Dublin based artist Mark Durkan is our artist in residence this month from 1st-14th December. His stay may only be a short one but he has alot planned for the next two weeks. He dived straight in by giving the staff of 3331 a presentation about his recent works on the very day he arrived, after a long flight from Ireland.
You can see some example of Mark's works on his blog: http://extrasoupdishes.tumblr.com/
Mark has a wide ranging practice from sculpture, to performance, to netart and shows confidence in all of these vocabularies. Particularly in his performance work he has been exploring the line between one's own being and that of an imaginary character, how one is able to transform oneself through taking on a character in a performative context but how the line between persona and seld can "bleed" into one another to a point where they can not be extricated. He has particulary engaged in this discourse through participation in an event organized by performance artist Brody Condon in LA.
When asked what his plans are for Tokyo Mark outlined a plan to create performances in public spaces in the city where public webcams are set up, so that friends and colleagues in Ireland can also participate in viewing his actions, which may make wistful reference to the economic breakdown of his home country.
Mark is not only an artist but also a curator and arts consultant. He is involved in a number of large scale projects in Ireland and runs his own creative arts organization. He has been casting an insightful and critical eye over the art scene in Tokyo, offering his own informed response to what he has been met with here. Taking on the stimulation from the city and its creative channels Mark has also pursued a number of artistic experiments using the simple materials he finds around him.
