Exhibition dates: 28 March – 3 April 2014

474: document | work | space, an exhibition resulting from a collaborative project between the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, opens to the public at the Drawing Project Gallery, DúnLaoghaire, on Friday 28 March 2014. The exhibition will opened by Christina Kennedy; Senior Curator: Head of Collections, IMMA, on Thursday 27 March at 6.00pm.

The exhibition of works from the IMMA Collection is co-curated by the graduating students of the BA (Hons.) in Visual Arts Practice around the theme of document | work | space and is a component of the seminar studies module at IADT. 

Document | work | space can be read as three separate ‘things’ or as a directive sentence ie. “document work space”. This year the graduating students have responded to the studio contents of the late artist Edward McGuire. The items that the painter surrounded himself in his ‘work space’ have resided, since their donation to IMMA, in a series of purpose built crates in storage. These were documented by the students in the IMMA store and will form part of an exhibition-response in the Drawing Project space. The exhibition will also include a selection of work from the IMMA Collection and student work selected by IMMA curator team, all drawn together by pondering on (the) document |(the) work | (the) space.

In approaching the Edward McGuire studio, the student body took particular interest in the makeshift machines that McGuire had constructed as practicalities, and chose to approach them as pre-sculptural forms. The selection of studio objects within the exhibition comes almost entirely from this category.

In their selection they have also included some of the paint samples from his palette. This stems from an interest in McGuire’s manner of categorization and how this is reflected in IMMA’s archival engagement with the studio contents. The students wished to invoke museological method in their approach to display.

In approaching the IMMA collection the students selected works that posed questions regarding the general theme of document / work / space. The students were interested in the flexibility of these terms and have chosen works that are expressive of that diversity. Works such as Martin Parr’s, The Site of the Stolen Painting, Lissadell House, County Sligo, (1996), and Dennis Oppenheim’s, Reading Position for Second Degree Burn, (1970), fit this category.

Edward McGuire painted numerous portraits of poets, and possessed a large collection of books in his studio. The students chose to reflect McGuire’s engagement with literature in their selection by including works such as Brian O’Doherty’s In The Wake (of) (1963 – 1964) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul Power Boy (2011).

The accompanying documentary, created also by IADT students, considers this directly; interviewing Paul Durcan on his experience of having been painted by McGuire.

Artists included in the exhibition are Richard Deacon, Candida Höfer, McDermott and McGough, Edward McGuire, Rivane Neuenschwander, Dennis Oppenheim, Martin Parr, Anne Tallentire and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A selection of student’s work selected by Lisa Moran; Curator: Education & Community, IMMA, and Janice Hough; Co-ordinator Artists’ Residency Programme, IMMA, is also being shown as part of the exhibition.

474: document | work | space continues until 3 April 2014. Admission is free.
 
Opening hours:
Monday –Thursday: 11.00am – 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am – 6.00pm
Sunday: 12noon – 4.00pm

The Drawing Project is located in DúnLaoghaire town centre; it can be reached easily by public transport and is located directly across the road from both DúnLaoghaire DART station and the 46a Bus terminal.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

24 March 2014

Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April 2014

Following the success of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s reopening in October 2013, IMMA is delighted to announce its Spring 2014 opening with the launch of a major retrospective exhibition by internationally acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda. To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy IMMA presents a dynamic programme of exhibitions, activities and events, with something for everyone, on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April 2014. 

Highlights include family activities as part of the family exhibition Light Rhythms – create your own sound installation with artist Karl Burke, try out your skills as a DJ with DJ Simon Conway, and contribute to a large scale sculpture in IMMA’s courtyard by artist Julian Wild; attend one of our many curator’s talks on IMMA’s exhibitions throughout the day culminating in a panel discussion with artist Sheela Gowda; attend the official Spring Opening reception at 6pm; and finally for those of you who love to dance attend our ‘90s club night, in partnership with Totally Dublin, with sets by exhibiting artist Haroon Mirza, Donal Dineen and more, taking place in IMMA’s Chapel from 8pm. Please see weekend line up below for full details and times.

