A multimedia installation with public participation, exhibited at the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, 2002, consisting of office furniture, photography, video, neon, wall drawings, paper, drawing materials and stencils.

Developing a multimedia approach in 2002 to explore the way the site affects meaning. The Top Half of the Hero had images of the gallery space and the hidden office spaces reproduced and included as part of the exhibition in the form of drawn murals and photographs. This created a dislocation between space and meaning, creating a heightened awareness of the site, questioning the processes embedded in the gallery space as part of the cultural industry.

The work was a critical response to issues which arose about the history of painting. Through site-specific works, connections were made to sub-plots in art, such as the myth of the artist, the myth of representation and the myth of the gallery space. The hero here is ‘art history’ and the 'top half' refers to top-heavy, with the implication that it's falling over. The work is best received in a post-modern context where established Western art traditions are explored, exposing and challenging the hidden mechanisms that underpin the processes of making and exhibiting art.

Also see videos Top Half of the Hero 1 & 2 2002