Pictured left to right: Mark Garry, Maireád McClean, and Ciarán Murphy. Not pictured: Yuri Pattison

THE HENNESSY ART FUND FOR IMMA COLLECTION ARTISTS 2017

13 June 2017:  Hennessy Ireland and IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) today announce the four artists whose works have been selected to be purchased by The Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection 2017. Mark Garry, Maireád McClean, Ciarán Murphy and Yuri Pattison will see their works added to the IMMA National Collection of Contemporary and Modern Art and join the company of esteemed artists such as Louis le Brocquy, Patrick Scott and Katie Holten. The works will be revealed to the public at IMMA on Thursday July 13 2017.

In 2016 Hennessy Ireland formed a unique partnership with IMMA to help fund the purchase of important works by Irish and Irish based artists for the National Collection. Works are sought that show excellence and innovation within contemporary art developments, and which represent a signal moment of achievement with the artist’s practice and capture a moment in time of Irish culture. They must also have been made within the previous five years.

Artists are nominated by a selection panel, including IMMA Director, Sarah Glennie and Head of Collections, Christina Kennedy and independent guest curator, Roscommon based visual artist Linda Shevlin. Linda has curated, facilitated and managed both large and small-scale visual arts projects including the 53rd Venice Biennale where she was project manager for the representative artists Gareth Kennedy & Sarah Browne and Radical Actions at RMIT Galleries, Melbourne as part of Culture Ireland’s 2016 international programme I Am Ireland. Final recommendations are approved by the IMMA Collection & Acquisitions Committee, in line with IMMA’s Collection policy. The inaugural Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection saw works by artists Kevin Atherton, David Beattie, Rhona Byrne and Dennis McNulty selected.

Since the first solo presentation of Ciarán Murphy’s paintings in Dublin in 2005 his work has achieved considerable national and international critical success, with solo exhibitions in Kavi Gupta Gallery Chicago, Grimm Gallery Amsterdam and Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin;  the work of Mairéad McClean, who grew up in Tyrone and has been based in London for the past 25 years, disrupts and restructures events from the past highlighting the unreliability of history; Mark Garry’s practice stems from and is informed by a number of diverse fields of research, which inform his interest in observing and engaging with the many mechanisms that influence and effect how one navigates the world and the complexity and subjectivity inherent in these navigations; while Dubliner Yuri Pattison is described as a tireless, natural thinker at the forefront of a group of emerging artists whose practices, in an inherently 21st century manner, are informed by a seamless merger of hard and soft realities

Speaking about being selected to join the National Collection as part of the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA 2017, Mairéad McClean said "Being in IMMA’s collection means that my work has a visibility and reach that stretches beyond what I would have envisaged. Through the Hennessy Art Fund, this chosen video work will now become a significant part of our public inheritance for future generations to experience.”

Ciaran Murphy added, “I’m delighted to be part of the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection. IMMA has always been important to me so to have one of my paintings in such a cherished public institution is a real honour. I would like to thank Hennessy for their generous support, and for recognising the importance of supporting the National Collection of Contemporary Art.”

Elaine Cullen, Market Development Manager for Moet Hennessy Ireland, said “Hennessy has strong roots to Irish culture and has a long tradition of supporting and nurturing Irish talent in the arts. It is a privilege to enable the acquisition of works by these four artists, works which are deserving of their addition to the hugely important National Collection at IMMA. We’ve been lucky enough to view the pieces and look forward to the public having the opportunity to see them at IMMA in July.”

Sarah Glennie, Director of IMMA, said "We are delighted to announce that with the invaluable support of the Hennessy Art Fund that these important works will now be joining the IMMA Collection, to be enjoyed by audiences now and for generations to come. It is vital that IMMA, as Ireland’s national institution for contemporary art is in a position to collect the work that is happening now, defining our present and reflecting the extraordinary depth of contemporary visual art currently being produced in Ireland. We are indebted to Hennessy for their visionary support which allows this to happen. and We are delighted to be taking this significant partnership into year two and we look forward to working with them into the future."

IMMA welcomed over 580,000 visitors in 2016 making it the second most popular free visitor attraction in Ireland. In addition to the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA, other highlights of the Hennessy cultural calendar include the Hennessy Literary Awards, the Hennessy Portrait Prize with the National Gallery and Hennessy Lost Fridays with RHA.

For further information visit www.imma.ie and www.hennessy.com, log onto the Hennessy Cognac Ireland’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/HennessyCognacIreland, or follow Hennessy on Twitter @HennessyIRL and Instagram @HennessyIRL.

The Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection 2017 Artists:

Ciarán Murphy
Born in 1978, in Mayo, Ciarán Murphy now lives and works in Kilkenny. His enigmatic paintings take their starting point from a wide-ranging and ever growing archive of images found, collected and carefully arranged into categories by the artist. This unseen archive forms the backbone that haunts the finished works. Through a process of editing, erasing, overwriting or simply replacing what has been painted and unpainted, the work leaves a sense that is not quite of loss, or absence, but rather the presence of a non-thing.

Mairéad McClean
Born in Beragh, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland Mairéad McClean has lived and worked for the past 25 years in London. She is artist and filmmaker whose work disrupts and restructures events from the past, highlighting the unreliability of both history and memory. Through the use of sound, still and moving image, material evidence is re-opened and re-examined and a new vantage point is created. She is an award-winning filmmaker who has produced work around the themes of memory, identity and migration. Her most recent video No More, won the inaugural MAC International Art Prize in Oct 2014.  

Mark Garry
Born in Mullingar in 1972, Mark Garry is driven by a fundamental interest in observing how humans navigate the world and the subjectivity inherent in these navigations. He uses a variety of media and mechanisms in his practice, primarily focusing on institution-based installations. These delicate site-specific installations are measured and meticulous systems of construction, combining physical, visual, sensory and empathetic analogues, creating arrangements of elements that intersect the space and form relationships between a given room and each other. They incorporate a specific range of natural and craft materials and processes such as plants, thread, beads, woodcarvings and manufactured materials such as coloured contact, origami, and mechanical musical mechanisms.

Yuri Pattison
Born in Dublin in 1986 Yuri Pattison now lives and works in London. He is a tireless, natural thinker at the forefront of a group of emerging artists / intellectuals whose practices, in an inherently 21st century manner, are informed by a seamless merger of hard and soft realities. He works in sculpture and digital media, exploring the visual culture of digital economies and the natures of online/offline skill sharing. Typical, recent examples of his artworks thoughtfully list medium and/or displayed interior contents.

About Linda Shevlin, Guest Curator
Linda Shevlin is an independent curator and visual artist based in Co. Roscommon, Ireland. Since graduating with honours from the Masters in Visual Arts Practices, IADT, Linda has curated, facilitated and managed both large and small-scale visual arts projects. She has been awarded the Arts Council of Ireland’s Visual Arts Curatorial Residency award for three consecutive years (2013 – 2016) and in that time has produced a series of events and exhibitions in County Roscommon including newly commissioned works by Maria McKinney (IE) and Sean Lynch (IE); public art projects by Sean Rafferty (AUS), Ruth E. Lyons (IE) and Deirdre O’Mahony (IE), exhibitions by Martin Parr (IE), Duncan Campbell (IE) & Eamon O’Kane (IE) and a symposium titled The Workers with contributions from Adam Sutherland of Grizedale Arts (UK) & M12 Collective (USA) among others. In 2017 she is co-curating the visual art programme for Bealtaine Festival with festival director Tara Byrne.

About Hennessy
Immersed in Irish heritage, Hennessy has evolved to become one of Ireland’s most well-known and cherished brands. Founded in Cognac, France in 1765 by Corkonian Richard Hennessy, the brand’s distinctly Irish heritage has stood the test of time and today draws on over 250 years of knowledge, talent, expertise and passion. It is a brand that is intrinsically linked to the Irish way of life and is complemented by Hennessy’s commitment to Ireland’s unique sociability and skill in creating unforgettable experiences. Hennessy’s Savoir-Faire is evident from its unique heritage, tradition and exceptional craftsmanship which create Hennessy Cognac. Though the Hennessy brand has evolved throughout the years, the true art form of its traditions and methods remains timeless.

About IMMA
IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) is Ireland’s leading national institution of Contemporary and Modern art. Based in its home at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, IMMA is celebrated for its vibrant and dynamic exhibition and education programmes.

IMMA is the home of the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary art. Now numbering over 3,500 works, IMMA ensures that this collection is accessible to visitors to IMMA and beyond, through exhibitions, collaborations, loans, touring partnerships and digital programmes.
Visited by over 580,000 people in 2016, IMMA is one of Ireland’s leading cultural institutions and a key source of creativity and inspiration for visitors of all walks of life. One out of every eight IMMA visitors experiences visual art for the first time through their IMMA visit. The museum is driven to inspire a curiosity and appreciation of Irish contemporary art amongst their audience and the wider Irish public.

 Opening Night: Thursday 15 June, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Exhibition dates: 16 June – 15 October 2017

IMMA is delighted to present two major solo exhibitions 93% STARDUST by Vivienne Dick and Weekend Plans by Nan Goldin. Key figures within ‘No Wave’, a short-lived avant-garde scene in the late 70’s in New York led by a collective of musicians, filmmakers and artists, Dick and Goldin met during this time and became life-long friends whose work richly influenced each other.

Both exhibitions at IMMA will present new and unseen work. Vivienne Dick premieres her new film work Augenblick made while on IMMA’s Residency Programme in 2017 and Nan Goldin will exhibit a collection of evocative photographs from Ireland which have never been exhibited before.

IMMA’s Head of Exhibitions, Rachael Thomas, curator of both exhibitions said, “This is a historic exhibition bringing together two pioneering artists that have shaped photography and film in a raw and real sense. By showing Vivienne Dick and Nan Goldin alongside each other, not only are we acknowledging the friendship but we are celebrating artists that have defined our understanding of life”.

93% STARDUST (16 June – 15 October 2017) is a survey exhibition of Vivienne Dick’s work comprising selected films from the ‘No Wave’ period including Guérillère Talks (1978), Beauty Becomes The Beast (1979) and Liberty’s Booty (1980). Recent film works include The Irreducible Difference of the Other (2013) and Red Moon Rising (2015); and her new film work Augenblick (2017) shot in Iceland and in the buildings and grounds of IMMA.

Weekend Plans (16 June – 15 October 2017) presents pivotal works from Nan Goldin’s career which include her renowned slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1985); several iconic photographic works including portraits of Vivienne Dick, friends and self-portraits; sixteen drawings which evoke the raw emotional atmosphere of her photographs; and a collection of unseen photographs from Ireland taken during her visits in 1979 and 2002.

About the Artists

Vivienne Dick is an internationally celebrated film-maker and artist. Dick has developed an extraordinary body of work which has been shown in cinemas, film festivals and art galleries around the world. Dick’s work is marked by an interest in urban street life, social and sexual politics, and the history of ideas. Dick and Goldin shared a period in New York where both began to make work which documented a short lived, highly creative moment in downtown New York. Many of the subjects of Nan Goldin’s photos appear in Dick’s films and they clearly were an influence on one another.

The exhibition presents early Super 8 works from late 1970s New York in a brightly coloured pop inspired lounge environment, while her more recent and new works are shown in a more classic darkened cinema space. Also included in the exhibition is a space to relax in-between viewings with reading material which inspired her new film, film stills, an antique sofa – a prop from her new film, and a short film starring her cat Ginnie shown on a portable DVD player. For Dick, the title of the exhibition 93% STARDUST, suggests that we are moving into a new age, following the age of Enlightenment, where man is no longer the centre of the universe.

Dick’s earliest work Guérillère Talks (1978) is a series of portraits of women, all of whom are associated with the No Wave music and art scene. The film features Beate Nilsen, Ikue Mori, Lydia Lunch, Pat Place, Adele Bertei, and Anya Philips. The work comprises seven rolls of Super-8 film and like other works made during that time was first shown in the clubs and bars between bands that Dick was friends with. In Guérillère Talks the filmmaker’s presence is felt through the expressive camera movements which contribute an energy and intensity to this exploration into identity, as the performers perform themselves. 

Also from this period, Liberty’s Booty (1980), is an investigation into prositution from a female perspective under a late capitalist economy. The film is also a document and a celebration of a New York subculture in the late seventies. With a dense mix of real testimonies, verité footage and acted out scenarios, this film examines power relations and the commodification of the body. The film  alludes to a growing globalisation with its reference to a McDonalds strike in Dublin and imagery of Pope Paul’s visit to Ireland in 1979 which in retrospect, is presented as marking a final attempt to halt the transformation of Irish society.

Recent works include The Irreducible Difference of the Other (2013) which examines a world orientated towards war, terror, and consumption with Franco-Irish actress Olwen Fouéré inhabiting two personas; the French playwright Antonin Artaud and Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. In referencing key historical moments, such as mass marches against  the Iraq war, the Arab Spring and recent anti-austerity protests, the film proclaims the desire for a more-balanced world, which might lead to a renewal of relationships on both a personal and global level. Also included is Red Moon Rising (2015) a celebration of the carnivalesque through dance, performance and the spoken word.

