Darragh McLoughlin
22 - 27 November, 2021
lab and sharing on Saturday 27 November.

Studio Residency #1 will be exploring new work on Movement Drawing 

A few years ago during my journey into object balancing I had a few stark realisations about the art of balancing - both objects and/or one's own body. Balance at its core is an act of movement. If you think of the zen art of stone balancing, actually the practitioner is finding a perfect point where the stones may stand on each other in perfect stillness. When I was practicing balancing objects on various parts of my body I realised that actually it wasn't the object's fault that I couldn't find the still point, but actually it was my body that can not be still. The stick, or whatever object it was that day, can stand perfectly well on its own if placed carefully. Balance is constant movement, an upright act of defiance of the pull of our planet's core. 

During my residency at Uillinn I will explore the different movements created in the body by balancing different objects on my hand and record those movements in real time on large canvases. Different objects will generate different qualities of movement which will lead to different movement journeys and leave behind unique lines on the page.

My work from the past few years work has been gently spiralling in different directions and I try to simply allow myself to go with this pull and follow the ideas that both interest and challenge me and my audience. Without any intention to present my work in the context of visual arts, the work I was developing started to fit to this context, and so here I am! I think this intersection between different arts forms is where I enjoy to be as it allows me to reach different audiences which in return can give me different reflections on my own practice. 

During my open session I will perform a few improvised live drawings with different objects. In line with where I stand in relation to visual and performance art much of the work is about the making of the work rather than the end product. To witness the drawing unfold is the experience of the work. The drawing at the end is like a picture of someone - a representation, but no comparison to the living being. 

I will end the session with an open conversation with the audience. 

Darragh McLoughlin was born in Ireland in 1987, the youngest of three siblings and son of two professional chefs. In the early stages of his life he had little exposure or interest in the arts until, at the age of fifteen, he learned to juggle and started to dance. After finishing school in 2006, Darragh packed his bags for Berlin to attend a full time programme at the Jonglier Katakomben School of Juggling.

In 2008 Darragh attended the Academy for Circus and Performance Art and completed his education with a Bachelor Degree in 2012. Soon after, he founded his company Squarehead Productions - a platform for performance and research. In 2013 Darragh was chosen as a Circus Next Laureate and created Fragments of a Mind. Then in 2014, Darragh created his second work The Whistle which premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival. Darragh teaches at different professional institutions around Europe: FLIC(IT), ACAPA(NL)and Die Etage(DE) as well as teaching his own methodology at independent masterclasses. He is currently performing his third piece, Stickman and developing The Exhibition Project which premieres at The Bauhaus in 2021.