The exhibition by Sheela Gowda, Open Eye Policy, is an overview of her work from 1992 to 2012. This exhibition provides Irish audiences the opportunity to discover the work of this extraordinary artist, who this year was nominated for the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize. The exhibition presents artworks never exhibited together and constitutes the basis for a proper evaluation of the artist’s historical and cultural significance.

Gowda works with pre-industrial materials such as cow dung, thread, string, and wooden chips but also with ‘waste’ from the economic activity of today’s India such as steel tar drums and plastic tarpaulins. The artworks in the exhibition can be divided into different, though interlinked, sections regarding early studies, works with cow dung, smaller sculptures, large-scale installations and works on paper. Born 1957 in India, Gowda trained as a painter, and is best known for her sculptural installations. The theme of her artistic expression goes from an interest in abstraction and materials, to the engagement with politics, the environment and society. Gowda lives and works in Bangalore.

Our Spring Opening is also a chance for visitors of all ages to discover the full breadth of IMMA’s Spring programme with five other exhibitions on view, these include the recently opened exhibition by renowned British artist Haroon Mirza, Are jee be?, a new body of work created in direct response to the environment and architecture of IMMA, and from IMMA’s Collection a striking red neon text installation, Line Writing, 1994, by Laos born artist Vong Phaophanit.

Spring Opening Line up!

SATURDAY 5 APRIL

DAYTIME

VISIT EXHIBITIONS:

– Opening of Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
– Patrick Scott Image Space Light
– Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
– Family Exhibition Light Rhythms
– Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
– One Foot in the Real World

LECTURE

In Conversation with Sheela Gowda
5.00 – 6.00pm, Johnston Suite
Sheela Gowda discusses her work with co-curators Annie Fletcher and Grant Watson, and reflects on their shared experiences of developing the retrospective exhibition for its touring venues.                                      
Booking is required. Free tickets are available online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures.ie

CURATORS TALKS

Guest Curator’s Gallery Tour | Annie Fletcher
4.00pm – 4.30pm, East Wing Galleries
Annie Fletcher (Curator Exhibitions, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven) leads a gallery introduction to the Sheela Gowda exhibition.
Booking is essential. Free tickets online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures.ie                                                                                                                                                 

Curators’ Gallery Talks on Current Exhibitions
Meeting Point: Main Reception
In a series of short introductions in the galleries, IMMA’s curatorial team invites you to explore selected works featured in the current exhibitions.

12.30pm – 1.00pm Patrick Scott Image Space Light presented by Johanne Mullan
1.15pm – 1.45pm Vong Phaophanit Line Writing presented by Marguerite O’Molloy
2.00pm – 2.30pm Are jee be? Haroon Mirza presented by Séamus McCormack

No booking is required. Numbers are limited.

FOR FAMILIES

Light Rhythms – Family Exhibition
The Project Spaces
Light Rhythms is an exhibition about sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people of all ages. The artworks explore sound, space, light and colour, so why not drop in to test out how you can manipulate and influence these elements. Stop and listen, consider how you can change the sound in the room. Use your body to create your own Patrick Scott inspired image.

Help us to make a large-scale sculpture – Making the Connection
12noon – 4.00pm, IMMA Courtyard
Contribute to a large-scale sculpture, Making the Connection by artist Julian Wild, in our courtyard. Using plastic plumber’s tubing and elbow joints, Making the Connection is made from one continuous line of over 300 metres of tubing, everyone is encouraged to add to this free flowing sculpture that explores the space that it exists in.

Learn how to DJ
12noon – 2.00pm (for children 7+), The Project Spaces
Drop in and try out your skills as a DJ with DJ Simon Conway of Forza Italo and Wave Forza. Learn the fundamentals of DJing with vinyl records and try out a few DJ tricks on the decks. Not to be missed!

