Performance: In Two Minds

In 1978, Kevin Atherton first performed In Two Minds at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Three weeks later it was presented as a two-monitor installation at the Serpentine Gallery, London. Since then, the work has had many iterations as time and again, the artist re-engages in a lively dialogue with his former self as he responds to the Serpentine Gallery question tape. The 2014 version, which is spanning thirty-six years and which was realized at IMMA in Dublin and is now part of IMMA’s collection, is presented in the exhibition Hidden on Tape. Early Video Art in Europe as a 2-channel video installation. As part of the exhibition opening, the artist will once again enter into a dialogue with his past self, this time over a forty-eight-year gap, humorously tackling questions regarding identity and mortality across time and space, whilst also addressing the nature of video art now in relationship to the archive.

 Kevin Atherton is an artist who explores performance and new media within a sculptural context. He has presented In Two Minds, both as an installation and as a performance, at museums and galleries around the world, including at SFMOMA, IMMA, and Tate Britain. In both his media-based work and his permanent public sculptures, he seeks a dynamic relationship with time, both within and around the work, frequently re-entering previous work, as with his Grade II Listed bronze figures, Platforms Piece (1986-2023), permanently sited on the station platforms at Brixton Railway Station, London. In 1999 he moved from Chelsea College of Art, London, where he was the Head of Combined Media, to Dublin in order to establish the Fine Art Media Department at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), progressing to become the Head of Postgraduate Pathways in the Faculty of Fine Art, and in this role, shaped an entire generation of young Irish artists. In 2020 he became an Irish citizen.