Saoirse Higgins, Enda O'Donoghue, Martin Shannon & You! June 1, 2006

Four is pleased to present Better Than the Real Thing?, an exhibition-in-progress that enables endless reinterpretation of ideas by sidestepping the creative limitations of copyright. Exhibited in Four as well as online, each of three original artworks by Saoirse Higgins & Simon Schiessl, Enda O'Donoghue and Martin Shannon explores separate aspects of reproduction and re-telling of a story and each discloses different information about the mark of authenticity in art of the present day of visual imagery perfusion. We invite you to come and look at the artwork in the gallery and online and then to submit
your own considered re-interpretation or sampling of these three un-copyrighted works as well as subsequent re-interpretations from other artists. These second, third and fourth generation works will be exhibited in digital format online and in the gallery.

Saoirse Higgins and Simon Schiessl's interactive media installation draws inspiration from the re-telling of war in the news media and unsettles the passive absorption of the images of war as the backing track to our lives. Enda O'Donoghue's labour-intensive painting is involved with the subtle translations of images from one circumstance to another while Martin Shannon's photographic image lightens the weight of art historical iconography.

All works in the exhibition are covered by the generous share-alike creative licenses which means that everybody is free to copy, manipulate and reinterpret their theme and their visual expression.

Better Than the Real Thing? is supported by Visual Artists Ireland, Letshost.ie and Circa magazine

Official Website: http://fourdublin.com/