Create your own Sound Art
12noon – 4.00pm, The Project Spaces
Join artist Karl Burke, whose sound artwork Compositions 1-36 (created in collaboration with Russell Hart) is in our Light Rhythms exhibition, to explore listening and to work together to create your own sound installation.

Drop in for as little or as long as you like, no booking required.

TEENS

Sound Workshop for 13 to 18 year olds
1.30pm to 3.30pm, Studio and The Project Spaces
Especially designed for teens meet sound artist Karl Burke to create your own sound compositions and meet DJ Simon Conway to learn the fundamentals of Djing and to learn a few DJ tricks! To book email: [email protected]

FILM

Film Screening | Patrick Scott Golden Boy
10am – 5.00pm, 50mins on a loop (Screened on the hour), Lecture Room                                                                                                  
Golden Boy is the most definitive film portrait of one of Ireland’s most famous artists. The film charts the artist’s journey from his childhood in Cork and his embracing of modernism when he encountered the White Stag Group during WW2. Scott recalls his time as an architect with Michael Scott before he decided to be a full time painter in the early ‘50s. Locations include his home and studio in Dublin and his family home Kilbrittain County Cork. The film features his great friends Seamus Heaney, Dorothy Walker and Stephen Pearce. Scott takes centre stage alongside his best friends, his cats! No booking required.

Produced by Maria Doyle Kennedy and Andrea Pitt for Mermaid Films, Directed by Sé Merry Doyle, Music by Kieran Kennedy.

SATURDAY NIGHT

Spring Opening Reception
6.00 – 8.00pm

IMMA presents ’90s Club Night in association with Totally Dublin
8.00pm – Midnight, the Chapel
IMMA has teamed up with Totally Dublin to present a Club Night that will transport you back to the ‘90s Dublin club scene. Artist Haroon Mirza, whose new project Are jee be? is showing at IMMA until 8 June, will headline a retrospective of the music that created the Dublin rave scene. Featuring sets by DJs Donal Dineen (2FM), Adrian Dunlea (Sir Henry’s, Cork) and Totally Dublin DJs this night is a tribute to club nights such as the System, Orbit and Dance Crazy. Tickets are €10.00 and can be booked online at www.imma.ie and on the IMMA Facebook Page.
The event is kindly sponsored by Tiger Beer, The Picture Works and Damson Diner.

 
SUNDAY 6 APRIL

VISIT EXHIBITIONS:

– Opening of Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
– Patrick Scott Image Space Light
– Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
– Family Exhibition Light Rhythms
– Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
– One Foot in the Real World

FOR FAMILIES

Light Rhythms – Family Exhibition
The Project Spaces
Light Rhythms is an exhibition about sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people of all ages. The artworks explore sound, space, light and colour, so why not drop in to test out how you can manipulate and influence these elements. Stop and listen, consider how you can change the sound in the room. Use your body to create your own Patrick Scott inspired image.

Explorer Family Workshop
2.00pm – 4.00pm, The Projects Spaces
Join us for the family workshop Explorer to explore the Light Rhythms exhibition. All free and lots of fun!

Drop in for as little or as long as you like, no booking required.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]

20 March 2014

Editors Notes:

Further information on exhibitions at IMMA:

Sheela Gowda Open Eye Policy
5 April – 22 June
IMMA presents a major retrospective exhibition of the work of acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda. Gowda’s use of symbolically charged techniques, materials and colours offers narratives reaching beyond the abstract forms used. Juxtaposing and contrasting rural and urban life, the artist conjures up the continuing strength and vulnerability of human nature through different approaches, inviting a host of interpretations.
In selected works cow dung is used on the picture surface as well as in sculptures, taking the shape of a dense pigment on paintings and of concrete material in sculptural installations such as Stock.The most significant large-scale installations include Kagebangara, Of All people, And… and Some Place, are made from materials as diverse as threads coated in KumKum (a red organic pigment used on the forehead and in rituals), flattened tar barrels (from which road workers make temporary shelters), metal piping, woven hair ropes and small wooden figures with votive functions.

