*1969, Ireland. Lives in Brussels.


Photographic Documentation and Archive of Manifesta 2:
Roman Mensing, Münster

A tear for a glass of water, 1998

Orla Barry crosses over different fields like art and literature and mixes medias like photography, video and drawings. She also uses various genres, like portraiture and short stories. She often combines all elements in installations which function like three-dimensional diaries dealing with her private sphre. They are characterised by a certain degree of intimacy, as well as by a slight absurdism.
In Manifesta 2 this very personal approach comes through in her three pieces. The video projection "A tear for a glass of water", a monologue taken from the artist's book Bitter Peacock, is shown in the Musée national d'histoire et d'art, where one also finds large colour photographic portraits of her friends, displayed on shelves. In one of the small former office spaces in the C.P.C.A. she is showing the "Blue Vols" which is a series of publications of isolated texts described as written polaroids by the artist.

Musée national d'histoire et d'art; C.P.C.A. 12, rue du Puits


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