Undo Things Done
Sean Edwards
Y Senedd
26 Gorffennaf – 5 Medi 2021
Mae’r Senedd yn falch o groesawu cyflwyniad cloi Undo Things Done, sef arddangosfa Sean Edwards a gomisiynwyd ar gyfer Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice 2019.
Comisiynwyd Undo Things Done gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru ar achlysur yr 58fed Arddangosfa Gelf Ryngwladol – La Biennale di Venezia gyda’r partner arweiniol Tŷ Pawb, Wrecsam a Marie-Anne McQuay, y curadur gwadd.
Mae Undo Things Done yn dechrau gyda phrofiad Edwards o dyfu i fyny ar ystâd gyngor yng Nghaerdydd yn yr 1980au; mae’n dal yr hyn y mae’n ei alw’n amod o ‘beidio â disgwyl llawer’ ac yn trosi hynny i iaith weledol gyffredin; un sy’n dwyn i gof ffordd o fyw sy’n gyfarwydd i nifer fawr o bobl. Fel rhan o’r cyflwyniad yn y Senedd, sy’n cynnwys cwiltiau Cymreig, printiau, cerfluniau a ffilm, mae’r artist wedi ail-wampio Refrain, 2019.
Drama radio yw Refrain, a gyd-gynhyrchwyd gan National Theatre Wales ac a ysgrifennwyd ar gyfer Lily Edwards, mam yr artist, ac a berfformiwyd ganddi. Perfformiwyd y ddrama radio hon, a oedd wrth wraidd arddangosfa Fenis, yn fyw bob dydd yn ystod y Biennale, gan ei ffrydio o’i fflat yng Nghaerdydd i leoliad Cymru yn Fenis 2019. Mae Refrain yn plethu cofiant Lily Edwards, yn tyfu i fyny mewn Cartref Plant Catholig yng Ngogledd Iwerddon â’i bywyd diweddarach yng Nghymru, gyda deunyddiau a ddarganfuwyd ac atgofion Sean Edwards o’i blentyndod. Mae Edwards wedi addasu’r fersiwn a gomisiynwyd yn arbennig o Refrain, a gynhyrchwyd gan John Norton a Martin Williams, ac a ddarlledwyd ar BBC Radio 4 ar 17 Rhagfyr 2019.
Biennale Arte, Biennale Fenis, yw’r arddangosfa celfyddydau gweledol fwyaf yn y byd. Mae Cymru wedi bod â phresenoldeb yn y Biennale ers 2003, gan ddathlu’r gorau o dalent o Gymru ar y llwyfan rhyngwladol naw gwaith.
Cafodd cyflwyniad Edwards Undo Things Done yn Fenis 25,000 o ymwelwyr yn ystod rhediad La Biennale di Venezia. Fodd bynnag, ynghyd â nifer o gyflwyniadau swyddogol eraill, daeth i ben yn gynnar oherwydd llifogydd digynsail ledled y ddinas. Effeithiodd y llifogydd ar waith dur a phren sylweddol yn in parallel with the past i-iv, 2019 sydd wedi’i dynnu o’r daith gyda gweithiau newydd wedi’u hychwanegu yn ei le gan yr artist wrth i’r daith fynd yn ei blaen i Dŷ Pawb yn Wrecsam a’r Bluecoat yn Lerpwl. Fel artist sydd bob amser yn addasu pob arddangosfa i’w gyd-destun newydd mae’r newidiadau hyn wedi cael eu hamsugno i broses waith Edwards ei hun.
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Undo Things Done
Sean Edwards
Senedd
26 July – 5 September 2021
The Senedd is proud to host the closing presentation of Undo Things Done, Sean Edwards’ exhibition commission for Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice 2019.
Undo Things Done was commissioned by Arts Council of Wales on the occasion of the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with lead partner Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham and guest curator Marie-Anne McQuay.
Undo Things Done takes as its starting point, Edwards’ experience of growing up on a council estate in Cardiff in the 1980s; capturing and translating what he calls a condition of ‘not expecting much’ into a shared visual language; one that evokes a way of living familiar to a great number of people. As part of the presentation in the Senedd, which includes Welsh quilts, prints, sculpture and film, the artist has reworked Refrain, 2019.
Refrain is a radio play co-produced by National Theatre Wales and written for and performed by the artist’s mother, Lily Edwards. This radio play, which was at the heart of the Venice exhibition, was performed live daily during the Biennale, streamed from her flat in Cardiff to the Wales in Venice 2019 venue. Refrain weaves Lily Edwards’ biography, growing up in a Northern Irish Catholic Children’s Home and her subsequent life in Wales, with found materials and Sean Edwards’ memories from childhood. Edwards has adapted the specially commissioned version of Refrain produced by John Norton and Martin Williams which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 17 December 2019.
The Venice Biennale, Biennale Arte, is the largest visual arts exhibition in the world. Wales has had a presence at the Biennale since 2003, celebrating Welsh talent on an international stage nine times.
Edwards’ presentation Undo Things Done in Venice received 25,000 visitors during the run of La Biennale di Venezia however, along with a number of other official presentations, drew to an early close due to unprecedented flooding across the city. The floods affected a significant steel and wood work in parallel with the past i-iv, 2019 which has been removed from the tour with new works instead added by the artist as the tour progressed to Tŷ Pawb in Wrexham and the Bluecoat in Liverpool. As an artist who always adapts every exhibition to its new context these changes have been absorbed into Edwards own working process.