Art Exhibition ‘Sub Specie Aeternitatis: A Walk with Wittgenstein’
We are very proud to present ‘Sub Specie Aeternitatis: A Walk with Wittgenstein’ by Niamh Jackman, an exhibition of work on paper, textile sculpture, digital scans and still images. This exhibition marks the 30th anniversary of Austria’s membership of the EU and will run from 25 March until 11 April 2025.
The contemplation of the world sub specie aeterni is its contemplation as a limited whole.
The feeling of the world as a limited whole is the mystical feeling.”
[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1922]
“But now it seems to me too that besides the work of the artist there is another through which the world may be captured sub specie aeterni. It is - as I believe - the way of thought which flies above the world and leaves it the way it is, contemplating it from above in its flight.”
[Manuscript 109 28: 22.8.1930]
"Sub Specie Aeternitatis: A Walk with Wittgenstein, is an exhibition inspired by the celebrated Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The works shown here have developed as a response to reading Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the only book of Wittgenstein’s to be published during his lifetime.
"Sub specie aeternitatis may be translated as, from the aspect of eternity. This phrase recurs in Wittgenstein’s writing and it appears, significantly, at the culmination of the Tractatus. It is an idea which fascinates me and which subsequently became instrumental in the making of this body of work." – Niamh Jackman
Exhibits
‘Above the Trees, Imagined’
A series of drawings of trees imagined, as if seen from above. The aerial perspective of each tree is imagined from what is visible below. It is an exercise in shifting perspective; to see what is there but in a different way.
‘A Walk with Wittgenstein’
A short film that accompanies ‘Wittgenstein’ as he walks through the Arklow landscape – along the same roads he walked during his Irish visits of the late 1940s. This latter-day Wittgenstein seeks traces of the past in the echo of Wittgenstein’s own words from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
The exhibition also comprises works on paper, textile sculpture, digital scans and still images.
The Artist
Niamh Jackman is a visual artist based in Dublin and Arklow, Co. Wicklow. She works primarily in the medium of drawing and sculpture-installation. Her installation based work is site-specific and is concerned with creating a visual link between drawing and sculpture.
Niamh has taken part in many residencies including The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prague, Skopelos Foundation for the Arts, The Heinrich Boll Residency and Cill Rialaig. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and is held in many public and private collections.
‘Sub Specie Aeternitatis: A Walk with Wittgenstein’ by Niamh Jackman
Europa Gallery
11 Chatham Street
Dublin 02 VP46
Exhibition runs from 25/03/2025 - 11/04/2025
Open Monday–Friday 09h30–17h00 / Weekends 12h00-18h00
Image: ‘Above the Trees, Imagined. No.1’ by Niamh Jackman
Panel Discussion
To mark the 30th Anniversary of EU Membership, the Austrian, Finnish and Swedish Embassies are organising a panel discussion: “30 years of EU Membership: Experiences from Austria, Finland and Sweden” on Monday, 24th March 2025 at 5:00pm in Europe House. To register, please see invitation here.