The title of Dick’s new work, Augenblick (2017), means a moment or blink of an eye – referring to our short time span on this planet. In the film, different realities, seemingly disconnected, flash by, from an imaginary virtual world to a frozen landscape. In a scene, which takes place in a formal garden, Jean Jacques Rousseau rants about man and his relationship to society. In another interior scene lit theatrically with shards of coloured light, three female actors of various ages declaim the story of our human beliefs from animism, to faith in a single male God, to humanism and finally, to our accelerated digital world. The lines quoted come from a variety of sources – Rumi, Harari, Clarice Lispector, Gramsci to Hildegard Von Bingen. In a third scene the same three women chat around a table their conversation is unscripted, balanced between performance, and unruly spontaneity. Moments of silence are interspersed with 18th century dance music played by The Spackling Band and a specially composed soundtrack by Jennifer Walshe and Panos Ghikas. The film ends as it begins with a slowly shifting shape, one moment attached to earth and next appearing to float in space. Is it organic, mineral, or virtual?

Nan Goldin is one of the most compelling and internationally renowned photographers working today. Goldin is known for her intensely personal, spontaneous, sexual, and transgressive photographs. Her deeply personal images of her family, friends, lovers, and of herself, convey highly intimate and sincere portrayals of marginal lifestyles and alternative sexualities. Goldin stated “I photograph directly from my life. These pictures come out of relationships, not observations”. In 1979 Goldin presented her first slideshow in a New York nightclub; her richly coloured, snapshot-like photographs were soon heralded as a ground-breaking contribution to fine art photography.

The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – the name she gave her ever-evolving slideshow – eventually grew into a forty-five minute multimedia presentation of more than 700 photographs, accompanied by a musical soundtrack. The work is a deeply personal narrative taken from Goldin’s own intimate life experiences throughout the late 1970s and ‘80s which include photos of the artist with her lover, her friends taking drugs, making love and partying, children of her friends, and photos of several of her friends who died from AIDS. “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is the diary I let people read,” Goldin wrote. “The diary is my form of control over my life. It allows me to obsessively record every detail. It enables me to remember.”

Iconic photographs in the exhibition include portraits of family, friends and self-portraits. These include Nan and Brian on the Bed, Bowery (1983) which captures a moment of her intense interdependent relationship with her then boyfriend and a harrowing self-portrait Nan after being Battered, New York City (1984) taken a month after being battered by the same boyfriend.

Throughout this exhibition there is a particular focus on the role and expression of female relationships in Goldin’s work. Many of the photographs in this exhibition include images of Vivienne Dick, and show their enduring friendship. Taken over the course of three decades from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, the photographs were shot across various locations such as New York, New Hampshire, London, Dublin and Donegal. The beauty played out in works such as Vivienne in the green dress, New York City (1980) contrasts with isolated, evocative moments in rural Ireland as seen in Vivienne at her mother’s grave, Killybegs, Ireland (1979). Other familial relationships are glimpsed in photographs that feature Dick’s father, her brother and her young son Jesse.

A selection of these images form part of a series of unseen photographs from Ireland in which Goldin is showing at IMMA for the first time. Taken during her visits to Ireland with Vivienne Dick in 1979 and 2002 they include landscapes, seascapes, portraits of Vivienne and details of Irish life taken around Donegal, Galway and Dublin. For Irish audiences, some of the scenes carry an almost colloquial visual quality – there are images of sheep, cows, purple skies, mossy rocks and dark beaches. These are seemingly everyday views yet when shot from Goldin’s perspective, the images capture an ineffable, poignant specificity in the world – of a transcient connection – so lauded within the artist’s work. It is this tension of Goldin’s unique vision against the familiarity of the Irish landscape that renders these photographs so emotionally charged and visually compelling.

Weekend Plans also includes sixteen drawings by Goldin. Intimate in scale, these works have only recently begun to be exhibited despite being a close part of the artist’s reflective process for many years. Since childhood, the artist has kept a diary, often filling the pages with drawings. These drawings share the charged emotional atmosphere of her photographs, but they also capture a new expressive element with the layering of mediums and textures, handwritten notes and symbolic imagery.

A new Limited Edition has been produced by Nan Goldin, titled The Singing Pub, and is available to purchase at the IMMA Shop.

The exhibitions are presented as part of an exciting on-going initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work in a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making.

-ENDS –

For more information and images please contact [email protected]  or [email protected] 01 612 9922.

Additional Notes for Editors

Vivienne Dick, 93% STARDUST and Nan Goldin, Weekend Plans, will be open in the West Wing at IMMA from 16 June to 15 October 2017. Admission is Free.

Associated Events

IMMA Talks & Public Programmes                                                                                                                     

Preview Talk: Rachael Thomas & Nan Goldin
Thursday 15 June 2017, 6.00 – 6.45pm / Johnston Suite
Marking the exhibition preview of Weekend Plans, Racheal Thomas, Head of Exhibitions, IMMA and renowned American artist and photographer Nan Goldin discuss her connections to Ireland, bringing to light the influence of individual relationships on Goldin’s work, including a 40 year friendship with Irish artist and film-maker Vivienne Dick, who is featured in several of Goldin’s photographic works. Weekend Plans is the first solo exhibition by Goldin to be presented in Ireland, programmed concurrently with the solo exhibition Vivienne Dick, 93% STARDUST. 
Book your ticket here.

Curators Lunchtime Talk Series: Drop In / Wednesday 12 July, 1.15-2pm
Meeting Point – IMMA Main Reception / No booking required
Join Karen Sweeney, Exhibitions, IMMA, for an insightful gallery talk exploring key themes and works presented in the exhibition Vivienne Dick, 93% STARDUST.

Curators Lunchtime Talk Series: Drop in / Friday 11 August, 1.15-2pm
Meeting Point – IMMA Main Reception / No booking required
Join Rachael Gilbourne, Exhibitions, IMMA, for a gallery talk exploring key themes and works presented in the exhibition Weekend Plans.

Lecture: New York No Wave Cinema / September 2017
Drawing of the work, friendships and creative circles that inspired artists Nan Goldin, Vivienne Dick and their contemporaries who pioneered New York’s No Wave cultural movement – this talk examines the social politics and cultural contexts of New York city of 1970s to mid-80’s, that became the melting pot for a subculture of artists, musician and film-makers to cross pollinate and establish a defining period in the history of film, art, and music.

Artist Conversation with Vivienne Dick / September 2017
Irish artist and film-maker Vivienne Dick discusses a selection of works presented at IMMA, exploring the locations, themes and characters that span Dick’s compelling film making practice of the last four decades. This talk gives a deeper understanding of artist’s unique approach to film that continues to evade distinctions of documentary, fiction, video art and music. 

Screenings & Talk: Irish Artists Experimental Film / October 2017
In conjunction with the current exhibition Vivienne Dick, 93% STARDUST, a one day screening series showcases a selection of Irish Artists’ Experimental Film. The programme highlights the development of experimental film making in Ireland, featuring films by contemporary artists who are working independently in non-commercial formats, whose work attempts to redefine the limits of cinema.

For full programme details and dates visit www.imma.ie

Artist Biographies

Vivienne Dick (b.1950)
Vivienne Dick was born in Donegal and began making Super 8 films while living in New York in the late seventies. These early films were shown extensively in that period throughout the USA and in Europe and they continue to be screened on a regular basis. Living in London in the eighties and nineties she worked mainly in 16mm and in video, receiving a number of awards from The British Arts Council and The Arts Council of Ireland. Since returning to live in Ireland she continues to make new work.

Retrospectives of her work include Seville European Film Festival (2016,) Tate Modern (2010), Crawford Art Gallery (2009), and Berlin Film Festival (1988). Group shows include Big as Life, MoMA, New York, The Whitney Biennial, Golden Thread Gallery and The Untold Want, RHA. Her work has shown at Oberhausen, Courtisane, BFI London, Lisbon Estoril, CPH:DOX Copenhagen and New York Film Festivals, amongst others. A DVD of three of her films was published by LUX and a collection was published by Crawford Art Gallery in collaboration with LUX in 2009. Dick has work is in the collections of MoMA, New York, Anthology Archives and the Irish Film Archives, and her films are distributed by LUX London and The Film Maker’s Cooperative, New York. 

Nan Goldin (b. 1953)
As a teenager in Boston in the 1960s, then in New York starting in the 1970s, Nan Goldin has taken intensely personal, spontaneous, sexual, and transgressive photographs of her family, friends, and lovers. In 1979 she presented her first slideshow in a New York nightclub, and her richly coloured, snapshot like photographs were soon heralded as a groundbreaking contribution to fine art photography. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency—the name she gave her ever-evolving show—eventually grew into a forty-five-minute multimedia presentation of more than 700 photographs, accompanied by a musical soundtrack.

Her work has been the subject of two major touring retrospectives: one organized in 1996 by the Whitney Museum of American Art and another, in 2001, by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Recent exhibitions include the slide and video presentation Sisters, Saints & Sybils at La Chapelle de la Salpêtrière, Paris, contributions to the 40th Les Rencontres d’Arles in 2009, and Goldin’s Scopophilia exhibition that was part of Patrice Chéreau’s special 2011 program at the Louvre. Goldin was admitted to the French Legion of Honor in 2006 and received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in 2007. In 2012 The Macdowell Colony awarded Goldin the Edward Macdowell Medal for her enduring vision and creativity. The original 35mm format slideshow installation of The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was recently presented at the Museum of Modern Art, on view until 16 April 2017. Goldin lives and works in Berlin and New York.

Curated by Linder and Maxwell Sterling with performances from Fatima Al Qadiri, WIFE, Greg Wilson and Conor Thomas among others. Tickets go on sale on Friday 26 May 2017 at 10am.

IMMA are delighted to announce details of ‘Sunset Birth’, the 2017 IMMA Summer Party taking place on Saturday 15 July. Sponsored by O’Hara’s Craft Beer it is curated by the artist Linder and the musician Maxwell Sterling. Responding to the current IMMA exhibition As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics, the curators have invited musicians and performers whose practice reflects and responds to themes of spirituality and mysticism via music, performance and ritual. 

In advance of tickets going on sale later this week IMMA is delighted to announce programme highlights which include Kuwaiti musician and visual artist Fatima Al Qadiri in her first Irish appearance, legendary Hacienda (Manchester) DJ Greg Wilson, Boomkat DJ Conor Thomas, Berlin based WIFE and additional performances from Marcin Pietruszewski  & Tristan Clutterbuck duo, Lauren Fitzpatrick, Teresa Winter, CROWW, Sam Kidel and  Rian Treanor.

Started in 2014, IMMA’s Summer Party has become a landmark in the cultural calendar as a celebration of art, music, live performance, food and drink. This year IMMA will create two parties in one, with distinct before and after dark programmes happening on the same night. In the early part of the evening exhibitions will be open in the Main Galleries, food and drink will be on offer on the Terrace and the Gardens will be alive with talks, films, music and art interventions. After dark the party will move indoors with immersive live performances in IMMA’s stunning stained glass Chapel and ornate Great Hall. The night will respond to our landmark International exhibition As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics, and indeed the party title -‘Sunset Birth’ – takes its name from a painting by the British Surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun, whose work is currently on view as part of this exhibition.

There will be DJ sets, live performances, dance and live film scores across the night, channelling emotions through different forms and sonic styles ranging from intimate recitals of vocal work through to more intense and highly energised performances.  Several of the musicians performing are affiliated with the record label, The Death Of Rave which was set up by Conor Thomas in 2012. The label is home to a wide variety of music, from Mark Leckey’s soundtrack to ‘Fiourucci Made me Hardcore’, to the work of Sam Kidel, Wold and The Automatics Group. Whilst the label covers a large span of musical genres, there is an overarching connectivity between the artists, rooted in their prescient sound, style and environmental engagement.

Curators Linder and Maxwell have previously collaborated on various film and performances, most recently, Children of the Mantic Stain ballet for British Art Show 8 at the Royal Festival Hall 2016, plus Maxwell composed the five hour score for Linder’s Destination Moon. You must not look at her! performance at last year’s inaugural Art Night hosted by the ICA, London.

As always, delicious food and drinks will be available to purchase all evening and the grounds and galleries of IMMA will be open to art and culture lovers during the night. We are delighted to partner with O’Hara’s this year who will be providing full bars stocked with a range of drinks including, of course, delicious O’Hara’s Craft beers and ciders.

A highlight of the summer calendar the IMMA Summer Party has sold out every year so we encourage you to buy those tickets early! Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday 26 May at 10am, priced €18 and are available through www.imma.ie  A limited pre-sale is available to IMMA Members from Wednesday 24 May.

The Summer Party is part of a Summer Nights Programme at IMMA this July and August including a free live art performance night ‘Wilder Beings Command!’ on Saturday 29 July which is suitable for all ages, and a live performance by artist Eoghan Ryan on 17 August 2017.  Details for both events will be available in June.

