Gerard Byrne was born in 1969 in Dublin where he lives and works. His photographs and installations explore the constructions of images and the affinities between text, performance and visual representation. The video installation ‘New Sexual Lifestyles’ (2003) stages the transcript of a symposium published in the September 1973 issue of ‘Playboy’ and gathering ‘sex experts’ from academics to porn stars. Literature and theatre have a strong influence on Byrne’s practice. ‘A road, a tree, evening’ (2006) is a photograph of a common tree on the side of the road, a quiet evening in the countryside, but it is also an attempt to find the ‘setting’ of Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’. Of course it is a nonsensical and impossible task to find an origin,’ says Byrne ‘but in exploring how the setting symbolically represents the world, at some level this anchors the drama in reality.’

Gerard Byrne is representing Ireland at 52nd Venice Biennale 2007. His most recent exhibitions include: The Art of Failure, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, (2007); Gerard Byrne, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, (2007);Marc Bijl-Gerard Byrne-Valérie Jouve- video &photography, Aliceday, Brussels, (2007); The V Effect, Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, (2007); Gerard Byrne, Lisson Gallery, London, (2007); The Studio, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, (2006); Momentum - Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art 2006, Moss, (2006); Don Quijote, Witte de With, Rotterdam, (2006); KAPITEL VII: Bühne des Lebens – Rhetorik des Gefühls, (2006); A Short History of Performance - Part IV, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, (2006);Tate Triennial 2006 - New British Art, (2006); London, (2006); Extra City - Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp, (2005); Icestorm, Kunstverein München, Munich, (2005);Gerard Byrne - In Repertory, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, (2004) and Gerard Byrne: A country road. A tree. Evening, Basis voor Actuele Kunst - BAK, Utrecht, (2004).

Gerard Byrne is represented by Green On Red Gallery, Dublin and Lisson Gallery, London.