Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April 2014
Following the success of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s reopening in October 2013, IMMA is delighted to announce its Spring 2014 opening with the launch of a major retrospective exhibition by internationally acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy IMMA presents a dynamic programme of exhibitions, activities and events, with something for everyone, on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April 2014.
Highlights include family activities as part of the family exhibition Light Rhythms – create your own sound installation with artist Karl Burke, try out your skills as a DJ with DJ Simon Conway, and contribute to a large scale sculpture in IMMA’s courtyard by artist Julian Wild; attend one of our many curator’s talks on IMMA’s exhibitions throughout the day culminating in a panel discussion with artist Sheela Gowda; attend the official Spring Opening reception at 6pm; and finally for those of you who love to dance attend our ‘90s club night, in partnership with Totally Dublin, with sets by exhibiting artist Haroon Mirza, Donal Dineen and more, taking place in IMMA’s Chapel from 8pm. Please see weekend line up below for full details and times.
The exhibition by Sheela Gowda, Open Eye Policy, is an overview of her work from 1992 to 2012. This exhibition provides Irish audiences the opportunity to discover the work of this extraordinary artist, who this year was nominated for the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize. The exhibition presents artworks never exhibited together and constitutes the basis for a proper evaluation of the artist’s historical and cultural significance.
Gowda works with pre-industrial materials such as cow dung, thread, string, and wooden chips but also with ‘waste’ from the economic activity of today’s India such as steel tar drums and plastic tarpaulins. The artworks in the exhibition can be divided into different, though interlinked, sections regarding early studies, works with cow dung, smaller sculptures, large-scale installations and works on paper. Born 1957 in India, Gowda trained as a painter, and is best known for her sculptural installations. The theme of her artistic expression goes from an interest in abstraction and materials, to the engagement with politics, the environment and society. Gowda lives and works in Bangalore.
Our Spring Opening is also a chance for visitors of all ages to discover the full breadth of IMMA’s Spring programme with five other exhibitions on view, these include the recently opened exhibition by renowned British artist Haroon Mirza, Are jee be?, a new body of work created in direct response to the environment and architecture of IMMA, and from IMMA’s Collection a striking red neon text installation, Line Writing, 1994, by Laos born artist Vong Phaophanit.
Spring Opening Line up!
SATURDAY 5 APRIL
DAYTIME
VISIT EXHIBITIONS:
– Opening of Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
– Patrick Scott Image Space Light
– Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
– Family Exhibition Light Rhythms
– Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
– One Foot in the Real World
LECTURE
In Conversation with Sheela Gowda
5.00 – 6.00pm, Johnston Suite
Sheela Gowda discusses her work with co-curators Annie Fletcher and Grant Watson, and reflects on their shared experiences of developing the retrospective exhibition for its touring venues.
Booking is required. Free tickets are available online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures.ie
CURATORS TALKS
Guest Curator’s Gallery Tour | Annie Fletcher
4.00pm – 4.30pm, East Wing Galleries
Annie Fletcher (Curator Exhibitions, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven) leads a gallery introduction to the Sheela Gowda exhibition.
Booking is essential. Free tickets online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures.ie
Curators’ Gallery Talks on Current Exhibitions
Meeting Point: Main Reception
In a series of short introductions in the galleries, IMMA’s curatorial team invites you to explore selected works featured in the current exhibitions.
12.30pm – 1.00pm Patrick Scott Image Space Light presented by Johanne Mullan
1.15pm – 1.45pm Vong Phaophanit Line Writing presented by Marguerite O’Molloy
2.00pm – 2.30pm Are jee be? Haroon Mirza presented by Séamus McCormack
No booking is required. Numbers are limited.
FOR FAMILIES
Light Rhythms – Family Exhibition
The Project Spaces
Light Rhythms is an exhibition about sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people of all ages. The artworks explore sound, space, light and colour, so why not drop in to test out how you can manipulate and influence these elements. Stop and listen, consider how you can change the sound in the room. Use your body to create your own Patrick Scott inspired image.
Help us to make a large-scale sculpture – Making the Connection
12noon – 4.00pm, IMMA Courtyard
Contribute to a large-scale sculpture, Making the Connection by artist Julian Wild, in our courtyard. Using plastic plumber’s tubing and elbow joints, Making the Connection is made from one continuous line of over 300 metres of tubing, everyone is encouraged to add to this free flowing sculpture that explores the space that it exists in.
Learn how to DJ
12noon – 2.00pm (for children 7+), The Project Spaces
Drop in and try out your skills as a DJ with DJ Simon Conway of Forza Italo and Wave Forza. Learn the fundamentals of DJing with vinyl records and try out a few DJ tricks on the decks. Not to be missed!
Create your own Sound Art
12noon – 4.00pm, The Project Spaces
Join artist Karl Burke, whose sound artwork Compositions 1-36 (created in collaboration with Russell Hart) is in our Light Rhythms exhibition, to explore listening and to work together to create your own sound installation.
Drop in for as little or as long as you like, no booking required.
TEENS
Sound Workshop for 13 to 18 year olds
1.30pm to 3.30pm, Studio and The Project Spaces
Especially designed for teens meet sound artist Karl Burke to create your own sound compositions and meet DJ Simon Conway to learn the fundamentals of Djing and to learn a few DJ tricks! To book email: [email protected]
FILM
Film Screening | Patrick Scott Golden Boy
10am – 5.00pm, 50mins on a loop (Screened on the hour), Lecture Room
Golden Boy is the most definitive film portrait of one of Ireland’s most famous artists. The film charts the artist’s journey from his childhood in Cork and his embracing of modernism when he encountered the White Stag Group during WW2. Scott recalls his time as an architect with Michael Scott before he decided to be a full time painter in the early ‘50s. Locations include his home and studio in Dublin and his family home Kilbrittain County Cork. The film features his great friends Seamus Heaney, Dorothy Walker and Stephen Pearce. Scott takes centre stage alongside his best friends, his cats! No booking required.
Produced by Maria Doyle Kennedy and Andrea Pitt for Mermaid Films, Directed by Sé Merry Doyle, Music by Kieran Kennedy.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Spring Opening Reception
6.00 – 8.00pm
IMMA presents ’90s Club Night in association with Totally Dublin
8.00pm – Midnight, the Chapel
IMMA has teamed up with Totally Dublin to present a Club Night that will transport you back to the ‘90s Dublin club scene. Artist Haroon Mirza, whose new project Are jee be? is showing at IMMA until 8 June, will headline a retrospective of the music that created the Dublin rave scene. Featuring sets by DJs Donal Dineen (2FM), Adrian Dunlea (Sir Henry’s, Cork) and Totally Dublin DJs this night is a tribute to club nights such as the System, Orbit and Dance Crazy. Tickets are €10.00 and can be booked online at www.imma.ie and on the IMMA Facebook Page.
The event is kindly sponsored by Tiger Beer, The Picture Works and Damson Diner.
SUNDAY 6 APRIL
VISIT EXHIBITIONS:
– Opening of Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
– Patrick Scott Image Space Light
– Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
– Family Exhibition Light Rhythms
– Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
– One Foot in the Real World
FOR FAMILIES
Light Rhythms – Family Exhibition
The Project Spaces
Light Rhythms is an exhibition about sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people of all ages. The artworks explore sound, space, light and colour, so why not drop in to test out how you can manipulate and influence these elements. Stop and listen, consider how you can change the sound in the room. Use your body to create your own Patrick Scott inspired image.
Explorer Family Workshop
2.00pm – 4.00pm, The Projects Spaces
Join us for the family workshop Explorer to explore the Light Rhythms exhibition. All free and lots of fun!
Drop in for as little or as long as you like, no booking required.
For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]
20 March 2014
Editors Notes:
Further information on exhibitions at IMMA:
Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
5 April – 22 June
IMMA presents a major retrospective exhibition of the work of acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda. Gowda’s use of symbolically charged techniques, materials and colours offers narratives reaching beyond the abstract forms used. Juxtaposing and contrasting rural and urban life, the artist conjures up the continuing strength and vulnerability of human nature through different approaches, inviting a host of interpretations.
In selected works cow dung is used on the picture surface as well as in sculptures, taking the shape of a dense pigment on paintings and of concrete material in sculptural installations such as Stock.The most significant large-scale installations include Kagebangara, Of All people, And… and Some Place, are made from materials as diverse as threads coated in KumKum (a red organic pigment used on the forehead and in rituals), flattened tar barrels (from which road workers make temporary shelters), metal piping, woven hair ropes and small wooden figures with votive functions.
Born 1957 in India, Gowda trained as a painter, and now works with a variety of media and material, which are often presented as installations. Selected international exhibitions include Documenta 12, 2007; Sharjah Biennale 2008, 53rd Venice Biennale 2009; and Singapore Biennial 2011. She has had solo exhibitions at InIVA London; NAS Gallery, Sydney; OCA, Oslo; Bose Pacia Gallery, New York, and GallerySKE, Bangalore. Gowda lives and works in Bangalore.
This exhibition is co-curated by Annie Fletcher and Grant Watson and is a touring project co-produced with Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Lunds Konsthall and IMMA. The exhibition has been shown at the Van Abbemuseum and Lunds Konsthall and is currently showing at the Centre international d’art et du paysage, Vassivière Island, France.
Patrick Scott Image Space Light
Garden Galleries, IMMA, 16 February – 18 May
VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, 16 February – 11 May
IMMA and VISUAL, Carlow, are delighted to present a major exhibition of the work of Irish artist Patrick Scott, showing across the two venues as a single exhibition. Patrick Scott: Image Space Light brings together the most comprehensive representation of this remarkable artist’s 75 year long career. The exhibition brings together more than 100 pieces that illustrate the breadth and longevity of his career as an architect, designer and artist.
Admission: €5.00 full price, €3.00 concession (senior citizens, unwaged), under 18’s and those in full time education free. Admission free for all on Fridays.
Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
Until 8 June 2014
The first solo museum exhibition in Ireland by the renowned British artist Haroon Mirza, Are jee be?, is a new body of work created in direct response to the environment and architecture of IMMA. Thematically, the body of work is entitled The System, 2014, and can be read as one work. The title references the name of the Dublin based ‘90s underground nightclub venue System, which although only in existence for a few years was an important element in the history of dance music in Dublin, a music genre that has been a key influences on the artist’s work. Mirza’s new project, Are jee be?, combines a variety of readymade and time-based materials to create audio compositions, which are often realised as site-specific installations. In doing so, he complicates the distinctions between noise, sound and music.
The exhibition features remnants of the recent Eileen Gray exhibition at IMMA. Occupying the same gallery spaces, the Gray exhibition acts as a ‘readymade’ from which Mirza remixes elements to create a new visual and sonic installation. Recently invited to complete a project in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (with whom Gray had a legendary and turbulent affiliation) at Poissy in the outskirts of Paris, the opportunity for Mirza to feature elements of the Eileen Gray exhibition for his own purposes sets up an interesting counterpoint in which to experience his own innovative work practice.
Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
8 March – 11 May
IMMA is delighted to re-install Line Writing by Vong Phaophanit which continues the presentation of complex single-room installations made for the IMMA building. Line Writing was commissioned by IMMA as part of a series of exhibitions which took place in 1994, titled From Beyond the Pale. This striking red neon text work is installed under the floorboards of the East Ground Galleries; it is literally enmeshed in the fabric of the building. The work is best experienced during the early months of the year, when lower daylight levels and daylight saving offer optimum conditions for viewing the striking impact of red neon light illuminating the 17th-Century colonnade.
One Foot in the Real World
12 October 2013 – 14 April 2014
Drawing on IMMA’s Collection, One Foot in the Real World, includes works that explore the urban environment, the everyday or the domestic. Prompted by the recent Eileen Gray, Leonora Carrington and Klara Lidén exhibitions; the exhibition One Foot in the Real World addresses the psychology of space; scale and the body gravity and transformation. Elements of architecture and design recur as points of departure in the works; such as bricks; the keyhole; the window; the door and the table.
Since its inception in 1991, IMMA’s temporary exhibition programme has given rise to a number of works by internationally renowned artists, made in response to the Museum’s own architecture. Examples include Still Falling, 1991, a massive cast iron and air sculpture by Antony Gormley and Juan Muñoz’s Dublin Rain Room, 1994, a scale model of one of the gallery spaces where it perpetually rains indoors. These works, which have not been shown since the ‘90s, are re-installed in the rooms for which they were originally conceived.