Born 1957 in India, Gowda trained as a painter, and now works with a variety of media and material, which are often presented as installations. Selected international exhibitions include Documenta 12, 2007; Sharjah Biennale 2008, 53rd Venice Biennale 2009; and Singapore Biennial 2011. She has had solo exhibitions at InIVA London; NAS Gallery, Sydney; OCA, Oslo; Bose Pacia Gallery, New York, and GallerySKE, Bangalore. Gowda lives and works in Bangalore.

This exhibition is co-curated by Annie Fletcher and Grant Watson and is a touring project co-produced with Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Lunds Konsthall and IMMA. The exhibition has been shown at the Van Abbemuseum and Lunds Konsthall and is currently showing at the Centre international d’art et du paysage, Vassivière Island, France.

Patrick Scott Image Space Light
Garden Galleries, IMMA, 16 February – 18 May
VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, 16 February – 11 May
IMMA and VISUAL, Carlow, are delighted to present a major exhibition of the work of Irish artist Patrick Scott, showing across the two venues as a single exhibition. Patrick Scott: Image Space Light brings together the most comprehensive representation of this remarkable artist’s 75 year long career. The exhibition brings together more than 100 pieces that illustrate the breadth and longevity of his career as an architect, designer and artist.
Admission: €5.00 full price, €3.00 concession (senior citizens, unwaged), under 18’s and those in full time education free. Admission free for all on Fridays.

Are jee be? Haroon Mirza
Until 8 June 2014
The first solo museum exhibition in Ireland by the renowned British artist Haroon Mirza, Are jee be?, is a new body of work created in direct response to the environment and architecture of IMMA. Thematically, the body of work is entitled The System, 2014, and can be read as one work. The title references the name of the Dublin based ‘90s underground nightclub venue System, which although only in existence for a few years was an important element in the history of dance music in Dublin, a music genre that has been a key influences on the artist’s work. Mirza’s new project, Are jee be?, combines a variety of readymade and time-based materials to create audio compositions, which are often realised as site-specific installations. In doing so, he complicates the distinctions between noise, sound and music.

The exhibition features remnants of the recent Eileen Gray exhibition at IMMA. Occupying the same gallery spaces, the Gray exhibition acts as a ‘readymade’ from which Mirza remixes elements to create a new visual and sonic installation. Recently invited to complete a project in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (with whom Gray had a legendary and turbulent affiliation) at Poissy in the outskirts of Paris, the opportunity for Mirza to feature elements of the Eileen Gray exhibition for his own purposes sets up an interesting counterpoint in which to experience his own innovative work practice.

Vong Phaophanit Line Writing
8 March – 11 May
IMMA is delighted to re-install Line Writing by Vong Phaophanit which continues the presentation of complex single-room installations made for the IMMA building. Line Writing was commissioned by IMMA as part of a series of exhibitions which took place in 1994, titled From Beyond the Pale. This striking red neon text work is installed under the floorboards of the East Ground Galleries; it is literally enmeshed in the fabric of the building. The work is best experienced during the early months of the year, when lower daylight levels and daylight saving offer optimum conditions for viewing the striking impact of red neon light illuminating the 17th-Century colonnade.

One Foot in the Real World
12 October 2013 – 14 April 2014
Drawing on IMMA’s Collection, One Foot in the Real World, includes works that explore the urban environment, the everyday or the domestic. Prompted by the recent Eileen Gray, Leonora Carrington and Klara Lidén exhibitions; the exhibition One Foot in the Real World addresses the psychology of space; scale and the body gravity and transformation. Elements of architecture and design recur as points of departure in the works; such as bricks; the keyhole; the window; the door and the table.