-ENDS-

For more information and images please contact  [email protected] / 01 612 9920 or [email protected]
Additional Information for Editors

Linder is a widely celebrated artist whose work brings together languages of graphic design, popular culture, high fashion and fine art in the production of photomontage, performance and installation. She has had solo exhibitions and retrospectives at major institutions at Tate St Ives, Hepworth Wakefield and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville Paris. Linder questions roles of gender identity and commodification in society, her feminist imagery has received world-wide recognition. Her photomontages are included in As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics and Linder also exhibited at IMMA’s Primal Architecture 2014.
Read more about Linder in i-D / The Quietus / Tate Shots /Interview Magazine

Maxwell Sterling: Fascinated by the territory where cinematic and spiritual music meets dystopian sound design, Maxwell Sterling explores the boundaries of acoustic and synthetic instrumentation. His debut album, ‘Hollywood Medieval’ is released on The Death Of Rave this year and marks a departure from his earlier work as primarily a film composer, (A Girl Like Grace, Nightfall, The Signal).  Maxwell has collaborated with Linder, James Ferraro, Christopher Shannon, Friedrich Kunath and Nora Berman. This summer Maxwell begins a summer residency at Wysing Art Centre, alongside Harold Offeh and Tai Shani as well as working on a commissioned sound work in León, Mexico with curator Erick Lopez.
Read more about Maxwell Sterling in Factmag / Tiny Mixtapes / Boomkat

Fatima Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti musician and visual artist. She is interested in exploring the experience of war, memory, Western perceptions of other cultures, and sociocultural identity through her work. Her debut album, Asiatisch, was released by Hyperdub in 2014.
Earlier, in 2013, Al Qadiri became a member of the 9 (now 8) person art collective GCC, whose work has been exhibited at the MoMA PS1, Fridericianum, Sharjah Art Foundation and Whitney Museum of American Art. Fatima’s latest album Brute was released by Hyperdub in 2016.

Greg Wilson is an English DJ and producer associated with both the early 80s electro scene in Manchester and the current disco / re-edit movement. He’s also a writer / commentator on dance music and popular culture. Greg was the first British DJ to mix live on TV in 1983. In April 2010, as part of their ‘Essential Mix’ 500 special, Radio 1 selected Greg Wilson’s ‘Essential Mix’ as one of 10 classics that spanned the show’s near 17-year history. Greg was awarded with DJ Magazine’s Industry Icon Award at The Best Of British Awards 2015

Conor Thomas: is a Manchester-based DJ and member of the Boomkat.com team. He assists in A&R for Boomkat Editions, who have released tapes and records by Kara-Lis Coverdale, Beatrice Dillon, Lorenzo Senni, Elysia Crampton, and Yally, for example, and also The Death of Rave, who are behind releases from Maxwell Sterling, Mark Leckey, Sam Kidel, Rian Treanor, Croww and Teresa Winter, among many others.
As a DJ, Conor has played records to crowds across Europe – Unsound, Berghain, The Golden Püdel, Coda Lunga, Milan, Rome, a.o. – but most commonly in his adopted home-city, where he also promotes the Fiktion (fka Faktion) raves and events since the early ‘00s, playing host to artists as varied as Omar Souleyman, Julia Holter, Anthony Shakir, Powell, and Arca.

WIFE Whether making black metal under the name Altar of Plagues or electronic music as WIFE, multi-instrumentalist/producer James Kelly has consistently asserted himself as an artist who forges his own path. With both projects, Kelly has worked within established genre boundaries, but he’s also introduced unorthodox touches that place his work in a unique category by itself.

CROWW: Working around the periphery of music of the vantablack variety, Croww is a Manchester based artist pecking at the corpuses of black metal, flashcore and DnB and nesting new mutations of hypermodern dance music. His debut release ‘Prosthetics’ is out in the summer on The Death of Rave label and to accompany this, Croww will be performing a new jarring live show at IMMA. Also a resident at Manchester’s Fiktion (fka Faktion) raves, Croww’s rare dj sets stretch across the board – – from Grindcore to Crunk.

Marcin Pietruszewski  & Tristan Clutterbuck duo
Marcin Pietruszewski is a Polish composer and laptop improviser currently based in Edinburgh. Marcin has performed solo at various venues in Europe including Berghain in Berlin, MUMUTH in Graz and Bunkier Sztuki in Krakow.

Tristan Clutterbuck is a musician based in Manchester who works with synthetic sound, primarily working with nonlinear / chaotic systems. Tristan has collaborated with Tina Krekels, Adam Campbell, Aonghus McEvoy, Marcin Pietruzewski, Ricardo Jacinto and Lorcan Doherty. He is co-founder of BOAR collective and Fancyyyyy.

Lauren Fitzpatrick is an actor and dancer who has collaborated with Linder and Maxwell Sterling in performances at The Hepworth Wakefield 2013 and at last year’s inaugural Art Night at the ICA in London. Lauren featured in the Northern Soul film 2014, plus she was awarded second place in the Northern Soul Dance Championships in the same year. Lauren danced with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers at the 2014 Brit Awards and most recently, she featured in Gucci’s all-black model cast for the video of their Gucci Soul Scene Campaign PreFall 2017 collection.

Sam Kidel, former member of the Bristol-based Young Echo collective and the now-defunct Killing Sound project, works with Muzak. His latest release: Disruptive Muzak  (Boomkat’s 2016 album of the year) is an eerie, 20-minute recording, an immersive, atmospheric sound piece woven from disembodied voices of UK call centre workers whose depersonalised hellos linger forever unanswered.

Rian Treanor: is an artist and producer based in the North of the UK. His sound practice re-imagines the intersection of club culture, experimental art and computer music, presenting an insightful and compelling musical world of interlocking and fractured components. Drawing upon his study with Lupo at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering, plus years spent curating the Enjoy artspace in Leeds, Treanor’s sound uses off centred rhythmic arrangements, referencing the dynamics of garage and techno as much as Fluxus and Dada cut-ups.

Teresa Winter: is a musician from the Yorkshire coast who makes bedroom pop. Her music is comprised primarily of wordless vocals and other kinds of sounds made with synthesisers, field recordings and various instruments. Teresa’s musical explorations began a couple of years ago as a distraction from studies when her heart had been mercilessly broken, she found it to be a strangely life affirming experience. Teresa has recently been preoccupied with the permeation of death and life, and the absence of vocabulary around loss. The Death of Rave will release her next record, ‘Untitled Death’.

ROSC 50 – 1967 / 2017
Fifty years following the start of the Rosc Exhibitions
IMMA and NIVAL revisit these landmark exhibitions of contemporary art in Ireland.
Opening Display 5 May – 18 June 2017 | IMMA Project Spaces

2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Rosc exhibition in Ireland. These pivotal, and often controversial, exhibitions were the first major series of large scale international art exhibitions in Ireland, at a time when Ireland did not have a National Museum of Contemporary Art. Rosc took place approximately every four years between 1967 and 1988, with IMMA being founded in 1991.

For many visitors, Rosc was the first time they would have been introduced to work by international artists such as Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Agnes Martin, Laurie Anderson among others. Indeed, from 1967 the Department of Education enabled all schools to take a day out of school to visit the Rosc exhibitions, a visionary policy which had a significant impact on future generations of artists and arts audiences.

There were several landmark moments across the exhibitions including the first performance of Rest Energy by Marina Abramoviæ and Ulay in Rosc ’80, which involved Ulay holding a steel arrow pointed directly at Abramovic’s heart for four minutes.

But there were also many controversies associated with Rosc during its 21 years, such as the movement of ancient monuments for the 1967 Rosc, the exclusion of Irish artists from the first two Rosc exhibitions and the ongoing debate about the representation of Irish art and artists in Rosc, not to mention the under representation of female artists.

ROSC 50 is presented in collaboration with NIVAL (the National Irish Visual Art Library) and the opening display at IMMA provides an intriguing, detailed, and contextualised look at these controversial and pivotal Exhibitions. Visitors can engage with the history of Rosc through a rich presentation of archive materials including catalogues, photographs, news footage, and exhibition reviews and reports, alongside first-person accounts.  Visitors are encouraged to consider Rosc’s intentions, impact and legacy.

Director Sarah Glennie commented; “We are delighted to collaborate with NIVAL on this important yearlong project which will investigate the landmark series of ROSC exhibitions. The project will look beyond an art historical reading of the art works included in the exhibitions to consider the context in which these ambitious and daring exhibitions took place – how did they happen, what was the local and international context they operated in, who came and what did people think?

ROSC redefined Ireland’s understanding of contemporary visual art and so it is very timely that on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first exhibition IMMA and NIVAL delve into the extraordinary archive material held at NIVAL, RTÉ and the Irish Photographic Archive to consider with our audience the legacy of these bold statements of the contemporary to Irish culture today.”

Informed by extensive research undertaken by IMMA Curators alongside Dr. Brenda Moore McCann, the exhibition features a timeline of key national and international historical events, enabling the visitor to contextualise Rosc in terms of what was happening in Ireland and across the world at that time. There is also a dedicated screening area for film footage recovered from the RTÉ Archives, among other sources, where one can view news footage of the day accompanied by still photographs. One of the most striking moments from the archives captures Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey confronting his likeness in From the Animal Farm: Charles J. Haughey, by Tim Rollins and K.O.S. in 1988. 

Where you there? Visitors are encouraged to share their experiences and memories of Rosc both in person and online throughout 2017.
The public are encouraged to share their memories of Rosc by discussing their personal experiences or memories of the exhibitions both online and offline. This process of capturing the audience’s reaction to Rosc will then re-enter the archive, adding the audiences’ voice to this rich archive for future generations.  Visitors are called to contribute to this initiative online by using the hashtag #ROSC50 on social media or by submitting personal stories, testimonials and photographs to [email protected].

This opening display is available for viewing until 18 June 2017 and will help visitors to become familiar with Rosc, before exploring the facts, rumours, myths and realities through a series of talks and discussions hosted by IMMA and NIVAL across the year.
There will also be a ROSC50 artist commission and a major symposium in the Autumn, further details of which will be announced shortly.

ENDS

For further information, and images, please contact: Meghan Elward Duffy [email protected] / +353 (0)1 612 9920/22

Additional Notes for Editors

ROSC 50 – 1967 / 2017 is open until 18 June 2017 in the ground floor Project Spaces of IMMA. The IMMA/Nival Rosc Programme will continue throughout the year with a busy programme of talks and other events to explore the Rosc exhibitions in context, encouraging archival research and constructive dialogue by the public. ROSC 50 will conclude with a symposium at IMMA in the Autumn. See www.imma.ie for more details.

Admission:  Free and open to the public during normal operating hours.
Museum opening hours are as follows:  Tues to Fri 11.30am – 5.30pm / Sat 10am -5.30pm / Sun and Bank Holidays 12 – 5.30pm. Closed Mondays (Except Bank Holidays)

As Above, So Below
Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics

Major group exhibition and accompanying programme of events exploring spirituality in visual art to open at IMMA

13 April – 27 August 2017

Featuring an exciting selection of modern masterworks and landmark contemporary art works by Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, Steve McQueen, Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, Cameron – many being shown for the first time in Ireland – and new commissions created specifically for this exhibition by Linder, Matt Copson, Stephan Doitschinoff, Alan Butler and others.

Opening with a Vedic spiritual blessing at 12.15pm on Thu 13 April 2017, IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) presents one of its most ambitious and compelling shows exploring how the spiritual endures in our everyday lives. In particular, As Above, So Below considers the role played by certain spiritualist and alternative doctrines, such as the occult or mysticism, in the creation of abstract painting from its origins to the present digital age.

The arc of this exhibition spans a hundred years from the abstract masterworks of Kandinsky, af Klint and Kupka to contemporary work by Steve McQueen and Bruce Nauman and new commissions by Alan Butler and Linder among others. As Above, So Below resists becoming a comprehensive survey that traces the role of art and spirituality however. Instead, it presents perspectives on spirituality from a range of unique viewpoints in over 200 works, many of which have never been seen in Ireland before. It extends beyond the gallery space with new works made specifically for the IMMA site and a series of performances, events, talks and film screenings taking place during the exhibition. The exhibition’s historical gaze has a particular focus on female artists from the last century whose work remained uncovered until recently in the now shifting narrative of art history.

The title, As Above, So Below, echoes an often quoted saying, employed by artists, poets, writers and astrologers alike, as a means to describe and understand the mysterious but familiar world around us. To look at spirituality in such secular times is a provocation in itself, and the exhibition traces and questions the genesis of deep religious, mystical and occult beliefs that continue to shape the ideas of contemporary artists today. Writing in the 1960s, the critic Susan Sontag claimed that, “Every era has to reinvent the project of ‘spirituality’ for itself”, and through this exhibition IMMA asks what the project of spirituality looks like in 2017.

