Vanessa Donoso López: (O-O-O)Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin★★★☆☆For a good chunk of the mid-2000s a heated debate took place, mainly on the internet, between a group of philosophers and theorists over a problem of their own discipline’s making. The issue might be crudely stated thus: how to let things just do their own thing. Since at least the 18th century, thanks to Immanuel Kant, a seemingly inescapable aspect of reality was that it is structured in some essential way by the human mind. This hypothesis solved a whole bunch of problems for 18th century philosophers but it created headaches for virtually everyone else, since it begs the question, what kind of existence can things be said to have independently of us? The planet predates humans, it will hopefully postdate them too. The problem then stands: what’s the story with reality if the things of the world don’t really need us?(O-O-O), a solo exhibition of work by Vanessa Donoso López at Temple Bar Gallery, takes it names from one of the many outcomes of those heady internet squabbles – Object-Oriented Ontology. Its proponents argue that knowing or seeing something can never mean that it is entirely comprehended. In a certain sense objects have their own lives and relate to each other in ways that have no necessary reference to humans. As fuzzy as that sounds, it is nonetheless an idea that has been taken up enthusiastically by many contemporary artists, particularly those working in sculpture or assemblage. Yet by the same token it’s arguably only within these fields that these ideas begin to make much sense, Donoso López’s show being a case in point. (O-O-O) is cacophony of bits and pieces, objects found and objects made, things set in motion and things left to their own devices. Laid out across sets of interweaving benches and tables, numerous small porcelain and clay objects lie interspersed with plants, coloured thread, bulbs, artist-made stencils, shells, rocks and more. The layout of things seems sporadically systematic, simultaneously inviting the viewer to find order while also reminding them of its futility. Ceramics and kiln-fired objects are at the centre of everything here. Differing clays and soils are catalogued and itemised, notes and studio investigations are presented. Yet in a strange way these offer little enlightenment, becoming objects in their own right while around them the various forms and materials remain inscrutable. According to Donoso López the title of the exhibition can also be understood as an abbreviation of “Out of Office” and in fact the entirety of the show is really nothing other than her complete studio transported to the gallery floor. It’s a microcosm of the artist’s practice, just minus the artist herself. To that degree it is obliquely reminiscent of Bruce Nauman’s 2001 video pieces Mapping The Studio I and II in which infrared cameras capture the natural nocturnal occurrences within his workspace – scurrying mice, cats, insects, weird noises. In the end, it seems the question that Donoso López is most interesting in asking is not what her works say to us, but what they might be saying to each other.(O-O-O) is at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, until September 20th