Since its inception in 1991, IMMA’s temporary exhibition programme has given rise to a number of works by internationally renowned artists, made in response to the Museum’s own architecture. Examples include Still Falling, 1991, a massive cast iron and air sculpture by Antony Gormley and Juan Muñoz’s Dublin Rain Room, 1994, a scale model of one of the gallery spaces where it perpetually rains indoors. These works, which have not been shown since the ‘90s, are re-installed in the rooms for which they were originally conceived.

The Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Goethe Institut present Lunch Bytes, an exciting new series of critical discussions that explore art and digital culture. A range of international experts on this subject will offer their perspectives on the impact of the internet on visual arts practice. The first session to launch the series of four discussions in Dublin takes place on Wednesday 12 March 2014 at 6.00pm at IMMA exploring the topic of Film/Video as a Medium.

Lunch Bytes is a series of discussions which examine the increasing use of digital technologies in relation to artistic practices. After having successfully taken place in Washington DC, the series will now be presented in Dublin. Over the course of 2014, four events will take place, each of which is dedicated to a specific topic. International artists, scholars, designers, curators and intellectuals are invited to give short presentations before engaging in a panel discussion.

The first Lunch Bytes discussion in Dublin invites artists and experts who have worked with, and written about, the medium of film/video to present and discuss their work in relation to traditional art historical disciplines and media, as well as the current digitisation of artistic practice. Speakers include: Chairperson Maeve Connolly (writer, lecturer and researcher, Dublin), Bjørn Melhus (artist, Germany) Stefan Heidenreich, (author and theorist, Center for Digital Culture, Leuphana University Lüneburg) and Saoirse Wall (artist, Dublin).

Lunch Bytes Dublin is part of a larger project organised by the Goethe-Institut in Northwest Europe. In close collaboration with local partners, the Goethe-Institut in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, London and Stockholm, will set up discussions about art and digital culture. The events will refer to four major themes: medium, structures and textures, society and life. The project will culminate in an international symposium in Berlin in 2015.

Lunch Bytes is curated by Melanie Bühler (Program Curator at Goethe-Institut Amsterdam) in collaboration with the partner institutions in the listed cities.

Booking is essential. Free tickets are available at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

3 March 2014
 

Editors Notes

Biographies

Maeve Connolly
Maeve Connolly is a lecturer in the Faculty of Film, Art & Creative Technologies at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dublin. Her publications include a critical history of artists in moving image ‘The Place of Artists in Cinema: Space, Site and Screen’ (Intellect/University of Chicago Press, 2009) and contributions to journals such as Afterall, Artforum, Art Monthly, Frieze, Journal of Curatorial Studies, MIRAJ, Mousse, Screen and The Velvet Light Trap. Her new book, ‘TV Museum: Contemporary Art and the Age of Television’, will be published by Intellect in early 2014.http://www.maeveconnolly.net/index.html

Stefan Heidenreich
Stefan Heidenreich is a writer, theoretician and art-critic who lives and works in Berlin. He is currently working at the Center for Digital Cultures at the University of Lüneburg. His fields of research include network and media theory, economy, and art. Most recently he has written ‘Der Preis der Welt’ (‘Pricing the World’), a book that will be published later this year. http://www.stefanheidenreich.de
http://coredump.buug.de/pipermail/rohrpost/2008-January/011487.html (German article: “Medienkunst gibt es nicht”)

Saoirse Wall
Saoirse Wall is an artist living and working in Dublin. She is currently completing her final year of a BA in Fine Art Media at the National College of Art and Design. Her work consists largely of performative video, images and text, often employing her own image. Much of her practice takes place online. Her work is concerned with expanded identity and the multitudinous self within the globalised world of the internet. She has recently exhibited in: A Light Spray at Portland Museum of Modern Art; Reflections in a Broken Stream at #0000FF, Online; Young Internet Based Artists pavilion as part of The Wrong Digital Art Biennale; National #Selfie Portrait Gallery at Moving Image Fair, London and in Four Floors Above at 30 North Great George’s Street, Dublin.
http://vimeo.com/swall/
http://saoirsewall.tumblr.com
https://twitter.com/saowall/
http://www.youtube.com/user/saowall/

