Satis House Inaugural Exhibition

30th March - 14th April 2012

Pip: 'Is Manor House the name of this house, miss?'

Estella: 'One of its names, boy.'

Pip: 'It has more than one, then, miss?'

Estella: 'One more. Its other name was Satis; which is Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all three—or all one to me—for enough.'

Pip: 'Enough House,' said I; 'that's a curious name, miss.'

Estella: 'Yes,' she replied; 'but it meant more than it said. It meant, when it was given, that whoever had this house, could want nothing else.’

Taking as its point of departure the name of the decaying stately home inhabited by the inglorious Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’s 'Great Expectations', Satis House is at once a new and very old domestic space just off the Ormeau Road in South Belfast.

Held within a row of terraces on Deramore Avenue, the space exists in what was once the master bedroom of this modest dwelling. Now cleared of fixtures, furniture, and personal belongings, this room will be transfigured on a monthly basis under the curatorial direction of Eoin Dara and Kim McAleese, who will be working with both emerging and established artists, inviting them to respond directly to this unique environment.

Exhibiting Artists:

Claire Louise Hall – Sound

Claire Louise Hall was born in Newtownards in 1981. She played trumpet, piano, sang and tap danced as a child- recording as much as she could on cassette. From age 18-27 she rarely played or listened to music - dancing only in darkened rooms at 4am in an ethereal haze.  Upon her return to Belfast in 2008, she has managed an alternative art space, joined a kraut-pop band, and has dreamed in disco ever since.

David Frederick Mahon – Performance

I dream of you. I only ever have nightmares. I have never been bored, not for a minute. I have spent the best days of my life on nothing. I can’t tell you how to feel, nor will I tell you how I feel. I will try my hardest for you never to see what it is that I really do. If you did see everything I do, from start to finish, I think you would have tired eyes. The things I do aren’t strictly to do with any one thing, they concern everything, everyone. I make things from wood and things from the contents of drawers and garden sheds. I use the rough materials and unpleasant things to toughen my hands and spirit. I am the last vestige of manhood in the suburban realm, almost respected. I am the rural disappointment not listened to or heeded. I am the thing you least want me to be or need.  I am your dream artist.

Ricki O’Rawe - Text

Ricki O’Rawe is curious about the way individuals rely upon their relationships with others and the world to form a sense of self. Under this remit, he translates philosophical meanderings amongst linguistic finitude, inter-subjectivity, deictics, intertexuality, and liminality, into work that explores the most basic—and perhaps self-evident-- observation about humanity and art: we need each other, but things change. O’Rawe works primarily in the form of text (critical and creative), and is also interested in exploring the non-linguistic implications of this idea in both music and conceptual art.

Anne Marie Taggart - Installation

Anne Marie Taggart was born in Omagh, Co.Tyrone.  Having studied at the University of Ulster, Belfast; she graduated in June 2011 with a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art Sculpture and is currently the Graduate Artist in residence at Flax Art Studios, Belfast. As a child, Taggart collected stray and not-so-stray cats in and around the roads where she lived. As an adult, she collects abandoned and not-so-abandoned objects. Taggart is drawn to objects that, she feels, convey human gesture and emotion. Form, surface and texture are important; Taggart gouges, burns and layers materials – an exaltation to the tactile. Always playful in her approach, her work is sometimes darkly humorous and sometimes poignantly sad.