Transcending the limitations of what is traditionally perceived as ‘spiritual’, this exhibition embraces the occult, the otherworld, human consciousness, mysticism and ritual, creating a space to reflect and explore these gateways, or portals, to wonder.

Shown in ‘Chapters’ the exhibition groups works into four thematic sections. The opening chapter Portals looks at how spiritualism is often concerned with entrances into other worlds or other systems of thought. One central protagonist is the recently re-discovered Swedish artist Hilma af Klint who was working at the dawn of the 20th century. Now understood to be a key founder of abstraction, she was also a theosophist and a medium who understood her ‘automatic’ paintings to be guided by spirits; messages received from the ‘High Powers’. Steve McQueen’s elegant and absorbing film Running Thunder, 2007 (11 mins, 41 sec) also forms part of this chapter as a more contemporary exploration of spirituality. Depicting a motionless horse lying dead – or asleep? – in a meadow it questions stillness and movement, the line between life and death.

The second chapter Below takes us into the shadows, into the domain of the occult – of knowledge concealed and only accessible to the properly initiated. One talismanic presence is film maker Kenneth Anger who has a lifelong devotion to the adventurer-occulist Aleister Crowley, stretching back to the 1950s when he helped restore Crowley’s former temple in Sicily. Cameron, an artist, poet, actress and occultist was a follower of the religious movement Thelma, founded by Crowley, as well as being a close friend of Anger’s. Her dark yet whimsical paintings are displayed alongside Anger’s film still Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, 1954-66, in which she also starred.  These works are presented alongside one of Bruce Nauman’s first walk-in ‘environments’, Natural Light, Blue Light Room, 1971. An intentionally disorientating space this work presents a confusing mixture of daylight and glowing neon. Nauman has said of the work; “The idea was that it would be hard to know what to focus on and even if you did, it would be hard to focus”. Indeed Nauman has claimed, through  a 1967 work, that “The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths”, a teasingly ambiguous sentence can be read as earnest, satirical, or both.

The third chapter Above is concerned with healing, animism, the attribution of a living soul to inanimate objects, and transcendence. American born artist Susan Hiller describes her photographs of people surrounded by hazy auras as “metaphors for ourselves in the digital age”. These images pay homage to Marcel Duchamp’s curious 1910 portrait of his childhood friend Raymond Dumouchel, who is depicted surrounded by a dark red halo. These mysterious works are joined in this chapter by a new commission from Linder which draws on Victorian séances, which she calls “very performative affairs.” This new piece continues Linder’s unfinished conversation with the little-known surrealist writer and painter Ithell Colquhoun, who developed an ink-blotting process she called “mantic staining” to produce “mind pictures”. A key Irish artist in this section is the painter Patrick Pye, one of the most creative artists in the sphere of religious thought in Ireland in our time. His works, many of which haven’t been seen in public since his retrospective in 2000, infuse this section with heavenly themes which evoke the role of man and his biblical aspirations.

The final chapter Beyond includes artists who have challenged the notion of spirituality. This section concerns endings, death and alternative options. It is about leaving this world, about what dreams may come, and takes its cue from the digital age. The enduring ideas of the spiritual are brought into question in fantastical ways by artists such as The Propeller Group, presenting a journey through the funeral rituals of Vietnam. The film merges documentary footage of processions with stunning re-enactments– a rumination on death. This is presented alongside the transformative works of the American visionary artist and architect Paul Laffoley.

This exhibition is presented as part of an exciting on-going initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work in a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making.“ Nurturing new talent and thinking is central to what we do at Matheson. Our involvement in New Art at IMMA is an exciting way for us to support and connect with IMMA and with the artists who are involved in this element of its programme.” Tim Scanlon, Partner and Head of Corporate, Matheson.

Commenting on the exhibition Sarah Glennie, Director, IMMA said; “IMMA is delighted to be staging such an ambitious and far-reaching exhibition at the core of our 2017 programme. Extending beyond the gallery space, As Above, So Below will invite visitors to IMMA to consider, through the compelling prism of over 200 works of art, what spirituality means to us today and the role it plays in our contemporary society. We are very grateful to Sam Thorne, and all the artists involved for their collaboration with IMMA and we remain indebted to our growing group of Corporate Partners, Patrons and Members whose invaluable support allows IMMA to realise projects of this scale and breadth. New Art at IMMA, supported by Matheson enables IMMA to support Irish and international artists to realise important new work and this visionary support remains central to IMMA’s ambitious programme.”

Commenting on the exhibition Co-Curator Sam Thorne said; "I am thrilled to be co-curating As Above, So Below with Rachael Thomas at IMMA. Exploring the relationship between art and spiritualism, the exhibition brings together an incredibly various combination of works from the last 100 years, from early abstract painting to new commissions. In our current moment of division, these artists and visionaries explore and imagine new worlds."

Curated by Sam Thorne, Director, Nottingham Contemporary, UK, and Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA.

ENDS

For further information, and images, please contact:
Patrice Molloy  [email protected] / +353 (0)1 612 9920
Monica Cullinane [email protected] / +353 (0)1 612 9922

Additional Notes for Editors

As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics will be open in the East Wing at IMMA from 13 April – 27 August 2017. Please note the Museum is closed on Good Friday, 14 April.

In accordance with the Vedic astral chart for the exhibition it will be opened with an opening ceremony conducted by Mayesvara das (Brahmacari Monk and Spiritual Teacher), Robert Phair (Spiritual writer and musician) and Gleb Konon (Philosopher and Musician) in the IMMA galleries at 12.15pm on Thursday 13 April. The way the world "below" reaches to the world "above" is through spiritual practices such as the devotional singing called Kirtan, which we present for our exhibition opening ceremony at an astrologically auspicious time. Immediately following the ceremony we are delighted to welcome John Cantwell, co-director of the Slí an Chroí Clinic and School of Shamanism, to conduct a number of free animal spirit readings for visitors. Readings will be conducted in the gallery on a first come first served basis from 12.30 – 1.30pm, and the relevant exhibition ticket fee will apply.

Later that evening, from 6pm – 7pm there will be a free introductory talk by curators Rachael Thomas and Sam Thorne with a panel of artists involved in the exhibition. Tickets to this talk are free of charge but must be pre-booked online. Visitors with a valid ticket for the talk can access the exhibition for free earlier that day.

The Opening Party, supported by O’Hara’s Irish Craft Beers, will take place from 6.30pm – 9pm with complimentary drinks by O’Hara’s, and music selected by artist David Beattie. Access to the exhibition will be free of charge on the night.

Admission: €8 / €5 concession (senior citizens and the unwaged). Free admission for IMMA Members, full-time students and under 18’s.  There will be free admission for all every Tuesday but tickets should be booked in advance from www.imma.ie.

Tickets
Please note that visitors who purchase tickets for either IMMA Collection: Freud Project or As Above, So Below can avail of free entry to the other exhibition when visited on the same day. Due to the number and delicate nature of the works and the limited circulation space of the historic Garden Galleries, admission to the Freud Project is restricted and is by timed entry. To avoid disappointment visitors should pre-book their preferred time-slot online in advance of visiting. Online booking for As Above, So Below, will be available from Monday 3 April 2017 on www.imma.ie

Museum opening hours are as follows:
Tues to Fri 11.30am – 5.30pm / Sat 10am -5.30pm / Sun and bank holidays 12 – 5.30pm. Closed on Good Friday, 14 April

A fully-illustrated book has been published to accompany the exhibition which features contributions from Erik Davis, Jennifer Higgie, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky, Dr Tina Kinsella, Linder, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rachael Thomas, Sam Thorne and Maurice Tuchman, amongst others. Price €20.

Selected artists within the exhibition include Hilma af Klint, Kenneth Anger, David Beattie, Nora Berman, Annie Besant, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Alan Butler, James Lee Byars, Cameron, Marcus Coates, Ira Cohen, Ithell Colquhoun, Matt Copson, Stephan Doitschinoff, Hayden Dunham, Stephen Dunne, Susan Hiller, Koo Jeong A., Alejandro Jodorowsky, Wassily Kandinsky, Rachid Koraïchi, Emma Kunz, Frantisek Kupka, Paul Laffoley, Liliane Lijn, Linder, Josiah McElheny, Steve McQueen, Henri Michaux, Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky, Pádraic E. Moore (curatorial advisor), Bruce Nauman, Austin Osman Spare, Sigmar Polke, The Propeller Group, Patrick Pye, John Russell, Eoghan Ryan, Aura Satz, Suzanne Treister, Grace Weir, amongst others.
Biographies and images available on request

Associated Events
A programme of talks, performances and participatory events will take a fresh look at the role of spirituality and transcendence in our global and sceptical present. Event highlights include;

Curator’s Lunchtime Talk Series  / 19 May, 1.15-2pm / Drop-in
Meeting Point/Main Reception, Free (Exhibition fee applies). Join Rachael Gilbourne, Curator Exhibitions, IMMA, for an insightful walkthrough of this exhibition.

Even the Dead Rise Up / Francis McKee / 23 May
A discursive mediation on mysticism, the occult and political dissent. Drawing on a personnel journey of becoming a spiritual medium, and the people and practices encountered. Convened by Francis McKee, Irish writer and renowned curator working in Glasgow as Research fellow at the Glasgow School of Art, and Director, Centre of Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK. Book launch to follow. 

Faith of the Faithless / Simon Critchley / 7 June
How do beliefs lead people to act in the world? From the paradox of politics and religion, this talk contemplates structures of faith and the deficit of moral life and ethical action in neoliberal society. Simon Critchley, Professor of Philosophy, The New School, New York, and prolific writer, scholar of continental philosophy and phenomenology.

Art as Compass towards the Future / Dom Mark Patrick Hederman / 21 June 
Benedictine monk and writer Mark Patrick Hederman addresses the role artists can play in the future. Hederman discusses his proposition that art is its own kind of religion and therefore is prophetic.  Hederman draws on his scholarship of art and psychology and living a monastic life in the 21st century.

The Lure of Lakes / Michael Harding / 4 July
Michael Harding, author, playwright and Irish Times columnist, talks with great honesty and wit about, life, love, the sublime and pursuits of spiritual transformation. The talk offers reflection on Harding’s bestselling books Staring at Lakes, 2014 and Walking with Strangers, 2016.

IFI / IMMA Screening Series / May – July
In response As Above, So Below, the IFI and IMMA present a special series of selected films that looks at narratives of mysticism, occult and transcendence in feature titles and artists experimental Film. This opens with rare screening of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 cult classic The Holy Mountain.

Live Event / Wilder Beings Command / 29 July / All Ages / Free
Great Hall, Chapel, Formal Gardens & Meadow
Wilder Beings Command is an evening of live performance, music and choreography, to reach out and involve generations both young and old. Celebrating the outdoor site of the museum as an activated space, the evening stretches across the meadows, laces through the Formal Gardens and culminates within the Great Hall and the Chapel. It features moments of procession, ritual and collectivity, where visitors can play an active part in its unfolding. Artists will include Stephan Doitschinoff, Emily Mast, Edward Clydesdale Thomson, Mark Titchner and Stephen Dunne, amongst others.

Eoghan Ryan performance / The Modern Dance (In the Light of Today’s Questions) / 17 Aug / Galleries
An intimate performance work by Berlin-based Irish artist Eoghan Ryan, which runs over the course of an evening, The Modern Dance (In the Light of Today’s Questions) questions what constitutes the sacred and divine within secular western culture. It looks at ideas that are inherited from previous generations and how this forms our personal identities, specifically within an institutional setting. Incorporating sound, song, sculpture and moving image, the performance becomes a live multi-disciplinary installation in motion.

About the Curators

Rachael Thomas Biography
Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions at IMMA, Thomas is a Leonardo fellow at Trinity University and contributor to MA/ Art in the contemporary world at NCAD. Thomas has curated various exhibitions including solo surveys of Jac Leirner, Emily Jacir, Simon Fujiwara, Etel Adnan, Hélio Oiticica, Haroon Mirza, and Tino Sehgal, the American Fluxus and feminist artist Eleanor Antin, Thomas Ruff, Karen Kilimnik, Margherita Manzelli, Willie Doherty, Sophie Calle and Mark Manders. She initiated and organized with Philippe Parreno the seminal group show of post relational aesthetics .All Hawaii eNtrées / LuNar Reggae, artists included Thomas Demand, Liam Gillick, Carsten Höller and Rirkrit Tiravanija and Garrett Phelan. She has introduced a new project strand to IMMA bringing to Ireland solo and group projects and new commissions by young international artists such as Gerard Byrne, Franz Ackermann, Pierre Huyghe and Thomas Demand and ground breaking virtual retrospective with artist Jorge Pardo. Critically acclaimed International group shows such as Primal Architecture, which included Mike Kelley, Linder and Conrad Shawcross, Bedwyr Williams and What we Call LOVE, from Surrealism to Now, 2016, co-curated with the Director of Venice Biennale, 2017, Christine Macel included artists such as Picasso, Abramović, Brancusi, Dalí, Duchamp Ernst, Wolfgang Tillmans, Giacometti, Oppenheim, Picasso, Warhol and Yoko Ono.

