Itamar Gov is an Israeli artist, who has been working between Berlin, Paris and Bologna since 2010. In recent years he has been involved in a variety of art and film initiatives, exhibitions, festivals, workshops and publications including: documenta 14, the Berlinale and the Berlin Critics’ Week, collaborating with institutions such as Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Fondazione Adolfo Pini. His artistic practice deals with the intricate relations between history, ideology and aesthetics. Central to his work is the representation of different forms of personal, collective and institutional memory.
The starting point for his residency project was the multiple histories of Fort Dunree and its surroundings, highlighting the serenity and uniqueness of the place, exploring the relationship between human beings and space. The artist’s idea was to address the notion of the memory of spaces – as distinct from spaces of memory. He wanted to look into questions such as “How and what exactly can spaces “remember” from the humans that acted in them? What hidden histories do they entail and how can these histories be approached? What elements in them testify to their multiple pasts? And how do traces of their former lives manifest themselves, if at all, in the present day?”. He also wanted to discover micro-histories and find triggering locations in which he could realise a site-specific work, responding to the history of the space and communicating with its current life.
During his residency he became preoccupied with the very real and potent presence of the fairy in Irish consciousness. Previously, when he thought of fairies, he imagined the Hollywood version – adorable, winged creatures with magic wands, living in woodlands among pretty flowers. But he discovered this was a far cry from the Irish version of a fairy. This was the foundation for a compelling, transient installation made at the end of his month-long residency.
“For millennia, the inhabitants of rural Ireland have been fearfully respecting and keeping a safe distance from fairies. Ancient masters of the land, the fairies are fearsome and mischievous beings that today still inhabit certain territories in Ireland and manifest their presence through “fairy rings”, naturally grown perfect circles of mushrooms that suddenly
appear in strategic spots. Irish poet Jane Wilde – mother of Willie and Oscar Wilde – wrote in 1888 of the deadly consequences mortal men will face if they disturb or set up their homes on fairy rings, “a warning to all who would arouse the vengeance of the fairies by interfering with their ancient rights and possessions and privileges.”
Fort Dunree and the military camp that surrounds it were built under British colonial rule, taking over the green hills and cliffs of Inishowen on the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Red bricks, iron chains, massive cannons and wooden huts are all part of a military compound that was never engaged in any battle or war and that today aimlessly occupies a vast area only to rust and crumble over time. As nature takes over the fort and the camp, ‘Revenge of the Fairies’ introduces a large fairy ring made of hundreds of clay Marasmius Oreades in one of the derelict military buildings at the fort, signalling that the fairies are slowly claiming back their territory.
- June 30, 2022