Bjørn Melhus
Bjørn Melhus, born 1966, is a German-Norwegian media artist. In his work he has developed a singular position, expanding the possibilities for a critical reception of cinema and television. His practice of fragmentation, destruction, and reconstitution of well-known figures, topics, and strategies of the mass media opens up not only a network of new interpretations and critical commentaries, but also defines the relationship of mass media and viewer anew. Originally rooted in an experimental film context, Bjørn Melhus’ work has been shown and awarded at numerous international film festivals. He has held screenings at Tate Modern and the LUX in London, the Museum of Modern Art (MediaScope) in New York, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, amongst others. His work has been exhibited in shows like The American Effect at the Whitney Museum New York, the 8th International Istanbul Biennial, solo and group shows at FACT Liverpool, Serpentine Gallery London, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, ZKM Karlsruhe, Denver Art Museum among others. Since 2003 Bjørn Melhus has been Professor for Virtual Realities at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany.
http://www.melhus.de
http://www.youtube.com/user/bjornmelhus

The first solo museum exhibition in Ireland by the renowned British artist Haroon Mirza opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Saturday 8 March 2014. Are jee be? is a new body of work created in direct response to the environment and architecture of IMMA. Thematically, the body of work is entitled The System, 2014, and can be read as one work. The title references the name of the Dublin based ‘90s underground nightclub venue System, which although only in existence for a few years was an important element in the history of dance music in Dublin, a music genre that has been a key influences on the artist’s work. Mirza’s new project, Are jee be?, combines a variety of readymade and time-based materials to create audio compositions, which are often realised as site-specific installations. In doing so, he complicates the distinctions between noise, sound and music.

The exhibition’s title Are Jee Be? is based on the RGB colour model, phonetically written and posing a question to the viewer. The name of the RGB model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colours, red, green, and blue. The main purpose of the RGB colour model is for the sensing and display of images in electronic systems. In the installation System each room will have its own specific sound and colour – red, green and blue.

The exhibition feature remnants of the recent Eileen Gray exhibition at IMMA. Occupying the same gallery spaces, the Gray exhibition will act as a ‘readymade’ from which Mirza will remix elements to create a new visual and sonic installation. Recently invited to complete a project in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (with whom Gray had a legendary and turbulent affiliation) at Poissy in the outskirts of Paris, the opportunity for Mirza to feature elements of the Eileen Gray exhibition for his own purposes sets up an interesting counterpoint in which to experience his own innovative work practice. Mirza’s interest in design and architecture is continually apparent and can be seen in his use of found furniture in earlier works, as well as an understanding of spatial and perceptual relationships within his installations.

The exhibition also features a sequence of Solar Powered LED Circuit Compositions directly from the artist’s studio and a new departure in Mirza’s practice. These panels are controlled and activated by the amount of light in the space, and will change according to the time of day. Mirza also presents, in a new way, the infamous Björk YouTube video in which she poetically explains how she believes a TV works whilst dismantling the device.

Alongside IMMA, Mirza will present solo exhibitions in 2014 at Le Grande Café, Centre d’Art Contemporain, France; and at the Villa Savoye, France. He won the Daiwa Art Foundation Prize (2012)), and was awarded the Silver Lion Award at the 54th Venice Biennale Illuminations (2011), and the Northern Art Prize (2010). He holds an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design, and an MA in Critical Practice and Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Mirza recently launched the website http://www.o-o-o-o.co.uk/ which invites artists and musicians to download audio samples from his work, remix them, and then upload them back to the site via SoundCloud.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication supported by Lisson Gallery, London, which includes contributions by Christophe Cox (Professor of Philosophy at Hampshire College, Massachusetts); Michael Eng (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, John Carroll University, Ohio); Declan Long (Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD, Dublin); Rachael Thomas (Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA); Séamus McCormack (Projects Co-ordinator: Exhibitions, IMMA); and an interview with Mirza and Hans-Ulrich Obrist (Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London).