Thomas was awarded a Millennium Fellowship to produce papers on global frameworks of contemporary art practice at Tate Britain, London. In 2006, she curated the Irish Pavilion, New Territories, ARCO ’06, Madrid. Curated Biennales include the Welsh Pavilion with Cerith Wyn Evans in 2000 at the Biennale di Venezia and the Lyon Biennale, with Gerard Byrne, 2008. She has lectured on the role of the curator at various symposia such as Curating Now and The Role of Painting in the 21st Century. As a writer, she has published widely in journals and exhibition catalogues including an interview with Michael-Craig Martin and texts on artists such as Dorothy Cross, Gerard Byrne, Eleanor Antin, Sophie Calle, Pierre Huyghe, Alex Katz, and Thomas Scheibitz. She is actively pursuing research on the politics of space with philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben. She has lectured on the role of the curator at various symposia and on contemporary Irish art at the Guggenheim with Nancy Spector. As a writer, she has published widely in journals and exhibition catalogues. Currently Thomas is curating a solo exhibitions of Nan Goldin and Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian and researching contemporary performance and Fluxus interventions.

Sam Thorne Biography
Sam Thorne is director of Nottingham Contemporary. From 2014–16 he was artistic director of Tate St Ives. Prior to that, he was associate editor of frieze magazine, where is currently a contributing editor and columnist. He is a co-founder of Open School East, a free-to-attend study programme in London / Margate, and his book School will be published by Sternberg Press this summer.

14 February – 5 June 2017, Courtyard Galleries, Admission Free

One of Brazil’s most internationally renowned contemporary artists, Jac Leirner presents Institutional Ghost at IMMA. Leirner emerged on the international art scene in a number of high-profile exhibitions in the early 1990s, at the forefront of a generation of artists looking to the art of the 1960s and 1970s as a point of departure. For this, her first solo exhibition in Ireland, Leirner responds to the particular architecture of the courtyard galleries at IMMA to adapt and present work specifically for these rooms. Since the mid-1980s, Leirner has collected specific temporary and incidental products of everyday life, tapping into what she has described as the ‘infinity of materials’. Some are derived from her own personal use and consumption, while others are found objects. This exhibition includes recent sculpture, installation and works on paper made from these everyday objects such as spirit levels, plastic rulers, cigarette rolling papers and luggage tags. Their appearance in her meticulously constructed work, separated but not entirely dislocated from their original use, provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which we interact with, travel through and embrace our environment in our daily lives. 

Curator and IMMA Head of Exhibitions Rachel Thomas has said about the exhibition that “It is exciting to have the work of Jac Leirner at IMMA, as she saliently references the Brazilian legacy of constructivism and appropriates her works with this vibrant history into visually compelling sculptures and installations that demand to  be seen and enjoyed.”

Indeed Leirner’s choice of materials is carefully selected and, as evident in the exhibition, she adopts a formal rigor and aesthetic to the way she collects, arranges and assembles these objects. Leirner describes her work as a reflection on materiality, space and colour and she orders her vast quantities of materials in accordance with their shape, colour, texture, size, weight and other characteristics that are in keeping with their function. By re-purposing these everyday materials into visually compelling and frequently playful sculptures and installations, Leirner creates new and unexpected associations that provide a statement on the unfolding of art in recent decades. Although her choice of particular materials might point to issues related to consumer culture and the by-products of consumption, Leirner’s issue is art as its main concern.

This interest can partly be attributed to the important collection of Brazilian constructive art from the 1950s and 60s held by her parents Fulvia and Adolpho Leirner. It included works by leading artists responsible for making this tradition one of the most fertile in Brazil, and growing up amongst these pieces became paramount to Leirner’s early visual education. Leirner’s work draws on a multiplicity of artistic traditions however, including referencing specific moments in art history such as Minimal Art, where the artwork endeavours to reveal the essence of a subject by taking away all non-essential forms or concepts. Her practice also references Conceptual Art, as well as Arte Povera in its use of unconventional materials and style. Leirner is also indebted to the legacy of Brazilian Constructivism and its approach to aspects of the environment in which we determine ourselves.

As part of her exhibition at IMMA Leirner presents selected uv inkjet prints and works on paper from the Junkie series, which reference her addictions and document a haunting, compulsive habit as well as visualising notions of dependency. Together they create a compelling series of associations and narratives that chart the passing of time and the dynamic associated with taking drugs and the promise of euphoria they might pose to an addict. During binges along three separate nights in 2010 Leirner sculpted miniature figures, including a head and heart, from lumps of cocaine, before juxtaposing them with objects found to-hand around her house and documenting them. The somewhat hazy quality of the prints evokes the sensations of a drug-fuelled binge. Arresting, unsettling and occasionally humorous, Leirner’s juxtapositions relate the curious presences of the cocaine-sculptures to other, more banal objects such as coins, stones, a blood-soaked bandage and a tiny horse sculpture, in terms of scale, weight, function and surface. The titles, which include Oh Yes Yes, Mental Case, About Men and Animals, Hide and Seek and So Male, reference these juxtapositions and associations of the objects to the sculptures, adding humour to the drama.

The works in this exhibition are informed by Leirner’s interest in the visual expressions of consumer culture and the re-configuration of her materials into formal arrangements. Skin (Raw King Size Slim), 2013 comprises 297 meticulously aligned cigarette rolling papers (silk papers) gummed directly onto the gallery wall in a pattern that evokes the grid structures and clarity of space inherent in Minimalism. This installation references both the habitual, repetitive activity of rolling silk papers and the tangible nature of this delicate material used to contain tobacco and pot. Leirner draws on her own experiences: she has been an avid smoker for much of her life and consequently is acquainted with products related to the tobacco industry and the various types, colours and formats of these rolling papers. The Skin installations act as a sort of self-portrait of the artist and her participation in and commentary on the accumulation and circulation of commodities, a comparable role we each play in this.

Leirner engages with the spirit of Minimalism in the new work incorporating rulers tailored at IMMA’s space. Rulers are unexceptional utilitarian presences in our everyday lives. Here they are transformed, with the minimum of artistic manipulation into rhythmic patterns bursting with rich visual dynamism that suggests mathematical operations, systemic structures, patterns and circuits. A wall-based spirit level work is an example of the homage Leirner makes to industrial materials and tools and their inherent industrial finish. Her ongoing dialogue with artists whose work she admires is also evident in this work as it engages with the sculptural language of Hélio Oiticica (1937–80) – exhibited at IMMA in 2014.

Leirner’s enduring engagement with colour and love of music is apparent in Hip Hop Around the Fireplace, 2017. Her immersion in São Paulo’s punk-rock culture and her involvement in the punk-rock band UKCT during her youth also shaped her artistic sensibility. The continuous line of colour encircling the chimney breasts is articulated by dynamic pattern, stuttering, pulsating pathways that suggest movement or the rhythm of music. Her passion for music goes from hard-core punk to classical and contemporary music.

The delicate suspension of luggage tags which constitute Cloud are reminiscent of works in Leirner’s Corpus delicti (Body of Evidence) series (1992–3). During this time, at a moment in which the discourse on globalisation was taking hold in the art world of the 1990s, the artist was frequently flying across the globe. This experience led her to remove, in some cases surreptitiously, the highly specific and particular objects found in airplanes and airports. The luggage tags, air-sickness bags, earphones, napkins, boarding passes and (now defunct) ashtrays amassed and reconfigured as artworks in the Corpus delicti series act as an archive of a time, in the not-too-distant past, when smoking was permitted on airplanes. Crime in this case becomes institutionalised, and this is a statement of the series.

–  ENDS –

For additional information to arrange interviews or for images please contact:
Monica Cullinane E: [email protected]  T:+353 (0)1 612 9922 /
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T: +353 (0)1 612 9920

About the Artist
Jac Leirner was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1961, where she lives and works. She graduated in visual arts from Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP) São Paulo in 1984. Leirner has exhibited extensively both within and outside Brazil and America since the beginning of her career. Selected solo exhibitions include: Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Museo Tamayo, Mexico (both 2014); Yale School of Art Edgewood Gallery (2012); Centre d’Art de Saint Nazaire, France and the Estação Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2011); Miami Art Museum (2004); the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2002),Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (1999); the Bohen Foundation, New York (1998), Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneva (1993), the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1991) and exhibitions and residencies at Museum of Modern Art Oxford and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis (both 1991). In 1997 and 1990 her work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale and she participated in dOCUMENTA (IX), Kassel (1992). In 1989 and 1983, Leirner participated in the São Paulo Biennial. Her work in included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Walker Art Centre, Tate and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Residencies and Awards include 2012 APCA Award: Best Exhibition of the Year – Estação Pinacoteca, São Paulo and Yale University School of Art (both 2012), teaching and artist in residence at Yale University School of Art; John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2001); Ryjksakademie Beeldende van Kunsten, Amsterdam (1998) and University College, Oxford; Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts, Oxford University; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England and Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, United States (all 1991).

Associated Talks and Events

Curator’s Lunchtime Talk: Drop in
Wednesday 15 March, 1.15 – 2pm / Meeting Point / IMMA Main Reception / Free
Join Karen Sweeney, Exhibitions, IMMA, for an insightful walkthrough of this exhibition.
For a full programme of events visit her exhibition page.  

This exhibition is presented as part of an exciting on-going initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work in a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making.

IMMA announces a major international group exhibition in 2017
examining the role of spirituality in art
As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics
alongside landmark solo exhibitions from Nan Goldin (US),
Vivienne Dick (IRL), Jac Leirner (Brazil),
Rodney Graham (CA) and William Crozier (UK/IRL).

Today, Tue 14 February 2017, IMMA is pleased to announce highlights from the 2017 exhibition programme. Click here to watch the 2017 film with contributions from artist Vivienne Dick and IMMA Director Sarah Glennie.

At the launch in IMMA this afternoon Sarah Glennie, Director of IMMA said: “We are delighted to announce today that IMMA will be bringing the work of several leading International artists to Dublin audiences this year, including Rodney Graham (CA), Nan Goldin (USA) and Jac Leirner (Brazil) all of whom will have their first solo exhibitions in Ireland at IMMA.  Through our landmark international group show As Above So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics we are also especially pleased to bring to IMMA the work of several 20th century masters including Hilma af Klint, Kandinsky, František Kupka and Sigmar Polke. Also featured are the works of cult artists James Lee Byars, Ira Cohen and Cameron, and some of the most influential artists living and working today, including Steve McQueen and Bruce Nauman among others. Many of whom have never exhibited in Ireland before.

“Throughout 2017 we will continue to develop new platforms in our programme through which we can support artists to make new work, realise their ambition and develop new thinking; whether through exhibitions, commissions across our programme or our artist residency programme. We saw in 2016 the valuable role contemporary artists can play in helping us to understand our times, and the opportunity for their work to create a space for reflection, debate and difference. We are committed to creating this important space within Irish life and to welcoming audiences, from across Ireland and beyond, into a dynamic and evolving experience of contemporary art and contemporary life. Our programme extends beyond the gallery space to encompass talks, performances, engagement and learning opportunities, research programmes and residencies and with the IMMA Collection: Freud Project remaining at IMMA through 2017, we look forward to sharing the work of these extraordinary artists with our audiences through the year.”

Opening just before Easter As Above, So Below is a large show with over 200 works, including an exciting series of new IMMA commissions, supported by Matheson, from Irish artists Grace Weir, Alan Butler and Eoghan Ryan and international artists Linder Sterling, Hayden Dunham, Nora Berman, John Russell and Stephan Doitschinoff, among others. These new works will address what spirituality means to people today, particularly in the increasingly secular times we are living through, while the wider exhibition considers the role played by certain spiritualist and alternative doctrines in the creation of abstract painting from its origins to the present digital age. It will trace and question the genesis of deep religious, mystical and occult beliefs that continue to shape the ideas of contemporary artists today. Glennie commented “I think these are questions we all grapple with in contemporary society and, much like with our 2015 exhibition What We Call Love, audiences can use the prism of contemporary art to consider what spirituality means to them.”

Many of the works in As Above, So Below explore relationships between artists; the power of collectives and the influence artists have on each other’s practice. This is a theme that we pick up again in the summer with solo exhibitions from two internationally significant lens-based artists Vivienne Dick (IRL) and Nan Goldin (USA). Goldin and Dick have been friends for over 40 years and have influenced each other’s work over that time, often appearing as subjects in each other’s photographs and films. Indeed it is through their friendship that Goldin first came to Ireland in the 1970s and we are particularly pleased to be presenting a series of Donegal photographs that have never been publicly exhibited before. These IMMA exhibitions will also mark the first major Museum exhibitions for both artists here in Ireland.

These new art projects are presented as part of an exciting ongoing initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work through a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making. Tim Scanlon, partner at Matheson, said, "Nurturing new talent is central to what we do in Matheson. Our ongoing involvement with IMMA on the New Art at IMMA programme continues to be an exciting way for us to support new and emerging talent."

