Dual Reality, 2022
Live Interactive Work, Audio Piece, 3D Print
‘Dual Reality’ is an interactive installation that explores the merging of our online and offline identities. It questions what is lost in the digital reconstruction of the human form. Merging physical and virtual space, the installation invites the viewer to fragment my digital self. Through interaction with the work, the viewer becomes part of the interplay between the real and the virtual world as they mutually influence each other.
'The Ship of Theseus' is a paradox which questions whether an object is the same after all its parts have been replaced. By investigating this thought experiment through a digital lens, this installation encourages reflection on the self in relation to one’s engagement with the online world.
‘Dual Reality’ also features my 3D scanned face which has been reconstructed through the process of 3D printing and an audio piece in which my human and computer-generated voices discuss what it means to have a digital double.
Distributed Presence, 2022
3D Sculpture
‘Life Untethered’ was made as a response to the uncertainty we felt through the global pandemic, a state of flux. Through the use of 3D animation and virtual physics, Phelan explores a zero gravity environment in which two bodies float in space, searching, seeking to connect. Throughout the piece, the two bodies remain out of reach.
The soundscape of this piece accentuates its glitches as well as its fluidity, encouraging the viewer towards immersion in this virtual world.
Multiple Selves, 2021
Digital Sculpture, 4000 x 4000
‘Multiple Selves’ is an exploration into Phelan’s digital self and her online representation. These abstracted digital bodies have been textured with images of the artists face taken from her social media platforms. Exploring themes of identity, ‘Multiple Selves’, represents the fragmented narratives that we build of ourselves online, while questioning their validity.
Untitled 1-8, 2020
Photograms, 2979 x 4215
UNIQLO Tate Lates Display, Tate Modern
These photograms were the result of an exploration into cameraless photography, created by the artist using found object and a darkroom.
As part of the Dora Maar exhibition, this selection of photograms were included in the digital show-reel for the #EverydayDoraMaar UNIQLO Tate Lates Display in the Blavatnik Building in the Tate Modern.
‘Dear Data’, 2020
Poetry Piece, A4 and Self Portrait, 762 x 1053
‘New Realities’, Online Interactive Magazine, Douglas Hyde Gallery
‘Dear Data’ is an apology letter from the artist to all the data she has given away. This letter expresses feelings of guilt and regret while also expressing a newfound appreciation and respect for her data. Her sincere apologies attempt to create a sense of responsibility in the reader for their own data and force them to think about how much they have given away. Accompanying this piece is a self-portrait created from Phelan’s information stored by Facebook, in which she requested access. This work has been informed by Jaron Lanier’s research into developing a more dignified information economy.
‘Playlist Pools’, 2019
Virtual Reality Performance, 1920 x 1080, 2m 4s
Temple Bar Gallery & Studios
‘Playlist Pools’ is an amalgamation of single lines of lyrics that hold the key to a very specific time in Aisling’s life, written in order to make a 4hr and 47m long playlist into something more accessible and tangible. Aisling is interested in the language used in music and how differently we react with it, and in fact how it can react with us, when the melody is taken away. This piece explores how we can integrate that into other art forms such as poetry and the visual arts.
This poem was written for the Young Art Writers Programme and was published in the Dublin Art Book Fair 2019.
‘The Body is Present’, 2019.
Live Virtual Reality Performance, VR Chat, IMMA Open Studio.
“Our bodies simultaneously exist in two realities, internally and externally, experiencing and being experienced.”
‘The Body is Present’ is a live virtual reality performance. In today’s society, technology is so often pulling us away from each other which is why Aisling felt compelled to use virtual reality to experience intimacy and gain new perspectives on human connection. This performance is an attempt to create an intimate setting in a virtual world through a reiteration of Marina Abramović’s ‘The Artist is Present’. Aisling explores what it means to be physically present in a particular space and psychologically present in a totally separate one. This performance relies on the presence of the viewer to come and inhabit these virtual bodies with the artist and bring the work to life.
‘Surveillance Tapes’, 2020
Video Performance Piece, 1920 x 1080, 2m 50s.
"When the digital realm is the only way for people to connect and entertain, to source and share information – it is crucial to retain some of the mistrust that previously guided much of the discourse around the internet."
This piece was created after an exploration into Surveillance Capatilism, a term coined by Shoshana Zuboff in 2019. Acknowledging the fact that our data is being collected in ways that we don’t even understand, ‘Surveillance Tapes’ explores the constant surveillance that happens with our constant use of technology. Aisling plays into this Big Brother style surveillance by using the footage captured from the cameras surrounding her own home, as she undertakes a meaningless task of circling her house during the Covid-19 lockdown.
‘Zoom Call With Myself’, 2020
Documentary-Style Webcam Performance, 1920 x 1080, 6m 58s.
This piece explores the aesthetic of the zoom call, which after being in quarantine, many of us have come to know quite well. Using the webcam aesthetic that has been around for years, ‘Zoom Call With Myself’ gives a playful approach to exploring the multi-faceted experiences of lockdown. In this document-style piece, we see first hand the daily feelings and emotions of the artist throughout a month of being in quarantine and completely isolated from the outside world.
Documentary-Style Webcam Performance, 1920 x 1080, 6m 58s.
This piece explores the aesthetic of the zoom call, which after being in quarantine, many of us have come to know quite well. Using the webcam aesthetic that has been around for years, ‘Zoom Call With Myself’ gives a playful approach to exploring the multi-faceted experiences of lockdown. In this document-style piece, we see first hand the daily feelings and emotions of the artist throughout a month of being in quarantine and completely isolated from the outside world.
‘Faces Of Quarantine’, 2020
Digital Collage, 6400 x 4320.
“Self-portraiture is the emotional labour of young women - who through mirrored feedback of webcam and video previews - observe themselves as both digital subject and object.” - Jennifer Chan.
Turning the camera on herself and becoming both director and subject of the work, Phelan shows, through a snippet of only 30 days of quarantine, her dedication to documenting this time of isolation. This is an accompanying piece to Phelan’s ‘Zoom Call With Myself’.
‘What Does It Feel Like To Be Silenced?’, 2020
Performance Piece, 1920 x 1080, 4m 32s.
‘What Does It Feel Like To Be Silenced?’ is an endurance-based performance that aims to gain a deeper understanding of Women Human Rights Defenders in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Singapore. Aisling takes the idea of being silenced quite literally as an anonymous male hand covers her mouth while she persists in trying to be heard for 4 minutes and 32 seconds. As the piece goes on, with her breaths getting heavier and heavier, we feel her tiredness growing. This work was created after Aisling was asked to curate an exhibition for Amnesty International about Woman Human Rights Defenders in an effort to explore how art can highlight and reach new audiences regarding human rights. The exhibition was unfortunately cancelled due to Covid-19, but will be organised again once the restrictions allow her to do so.
Isolation Iterations, 2020
From excitement to agony, and feelings of displacement and warped time, this video explores the ever-changing emotions that arise from isolation. By expressing her feelings of confinement through 3D animation, Aisling shares with us her personal response to her experience in quarantine.
Present In A Time Of Absence, 2019
A short film made to highlight the rapid gentrification in Dublin City today, and the threat of this on the city’s culture. Using film as a means of preservation I aim to immortalise some culturally rich parts of the city, such as Thomas St. stalls, the Bernard Shaw pub and the graffiti wall surrounding it.