a series of timber frames, reminiscent of fallen, transient or in process portals, transitions or gateways arranged within the Sculpture Hall of The Hugh Lane during the opening of Two exercises in awareness and observation and removed afterwards. These linear, limb-like constructions call homage to Alvar Aalto among others, presenting a straddling query of hand craftedness which has developed the otherwise simple constitution of the timber. These scaffolds have been transformed to resemble their sun kissed role models. Delicate, laying on the floor of the sculpture hall, they are not horse jumps, but the puissance begins afterwards.

Lee Welch was born in 1975 in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his BFA from the National College of Art and Design in 2008 and his MFA from Piet Zwart Institute in 2011. He was recently awarded CCA's annual commission, Production Ireland, a Bursary from the Arts Council (2012), a residency at The Banff Centre, Canada (2010) and his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, most recently If what they say is true, CCA, Derry, Northern Ireland; Screening Room: Dublin - Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany; Amikejo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), León, Spain (2012); Clifford Irving Show, Objectif Exhibitions curated by Raimundas Malasauskas, Antwerp; A Whole New Ball Game, Banff Centre (2010); Non-knowledge, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2008).