Another ongoing theme in IMMA’s programmes each year is the examination of the art historical from the position of the contemporary, as evidenced through our Collection exhibition, the Modern Masters series and upcoming project ROSC 50. 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the first ROSC; the first major series of exhibitions of international art in Ireland. ROSC had a significant impact on the development of contemporary art in Ireland, and for ROSC 50 (1967/2017) IMMA and NIVAL (the National Irish Visual Arts Library) are undertaking a collaborative research project to revisit the Irish art historical account of ROSC. In a year-long engagement commencing with a display in early May, ROSC 50 will examine the ambition, reception, controversies and legacy of the ROSC exhibitions. Unfolding over the course of 2017 the programme will involve talks, events, screenings, displays, presentation of material and a number of artist commissions. 

Another key moment to re-examine the changing narrative of Irish art history will be the October retrospective of Anglo-Irish artist William Crozier (b. Glasgow 1930 d. Cork 2011). Crozier is perhaps best-known in Ireland for the lyrical landscapes made of the setting close to his home in West Cork from the mid-1980s. His early work, however, is imbued with a darkness and pessimism that reference contemporary political events and weave concerns with religion, violence and society. The exhibition is curated by Seán Kissane (IMMA) and is presented in association with West Cork Arts Centre who will present Crozier’s later landscape works over the summer. The IMMA exhibition of Crozier’s early work will open in October.

Also opening in October is IMMA Collection: Coastlines which throws a line around a display of diverse artworks and archival materials that explore similar ideas of geographical place and physical space, perception, representation and memory, as well as language and systems that map human experience. Featured works include the immense Tabernacle (2013) by Dorothy Cross, Folded/Unfolded (1972) by Ciaran Lennon, reworked in a new iteration for the IMMA galleries, and Aspen 5+6 (1967), the ground-breaking edition of the avant-garde ‘exhibition in a box’, edited by Brian O’Doherty in New York in 1967; the same year ROSC commenced in Ireland. 

Another Collection highlight this year is sure to be the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection exhibition in July, which will take place in the Courtyard Galleries. This invaluable fund, supported by Hennessy Ireland, has permitted IMMA to start purchasing works for the Collection for the first time since 2011, with a particular focus on artists not already represented. The chosen artists for 2016, the first year of the fund, were Kevin Atherton, David Beattie, Rhona Byrne and Dennis McNulty. The chosen artists for 2017 will be revealed in July. The independent curator on this year’s Hennessy Art Fund selection panel is Linda Shevlin.

The IMMA Collection: Freud Project (2016 -2021) continues throughout 2017. Lucian Freud is one of the greatest exponents of figurative painting in the 20th century and the 50 works on loan to IMMA include a selection of Freud’s finest paintings, as well as numerous etchings. This important body of work, on loan to IMMA from a number of private collections, is the focus of several major programming initiatives for the next five years. The first exhibition has already proven immensely popular and we look forward to continuing to make this great work accessible to the public throughout the year. The current display will close at the end of October and a new contemporary intervention to the Freud Project, and how it relates to works in the overall IMMA Collection, will open in late November, furthering our ongoing investigation into the resonance of Freud’s work for contemporary art practice. We are also delighted to announce a new Freud Residency for 2017, which invites cultural practitioners to explore, contest, complement or radicalise the work currently on display, and a deepening partnership with NCAD and Trinity College Dublin which will deliver new research perspectives on Freud over the duration of the Freud Project.

As a museum IMMA has a unique onsite facility to provide studios and/or accommodation for 12 artists or cultural practitioners at any one time. Access to work space has been identified as a fundamental challenge for artists in Ireland and we have been exploring new ways to best use our invaluable resource. With the support of IMMA 1000 and a number of other fundraising initiatives, we are delighted to announce a series of new strands in our residency programme that will both create opportunities for in-depth research and support for Irish artists through dedicated residencies and bursaries. These will create an invaluable break from day-to-day financial pressures facing many artists in Ireland today by providing both a rent free space at IMMA, and a financial stipend to support living expenses for the duration of the residency. Time on supported residencies allows artists the space to think, research, test new ideas and make work without distraction; a vital support for the development of artists work. Crucially, the residency programme also stimulates dialogue and exchange with artists internationally, and another exciting new initiative for 2017 is a new international residency partnership between IMMA, Create (National Development Agency for Collaborative Art), Sweetwater Foundation and Hyde Park Arts Centre (Chicago) creating an exciting opportunity for exchange and dialogue between Irish and Chicago based artists.

Glennie continued; “Part of IMMA’s core mission is to support artists making the work they want to make, and we increasingly see contemporary art practice moving out of the gallery space and into the public realm, engaging with audiences in new and participatory ways. We really saw this in 2016 with our summer programme A Fair Land and several live performance art pieces including Listen, Hissen, Hessin, Jaki Irvine, Jonathan Meese, Tino Seghal at IMMA in the past and of course the IMMA Summer Party which has been so successful at opening up the entirety of the beautiful and historic IMMA buildings and grounds to artists and audiences alike. The IMMA Summer Party will return again on Sat 15 July 2017 with distinct Before Dark // After Sunset programmes. Before Dark will make the most of the beautiful gardens and historic grounds of the Royal Hospital with performances, readings, screenings and food, while After Sunset will explore the night time charms of the Great Hall and Baroque Chapel with a programme of live and electronic music into the small hours. Tickets will go on sale in May. We are also delighted to announce a new live art performance night on Saturday 29 July as part of the expanded programme around As Above, So Below.”

As always IMMA’s exhibition programme will be accompanied by a rich and varied programme of live performance, events, talks, and learning programmes which will provide audiences of all ages exciting opportunities to enjoy our programme, opening up conversations and bringing the audience deeper into the thinking and making of contemporary art.  A particular highlight this year will be the ongoing examination into the social, political and economic landscape that shaped ROSC and its subsequent impact on contemporary art developments in Ireland, which will culminate in a major symposium in November 2017, our ongoing provision of programmes for people living with dementia through the AZURE initiative and the launch of a new digital digest that will develop new content about our programmes, giving people new ways to find out more about the work, and to personally connect with art and artists at IMMA. 

A full programme of events is available on www.imma.ie

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For more information or images please contact [email protected] or [email protected] 01 612 9922

Additional Information – IMMA Exhibition Highlights 2017
For additional information on each exhibition please click the hyperlink to reach the exhibition page.

Duncan Campbell, The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy
25 November 2016 – 7 May 2017
Commissioned by IMMA, The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy (2016) is a major new work by Duncan Campbell (Turner Prize, 2014). Campbell’s work is underpinned by extensive research, and this new film uses anthropological studies of rural Kerry, including Paul Hockings and Mark McCarty’s 1968 UCLA documentary The Village (IFI Irish Film Archive), as a starting point to investigate and reframe modern Ireland.  As in The Village, this new film is set against a visit by two American anthropologists to the village of Dún Chaoin. Campbell combines footage from Hockings and McCarty’s film with newly scripted material. Echoing and revisiting key scenes from the documentary Campbell looks at ethics and misconceptions that frame the relationship between the anthropologists and the villagers and how the societal shifts they explore still resonate today.

Jac Leirner, Institutional Ghost
14 February 2017 – 5 June 2017
Considered one of Brazil’s most important contemporary artists, this solo exhibition from Jac Leirner comprises of exciting recent and new work made in response to the architecture of IMMA. Leirner works across disciplines including sculpture, painting, installation and works on paper. Since the mid-1980s, Leirner has collected the temporary and incidental products of everyday life, tapping into what she has described as the ‘infinity of materials’. Stickers, rulers, plastic bags, business cards, cigarette ends and even bank notes make their appearance in her work, removed but not entirely dislocated from their original function. By repurposing these everyday materials into visually compelling sculptures and installations, Leirner creates new and unexpected associations that provide a sharp statement on the unfolding of art in recent decades.

As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics
13 April 2017 – 27 August 2017
Featuring an exciting selection of modern masterworks, contemporary art and new commissions, IMMA presents a major international exhibition that looks at the role of spirituality in visual art. In particular, it considers the role played by certain spiritualist and alternative doctrines in the creation of abstract painting from its origins to the present digital age. The arc of this exhibition spans a hundred years from the abstract masterworks of Kandinsky, af Klint and Kupka to contemporary work by Steve McQueen and Bruce Nauman and new commissions by Alan Butler and Linder Sterling among others. As Above, So Below resists becoming a comprehensive survey that traces the role of art and spirituality however. Instead, it presents perspectives on spirituality from a range of unique viewpoints in over 200 works, many of whom have never exhibited in Ireland before. The exhibition traces and questions the genesis of deep religious, mystical and occult beliefs that continue to shape the ideas of contemporary artists today. Transcending the limitations of what is perceived as spiritual, it embraces the occult, the otherworld, human consciousness, mysticism and ritual, creating a space to reflect and explore these gateways to wonder.

Admission is €8/5. Children, Students and IMMA Members are always free, and everyone is free on Tuesdays. Booking will open on 13 March on www.imma.ie.

ROSC 50 ‑ 1967 / 2017
5 May — 18 June 2017
ROSC was the first major series of exhibitions of international art in Ireland. They took place in a range of venues approximately every four years between 1967 and 1988. In 2017, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first ROSC, IMMA and NIVAL (the National Irish Visual Arts Library) are undertaking a collaborative research project to revisit the Irish art historical account of ROSC. ROSC 50 will examine the ambition, reception, controversies and legacy of the ROSC exhibitions, which had a significant impact on the development of contemporary art in Ireland. This programme will unfold over the course of 2017 and will involve talks, events, screenings, displays, presentation of material and a number of artist commissions.

IMMA Collection: Freud Project 2016-2021
Until October 2017
IMMA has secured a significant five-year loan of 50 works by one of the greatest realist painters of the 20th century, Lucian Freud (1922–2011). Renowned for his portrayal of the human form, Freud is best known for his intimate, honest, often visceral portraits. IMMA Collection: Freud Project features a selection of 30 of the artist’s finest paintings, and 20 works on paper. The works, mainly dating from 1970 onwards, explore several of the artist’s key themes such as Portraiture, Self-Portraiture, Still-life, Animals and Nature, works that reflect his interest in the people and the natural world. During this unique five-year project IMMA will present a series of different and exclusive Freud related exhibitions, each year. All 50 works are on display until the end of October 2017. The current display will then close at the end of October and a new contemporary intervention to the Freud Project, and how it relates to works in the overall IMMA Collection, will open in late November, furthering our ongoing investigation into the resonance of Freud’s work for contemporary art practice.

Time-slotted entry is €8/5. Children, Students and IMMA Members are always free, and everyone is free on Tuesdays. Book online.  

IMMA Collection: A Decade
Until 7 May 2017
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 and to keep it in the public domain for future generations.  A changeover in the displays from March will include the Janet Mullarney’s My Minds i  (2016), on loan from the artist, and Alice Maher’s The Music of Things (Sleep) 2009.

Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection
Until 7 May 2017
The Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection supports the acquisition of works by Irish or Irish based artists who are not yet in the IMMA Collection. Works are sought that signal a moment of achievement within an artist’s practice. The chosen artists for 2016, the first year of the fund, were Kevin Atherton, David Beattie, Rhona Byrne and Dennis McNulty, and the exhibition remains open until 7 May 2017. This year’s independent curator on the Hennessy Art Fund panel is Linda Shevlin. The chosen artist(s) for 2017 will be revealed in the summer, with a new exhibition in the Courtyard Galleries in July.

Vivienne Dick, 93% STARDUST
16 June 2017 ‑ 15 October 2017
Irish artist Vivienne Dick is an internationally celebrated film-maker and artist. A key figure of the ‘No Wave’ movement in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dick has gone on to develop an extraordinary body of work which has been shown in cinemas, films festivals and art galleries around the world. Dick’s work is marked by an interest in individual transgression, urban street life, kitsch and pop culture, social and sexual politics, female representation and philosophy. Including selected works from 1977 to the present, the exhibition serves as an introduction to the breadth of Dick’s practice which encompasses video, Super-8 and 16mm film. This hybrid of media is indicative of the crossover of forms in Dick’s films. They do not sit easily in the usual distinctions of documentary, fiction, video art or music video, yet owe something to each.

Nan Goldin, Sweet Blood Call
16 June 2017 ‑ 15 October 2017
Nan Goldin is known for intensely personal, spontaneous, sexual, and transgressive photographs. This exhibition presents pivotal works from Goldin’s oeuvre including drawings, portraits of women as family, friends and lovers, as well as a collection of evocative and previously unseen work from Ireland. In 1979 Goldin presented her first slideshow in a New York nightclub; her richly coloured, snapshot-like photographs were soon heralded as a ground-breaking contribution to fine art photography. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency—the name she gave her ever evolving show—eventually grew into a forty-five minute multimedia presentation of more than 700 photographs, accompanied by a musical soundtrack. This is the first solo exhibition at IMMA by Nan Goldin.