Exhibition dates: 8 March – 8 June 2014

The exhibition is curated by Rachael Thomas, and assisted by Séamus McCormack and Richard Carr, Programme Assistant: Exhibitions, IMMA.

Talks and Events

In Conversation| Haroon Mirza and Rachael Thomas
Saturday 8 March 2.30pm – 3.30pm, Lecture Room
Haroon Mirza and Rachael Thomas will discuss the development of the project at IMMA, the influence of music and the idea of the ‘readymade’ in relation to Mirza’s practice. Booking is essential for talks. Free tickets are available at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

‘90s Club Night at IMMA
Saturday 5 April, 8pm – late, the Chapel
IMMA, in partnership with Totally Dublin, presents a ‘90s Club Night. Sets by artist Haroon Mirza, Donal Dineen, Adrian Dunlea (Sir Henry’s, Cork), Totally Dublin DJs. Tickets €10.00. More details to be announced shortly.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

27 February 2014

The Irish Museum of Modern Art is very sad to announce the death of the great Irish artist Patrick Scott today (Friday 14 February 2014) on behalf of Eric Pearce, partner of Patrick Scott, and the family of Patrick Scott.

The Chairman, Board, Director and staff of IMMA extend their deepest condolences to Eric Pearce and the family of Patrick Scott. Patrick Scott has been a defining figure of Irish art for over 70 years and the retrospective exhibition due to open tomorrow (Saturday 15 February) is testament to his extraordinary career, life and achievements as an artist. He will be sorely missed by the arts community and IMMA is honoured to pay tribute to one of Ireland’s most important artists with this major exhibition on which Patrick Scott worked closely with the curator Christina Kennedy, Head of Collections, IMMA.

It is Eric Pearce and the family’s wish that the launch of the exhibition Patrick Scott:  Image Space Light proceeds as planned tomorrow afternoon, at 3.30pm, as a celebration of Patrick Scott’s life and work.

For media enquiries please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

14 February 2014

Family Exhibition: Light Rhythms
15 February – 6 April 2014

Over the mid-term break join us at IMMA for Light Rhythms, an exhibition about sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people of all ages. In this space you will encounter artworks you can interact with to make your own light, colour and sound installations.

Interactive installations in the exhibition ask us to stop and listen – consider how you can change the sound in the room; use your body to create your own Patrick Scott inspired image; can you find two Ghost Ships that glow in the dark, perhaps in an unexpected place?

Over the course of the exhibition we are running a series of free Saturday drop-in workshops called Sound Bites, whereby different artists will add a new interactive element to the exhibition and test it out live with visitors. Starting this Saturday 15 February from 12noon to 4pm, join artists Fionnuala Conway and Mark Linnane, and their interactive video, A rainbow in the palm of my hand, 2014. Inspired by the Patrick Scott exhibition, and in particular his Christmas cards, we invite families to create their own colourful light painting. Using the torches provided turn to the projection screen and start painting with the torch pointed towards the screen. What will you create with the rainbow in the palm of your hand?

Light Rhythms will evolve and change, so drop in, take part and remember to come again as you will find something new each time!

Artists showing in the exhibition are Sven Anderson, Karl Burke and Russell Hart, Fionnuala Conway and Mark Linnane, Dorothy Cross, Patrick Hughes, Slavek Kwi, Gavin Murphy and Liam O’Callaghan.

This exhibition has been inspired by exhibitions by artists Patrick Scott, Haroon Mirza and the site-specific neon work Line Writing by Vong Phaophanit, and we hope that you will visit these exhibitions alongside Light Rhythms.

The exhibition and all events are free.

