IMMA Collection: A Decade provides a snapshot of how the National Collection of modern and contemporary art has developed over the past 10 years. IMMA’s remit is to collect the art of now for the future, to reflect key developments in visual culture and to keep them in the public domain for future generations. Great works of art entering IMMA’s Collection shape future conversations about art, Ireland and the world we live in and expand the reputation of contemporary Irish artists globally.
A large number of donated works feature in this exhibition and reflect IMMA’s almost exclusive reliance on private philanthropy in recent years. As a result of significant funding cuts IMMA has not had the resources to have a viable acquisitions budget since 2011. As a result the practices of younger and mid-career artists from the past five years are glaringly absent from the IMMA Collection story. It is particularly through purchases that IMMA can best fulfil its mission to chart the nation’s artistic memory. It is therefore vital that IMMA resume purchasing such critically important Irish and international works as a matter of urgency.
With this objective in mind we are happy to announce an exciting new corporate initiative, The Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection, which has resulted in the purchase of four new artworks in 2016 by Irish based artists Kevin Atherton, David Beattie, Rhona Byrne and Dennis McNulty. These new works are on display in the West Wing and South Ground Galleries as part of the overall exhibition. Read More>
IMMA Collection: A Decade includes many of the wide range of media represented within the IMMA Collection: painting, sculpture, drawings and prints, photography, film, video, installation and performance giving you a sense of the huge variety of artistic practice in contemporary art. Works selected for this exhibition explore memory, identity and place, and questions of globalism, the environment and connectivity – from the local to the universal.
This exhibition presents a selection of significant acquisitions that are the result of generous donations including Cape Siren (2008) by Philip Taaffe and Remains (2013) by Willie Doherty (on view until 15 Nov 2016). Other featured artists include Pierre Huyghe, Niamh O’Malley, Eva Rothschild, Tim Robinson, Peter Hutchinson, Maria Simonds Gooding, Amanda Coogan and others, alongside new acquisitions from the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection.
