Proposal Context

During the pandemic artists were forced to stop and reflect on their work and the priorities that shape their work. An unnatural reevaluation took place. Social media was filled with "throwbacks" to previous work – the word "archive" became ubiquitous in the language of art institutions. This project emerges from the psychological and social ramifications of the pandemic on artists. It looks to delve into the hidden archives of the artist, the forms and expressions that never see the light of day, or haven't been explored through a medium outside the established repertoire of the artist.

This will be achieved through text exclusively to the exclusion of the image – text as image in a manner of speaking. Through the medium of silkscreen we will explore with six artists in three collaborative pairs how text, consciously or not, informs their practice. Text forms and informs the foundations of all art practice as preliminary notation or marginalia in the artist's favourite philosophical texts or novels. Text is mostly fugitive for the artist, as it is for the art critic in my experience, but we would like to bring those notations and marginalia to the foreground of the artist's practice as something that is not tangential to the practice proper but another way into the thinking and emotion behind the artist's work.

Art and text is a phenomenon of American art from Pop Art onwards in the work of Laurence Weiner, Ed Ruscha or contemporary inscriptions by Shannon Ebner and Frances Stark. Although text appears in art schools in Ireland in confessional ways, it rarely graduates into the art scene, where the image and object are valued commercially and visually. Essay film is one of the only expressions of text validated by art institutions in Ireland.

**James Merrigan**, *Can’t see the tree for the wood*, plywood, 2012, Mermaid Arts Centre

*Note: This journal will not produce essays or reviews in the conventional sense; "text" is defined here in the tradition of Art & Text, those of whom listed above are practitioners. The journal is provisionally titled Art&Text to make this explicit.

Laura Fitzgerald, installation view of *Cosmic Granny*, 2019/2020, Photograph by Valerie O’Sullivan.

Editorial Team

The Editorial Team is a new direction for me as a producer and initiator of art projects that have a collaborative structure. For this project I wanted to work with the expertise of artists whom I respect as artists, but also who are empathetic to the conceptual aims in the administration and development of the project.

Laura Fitzgerald is a rare Irish artist who works with text both in self-publishing, film and the landscape. Text is delivered with the combined element of institutional critique and self-effacing wit. Alan Phelan, whose early paper-mache sculpture used the textual document of the newspaper, continues to inscribe his film, sculptural and photographic work with text, while also contributing to the art scene through art reviews. Like Laura, his text is delivered with wit underscored by queer theory and history.

I invited Laura and Alan into the process because I not only wanted them to feature in one of the printed issues, but also to advise, recommend featured Irish artists, and graphically shape the direction of the screen-printed issues. Their involvement will be twofold:

In the editorial and graphic development of the project
As featured artists themselves

**Alan Phelan,** *Library Words*, 2018 powder-coated mild steel letters.

Planning and Production

The form that this project will take is a screen-printed “journal” – a journal being something associated with formative adolescence, secret diary entries, the bedroom and confessional writing in particular.

The editorial, commissioning and developmental phase will begin in January through to March. During this period the form and editorial of the journal will be developed by the editorial team; artists will be selected and invited into the process.

Summary of editorial & organising procedures:

Artists are given two months to conceive work & submit work for editing.
Studio visits with contributing artists will take place with the editorial team during development
Editorial meetings will be held the month of production of each issue
One month will be given for the design & screen-printing of each issue.
100+ copies of each issue will be printed; 50 pages per issue.
First issue launched at one of the partnership institutions in June.
The second & third issues will be launched in September & December.
Launch nights will be hosted by the RHA, TBG&S & Douglas Hyde Gallery

Link to press releases here

Supported by the Irish Arts Council Project Award 2022.