Gemma Tipton: Gallery guide Dublin

There appears to be a loose theme of conflicted histories, identities and nationhood running through many of the DGW exhibitions this year, although that’s possibly also the spirit of the age. Based in Hungary, Szabolcs KissPál was born in Romania and his docu-fiction films and installations explore the histories, symbols, myths and downright lies that bind a people together. Mythologizing is at the heart of all nation building, but just as constructed national stories unite, so too do they limit and also divide. It’s a timely presentation, as current geopolitics are demonstrating that there’s nothing like excluding an imagined ‘Other’ to truly rally people behind one’s choice of flag. KissPál’s films Amorous Geography (2012) and The Rise of the Fallen Feather (2016) are being shown alongside The Chasm Records (2016), a faux museum display of archaeological items from a fictitious find. All societies are structured within historical scripts, the trick is to spot them in action.

Frieze.com 24.10.2017.