The Modern Dance (In Light of Today’s Questions) 2017
Performance, video animation and soundtrack.
Dimensions Variable.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/486d3abb49624b900d1495c41518167b85c7c44cd7d808ee15219b2d611d611d/Screenshot-2020-03-30-at-11.18.15.png)
The Modern Dance (In Light of Today’s Questions), 2017
9:16, back projection. Shown on stand alone screen
Full running time: 6 min 2 sec loop
Viewing copy on request
Installation view
Audio Excerpt
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/294cc61039365f0898efb89037c068b58854652a1b4cca0f84beda0f25952df1/3.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9747f1078705bc9bc030f3bf8626b199e204b99e8249b019722ed4afbf21e6e2/1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/421c7f2d542795258b47204d28f35558bd718d3553b7b5705c340f6b52681e01/2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/07415107fc7a11ff49ca876cfed5803c63093c0713c036b908c4cabb71799e40/6.8.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ec2189a002fc96878bb0e8fca44ee0038161be79cc548652424595715885a011/8.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3edf0017b074eabaa2fdedee804537108e4daad0612ad066b34e2a32acedab87/ER-8280.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c1d6f2827f6b9ebc4a38441489c0b2964bfd81c05f1f034907293cfc34c98a38/14.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a5d97c89e0ca4622161c98f2865c62f455998a3e341a498b5e5eee6d75e1b921/ER-8315.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da02a6ee1f13b01fa63a47e4e2085e13bc6e3d838b4f98ae24ec612411dafa5a/ER-8337.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/80add758817c572f2b1abdb37d55b663039e42daca86eb765c6186ae89192f64/ER-8390.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/40be0646c6aa3dafce112074acdcea5c8afedbb5a4423ed29849c899e20481b9/IMMA_Eoghan_Ryan.jpeg)
Audio Excerpt
Audio Excerpt.
Running Time - 10min loop.
Full version on request.
The title references the song The Modern Dance by American rock band Pere Ubu. Reconstructing and building upon memories of a recently closed sauna in a Bauhaus design “people’s bathhouse” and rehabilitation centre in Berlin, this (now) semi-fictional architecture is transposed into the galleries, alongside the voices and bodies that may have been present.
The corresponding performance, centers on the assembly and disassembly of a wooden bucket and runs over the course of an evening. It is a choreography and dialogue between the artist and his father. Accompanied by a young choir, a soundtrack mixed by the artist and a lighting arrangement, they try to describe what it would be like to raise a child together and along the way attempt to grasp what constitutes the sacred and divine within secular western culture.
Commissioned by IMMA – Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2017.
Dramaturgy and production assistance - Aaron Ratajczyk
With thanks to the Mel Ryan Childrens Choir.
Photography Louis Haugh