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A Sod State, 2021/22
Video installation / Single Channel Video
![]()
A Sod State.
4K/UHD
Full Running Time - 22mins
Viewing copy on request
info@eoghanryan.ie
Distributed by li-ma
Video installation / Single Channel Video
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a3bcc72d50f5f218a15d7128bc39c55c47a917fce022283002ea14309d387e36/A_Sod_State_2021_FILM_STILL.jpg)
A Sod State.
4K/UHD
Full Running Time - 22mins
Viewing copy on request
info@eoghanryan.ie
Distributed by li-ma
Video Stills
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/739a59fa33832b35e2701adf90c95af313f6ba98d67c92e5a960ab2b7e3d753f/2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/544074c430a1c20f03421fb5c01033bcbe540037ef74eecb4c99f3a49ecba60c/Screenshot-2024-02-26-at-16.33.19.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f0dfc31c85ea435fd83df0d0b4524c8f6f4c6dcbf888db6cedec5af3ffc6fa0c/sod4.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b16d0cb5f9402d4a89a12bac081ed08faa460b762e39b727c815f3d00369019a/Screenshot-2024-02-26-at-16.40.34.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/68f2c1cb00c6783a553c92b02a0976bebe393a5d7c2240eb4f9c873499541850/Screenshot-2024-02-26-at-16.25.48.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/705c49cc75578ef2832694a46ca2ec7d537f67a3b2a020681232bb25d7a59c13/Screenshot-2024-02-26-at-16.05.36.jpg)
A Sod State@Against the Day. Photo:Tobias Hübel
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/78aadbbfe3abbdea956a509813c170b9d0cd61e2e96e905a0bc0fc0d4cc92e27/48_EoghanRyan_AgainstTheDay_c_photo_EdithRussHaus2024_09.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a8e59dae2d84739b0f5591ddcfcb27e49e65756786172d623027b3fe8257e6f/53_EoghanRyan_AgainstTheDay_c_photo_EdithRussHaus2024_14.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3e876d778313dacab29548ede485acefd7d77497a6cb03b4511c4ac7d81338b8/56_EoghanRyan_AgainstTheDay_c_photo_EdithRussHaus2024_751197.jpg)
A Sod State @Visio 2021. Photo: Federica Di Giovani
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5eee5a0bb3e3020631dbc90af761b6788e815695360f9376a65aab38b16ece86/01_Visio_MaxRis__DGL5700.jpg)
A Sod State@Rijksakademie Open Studio’s 2022. Photo - Tomek-Dersu-Aaron
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5449063f50d6ac4a5a505cd2238d38c840bd63e61792a1d2ca4e0248b266caf8/_2021-06-16_11_Eoghan-Ryan_Tomek-Dersu-Aaron_186.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/39cd17920afab9e623b192a0b90f8cfb29d37a08e04249b3da7112a7f1519301/3.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4c393a8a044124df34a3ad4d93b8cf9258469222210c43ad5821fc24e73ea00c/_2021-06-16_11_Eoghan-Ryan_Tomek-Dersu-Aaron_181.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c8004cd0b5add6557b08373e9789968e0f2e6c1aaa812860da5995844a5ad640/The_Fountain-copy.jpg)
'Sod’ or turf is wet, fertile ground; it is also slang British for someone that is difficult or causes problems, and ‘sod all’, as in - absolutely nothing. ‘State’ is the particular condition that someone or something is in at a specific time, as much as it is a nation or territory considered as an organised political community”.
A Sod State looks to conflicting themes of religion, statehood, state power, and spectatorship through the lens of the Northern Irish Troubles. The film unravels a world of untrustworthy narration, wandering sounds, strobing imagery and disarray. It is a tale of a corrupted, often censored, surreal and confused state of affairs, [RR1] in which, an inner demagogue is manifested. This creature, or puppet, is not quite god, not quite devil, and performs binary contradictions of class, faith, identity, and borders; private, public, and political.
A Sod State posits the Troubles in an alarmingly present tense, reconfigured as a time out of joint. Confusing memory and media, the film draws heavily from manipulated archival footage, juxtaposing it with images of recent post-Brexit media coverage. As such, it becomes an example of repetitive political theatre; a spectacle watched and consumed through TV screens and newspaper articles.
A Sod State looks to conflicting themes of religion, statehood, state power, and spectatorship through the lens of the Northern Irish Troubles. The film unravels a world of untrustworthy narration, wandering sounds, strobing imagery and disarray. It is a tale of a corrupted, often censored, surreal and confused state of affairs, [RR1] in which, an inner demagogue is manifested. This creature, or puppet, is not quite god, not quite devil, and performs binary contradictions of class, faith, identity, and borders; private, public, and political.
A Sod State posits the Troubles in an alarmingly present tense, reconfigured as a time out of joint. Confusing memory and media, the film draws heavily from manipulated archival footage, juxtaposing it with images of recent post-Brexit media coverage. As such, it becomes an example of repetitive political theatre; a spectacle watched and consumed through TV screens and newspaper articles.