09/05/24—25/05/24
NAMACO—Mega Dreoilín
Opening night: 6–8pm Thursday 9th May
Exhibition continues: Friday 10th May–Saturday 25th May
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Pallas Projects/Studios are pleased to announce NAMACO —Mega Dreoilín, the third exhibition of our 2024 Artist-Initiated Projects programme.
“A committee of vultures sweeps the Dublin sky. Composed of landlords, investment funds and the political juggernaut known as Fianna Gael, they pursue a bloodthirsty quest to dominate all land and wealth, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
But unknown to them, an underground force unfolds its wings. Foretold by the Ancient Celts as An Dreoilín or Draoi éan - druid bird - the tiny wrens emerge as a fearless foe.
As main character Em (they/them), you must battle landlords, Gardaí and vultures across four Dublin-based levels. But can you uncover the Mega Dreoilín, an ancient energy field within yourself and your allies, in order to face your final adversary?”
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NAMACO emerges from a decaying Dublin to unleash bizarre edutainment products on unsuspecting landlords. Headed by Han Hogan and Donal Fullam, NAMACO makes video games that demystify housing precarity, cultural space scarcity and the effects of corporate landlordism in Dublin for a generation of renters unwillingly trapped in adolescence. Featuring a cast of characters which includes Avril Corroon, Ian Lynch and Rory Hearne, Mega Dreoilín posits that Ireland’s age-old land question is not as complicated as our political representatives would have us believe.
16-bit video game Mega Dreoilín is a radical reimagining of edutainment designed for the demographic of ‘Generation Rent’. Positioning itself as a revolutionary instructional manual, Mega Dreoilín allows players to learn about the bureaucratic land dominance imposed on Ireland by successive waves of colonisers, landlords and global multinationals, as well as the strategies required for collective resistance against these sinister powers.
Mega Dreoilín features artworks from Irish visual artists such as Kevin Judge, Carl Hickey, Taoiseach, Carmen Quigley, Spicebag, Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, and Alan Doyle.
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Event:
Playthrough and Discussion
Saturday 11th May, 1-2pm
NAMACO team Han and Donal will showcase a playthrough of the game, followed by an artist’s talk and a panel discussion on housing with Rory Hearne.
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Bio
Dr. Dónal Fullam (he/him) is Assistant Professor in Creative and Cultural Industries, based in the School of Art History and Cultural Policy at University College Dublin. His research deals with music and art in contemporary algorithmic culture, focusing on the philosophical and technical foundations of algorithmic music composition, human-computer creative relationships and intersections between art and technology in general. He creates video games in Unreal Engine and Godot, primarily centered around musical interaction, individualism, and algorithmic culture. He has been involved in underground DIY punk for over 20 years, playing and recording with many different bands throughout Ireland and around the world in a variety of legal and extra-legal settings.
Han Hogan (she/they) is an artist with a background in science. Alongside collaborator audio producer Kit Callin (they/them), they co-created and design visuals for Mooar Residency, a radio show celebrating experiments in music and sounds by genderqueer and marginalised communities that has been running on London’s Resonance 104.4FM for the last 5 years. Han’s interest in audio and visual art extends to the DIY events they regularly put on in Dublin, which occur outside the boundaries of designated cultural institutions. Han runs a mobile screenprinting unit with friend Keilah Cass (she/her), which is used as a live installation at festivals and as a press for housing activist groups.
This exhibition is part of Culture Date with Dublin 8!
Wednesday 8th - Sunday 12th May
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Artist-Initiated Projects at Pallas Projects/Studios is an open-submission, annual gallery programme of 8 x 3-week exhibitions taking place from March-November 2024. This unique programme of funded, artist-initiated projects selected via open call is highly accessible to artists, with a focus on early career, emerging artists and recent graduates. Projects are supplemented with artists' talks, texts, workshops or performances, and gallery visits by colleges and local schools.
Pallas Projects/Studios is funded by The Arts Council
ID: Dark pink background. Read on the centre: Namaco with artist's names in parentheses below. Dark pink font highlighted in black. Read small on the bottom: 9th-25th May. Black font.
ID: Detail of screenshot from Mega Dreoilín. Em is shown standing outside a 16-bit recreation of The Cobblestone pub. Construction fences and the Dublin skyline visible in background.
ID: Detail of Mega Dreoilín box art. A large vulture hovers over a dark, misty cityscape.