126 presents the first in a series of artist talks that aim to encourage critical conversations about contemporary art practice in Ireland.
Russell Hart studied drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art before moving to Belfast to complete an M.F.A. in Fine Art. In 2008 he received an M.A in Visual Arts from I.A.D.T. in Dublin.
In 2007 Hart established economicthought, work created by economicthought includes live audio performances and presentations, artworks, exhibitions, a series of audio pressings on both vinyl and Compact Disc, poster design and an independent record label that focuses on collaborative processes.
Recent exhibitions include; Ached Grew Print Jot (the Drawing Room Dublin), Timecoloured Place (Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin), DAS SPLINTER (Galway Arts Centre, Ireland), What Happens Next Is A Secret (Irish Museum Of Modern Art, Dublin), economicthoughtprojects (ArdBia Gallery, Berlin), and Yes Way (Music Festival, Peckham, London). Recently a number of his audio projects were featured on WFMU (America’s longest running freeform radio station). Hart is currently producing a series of new recordings for release during 2013 entitled “The Third Existence”.
Sarah Searson’s early career as an artist influences her planning and
policy perspectives. She is a Fine Art graduate of the DIT, and returning
to Ireland after a number of years of practice in New York, she studied
Cultural Policy and Arts Management at UCD and later gained a Master’s in
Public Culture Studies at IADT. Within academic contexts she has advised
on arts processes with IADT, NUI Maynooth and lectured with DIT and UCD,
currently she is Head of Centre for Creative Arts and Media at GMIT. She
has recently co-authored The Grangegorman Arts Strategy for the
Grangegorman Development Agency.
She was responsible for developing the arts in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown for
seven years, and there she oversaw the development of two major capital
projects, Dance Theatre of Ireland and the Pavilion Theatre, and
initiated and managed large-scale festivals such as the Festival of World
Cultures 2001–2005 and the Poetry Now Festival. She has written and
implemented arts policy and programme development for the Arts Council,
Dublin City Council, Galway City Council, Wicklow County Council's etc.
She led mediation strategies for the InContext 3 public art programme,
which included commissioning education processes, exhibitions, texts and
events. She has developed and co-edited a national information project
about Public Art in Ireland and later advised on the development of a
parallel resource project in the area of Arts and Health. She is
co-editor of the national public art guidelines. She has written about
mentoring practices for artists in Ireland. Her creative practices
include writing, curating and mentoring project development with artists.
She keeps notes about her interests at www.sarahsearson.com
