Illustrated Parts Breakdown – An exhibition by Benjamin Morrison

Name: Illustrated Parts Breakdown – An exhibition by Benjamin Morrison
Start: 2026-10-30T18:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-12-21T17:00:00+00:00
Location: Riverbank Arts Centre

About the event

In his new body of work titled Illustrated Parts Breakdown, interdisciplinary artist Ben Morrison explores the possibility of staying with the instability of the present through a material study of dysfunctional objects. In the process of making space for a studio on his family farm, Morrison displaced heaps of machine parts and broken tools. Confronted with his inability to access the objects’ original use-function, he explored the interpretative potential of these objects-in-limbo. Using the art of assemblage, Ben Morrison confronts the ideal notion of a whole when faced with the sum of its parts and challenges conventional historical narratives of place. He entangles archival imagery with absurdist video-art performance to further frustrate the viewer’s capacity to draw any singular interpretation from the objects displayed. Through the work’s upcoming installation at the McKenna Gallery in Newbridge, Illustrated Parts Breakdown faces the site specific context of Kildare as Ireland’s most rapidly urbanising region.

Ben Morrison is recipient of the 2025 ‘Emerging Visual Artist Bursary Award’ supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service and Riverbank Arts Centre.

Official opening Friday 30 October at 6pm – all welcome!

McKenna Gallery
Friday 30 October-Monday 21 December
Monday-Friday 9:30am-5pm | Saturday 10am-3pm
Admission Free

As part of this exhibition Benjamin will host Dig – A Performance Lecture on Wednesday 16 December, 8pm.

About the Artist
Ben Morrison is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersection of cultural memory and materiality. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science from Trinity College Dublin (2020) and a Master’s in Photography & Society from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (2024). He has previously attended residencies at the Futures Hub Amsterdam (2024) and shown his work at Unseen Photo Festival (2024). He has been awarded the Agility Award by the Arts Council (2022) and the Emerging Artist Solo Show Award by Kildare County Council Arts Service (2025). In his practice he uses archives, found objects and the art of assemblage to critically reflect on contemporary culture and conventional historical narratives.