Irish Museum of Modern Art
Garrett Phelan Trusted Servant
all Hawaii eNtrees/luNar reGGae was a group exhibition curated by artist Philippe Parreno and Rachael Thomas (Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA) at the Irish Museum of Modern Art from 29 November to 18 February, 2007. More than twenty artists, writers and thinkers were invited to participate in this project that focused on the notion of ‘process’. Parreno’s approach was to go beyond the real/physical space of the museum and as a part of this process Garrett Phelan was invited and entrusted by the curators to close this exhibition with his project Trusted Servant.
Primarily known for radio, video, drawing and alternative projects, in this instance Phelan becomes the gatekeeper of .all Hawaii eNtrees/luNar reGGae. Trusted Servant documents an automated and manic performance of Phelan repeating pre-recorded broadcasts from his MP3 player, which have been compiled and edited from media sources – shortwave and longwave radio, cable link, newspaper articles and webcasts.
His working standpoint, calls into question the mainstream methods of endless ingestion of information and communication that influence the formations of our opinions in this ‘don’t stop age’. The removal of Trusted Servant from YouTube at Phelan’s conceptual discretion will mark the official end of .all Hawaii eNtrees/luNar reggae.
To view Trusted Servant please go to http://www.youtube.com/trustedservant
Garrett Phelan. http://www.garrettphelan.com/foo.htm
