An exhibition of recent work by the celebrated sculptor Louise Bourgeois, a major retrospective of the work of the German photographer Thomas Ruff and an exhibition of lens-based work from the Museum’s Collection are all part of an exciting and wide-ranging programme for 2002 announced today (Tuesday 29 January) by the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Plans for the coming year also include the first showing in this country by the leading American installation artist Ann Hamilton, displays from the Gordon Lambert Collection, the first public showing of an important collection of contemporary British and Irish art and a new strand of workshops exploring the interplay between drama and the visual arts.
Speaking at the launch of the programme at IMMA, the Museum’s Acting Director, Philomena Byrne, said: “As the Museum enters its second decade we are delighted to present a programme for 2002, which builds on the best of the Museum’s existing range of activities and also introduces a number of exciting new developments. The temporary exhibition programme offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy the work of many highly-acclaimed internati0nal artists alongside several lesser known names, while the Collection Department follows its very popular portraiture show of 2001 with further lively and ingenious themed exhibitions exploring abstraction and lens-based art. New developments for 2002 include a shift in the projects strand of exhibitions from overseas to younger generation Irish artists, a greatly increased education input in the National Programme and an important collaboration between the National Theatre and our Education and Community Department, linking the visual and performing arts.”
Exhibitions
The new temporary exhibitions programme includes installations, video and photographic works by the American artist Ann Hamilton (27 March – 14 July), drawings and prints, based on Joyce’s Ulysses, by the distinguished British artist Richard Hamilton (7 June – 15 September) and a major showing of photographs by Thomas Ruff (2 August – 6 October), one of the most acclaimed photographers working today. Later in the year, the Museum presents the first Irish showing by Karen Kiliminik (27 September – 5 January 2003), whose work takes as its source the world of
fairytales, high fashion and pop culture; recent soft sculptures and related drawing by the renowned Louise Bourgeois (18 October – January 2003) and a mid-career retrospective of the work of Willie Doherty (1 November – February 2003), exploring themes of memory and place.
Group shows include the first public exhibition of cutting-edge British and Irish art, from the Rowan Collection (13 February – 2 June), How things turn out (27 February – 26 May), showcasing some of the most exciting work being made in Ireland today, and Beautiful Productions (19 June – 29 September), an exhibition of artists’ editions, curated by the international art magazine Parkett.
Collections
The Collections’ year begins with Profile of a Collection (22 January – 23 June), an exhibition of 55 works from the Gordon Lambert Collection bringing together new additions and familiar favourites. From 9 May to 1 September the focus moves to the many languages of abstraction in No Object, No Subject, No Matter …. The Museum celebrates the donation of a complete set of Louis le Brocquy’s Táin tapestries by Dublin businessman, Brian Timmins, by putting all 20 tapestries on show as a continuation of the Work-in-Focus strand of programming. From 18 September to February 2003, The Unblinking Eye explores other aspects of lens-based art alongside those presented in the Thomas Ruff and Willie Doherty shows.
In addition to the Collection shows at IMMA, Kathy Prendergast’s City Drawings will travel to the Sydney Biennale and an exhibition of Outsider Art from the Musgrave Kinley Collection will be shown at the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (22 March – 2 June). Proposals for exhibitions in Britain and Belgium are under discussion. Loans to museums and galleries in Ireland include the National Gallery, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, the Crawford Gallery, the Hugh Lane Gallery and the RHA Gallagher Gallery.
Education and Community
The Museum’s extensive range of programmes designed to create and increase access to the visual arts continues to operate on many levels in 2002. These include research projects in association with museums and arts organisations
nationally and internationally, community-based programmes within the local catchment area, primary school projects with the Department of Education and Science and adult education and youth programmes.
The Older Peoples’ Programming links to the Bealtaine Festival with exhibitions and workshops in Blanchardstown, Dublin, and Skibbereen, Co Cork. A special Bealtaine event will take place in April in association with the Irish Film Centre and the National Theatre.
In the primary school sector, the general access programme caters annually for 80 schools developing classroom-based projects based this year on Irish Art Now: From the Poetic to the Political. Research funded by the Department of Education and Science on the long-term programme with the Breaking the Cycle unit will be completed and published and a new access programme will be developed with further grant-in-aid, extending IMMA’s reach to a broader range of schools.
In addition, teachers will be invited to take part in a new strand of workshop programmes exploring the interplay between drama and visual art in a jointly created collaboration with the National Theatre.
Focus on…… is an ongoing programme which provides an introduction to the Museum for a variety of community groups, including youth and after-school groups, people with learning disabilities, community development groups and members of Ireland’s new communities.
Artists’ Work Programme
The Artists’ Work Programme, the Museum’s studio/residency programme, has hosted more than 120 artists since its inception in 1994. The Work Programme operates in eight studio spaces in renovated coach houses, adjacent to the main Museum building. There are also three self-contained apartments and five spacious bedrooms in the Flanker Building, providing living accommodation for the studios. During 2002 artists from Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Finland, Latvia, the Czeck Republic, Iceland, Spain, the USA, Canada, Nigeria and Peru will participate in the programme.
The Work Programme is open to artists in all disciplines and of all nationalities. Artists participating in the programme are encouraged to make themselves as available as possible to meet with visitors to the Museum, providing access to
the process of making art and giving the public an additional layer of experience to that available in the Museum’s galleries. A series of slide talks, studio visits, panel discussions and open days are organised around the residencies, all of which are free and open to the public.
The National Programme
The National Programme, is designed to make the Museum’s assets, skills and resources available to centres outside Dublin, through the lending of exhibitions and the development of collaborative projects with other organisations. Exhibitions and other events are devised and organised in partnership with local venues and groups through Ireland, who are encouraged to establish a familiarity and dialogue with the Museum.
The programme for 2002 sees the Museum continue relationships with festivals, such as Iniscealtra in Mountshannon, Co Clare, and establish new collaborations with the Éigse festival, Carlow, and the Sonas Festival in Louisburgh, Co Mayo.
In particular, this year will see the National Programme establish a dynamic educational programme including talks by artists such as Brian Maguire and Maud Cotter and the Head of the Collection at IMMA, Catherine Marshall. In March a selection of work from the Madden-Arnholz Collection will travel to the County Museum in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. The programme will also collaborate with the Education Department in realising various exhibitions such as the Once Is Too Much exhibition at Siamsa in Tralee and the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny. In August the Outsider Fellowship and the National Programme will co-ordinate From the cradle to the grave, an exhibition of work from the Musgrave Kinley Collection at the Catalyst Gallery, Belfast.
For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Juliette Gash at Tel : +353 1 612 9900,
Fax : +353 1 612 9999 email [email protected]
29 January 2002