William Crozier: A Retrospective
October 2017 – Spring 2018
Best-known in Ireland for the lyrical landscapes he made close to his home in West Cork from the mid-1980s, William Crozier (b. Glasgow 1930 d. Cork 2011) began to exhibit in the early 1950s and his bleak views of the British landscape from that time are imbued with a darkness and pessimism that is immediately apparent. Crozier’s time spent in Paris in the 1940s, and his encounter with the Existential writings of Jean-Paul Sartre, gave a voice to this post-war malaise and became a touchstone for the work he would make over the next fifty years. In the early 60s the human figure enters the work, but is often interred in the blasted landscape or, later in the 70s it is flayed and skeletal. Reference is made to contemporary political events such as the Northern Troubles in major works like Crossmaglen Crucifixion (1975) that weave concerns with religion, violence and society. The exhibition is presented in association with West Cork Arts Centre who will exhibit Crozier’s later, landscape works, during the summer .

Rodney Graham
23 November 2017 – Spring 2018
Since the early 1980s, Rodney Graham (b.1949 Canada) has shown himself to be a distinctive artist whose diverse practice encompasses many things – a painter, photographer, sculptor, video-maker, actor, performer, producer, historian, writer, poet, sound engineer and musician.  Defying easy categorisation, his works are informed by psychology, literature and story-telling. His cyclical narratives are layered with puns and references as various as Lewis Carroll, Sigmund Freud, Raymond Roussel and Kurt Cobain, and are all infused by a sense of humour that betrays Graham’s place in the post-punk scene of late 1970s Vancouver. Avant-garde experimentation has always informed Graham’s practice demonstrated here with a survey of film works and an important presentation of photographic light boxes. Astute, contained and profound, Graham’s work has a strong contemporary relevance. This major exhibition includes work made from 1993 through to the present, and is organised in partnership with the Baltic Centre, Gateshead.

IMMA Collection: Coastlines
October 2017 – Spring 2018
The Winter display from the IMMA Collection throws a line around a display of diverse artworks and archival materials that explore similar ideas of geographical place and physical space, perception, representation and memory, as well as language and systems that map human experience. Featured works include the immense Tabernacle (2013) by Dorothy Cross, Folded/Unfolded (1972) by Ciaran Lennon, reworked in a new iteration for the IMMA galleries, and Aspen 5+6 (1967), the ground breaking edition of the avant-garde ‘exhibition in a box’, edited by Brian O’Doherty in New York in 1967, the same year as ROSC commenced in Ireland.  Read more about this exhibition, which includes work by Dorothy Cross, Clare Langan, Ciaran Lennon, Richard Long, Brian O’Doherty, Noel Sheridan, Jesús Rafael Soto, Donald Teskey, Bridget Riley, Timothy Drever/Robinson and Alexandra Wejchert, among others.

About IMMA
IMMA is the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland’s leading national institution for the presentation, production and collection of contemporary and modern Art. IMMA was the third most visited free attraction in Ireland in 2015 with 485,000 visitors, and saw a further increase of visitors in 2016 to over 584,000.  IMMA presents a dynamic programme of exhibitions, commissions, talks, films, live events, and engagement and learning programmes from its home in Royal Hospital Kilmainham. IMMA is funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and supported by Matheson, Hennessy, Goodbody, Dean Dublin and our Corporate and Individual members and patrons.

25 November 2016 – 7 May 2017

Following his first major exhibition in Dublin at IMMA in 2014, IMMA is delighted to present a new film work by Irish-born artist Duncan Campbell. Entitled The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy this is the artist’s first film based in the Republic of Ireland and his first new work since winning the Turner Prize in 2014; when he was the first Irish born artist to do so. Funded in part by the Irish Film Board this is also the first of Campbell’s films to feature actors and scripted scenes and marks the first time that IMMA and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board have collaborated on a film work.

Commenting on the collaboration James Hickey, Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board said "We are delighted to have had an opportunity to work with renowned Irish artist Duncan Campbell and for his work to be seen not only in art galleries but potentially by audiences at film festivals and markets around the world.  The IFB is open to supporting filmmakers from all artistic disciplines with the aim to further developing their talent in film.  We are also delighted to work in partnership with IMMA on this project."

This commission is presented as part of an exciting on-going initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work in a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making. Duncan Campbell will be speaking to staff to Matheson this evening about his new work and Tim Scanlon Corporate Partner, Matheson commented today “Ireland is world renowned for its rich culture, heritage and, most notably, the creative talent that exists here. Recognising and nurturing this talent is key, and Irish business has a role to play in further developing the work of our cultural institutions and our talented and aspiring individuals. As a leading Irish law firm, Matheson is proud to partner with IMMA in supporting and encouraging the arts. Duncan Campbell, recipient of the 2014 Turner prize, is testament to the wealth of talent that exists here and we are privileged to have Duncan at our offices this evening speaking about his new work.”

As with many of Campbell’s films this new work is underpinned by extensive research into archival and documentary material. In this instance, stemming from research in the archive of the IFI (Irish Film Institute), the work takes Paul Hockings and Mark McCarty’s 1968 documentary film The Village as a starting point alongside three influential anthropological studies; Inis Beag by John C. Messenger, Inishkillane: Change and Decline in the West of Ireland by Hugh Brody and, in particular, Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics by Nancy Scheper-Hughes.

Commenting on this new work Ross Keane, Director of the Irish Film Institute said; “The Village is a fascinating ethnographic documentary looking at how modernisation affected the inhabitants of Dún Chaoin and their relationship with the unpopulated Blasket Islands, and we are delighted that Duncan Campbell found inspiration for his latest work from this film and through his research into our collection at the IFI Irish Film Archive.”

The Welfare of Tomas Ó Hallissy is filmed in and around the Kerry village of Dún Chaoin and directly integrates newly scripted material shot with actors with footage from The Village which was also set in Dún Chaoin.  Indeed this new film is set against a fictional visit by two American anthropologists to Dún Chaoin, mirroring the premise of Hockings and McCarty’s 1968 documentary. Campbell’s original material also echoes key scenes from documentary that captured the day to day routine of the village; the creamery, turf cutting, rabbit hunting and gatherings in the local pub. In revisiting these scenes Campbell looks at some of the assumptions, ethics and misconceptions that frame the relationship between the filmmakers and the villagers.

As with many of Campbell’s works The Welfare of Tomás ó Hallissy questions the validity of documentary form as historical representation, blurring fact, and fiction, recording and interpretation. His extensive research into a specific time and context uncovers the unknown and unexpected in a representation of Ireland that at first seems familiar. On one level The Welfare of Tomás ó Hallissy represents the uses and misuses of the past as the implications of the societal shifts and misrepresentations it explores still resonate and inform contemporary Ireland today.

The Welfare of Tomás ó Hallissy takes into account the long history of ethnographic study in rural communities in the west of Ireland. In particular Campbell is interested in the moment when the revered Gaelic speaking peasant culture society of places like Dún Chaoin came to be seen as an obstacle to progress. In various ways the anthropological studies he draws on link the increasing predominance of the ‘bachelor farmer’, sexual repression, the breakdown of the traditional family structure and conflicts over farm inheritance as contributing to the high levels of mental illness in rural Ireland at the time. In Campbell’s film the rural traditions continue but are coloured by sense of the subjects are either acting out or resisting the roles expected of them by their visitors. The depiction of village life is mediated by attempts by the anthropologists to say what is not said and a simmering anger and impotence that fleetingly appears in a drunken scuffle that closes the film.

Duncan Campbell himself says of the work “the film is set at the interface of the activist perspective of the two American anthropologists and their focus on individual minds to be saved; and the communal but conservatively Catholic perspective of the people they are studying. The main character in the film is a speechless 10 year-old boy, Tomás, who is seen in the light of the tension between these two perspectives.’ At the heart of the film is the question of Tomás’ welfare and, if he is in need of salvation – whether this lies in tradition or modernity.”

The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy is commissioned by IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) Dublin with co-commissioners Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and Western Front, Canada. This new work has been made possible through the support of commissioning partners; Irish Film Board; the IFI Irish Film Archive; Creative Scotland; Nakba Filmworks; Fastnet Films, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Matheson, who proudly support New Art at IMMA. The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy is part of the official Ireland 2016 programme.

This commission is one of three major new works that have been commissioned by IMMA as part of their 2016 programme. Other works include The Humanizer by Simon Fujiwara; a sound and installation work of an imagined Hollywood biopic of Sir Roger Casement and If the Ground Should Open… by Jaki Irvine, a sound and film work currently on view in IMMA that traces our past and present from the forgotten women of the Rising through to the leaked Anglo Irish tapes of recent years.

–  ENDS –

For additional information to arrange interviews or for images please contact:
Monica Cullinane E: [email protected]  T:+353 (0)1 612 9922 /
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T: +353 (0)1 612 9920

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION / Artist’s Biography
Duncan Campbell (b.1972 in Dublin, Ireland) lives and works in Glasgow. He is best known for his films which focus on particular moments in history, and the people and objects at the centre of those histories. He uses archive material as a route to research subjects and histories that he feels are important. The process of making the films becomes a means to further understand his subjects and reveal the complexity of how they have been previously represented. Although these histories are located in specific times and geographies they resonate with and inform our present. Extensive research into the subjects through archival material underpins all of the films and the histories Campbell chooses to focus on reflect his interest. Using both archival and filmed material, his films question our reading of the documentary form as a fixed representation of reality, opening up boundaries between the actual and the imagined, record and interpretation.

He completed the MFA at Glasgow School of Art in 1998 and a BA in Fine Art at the University of Ulster in 1996. Campbell was the winner of the 2014 Turner Prize (Duncan Campbell, Ciara Phillips, James Richards, Tris Vonna-Michell) and was one of three artists representing Scotland at the Venice Biennale as part of Scotland + Venice 2013 (Corin Sworn, Campbell, Hayley Tompkins). In 2012 Campbell took part in Manifesta 9 curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina, Katerina Gregos and Dawn Ades, Belgium and in 2010 he took part in Tracing the Invisible, Gwangju Biennale. In 2017, Wiels, Brussels will host a solo exhibition on Duncan Campbell.

Recent solo exhibitions include Arbeit, Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo (2015); Duncan Campbell, Irish Museum of Modern Art; Generation, Common Guild, Glasgow; Bernadette, G.MK Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia (all 2014), Duncan Campbell, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylanvia; Arbeit, HOTEL, London; Make it new John, Artists Space New York (all 2012) and Chisenhale Gallery, London, touring to Tramway, Glasgow (2009 – 11); The Model, Sligo; Belfast Exposed, Belfast; Bernadette, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; HOTEL, London and Baltic, Gateshead (all 2008–9); 0–60, ICA, London (2006); Something in Nothing and TART Contemporary, San Francisco (2005). Recent group exhibitions include Year of Cooperation, curated by Christabel Stewart and Anke Kemkes, Broadway 1602, New York and Critique & Clinic, Berlin Film Festival, Berlin (2012); British Art Show 7, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham and Hayward Gallery, London (2010); Asking, Not Telling, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2009); You have not been honest, Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naples (2007); Art Now Lightbox, Tate Britain, London (2006); Archaeology of Today, Els Hanappe Underground, Athens (2005); Revolution is Not What it Used to Be, S1 Artspace Sheffield (2004); Manifesta 5, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, San Sebastian (2004); Emotion Eins, Frankfurter Kunstverin, Frankfurt am Main (2004); Fresh and Upcoming, a project with Luke Fowler at Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main (2003) and Old Habits Die Hard, Sparwasser HQ Berlin and Norwich Gallery (2003).

Associated Events

The Artist & the State/ International Symposium
Saturday 26 November 2016 / The Chapel, IMMA / 10am – 5.30pm 
In response to the centenary of the 1916 Rising and the evolution of society over the past 100 years, IMMA, The Hugh Lane and Create’s 2016 programmes reflected on the role artists and creativity plays in society and the identity of the nation state. This international symposium at IMMA takes a timely look at the potential of contemporary arts practice to critically address the challenges now facing our ever-changing global society and systems of governance. Duncan Campbell is one of the contributors at this symposium.

The Artist & the State Symposium is organised by the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin City Gallery – Hugh Lane and Create-National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts and coincides with the opening of IMMA exhibitions, Emily Jacir – Europa, Duncan Campbell and the Dublin Gallery Opening Weekend. Tickets are €6 each and include complimentary tea/coffee and a closing drinks reception. Book here.  

This Dublin Gallery Weekend we ask how contemporary arts practice can address the concept of national identity and statehood in a globalised world.

Leading speakers and art practitioners from Ireland and around the world will gather in IMMA this Saturday 26 November as part of an international symposium that seeks to examine the very timely and relevant topic of national identity. This one day will interrogate how artists are helping us to conceive new formations of the state while looking at the legacies of how we have been governed. Through research presentations, discussions and artists’ performance The Artist and the State will examine the identity of the nation state and look at the role of creativity in reimagining a new social and cultural order, asking what artists can bring to the table when imagining our future.

