Category: Exhibition

The James Joyce Centre is delighted to welcome Gutter Words, the latest installation of the exhibition by Jo Hamill. Jo Hamill’s work explores the multifarious occurrences innate within language and in particular the written word. Found stencilled on the walls of the building, it is a work that asks the central question: what needs to be said?

British artist Jo Hamill’s work explores the multifarious occurrences innate within language and in particular the written word. Working with her personal copy of Ulysses, Jo Hamill systematically obliterated the words of Joyce but carefully retained those words positioned closest to the gutter — the technical term used to describe the central margin of a bound page. The remaining fragments are an echo of the original, the act of deletion exposes the architectural scaffolding that holds the words in place. Voids become physical spaces to be read and the words become unanchored, set adrift in an uncertain space.

Gutter Words is a complex book work and accompanying installation. It is the culmination of a 13-year enquiry by Jo Hamill. It aims to explore the sculptural space of language, the book and its physical connection to the body. The written word and the book are mediated through an array of linguistic, design and typographic conventions which act as the safeguards to a tightly managed experience. Omnipresent is our compliant respect for these conventions as we navigate through an encounter and are directed to read. Gutter Words attempts to draw attention to the potential that these conventions have to rupture, offering a less defined but perhaps more intimate reading experience.

Tickets are €7 general, €5 concession. The exhibition is included in admission to the James Joyce Centre.

The first extract of what was to become Finnegans Wake (1939) was published in April 1924 in the short-lived journal The Transatlantic Review, edited by Ford Madox Ford. This was a version of what is now Part II, Chapter 4 of the book, pages 383-399. It deal with “Mamalujo” (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), the four evangelists, old men who are historians, like the Four Masters, and chroniclers. They are also the four provinces of Ireland. They are tired, ancient, jealous of the young, and also very boring in their rambling recollections of the past. (Some would say that Joyce was rather too successful in conveying the boring quality of their discourse.)

Joyce was determined not to give the book’s title away until the very last minute, so Ford gave the passage the name “Extract from A Work in Progress.” Joyce liked the term, and it became the working title for the book during the many subsequent years before it finally appeared. Most of Finnegans Wake had already appeared in print by the time it was published in book form in 1939 by Faber & Faber. Most of the earlier parts of the work had been published in installments, either in magazines or as short books or pamphlets. This practice began quite early on in the book’s writing. Joyce had apparently originally been averse to it, but it must have been fairly clear that so long a span of time – some 17 years – could not be allowed to pass without some passages from the work appearing in print.

Mamalujo: Finnegans Wake as a Work in Progress is a collection of the various installments in honour of the 100th anniversary of the first one. Displayed in the gorgeous Maginni Room, visitors will get to see first-hand how Work in Progress evolved. Its staggered publication throughout the 1920s and 1930s are laid bare in a series of original copies of journals, pamphlets, and booklets. From the first “Mamlujo” episode of 1924 to “A Phoenix Park Nocturne” in 1938, the exhibition has an array of rare texts and illustrations. Included are reactions to Work in Progress, such as Our Exagmination Round His Incamination of Work in Progress (1929), illustrations by Joyce’s daughter Lucia and Stella Steyn, a signed copy by Joyce of Anna Livia Plurabelle (1929), and items from the Frank Budgen Collection. This is an extraordinary opportunity to learn about the public publication and private development of Joyce’s last novel.

The James Joyce Centre to thank Terence Killeen for his kind assistance to the exhibition.

Image: From the cover of The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies (1934), a fragment of Work in Progress. Cover illustration by Lucia Joyce.

Tickets are €7 general, €5 concession. The exhibition is included in admission to the James Joyce Centre.

Come join us at the James Joyce Centre for the highly anticipated premiere of new exhibition Modality of the Visible: Ulysses VR for the Bloomsday Festival. Step into the world of James Joyce’s masterpiece like never before with cutting-edge virtual reality technology. Immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of Dublin as you follow in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom.

Modality of the Visible: Ulysses VR is an immersive VR project that takes you on a journey through the Dublin of 1904 so beautifully described in Joyce’s novel. The project aims to educate, entertain, and familiarise viewers with Joyce’s text in an interative and visual way. Using state-of-the-art VR headset technology, you will be able to mount the gunrest of the Martello Tower, walk along Eccles Street, hang around the gentlemen at Barney Kiernan’s, and explore other settings of Ulysses. The purpose of this project is to merge the world of literature with an increasingly technological world. With an experimental design approach, Ulysses VR offers a novel understanding of Joyce’s writing, creating a unique learning experience in an immersive virtual environment.

The exhibition will be on permanent display at the James Joyce Centre. The project was developed by Thanos Makris in collaboration with the Department of Philology at the University of Patras in Greece. We will be joined by Thanos Makris and Christina Vassilaki, a project officer. Prof. Ahuvia Kahane (Department of Classics, Trinity College Dublin) will deliver a talk about the classical and contemporary Greek references in Ulysses. The attendees, of course, will be welcome to try out the headset for themselves!

Trailer for Ulysses VR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HqXBAT7AI8.

The event is free but booking is essential.

Ulysses: Illustrations presents more than 100 illustrations by French artist Rémi Rousseau. The exhibition offers a visual depiction of Ulysses and are arranged in chronological order.

Yes.
This book is disconcerting. It disorientates the reader over the course of a single day in the always-crowded Dublin city, in its blackened houses and streets of brick and cobble-stones, and in its cemeteries where you can come alone to finish sleeping off the tumultous events of yesterday.

Maybe you have to find your way by following the town’s canal-locks, where dark peat has tinted the waters that will become the Liffey.
Go to the brothel, to the pub or to the nursery, go to school, to the print-shop, the library or the church.

Yes.
All you need to do to find your way is to follow the canal-locks, then the Liffey where it meets the sea and write at a distance in time, with the memory of a coastal tower that nails the town down to the ocean’s shore, and finally sign off with a cross – a James the right way up and an upside-down Joyce – like a Christ crucified in the peat-bog, in the black marshland, in majesty. Dublin on the horizon. One day in June 1904.

In the hope of encouraging to read this book to people other than those who already believe in the Joycean shooting-star, here are some 100 illustrations following the chronological order of the text.

Tickets are €7 general, €5 concession. The exhibition is included in admission to the James Joyce Centre.

Ulysses: An Odyssey is a visual introduction to the story, characters, and themes of Ulysses. Suzanne Freeman recreates each episode of Ulysses in a series of 18 display cases that reference prominent motifs, objects, and locations. From Stephen’s Martello tower key in ‘Telemachus’ to Bloom’s cigar in ‘Cyclops’ and a map of the 19 intersecting vignettes in ‘Wandering Rocks,’ Ulysses: An Odyssey is a stunning visual depiction of the novel, one that showcases the mundane objects of everyday life on June 16th, 1904 with vibrancy and clarity.

The exhibition is included in admission to the James Joyce Centre. Tickets are €7 general, €5 concession. Tickets can be purchased online or at the reception desk.