Irish multi-media artist Sean Lynch presents an entirely new body of works entitled Adventure: Capital at the Venice Biennale this year. The artist takes viewers on a journey through myth and ideas of minimalism across Ireland and Britain in an ambitious project which includes video, sculptural and archival elements. Lynch combines public art from regional airports, fields and abandoned quarries, even Greek river gods and traffic roundabouts, to bring together a thoroughly inclusive exploration of value and the flow of capital, as seen through a carefully considered anthropological viewpoint.

The artist aims to revive forgotten histories of Ireland, alongside the unwritten stories steeped in the country’s heritage. Much like a historian or an ethnographer, Lynch explores alternative readings of the artefacts and places used in his works. His artistic investigation in compiling works for Adventure: Capital has brought back ideas around Celtic Revival architecture, the island of HyBrazil, and Joseph Beuys’ 1974 visit to Ireland: all peculiar subjects, but integral to Lynch’s presentation.

Previously, Lynch has uncovered carvings by the O’ Shea brothers in Oxford and even worked with a fast-food chain where the first museum in the UK was located, for the sake of his acclaimed projects. His discovery of exciting artefacts in unexpected locations all feeds into the inherent storytelling quality of Lynch’s works.

Adventure: Capital is the result of Lynch’s creative research, reviving the forgotten cultural and social heritages of Ireland and presenting them through a fresh anthropological lens. His artistic practice is reminiscent of the lyrical culture which runs through his homeland, marking his collection of photography, projection and sculptural installation out as a contemporary revival of the Irish Bardic tradition. Following his exhibition at the Biennale, Lynch will subsequently tour his presentation to Irish and International institutions in 2016 and 2017.

Sean Lynch, until 22 November, Adventure: Capital, Arsenale Section at La Biennale de Venezia.

Find out more www.labiennale.org or visit www.adventure-capital.ie

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Credits
1. Sean Lynch, Adventure Capital, 2014 -2015. Projected colour image. Courtesy of Ireland at Venice; Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin; Ronchini Gallery, London. Sean Lynch, Ronchini Gallery, London.