2016 has represented a time of remembrance and reflection in Ireland, with 1916 centenary commemorations taking place in the country’s foremost cultural institutions. In arts organisations like IMMA, The Hugh Lane, Create, and many more besides, these commemorations have taken the form of projects that dissect the evolution of Irish society and social ideology over the past 100 years. Looking further outside of our own nation issues such as mass mobility of people and goods, the digitising of communication and knowledge, migration, climate change and the increasing global economy have all radically changed perceptions of territories, borders and individual identity in relation to one’s nation state. In addition to this, colonial legacies of emigration, displacement and ongoing indigenous struggles create an even more profound crisis of social, cultural and political agency.

Throughout 2016 Irish art projects have reflected on our recent past as a provocation in order to better understand our present and to reframe our future. The programme for this one-day symposium draws on these works, and projects from artists whose practices advance historical and interdisciplinary research, while taking into account the unstable relationship between identity, territory, and borders in the so called age of shared ‘global territories’, ‘new Institutionalism’ and Ireland’s ‘decade of centenaries’.

For example, Jaki Irvine, in her landmark exhibition for IMMA If the Ground Should Open… has created a new sound and film work which reverberates across four interconnected rooms at IMMA. Weaving our histories past and present from the women in the Easter Rising to the modern leaked Anglo Bank tapes, Irvine’s work has been called “an inspired and essential show” by the Sunday Times, where Cristín Leach described the exhibit as being “about who we are and who we might want to become, collectively, as a nation.” Jaki will be giving a keynote speech alongside artists Jesse Jones and Sarah Browne, whose work In the Shadow of the State has been examining the concept of touch as a political action through immersive performance, soundscapes and scores. One piece, The Touching Contract, looks at how maternity hospitals and the act of labour create a new instance of interaction between women’s bodies and the State. We will also hear from Turner prize-winner Duncan Campbell, whose exhibition The Welfare of Tomás O’Hallissy – which opens in IMMA on November 25 – seeks to reframe a 1960s anthropological film on rural Kerry through a contemporary lens. Campbell scrutinises the town of Dun Chaoin, perceived as being at a crossroads between the past and the future, divesting itself of cultural markers such as language and subsistence techniques.

Throughout the day diverging propositions on the changing role of the artist and the state will be presented by: Annie Fletcher, Chief Curator, Van Abbemuseum / Mick Wilson, artist, Head of Fine Art, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg / Emily Jacir, artist / Jaki Irvine, artist / Duncan Campbell, artist / Sarah Browne, artist/ Jesse Jones, artist / Tina Kinsella, Lecturer, Critical and Contextual Studies (Fine Art) IADT/ Lisa Godson, Historian of Design and Material Culture, NCAD / Vivian Ziherl, Curator Frontier Imaginaries / Lara Khaldi and Yazan Khalili, artists duo / Sarah Glennie, Director, IMMA / Barabara Dawson, Director, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane/ Ailbhe Murphy, Director, Create, National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts.

The symposium will close with a performance of Love Letters to Mars by Palestinian artists Lara Khaldi and Yazan Khalili, as part of current exhibition The Plough and other stars. Khaldi and Khalili have imagined an extra-terrestrial correspondence that investigates immortality and origin outside of our earth. There will be a limited number of tickets available for those who wish to view the performance separately, spaces are free and can be booked through the IMMA website here

Artists’ projects throughout 2016 have reflected our recent past as a provocation to better understand our present and to reframe our future. On Saturday 26 November join curators, artists and researchers for a day of lively debate on some of the most pertinent issues we are experiencing today while offering creative and critical tools for thinking collectively. We will examine how we can act together to achieve a better sense of community and gain a deeper understanding of what a civil society and the state might mean from a past to a future generation.
A full symposium programme and schedule will be made available to all ticket holders. Tickets cost €6 and include complimentary tea/coffee and a closing drinks reception. Book here.

The Artist & the State Symposium is organised by the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and Create-National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts and coincides with the opening of IMMA exhibitions; Emily Jacir, Europa and Duncan Campbell, The Welfare of Tomás O’Hallissy and is part of the Dublin Gallery Weekend 2016. Convened by Annie Fletcher and Sarah Glennie, co-curators of the exhibition El Lissitzky: The Artist and the State, this symposium is part of the Official Ireland 2016 Programme.

-ENDS-

For additional information, press accreditation or images please contact
Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] T:+353 (0)1 612 9922 /
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T: +353 (0)1 612 9920

FURTHER INFORMATION ON SPEAKERS

Annie Fletcher (Chair) is currently Chief Curator at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, where the exhibition Positions #2 (with Anna Boghiguian, Chia-Wei Hsu, Nástio Mosquito and Sarah Pierce) is currently on show. She recently worked on the “Museum of Arte Util” with Tanja Bruguera, and a retrospective of Hito Steyerl. She curated “After the Future” at eva International Biennial of Visual Art in 2012. Other projects include solo exhibitions or presentations with Sheela Gowda, David Maljkovic, Jo Baer, Jutta Koether, Deimantas Narkevicius, Minerva Cuevas, and the long term projects, Be(com)ing Dutch (2006-09) and Cork Caucus (2005) with Charles Esche. She was co-founder and co-director of the rolling curatorial platform “If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution” with Frederique Bergholtz (2005-10). As a writer she has contributed to various magazines including Afterall and Metropolis M.

Mick Wilson (Chair) is currently employed as the first Head of the Valand Academy of Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2012- present); was formerly founder Dean of the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, Ireland (2008-2012); and prior to this was first Head of Research, National College of Art and Design, Ireland(2005-2007). Mick Wilson completed his doctoral thesis ‘Conflicted Faculties: Rhetoric, Knowledge Conflict and the University’ (NUI, 2006) and has been active in developing doctoral education across the arts as Chair of the SHARE Network (2010-ongoing); as a member of the European Artistic Research Network, EARN (2005-ongoing); and as Editor-in-Chief for the Platform for Artistic Research Sweden: PARSE (2015-).

Emily Jacir (Keynote) is an artist who lives and works in Italy and Palestine. She is renowned for works about transformation, the act of translation, and the logic of the archive. As poetic as it is political and biographical, her work investigates various histories of colonization, exchange, resistance, and migration. Jacir has built a complex and compelling oeuvre through a diverse range of media and methodologies that include unearthing historic material, performative gestures and in-depth research. In her practice she also explores personal and collective movement and its implications on the physical and social experience of trans-Mediterranean space and time in particular between Italy and Palestine. Jacir’s works have been shown at numerous museums and venues in Europe, the Arab world and the Americas since 1994. Jacir is the recipient of several awards, including a Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); a Prince Claus Award (2007); the Hugo Boss Prize (2008); the Herb Alpert Award (2011); and the Rome Prize (2015).

Jaki Irvine is an artist who lives and works in Dublin and Mexico City. She is concerned with how we come to imagine and understand ourselves from within our privacy and often uses video installation as a way to reflect on moments where this process, awkwardly and unavoidably, comes spilling into the public spaces of our lives. Her solo exhibitions include Project Arts Centre (1996), Kerlin Gallery (2004) and the Douglas Hyde Gallery (1999, 2005) in Dublin, Frith Street Gallery (1997, 1999, 2011) the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Baden-Baden, Germany (1998) and Delfina Project Space (2001) in London, Henry Moore Institute (2004) Leeds and Galleria Alessandro de March (2004) Milan. In 1995 Irvine was included in the seminal exhibition of Young British Artists, General Release, at the Venice Biennale, and represented Ireland at the 1997 Biennale. In 2008 Irvine produced a major video installation entitled ‘In a World Like This’, which was produced in collaboration with Chisenhale Gallery, London and The Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo. In 2011, a new solo exhibition of video works ‘Before This Page is Turned’, developed in the Dublin Graphic Print Studios, was presented at the Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. She has also participated in numerous group shows throughout Europe, Australia and Japan. Irvine is represented in the collections of IMMA, the Irish Arts Council, Tate Modern, FRAC and in numerous other collections, both public and private.

Duncan Campbell is best known for his films which focus on particular moments in history, and the people and objects at the centre of those histories. He uses archive material as a route to research subjects and histories that he feels are important. The process of making the films becomes a means to further understand his subjects and reveal the complexity of how they have been previously represented. Although these histories are located in specific times and geographies they resonate with and inform our present. Extensive research into the subjects through archival material underpins all of the films and the histories Campbell chooses to focus on and reflect his interest. Using both archival and filmed material, his films question our reading of the documentary form as a fixed representation of reality, opening up boundaries between the actual and the imagined, record and interpretation.

Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones are both based in Dublin and studied at the National College of Art and Design. Their collaboration, as a feminist practice, brings together mutual concerns. They have each made numerous works within and outside gallery spaces, and have extensive experience working in collaborative contexts and through public art commissions. Their exhibitions, films and public projects have been produced on a national and an international level, for institutions such as Project Arts Centre, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Istanbul Biennale, Artsonje Seoul, the Daimler Art Collection and the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Most recent projects include Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones: In the Shadow of the State. Also see Jesse Jones – No More Fun and Games ; Sarah Browne – The Show Room

Dr. Tina Kinsella is Lecturer in Critical and Contextual Studies (Art) at the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and Research Fellow at the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College Dublin. Her research institutes conversations between psychoanalysis, affect theory, gender studies and artistic practice to explore the performative intersections of aesthetics, ethics, subjectivity and politics. Recent publications include: ‘Liquidities – Transactive Border Spaces and Threshold Structures (Between the Harbour and the Sea)’, Performance Research Journal, Volume 21, Issue 2, co-authored with Dr. Silvia Loeffler, (2016); ‘This is the fluid in which we meet … On Alice Maher’s Recent Drawings, The Glorious Maids of the Charnel House’, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery (2016); ‘Representing Desire? Reconsidering Female Sexuality and Eroticism in Umbilical’, Performance Ireland Journal (2016); ‘Sundering the Spell of Visibility: Bracha L. Ettinger, Abstract-Becoming-Figural, Thought-Becoming Form’, in And My Heart Wound-Space Within Me, 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015).

Lisa Godson is a historian of design and material culture, and also researches and writes about contemporary design. She studied History of Art at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1994) and History of Design at the Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum, London (MA 1998, PhD 2008). Godson has held tenured lecturing posts in a number of institutions including DIT and the Royal College of Art, where she was lead tutor in critical studies for MA design interaction, product design and industrial design. She was RCA Teaching and Learning Fellow and devised the college Virtual Learning Environment RCAde. She was NCAD Fellow at the inter-institutional Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM) 2009-13, where she was part of the team that developed and taught a pioneering structured doctoral research programme and chaired two research seminars, in historiography and theories of contemporary design. One characteristic of Godson’s teaching involves devising student research projects in collaboration with institutions, recently with the Little Museum of Dublin for the Secret Lives of Objects exhibition, symposium and publication (2015), and (alongside UCD Art History) with the National Library of Ireland on their ‘large books’ collection, leading to a public symposium (2012). Recent publications include the co-edited volumes Making 1916: material and visual culture of the Easter Rising (Liverpool University Press: 2015); Design learning in an age of austerity (Cumulus: 2015); the co-authored 10,000-word essay ‘Design in Twentieth Century Ireland’ in volume 5 of the History of Art and Architecture of Ireland (Yale/RIA: 2014).

Vivian Ziherl is an Associate Curator at ‘If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want to Be Part Of Your Revolution’ (Amsterdam) and Curatorial Fellow at the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane). Her recent projects include the ongoing research project Landings curated with Natasha Ginwala and initiated in partnership with the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, and well as the performance series ‘Stage It! Parts 1 & 2’ commissioned for the re-opening of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and curated with Hendrik Folkerts. Vivian has presented programmes with the ICA London, teaches with the Sandberg Institute Department of Critical Studies, and is editor of The Lip Anthology (Macmillan Art Publishing and Kunstverein Publishing). Her writing has been published in the Curating Research anthology (eds. Paul O’Neil and Mick Wilson) and has appeared in periodicals including the e-Flux Journal, Art Agenda, Frieze, Metropolis M, Discipline, and the Journal of Art (Art Association of Australia and New Zealand), among others.

Lara Khaldi and Yazan Khalili have been collaborating in the development of performance lectures and other works since 2009. Collaborative work includes’ Love Letter to Mars’, iterations of which were presented previously at Medrar, Cairo, 2013 and OCA, Oslo, 2014; ‘Love Letters to a Union: The Falling Comrades’, at Forum Expanded, 2015; ‘Love Letters to a Union’, at HomeWorks 6, Beirut, 2013; ‘All the Other Lovers’, at the NEME symposium ‘Through the Roadblocks’, Limassol 2012. A new iteration of ‘Love Letters to Mars’ will be presented at IMMA, Dublin, 2016, as part of the exhibition ‘The Plough, and other stars’.

Sarah Glennie, Director, IMMA.
Barbara Dawson, Director, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.
Ailbhe Murphy, Director, Create, National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts.