New Initiative ‘IRELAND INVITES’ Announced: Ireland Invites will showcase Irish visual art to the international biennale circuit

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland are delighted to announce a new 3-year pilot named IRELAND INVITES, aimed at showcasing Irish visual art to the international biennale circuit.

IRELAND INVITES seeks to enhance international exposure for Irish visual artists by hosting biennale curators to undertake visits to studio and art institutions in Ireland. During their visit curators will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of contemporary art practices in Ireland availing of the curatorial expertise of IMMA, Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland, who will facilitate research and create bespoke hosted trips for each visiting curator.

Commenting on the new initiative, Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA, Barbara Dawson, Director Hugh Lane Gallery and Sharon Barry, Director Culture Ireland said: “An analysis of biennale over the last 20 years shows an opportunity to develop the representation of Irish visual artists internationally and IRELAND INVITES seeks to address this in a joint initiative between IMMA, Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland. Over the next 3-years we look forward to welcoming curators from around the world to see the very best Ireland has to offer in terms of visual arts.”

Inti Guerrero, Artistic Director of the Sydney Biennale, 2024 is the first visiting curator as part of IRELAND INVITES.  Later in the Summer, Miguel A. López and Dominique Fontaine, co-curators of the Toronto Biennial of Art, 2024 will also visit Ireland to coincide with EVA, Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art taking place in Limerick.

Further curator visits will be confirmed later in the year.

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Contact: For further information and images please contact:
Monica Cullinane E: [email protected]
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]

Additional Notes for Editors

Inti Guerrero

Inti Guerrero, together with Cosmin Costinas was announced last summer as the co-Artistic Director of the 24th Biennale of Sydney which will take place from the 09 March – 10 June 2024. Inti Guerrero is currently tutor of the Curatorial Studies programme at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts-KASK,Ghent.  He was the Artistic Director of bap – bellas artes projects, Manila (2018-2022), Curator of the 38th EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial, Limerick (2018), Artistic Director of TEOR/éTica, San Jose (2011-2014) and the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator at Tate, London (2016-2020). As an independent curator, Guerrero has curated exhibitions across Asia, Europe, Latin America and West Africa, including ‘Myth Makers” (curated with Chantal Wong) at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2023), ‘Fraccionar’ at Casa Museo Luis Barragan, Mexico City (2019), ‘A Chronicle of Interventions,’ Tate Modern, London (2014) and ‘A Transatlantic Affair: Josephine Baker and Le Corbusier,’ (curated with Carlos Maria Romero) at Museum of Art of Rio-MAR, Rio de Janeiro (2014). He has edited and contributed his writing to numerous books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues and has taught and lectured at different universities, art academies, and institutions across the world.

Over the past 10 years, Costinaș and Guerrero have co-curated a number of exhibitions together including ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ (Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and San Francisco, 2013-2015) ‘Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs’ (Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, 2016-2017), ‘Long Green Lizzards’ – Dakar Biennale, La Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain, Dakar (2018). Both curators are based in Berlin.

About IMMA www.imma.ie 

Founded in 1991, IMMA is Ireland’s National Cultural Institution for Modern and Contemporary Art located in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Its vibrant, bold, and diverse program comprises exhibitions, commissions, and event-based projects by leading Irish and international artists, as well as a rich engagement and learning program which together provides audiences of all ages the opportunity to connect with contemporary art and unlock their creativity. IMMA is also the home of the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art of nearly 4,000 artworks by Irish and international artists. IMMA makes this national resource available through exhibitions at IMMA and other venues nationally and internationally, engagement and learning programs and digital resources.

About Hugh Lane Gallery  www.hughlane.ie

Located in Dublin’s City Centre, in Parnell Square, Hugh Lane Gallery, (originally named Municipal Gallery of Modern Art), houses one of Ireland’s most exciting collections of modern and contemporary Irish and international art. It is also the home of Francis Bacon’s Studio. The Gallery was founded by Sir Hugh Lane in 1908 as part of the dynamic and pioneering Celtic Revival Movement in Ireland at the turn of the 20^thcentury. Since its foundation, the gallery’s collection of modern and international art has grown considerably. As rich resource in the visual arts, HLG, where art and ideas meet, participates with many diverse communities nationally and globally through its programs of engagement, learning, exhibitions, rotating displays, and research.

About Culture Ireland www.cultureireland.ie

Culture Ireland promotes Irish arts worldwide and creates and supports opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues. Culture Ireland develops platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals and the Venice Biennales.