Gary Farrelly (IE) is an Irish artist based in Brussels. His diverse practice spans installation, written correspondence, drawing, performance, and radio, with recurring themes of architecture, accumulation, record keeping, administration, and magic. He graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and LUCA School of Arts and holds a post-master’s degree from a.pass, an experimental platform for artistic research in Brussels. Together with German photographer Chris Dreier, he operates the Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence, a collaborative paraintelligence agency. Farrelly’s collaborative and individual works have been exhibited internationally at venues such as Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art (London), Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture (Maastricht), Hugh Lane Gallery (Dublin), Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris), Damien & The Love Guru (Brussels), Salzburger Kunstverein, Nadine (Brussels), and Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati).
He has delivered lectures and workshops at various educational institutions, including HEAD (Geneva), Goldsmiths (London), KASK (Ghent), Tarrant County College (Fort Worth), and LUCA School of Arts (Brussels). Farrelly currently works as a professor at La Cambre ENSAV in Brussels and is a recipient of a Visual Arts Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.
Gary Farrelly
b. Dublin, Republic of Ireland 1983
Lives and Works in Brussels, Belgium
EDUCATION
2022 | Post MA performance and scenography, a.pass, Brussels (BE)
2017 | MA Hon Vrije Kunsten, LUCA School of the Arts, Brussels (BE)
2006 | BA Hon Fine Art, National College of Art and Design, Dublin (IE)
SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
2024 | You Mean Everything To Me, The Carillon, TCC, Fort Worth (US)
2022 | Proximity Papers, Nadine, Brussels (BE)
2021 | Fruit Anxiety: Desire and Method, SB34- Clovis, Brussels (BE)
2019 | Know Your Place, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal (DE)
2019 | GLUE, GCCA Goldsmiths Center for Contemporary Art, London (UK)
2019 | GLUE, Lismore Castle Arts, Cork (IE)
2017 | Fruit Solutions, Laura Mars Gallery, Berlin (DE)
2017 | Fruit Efficiency, RO2 Art, Dallas (US)
2016 | Low Hanging Fruit, Grölle Pass Projects, Wuppertal (DE)
2015 | Policy Documents, Museum Quality NYC, New York (US)
2012 | Terminal Compositions, RO2 Art, Dallas (US)
2010 | Great Development, Guerilla Arts, Dallas (US)
2008 | Kunst Bureaucracy, Galerie W Eric Landau, Paris (FR)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2024 | Paranoid Meditation, 4th Space Meditation Centre, Brussels (BE)
2023 | Alternating Current, The Complex Arts Centre, Dublin (IE)
2023 | I’ll Be Your Mirror, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2023 | Trouble Fête – Nuit Blanche, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (FR)
2023 | The Seduction of the Bureaucrat, De Garage, Mechelen (BE)
2023 | Radharc: Perspectives in Print, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (IE)
2022 | Why Be An Artist?, NCAD Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2022 | Heures Sauvages, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (FR)
2022 | Artist-Run Spaces, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati (US)
2020 | Les choses d’ici bas, Galerie Duflon Racz, Brussels (BE)
2019 | Two of Hearts, SB34- The Pool, Brussels (BE)
2019 | Fallen empires and refound desires, Horst Festival, Vilvoorde (BE)
2019 | Festival van de Controle, CCHA Cultuurcentrum, Hasselt (BE)
2019 | HERE/THERE, Wexford Arts Center, Wexford (IE)
2018 | 20 Propositions, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (AT)
2018 | Letters of Last Resort, Damien & The Love Guru, Brussels (BE)
2018 | State of Statelessness, ISELP, Brussels (BE)
2018 | [bau036] by Baumusik, Gold + Beton, Cologne (DE)
2017 | I spy, I spy a little lie, Marres- Centre for Contemporary Art, Maastricht (NL)
2017 | A Hard Place, 500X Gallery, Dallas (US)
2016 | Sturm der Liebe, Establishment d’en face, Brussels (BE)
2016 | Ultramodern, Galerie Lisi Hammerle, Bregenz (AT)
2016 | ONE on ONE, Clovis XV, Brussels (BE)
2014 | EXCEPTIONALITIES, Museum of Contemporary Art, Banja Luka (BE)
2013 | Going Postal, RE Gallery, Dallas (US)
