Andrew Cummings is an art historian, writer, and curator. Consisting of research, writing, curating, and collaboration, Andrew’s practice is broadly interested in the possibilities and limits of contemporary art for meaningfully engaging with overlooked, hidden, or otherwise unacknowledged forces, experiences, and infrastructures. Drawing on their experiences as a death doula and facilitator of grief circles, Andrew’s current project examines the possibilities and limits of contemporary art for tending grief and composting loss.
Andrew has explored these topics in a range of formats, from peer-reviewed articles and creative non-fiction essays to symposia, public talks, events, and exhibitions. Andrew’s writing has been published by Pilot Press and Tate Papers. Previous exhibitions and programmes include Dark Factory (MMCA Korea), A History of Future Contagion (Spike Island/The Courtauld), and Museum x Machine x Me (Tate). Recent and upcoming residencies and fellowships include MMCA Korea and the Gwangju Biennale.
Visit Andrew Cummings’ website here
Spring 2026
Practice: Critical Writing / Curatorial
Research Focus
For Andrew, Dwell Here provides a precious opportunity to reflect, research, and develop ideas in resonance with the museum’s unique architectural, historical, and cultural context. IMMA’s site vibrates with legacies of empire, violence, and destruction: formerly a military hospital and the headquarters of the British Army in Ireland, its Classical architecture — modelled on Les Invalides — was designed to project imperial strength. Responding to this site, Andrew will explore and develop curatorial frameworks and practices for slowing down, attuning to rhythms of loss and grief, and recalibrating the frequencies of the museum’s built legacy of power and violence.
More about the Dwell Here Residency
Dwell Here offers participants a simple proposition: to commit to this time and place while thinking deeply about its urgencies. Together we are curious to learn what can be activated or challenged through the process of dwelling. IMMA encourages reflection across the following themes to consider geographical, historical, political and cultural concepts of Ireland as a starting point to expand and connect international contexts through similarities and differences:
Technologies of Peace – to consider commemorative landscapes and memories of peace (as a dream, movement, or value) while generating perspectives on sustainable coexistence.
The Irish Paradigm – Welcomes artistic research that creates intimacy and connections, while celebrating the perceived agility and freedoms of operating on the periphery. As a small island on the edge of Europe, Ireland often has a challenging relationship with ‘the centre’.
The Museum as a Site of Vibration – consider how the museum and site can create new vibrations and rhythms within the built legacy of empire. How can museums make visible cultural shifts, including erased, censored or marginalised histories, as well as sustainability, planetary care, sharing and hospitality.