Buildings from a Novel consists primarily of a series of sculptures that were made while the artist and writer, Adrian Duncan was writing his recent novel A Thought Without Collision. These sculptures, which resemble fictional buildings imagined in the novel, belong to points in an imaginary terrain. They are a self-built (Tyrolean-style) Haus, an Irish country school, a clubhouse, and a rural family home. The objects in this world, however, take on a tactility and life of their own in the gallery. The video work shown alongside the sculptures, also titled Buildings from a Novel (12mins, 2026), shows a conversation between two characters from this novel as they discuss the destiny of the house they are standing in. This conversation takes place as they stand over a model of this house, a model that also appears as a sculpture in this show.
Excerpt from A Thought Without Collision
Published by Tuskar Rock Press, August 2026
‘Please come, Catherine,’ he said, and he made for his room upstairs, where he showed her the two models he’d made of his house, one in a state of completeness, it shining in a shaft of afternoon sun, the other singed and darkened. He presented to her a drawing to the right of the burned-down model showing the plan view of the ground floor, and crisscrossing this plan were red lines and to these Alois pointed and said, ‘There’s a petrol can full of gasoline beneath my bed. And on the morning after I pass, use this gasoline to draw out these lines across my house and then when you have said your farewells, as it were, please use the matches on my table there to set the place alight.’
Catherine looked at him, her lower lip trembling. She shook her head slowly while knuckling a tear from her eye, and she then silently made her way downstairs.
Artist Bio
Adrian Duncan’s practice consists of an ongoing development of three evolving activities: object-making and installation, film-making, and writing. His sculptural works, films and books most often stem from an engagement with the built environment – from Irish domestic housing to fascist-era monuments in Italy. Duncan’s recent award-winning film Latina, Latina (84mins, 2025) screened in competition at CPH:DOX and Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, among others. It also showed at della Fondazza, Bologna. It was funded by the Arts Council’s ReelArt award. His latest novel A Thought without Collision was published in August 2026 with Tuskar Rock Press. The works in Buildings from a Novel stem from this book. He was guest curator of the Dublin Art Book Fair 2024 in TBG+S and he is an editor, since 2009, with Paper Visual Art Journal and PVA Books.
Images: 01. Adrian Duncan, Haus Alois, 2026, Tulipwood, deal, teak, 50 x 50 x 90cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
02. Adrian Duncan, Schoolhouse, 2026, Beech, deal, teak, 40 x 40 x 50cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
03. Adrian Duncan, Clubhouse, 2026, Plywood, deal, teak, 70 x 80 x 70cm, Image courtesy of the artist.
04. Adrian Duncan, Still from Buildings from a Novel, 13mins loop, 2026, 1/3 digital file, Image courtesy of the artist.
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