More often than Most_Georgina Jackson,
Published Pallas Heights 2003-2007

The proverbial apple that fell from a tree one morning prompted Isaac Newton to develop theories that have changed the way we see the world and indeed the universe. The constraints of the physical world affect us all, gravity being the most significant and yet in the recent video works by Brian Duggan the notion of physicality and control play out within the viewer's immediate and confined space. While earlier video works seen in During the Meanwhile (IFSC, Dublin 1, 2005) positioned video projections of inane tasks within the context of the city's Financial district, More Often than Most engages in the spaces of Pallas Heights and beyond.

Disgarding the white protective body suit of previous work, the artist sets up another series of futile yet self-determined endeavours from climbing the four staircases in the flats on his hands, doing a handstand, walking a self-made tight-rope, climbing a tree, to jumping 71 times in the air. These endeavours engage in the laws of gravity, challenging them and contradicting the viewer's perception of the rules at play. The first work Stresshead (Handstand) pushes anxiety and tension within the small confines of a cut square, a close-up of the protagonist's face reflected at the viewer's eye level on a small lcd screen. External pressures alter the face as time passes. The limitations of space and of control are prevalent within the work and within the space itself. In fact the works are most effective when the confines of the work and the viewer's interaction with such break down traditional spectatorship relationships.

A variety of manipulations of the viewer's passivity are engaged, from a number of swings, a cut out hole in a wardrobe space, to awkwardly stepping up to see projection sited above the very top step of the stairs. What is enduring is that often the work situates the viewer within the immediate physical and mental environment thus accentuating the immediacy of physicality and space, while referring to the universal.

104 Stairs invites the viewer to sit on a swing, angled away from the screen. The feeling of lightlessness contrasts the grunts and heavy breathing of the protagonist's continuous struggle up and down the four staircases in the studios and exhibition space of Pallas Heights. The motion of the hands disassociated from a body as they climb lino flooring and threadbare carpet, it's repetition and urgency engaging the viewer. Concurrently the angle and movement disables the unconnectedness or alien effect of video work. The interface between viewer and protagonist is removed and the physical action is felt at times, through this motion. Yet at times, when the viewer's movement slows down a disjuncture occurs between what is seen and what is felt. This disjuncture is an interesting development in this ongoing body of work.

The participation of the viewer in the works, sited within the space, asserts the questioning nature of gravity, stress, control and failure. The endeavours, their possibility of failure, creates an experiential presence. In 2.01 seconds tightrope the protagonist begins to walk across a self-made tightrope. As he falters, clinging on to a nearby branch and then attempts to walk before falling, the slapstick nature of the quest is contrasted by the viewer's location (leaning over the top step of the staircase), asserting our own tenuous relationship with reality.

Aptly titled "More often than most" expresses the intangible and often futile attempts at endeavours. It permits the possibility of failure, in fact, it implies the apparent likelihood of failure, yet these attempts consistently question the banal territories of everyday life. The constraints of the everyday are exaggerated by limitations of time and space, repeated in titles such as 104 Stairs, 2.01 seconds tightrope, 36 seconds (71 jumps). Their abject simplicity perhaps referring to Newton's own moment of revelation yet their consequences like our own are all too complex.

More often than Most_Georgina Jackson (c), Published Pallas Heights 2003-2007