Jaki Irvine, Ack Ro', 2020, video still. Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.
De La Warr Pavilion is pleased to present Ssh Ow, the first major solo exhibition in a UK public gallery in a decade by Dublin-based artist Jaki Irvine (b. 1966, Dublin). Irvine uses video, installation, photography, music composition and writing to explore the complex ways we imagine ourselves and the world around us, a process which, for Irvine, has both philosophical and political implications. Overheard conversations and everyday incidents, casually observed, often form the starting point for Irvine’s work. She weaves these real events into fictions, making films and videos that reflect on the fragmented, mysterious and often absurd nature of the human condition.
Presented in the Ground floor gallery is Ack Ro’, an immersive thirteen-channel video installation that surrounds viewers with an evocative interplay of sound, imagery, and light. Intricate layers of sound and visuals create an atmosphere that is both disorienting and melodic.
The work’s soundscape is shaped by Louise Phelan’s haunting vocals, entwined with Joe O’Farrell’s flute, Izumi Kimura’s piano, and Sarah Grimes’s percussion. The visuals echo these layers, capturing close-ups of Phelan singing, a trembling cymbal, and blurred piano keys, all underscored by curving pink neon forms.
Fragments of film shot in Dublin and Mexico City, each with its own unpredictable soundtrack, add to the sense of instability. These filmic fragments are interspersed with 28 looping pink neons throughout the gallery, spelling out anagrams derived from Neil Diamond’s song Cracklin’ Rosie (1970). Words and reflections such as ‘ro’ ro’ rose,’ ‘near so near,’ ‘clean clear cackles,’ and ‘rack ack ack’ float through the
gallery space, presenting language as endlessly reconfigurable.
Ack Ro’s destabilising, nonlinear arrangement of images and sounds draws on the disorienting experience of Dementia and Alzheimer’s, conditions that affect a person’s sense of time and have become more prevalent in an ageing population.
Within this fragmented structure, Ack Ro’ uses rhythmic repetition to offer a momentary sense of orientation, a fleeting return that allows for reflection, mourning, and eventual release, inviting viewers to imagine and even feel the coexistence of different temporalities.
Irvine’s project at DLWP includes a newly commissioned immersive live work, SHWO EM TEH WAY OT GO HMOE, to be presented in the auditorium on 24 May 2025. This performance features a live graphic score paired with musical improvisation based on the song Show Me the Way to Go Home (1925), famously remembered as a sea shanty from the film Jaws (1975).
The exhibition and live work are supported by Arts Council of Ireland.
Jaki Irvine lives and works between Dublin and Mexico and is a regular artist advisor at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. She has exhibited at Tate Britain, London; Louisiana Museum, Denmark; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland; the ICA, London; ACCA Melbourne; Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Freiburg; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro; Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, San Francisco; Estorick Collection, London; the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; the Glucksman, Cork; and Dublin Contemporary 2011. In 1997, she represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. Solo exhibitions include Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Chisenhale Gallery, London; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden; Delfina Project Space, London; Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; The Model, Sligo; The Douglas Hyde Gallery,
Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Project Arts Centre, The LAB and Draiocht, all Dublin.
There are plenty of welcoming and good value B&Bs & boutique hotels in Bexhill. The De La Warr Pavilion regularly uses the following :
- By Rail
Direct trains go from London Victoria, Brighton and Ashford to Bexhill.
There are also trains from London Charing Cross, changing at St. Leonards Warrior Square and from London Bridge or Charing Cross going to Battle. Battle is only a short taxi journey away (15 mins approx).
Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for up-to-date train travel information. - Taxis
Town Taxis: 01424 211 511
Parkhurst Taxis: 01424 733 456 - By Car
If driving from the London area:
Take the M25, then A21 to Hastings. Turn off at John‘s Cross and follow the signs to Bexhill.
OR
Take the A22 to Eastbourne, go across the Bishop roundabout to the A271 and follow the signs to Bexhill and the seafront. The De La Warr Pavilion is on the Marina.
From the Brighton area:
Follow the A27 out of Brighton until you arrive in Bexhill On Sea. - Parking
Please be aware the Rother District car park outside the De La Warr Pavilion operates paid parking until 7pm. After this time parking is free. There is also lmiited free car parking along the seafront.
Within the limits of this Grade One listed building, the De La Warr Pavilion strives to be fully accessible with a range of facilities to support your visit.
Assistance Dogs are permitted into the building.
Please contact the Box Office on 01424 229 111 to arrange a visit.
Facilities for disabled visitors
- Ramped access at the front of the building
- A low counter at the Box Office and Information Desk
- Disabled toilets on two floors
- A lift to all floors
- Accessible galleries on both floors
- An accessible Café
- Spaces for wheelchairs in the auditorium for seated events
- Ramped access in the auditorium for events during the day
- Ramped access into the Studio
- Two travel wheelchairs are available for use at the De La Warr Pavilion. To reserve, please call our box office and information desk on (01424) 229111 or ask a member of staff on arrival. The chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis and are intended for use inside the Pavilion. Please contact us for more information.
Facilities for blind or visually-impaired
- Large print season brochures
Facilities for the hard-of-hearing
- An T-Switch induction loop in some areas of the auditorium (please indicate when booking as this facility is not available on the balcony)
- British Sign Language interpretation tours of the building and exhibitions are available on request.