Based in Dublin, Irish artist Rhona Byrne works across performative and social sculpture, making sculptural spaces, installations, relational objects, drawing, video and photography. Her latest project—Restless: Liffey Love—is an interactive and sustainable public art commission along the banks of the Liffey. Working with the Irish Nautical Trust to collect plastic waste on the Liffey Sweeper, it’s made from a million bits of plastic assembled together and invites visitors to sit, reflect on our city, connect with each other and the environment and foster a deeper appreciation for the sustainable future we can build together.
The last thing I saw and loved… Temple Bar Gallery and Studios’ offsite exhibition Longest Way Round, Shortest Way Home at the Pumphouse in Dublin Port by Liliane Puthod and Yuri Pattison. It’s on until October 27. The work and context are equally exciting.
The book I keep coming back to… All About Love by the late great bell hooks. As she writes, “Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”
I find inspiration in… working in and visiting industrial estates. It’s like going backstage to everyday life, seeing the making of things and materials. Also in motion, walking, dancing, roller-skating, driving, sailing, on a train.
My favourite film is… I don’t have one favourite but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the impact of the great documentary film A Plastic Planet. It’s about the pollution of plastic.
My career highlight is… having my project Restless: Liffey Love selected and commissioned by Dublin City Council through the Dublin City Art Program in 2023. It has been a really great supportive and expansive experience. I’m very grateful for the opportunity.
The song I listen to get in the zone is… while making the sculptures for Restless: Liffey Love, I like listening to “Problem Number 6” by Bruno Pernadas and his album Those Who Throw Objects at The Crocodile Will Be Asked To Retrieve Them and Moonshine Freeze by This is the Kit.
The last book I recommended is… All Fours, a new book by the brilliant artist Miranda July and the rigorously researched book Wasteland The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters by Oliver Franklin-Wallis.
I never leave the house without… triple checking I’ve turned off the cooker!
The piece of work I still think about is… the exhibition Lost Property in the Douglas Hyde Gallery at Trinity College in 1994 by Christian Boltanski. The gallery floor was filled with people’s lost things.
The best advice I’ve ever gotten… “Wear out, don’t rust out” from my nana Elizabeth Byrne and from my late dad, “Always remember to have a sense of humour.”
The art that means the most to me is… the energetic and playful visual and performance artist Miet Warlop’s theatre performances, particularly Fruits of Labour and One Song. And the book Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour by Desmond Morris, which I’ve kept from my family home since the 80s. I do enjoy observing behaviours, especially in public spaces.
My favourite thing about Restless: Liffey Love is… its sense of potential and hopefulness and that it offers a new place in the city for meaningful exchange and reflection on our future city and waterways.
The most challenging thing about being an artist is… the need to be resilient and have nerves of steel.
If I wasn’t an artist, I would be… a material scientist, probably trying to contribute to sustainable and circular practices.
The magic of art to me is… that it can interrupt and expand any moment, any thought, any behaviour and open up other ways of being in the world.
Photography by Malcolm McGettigan.
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