The Ryan Report details a catalogue of systematic, recurrent and widespread sexual abuse of children and teenagers.
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Kevin Kavanagh Supports Mannix Flynn's Decision to Cancel Padded Cell and Other Stories
I support the decision of Mannix Flynn to cancel his exhibition, Padded Cell and other stories, which was to open at the Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, on Friday 10th of July.
Mannix Flynn is an important Irish Artist whose work is both challenging and relevant to the times we live in. His installation Safe House, Safe Place at Liberty Hall, Dublin in 2005 was arguably the most impressive exhibition that I have ever seen that deals in a sensitive and intelligent way the horror of Child Abuse. Mannix Flynn is an elected member of Aosdana and also a founder member of Far Cry Productions. He most recently served on the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art for five years.
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In response to a statement from the director of The Dunamaise Arts Centre regarding the cancellation of ‘ Padded Cell and Other Stories” by Gerard Mannix Flynn which was due open to the public on Friday 10th July 2009.
According to the Director of Dunamaise Arts Centre, Louise Donlon, the Padded Cell show was pulled because Farcry demanded that certain pieces of art be displayed in the Foyer, an area of the building which has the highest footfall, and which Director Louise Donlon maintains was inappropriate since the arts centre had a duty in terms of child protection to insist that the work be moved elsewhere.
In response to Ms Donlon’s claims, Mannix Flynn and Farcry productions would like to state that at the time the exhibition was being discussed it was agreed that the building in its entirety was to be used for exhibition of the work.
The technical team in the Dunamaise Arts centre sent Farcry measurements of all the walls we intended to use and our own technical team made several visits to the centre to plan the layout of the work. Ms Donlon has been in possession of the pieces to go on display for almost 3 months and during this time could have raised with Farcry Productions any issues she had regarding the appropriateness of, or location of whatever material was to be exhibited. No issues were raised.
If they had been, a dialogue surely would have happened before the 8th of July, two days before the exhibition was to open. Even at the late stage at which Ms Donlon did raise concerns, Farcry tried to accommodate her, but in terms of the design of the work this simply wasn’t possible.
All this apart, a defining characteristic of Farcry Productions is that, given the shameful and shaming nature of some of the subjects dealt with by the company, public display is a key part of the artistic process. Given this, and given that the Arts Centre was in possession of the work for almost 3 months in advance of the exhibition, it is difficult for us to understand how Ms Donlon was unaware of the nature of the work she was agreeing to host. The decision by Dunamaise Arts Centre to cite child protection issues in their press statement seems to us to be extremely manipulative as in the course of our discussion with Ms Donlon, the issue of child protection never arose. As Ms Donlon says in her press release Mannix Flynn has indeed got a record of standing up for the rights of children but child protection is about protecting children from harm not from truth. Clear warnings about the content of the work would have facilitated parents in making the decision they felt was appropriate for their children - it is not up to Ms Donlon or the Dunamaise Arts Centre to make this decision on their behalf. No children will be harmed by an exhibition of words. If they can read it, and if they can understand it then it can be discussed with them, openly and honestly– and that’s true child protection.
Finally, why would Farcry Productions spend time, money and energy trying to mount an exhibition if they had any inkling that the gallery which was going to host it had issues with the content going on display? Ms Donlon maintains in her press statement that she has conflicting responsibilities towards supporting artists and protecting young children, this is a conflict of Ms Donlon’s own making. Had she attended more carefully to the work she was agreeing to host, this conflict would never have arisen. It is easier now to blame the artist for being uncompromising than to take responsibility for her own negligence.
Contact Mannix Flynn: 087 4139419
farcryproductionsltd@gmail.com
Padded Cell July - 2009
Farcry - Jan to Sep 2008
Farcry East - Nov 2008
24th-30th November 2008
7 Beipeing East Road, Taipei, Taiwan
10am-7pm
Farcry Productions Presents
“Home Truths” a programme relating to contemporary political and social issues.
Through contemporary arts practice Farcry Productions will deliver a reflective process on identity and militarization, migration and deportation and the global issue of the consequences of child abuse. The work is a reflective process on emerging issues on the island of Taiwan. Problems are what link us and divide us and once solved they form the basis for strong confident mature identities.
Home Truth:
noun: A key or basic truth, especially one that is discomforting to acknowledge
News - 14th Sep 07
MANNIX FLYNN TO SUE THE DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL
Acclaimed author, actor, artist and playwright Gerard Mannix Flynn is to sue the Dublin Theatre Festival for breach of contract.
Flynn and his company, Far Cry Productions, claim that the Dublin Theatre Festival reneged on an agreement made between the two parties in June 2006, partly in writing.
The agreement was that on condition that Flynn and Far Cry Productions produced, funded and staged a production called Letting Go of That Which You So Ardently Desire in the 2006 Festival, they would be given the opportunity to present another production the following year. According to Flynn's claim, the 2007 production was to receive financial and practical assistance from the Festival, and Flynn was promised a financial advance (estimated at €40,000) based on the play's projected box-office takings.
Far Cry Productions kept their part of the bargain in staging the 2006 production, claims Flynn, which cost the company an estimated €60,000. Further expenditure went on the early stages of preparation for the 2007 feature, entitled Cunning, Baffling, Powerful, which he believed would be staged this year at the prestigious 50th anniversary Dublin Theatre Festival.
Despite numerous requests from Flynn and his company, the production was not included on the 2007 schedule.
Far Cry Productions filed a civil action with Dublin's Circuit Court today, Friday 14th September. For further information, contact Gerard Mannix Flynn 087 4139419
News - 19th Oct 06
How do we acknowledge significant past events. Events that have affected our lives, 9/11, the Tsunami, Chernobyl, 1916, the World Wars, Rwanda, and the thirty years of conflict in the North of Ireland. After the dust has settled, the rubble has been removed and peace has descended, what marker, plinth, monument or plaque can encompass our grief, our memory and our loss. This is a question that has interested Gerard Mannix Flynn and Farcry Productions since the company's inception. Prior to the current 1916 commemoration on Parliament Street, Far cry had a "extallation" on Lesson Street commemorating the women of the Magdalene Laundries which was described as follows by James Smith, Boston College.
"The challenge, identified by the artist, Gerard Mannix Flynn, seems to be how to commemorate without closure, how to effect a monument without felicitation, how to represent artistically without aestheticization. . . . Flynn's act of commemoration is orientated not towards the past but towards the future." (Notre Dame University Press) To further tease out the issue of meaningful commemoration, Farcry Productions has organized a talk on the The Consensus of Memory: The Politics and Aesthetics of Contemporary Memorial Design at the Morrison Hotel, The Printworks, July 21 at 3pm. The speaker is Joel McKim, (Goldsmiths College) and admission is free. RSVP farcryproductionsltd@gmail.com or at 086 8910574