2012 | Control Tower, Parking Gallery Projects, Tehran (IR)
2010 | The Non-Profit Margin, CentralTrak Gallery, Dallas (US)
2009 | Plans, Sections and Elevations, Royal Institute of Architects, Dublin (IE)
2007 | [C]artography: map-making as artform, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (IE)
2007 | Don’t Cry – Work! Objects and Occurrences, The Back Loft, Dublin (IE)
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2021-present | Lecturer, La Cambre ENSAV, Brussels (BE)
2024 | Guest lecturer, Toneelacademie Institute of Performative Arts (NL)
2024 | Guest Lecturer, KASK, Ghent (BE)
2023 | Guest lecturer, Tarrant County College, Fort Worth (US)
2022 | Guest lecturer, LUCA School of the Arts, Brussels (BE)
2022 | Guest lecturer, HEAD, Geneva (CH)
2022 | Guest lecturer, Goldsmiths University, London (UK)
2021 | Guest lecturer, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
2020 | Guest lecturer, Moldovan Academy of Arts, Theatre and Dance, Chisinau (MD)
2017 | Guest lecturer, La Cambre ENSAV, Brussels (BE)
DIVERSIFIED PRACTICE/ OTHER PROJECTS
2024 | Host/ Guest performer, Beta Camp Super Télé, IMAL, Brussels (BE)
2024 | Host/ Guest performer, Indiscipline, Wiels Brussels/ Grand Casino, Knokke (BE)
2024 | Host/ Guest performer, Bebe Books event, Viernulvier, Ghent (BE)
2023 | Host/ Guest performer (as auctioneer), Liquidation Sale, a.pass, Brussels (BE)
2023 | Opening ceremony/ inauguration performance, Jester, Genk (BE)
2023 | Co-curator, Flyktig/ Fugitive, off-grid performance festival, Vestre Slidre (NO)
2022 | Co-curator, Flyktig/ Fugitive, off-grid performance festival, Vestre Slidre (NO)
2021 | What is Work? (intervention with Philippine Hoegan), Kunsthal Ghent (BE)
2021 | Glitching The Home (intervention with Karolien Chromiak), Kunsthal Ghent (FR)
2021 | Déambulations (audio commission), Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (FR)
2020 | Conference, EDU-Art, ‘Contemporary art in the periphery’, Chisinau (MD)
2020 | Conference, Psychoanalysis “Post-truth”, Freud Museum, London (UK)
2020-present | Resident radio presenter, DDR Dublin Digital Radio, Dublin (IRE)
2020-present | Resident radio presenter, Cashmere Radio, Berlin (DE)
2017-2020 | Radio contributor, KUZU 92.9FM, Denton (US)
2019 | Co-curator, European Conference of Institutional Ideators ECII, Wuppertal (DE)
2019 | Debates on Division (intervention with Gluklya), Bozar, Brussels (BE)
2018 | Performance lecture, I AM Dynamite, Fringe Festival, Dublin (IE)
2017 | GLUE, feature film directed by Oisin Byrne starring Gary Farrelly (IE/ UK)
2015 | Co-founder of Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence (BE/ DE)
PUBLISHED WORK
2021 | Auditing Intimacy, published by Fantôme Verlag, Berlin (DE)
2019 | Self-Institutionalisation Handbook, published by Fantôme Verlag (DE)
PUBLICATIONS AND CATALOGUES
2024 | Umbigo, issue 89, ‘Double Minutes’ (PT)
2023 | ROT, issue one, ‘IMMUNITY’, published by Varamo Press (BE)
2022 | Bureaucracktic Bedtime Stories, published by Constant (BE)
2021 | Future Forecasts BAE, published by The Project Arts Centre, Dublin (IE)
2021 | Texte Zur Kunst, issue 122, June 2021 ‘Figuration’ (DE)
2021 | Draff Magazine, issue 56, August 2021 ‘This is really happening’ (IE)
2019 | Hyperallergic (USA) 1/2/2019, review by Rosa Abbott (US)
2018 | Foreign Art Collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Republika Srpska (BA)
2017 | Metropolis M, review by Tamara Beheydt (BE/NL)
2015 | Recherches 15, TAMAT, Centre de la Tapisserie Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (BE)
2007 | [C]artography: Map-making as Artform, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork (IE)
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2023 | Three week residency, Tarrant County College, Fort Worth (US)
2023 | Visual Arts Bursary, Arts Council of Ireland (IE)
2023 | Two month residency, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (FR)
2022 | Visual Artist Award, Fingal County Council (IE)
2021 | Visual Arts Bursary, Arts Council of Ireland (IE)
2018 | Three-month residency, Morpho, Antwerp (BE)
2015 | One-year residency, TAMAT / Musee de la Tapisserie, Tournai (BE)
2010 | Six month residency, UTC Central Trak, Dallas (US)
2007 | One month residency, Pilotprojekt Gropiusstadt, Berlin (DE)