The Known World is an experimental nature documentary with voiceover tracing the relationship of the Swan to notions of uncertainty and doubt. Concerned with the fragility of knowledge, the video presents a natural history of transition and change. Using images of Lough Lannagh and the family of Mute Swans that live on it, the work operates in the space between documentary and fiction. Its protagonist reveals a world where reality is a constantly evolving set of ideas.

Commissioned by Mayo County Council for Landmark, a public art programme for Lough Lannagh, Castlebar.

Shot in the Dublin Institute of Technology’s optics research laboratory, the video work Technology Autonomous documents the construction of a holographic image, while a voice off screen recites extracts from Dennis Gabor’s 1972 book “The Mature Society: a Vision of the Future”. In the text, Gabor, the inventor of holography, describes his vision of future technology from a societal perspective. The work considers notions of illusion in relation to filmic construction, financial speculation and sustainability. The electronic score by Andrew Fogarty, was produced from a collection of sound recordings of various machines and synthesizers.

The artist wishes to thank Dr. Suzanne Martin for her support in developing this work.

Technology Autonomous (2011)
HD video
Directed by Jennifer Brady
Cinematography: Piers McGrail
Narration: Fiona Sheil
Sound: Andrew Fogarty
With extracts from “The Mature Society: A View of the Future” by Dennis Gabor, 1972
Running time: 5 min 45 sec

119 Howth Road is a video essay, which focuses on selected histories of an uninhabited house, Norabrook and its surrounding environs, culminating in recent attempts to redevelop the site on which it was built. Focusing primarily on the failed development of ‘Ireland’s most exclusive housing project’ from 2008-2010 at the site, the work in turn reveals the challenges and processes of its own construction.

119 Howth Road
HD video
Directed by Jennifer Brady
Narration: Fiona Sheil
Running time: 12:48
Year of Production: 2011

This work is based on an audio interview with a man who has developed a theory that there exists within the Dublin city planning system an occult grid formation, made from the strategic positioning of buildings and monuments around the city. This theory is attributed to an international masonic conspiracy, the New World Order and the banking crisis in Ireland. The work is a documentary journey through the city of Dublin through the framework of this theory. At this current time of great uncertainty, the viewer comes to question the reliability of the narrator.

As Above, So Below (2010)
Standard definition video work voice over, 12 min 19 sec

Stormhaven brings the viewer on a guided tour of a fictional city set against familiar images of a suburban park, taking the form of an exaggerate ‘esstablishing shot’. The result of a period of research spent with various fantasy role playing groups, the narrative, eite from texts use in role playing games playfully and provocatively destabilises the relationship between text an image.

Stormhaven (2009)
SD Video