Oh – Infamy – we eat electric light

Oh - Infamy - we eat electric light was a 12 minute long film and accompanying exhibition by Emma Wolf-Haugh and Iarlaith Ni Fheorais at Oonagh Young Gallery, opening in November 2022. It was part of the Ulysses 2.2 series of artistic experiments, to celebrate the centenary publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Taking Episode Fifteen, Circle of Ulysses as it’s starting point, the film goes on a hallucinatory trip through the Monto red light district of Dublin past, and encounters scenes of kink, queerness and revelry, revealed through a kaleidoscope of drag and dance.

As part of the exhibition a writer Matt Kennedy was commissioned to write an essay in response to the film, entitled Joyce’s Undercommons, which was displayed as part of the exhibition on a stack of free-to-take posters.They were double sided A3s, with a film still one side and the essay on the reverse. As an immersive part of the exhibition, the posters themselves were placed on a plinth upon entering the gallery, and had a hole cut out in them to allow a film prop to peer through the stack.

Oh - Infamy - we eat electric light was created in partnership with Arts and Disability Ireland as part of Ulysses 2.2. Ulysses 2.2 was curated, presented and produced by ANU, Landmark Productions and MoLI. Oh - Infamy was also supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon's Open Call Award. Documentation images by Louis Haugh.