Other Events

Explorer, Sundays, 2.00 – 4.00pm
Why not drop in to Explorer a weekly family workshop which will be responding to Light Rhythms for the exhibition’s duration.

Discussion, Friday 21 March 1.15 – 2.00pm
Pádraic E. Moore (writer and independent curator) leads an informal and speculative discussion on the art-historical context of Patrick Scott’s

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

12 February 2014

An exhibition celebrating the work of Irish artist Patrick Scott which brings together the most comprehensive representation of this remarkable artist’s 75 year long career; two major international retrospective exhibitions by acclaimed Indian artist Sheela Gowda and renowned Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica; a fascinating exhibition, Trove, selected by Irish artist Dorothy Cross showcasing the extraordinary depth of the National Collections of Ireland; two exciting new projects by Irish artists Isabel Nolan and Duncan Campbell; exhibitions and projects that bring leading examples of international artists work to Ireland including artists Haroon Mirza, Mike Kelley, Linder Sterling and Jeremy Deller; Light Rhythms an interactive exhibition for families and young people; are just some of the exciting programme highlights taking place throughout 2014 at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and announced today (Tuesday 11 February) by IMMA’s Director, Sarah Glennie.

Alongside IMMA’s programme, and following on from the success of the reopening weekend in October 2013, IMMA will present three open weekends in 2014. IMMA looks forward to welcoming everyone to experience exhibitions, family activities, workshops, talks by curators and artists, and more. The weekends will take place in Spring on 5 April, in Summer 18 and 19 July, and in Winter on 7 and 8 November.

Commenting on IMMA’s programme for 2014, Sarah Glennie said: “I am delighted to launch IMMA’s 2014 programme on the occasion of the opening of this major exhibition of the work of Patrick Scott. Following our very successful reopening programme IMMA moves into 2014 with an ambitious programme of exhibitions and projects including two major international retrospectives and new works by leading Irish and international artists. We are particularly excited to be bringing the work of Hélio Oiticica to Ireland for the first time – we are sure that audiences new to his work will find much to enjoy in this expansive participatory exhibition; and we are delighted to be working with Dorothy Cross and our colleagues in the National Cultural Institutions on Trove, a unique project that will bring together Cross’ distinctive vision and sensibility with the extraordinary resource that is our National Collections. As ever we will have a very full programme of talks, events and activities that will encourage audiences of all ages to become involved and discover more about our exhibitions. We hope that our audiences will find plenty to enjoy over the coming year.”

Also happening at IMMA in 2014:

• IMMA is taking a new approach to exhibiting the IMMA Collection, this will involve the presentation of works in a more modular form, allowing for individual changes to displays in order to increase the public’s exposure to a greater variety of work. The Collection displays will frequently respond to the underlying themes identified in IMMA’s wider programme, for example Op and Kinetic works from the Gordon Lambert Trust donation will be shown to coincide with the Hélio Oiticica exhibition. As new works are acquired by IMMA, they will be shown in rotating displays, with the aim of giving visitors an insight into how the IMMA Collection is being developed. These new acquisitions may be shown in dialogue with works already in the collection, allowing for an exploration of shared artistic concerns. Availing of the unique opportunity of artists living and working onsite IMMA will continue to invite artists to respond to the Collection – whether that results in a work made in response to an artwork in the IMMA Collection, a curated project, or deals with the idea of collecting itself.

• IMMA’s studio’s are being made available as a resource to visual arts organisations accross Ireland, the residency programme is developing partnerships and supporting new projects, these include Eva Kotatkova and the Project Arts Centre; Priscila Fernandes with Temple Bar Galleries + Studios; EVA International in Limerick, and a visiting Research Fellow in colloboration with the National College of Art and Design. An international visiting curators project is also being developed, IMMA and the Project Arts Centre, are bringing prominent international curators to Dublin for focused studio visits with emerging and established artists working in Ireland.

• Following on from the successful family exhibition Action all Areas, IMMA is delighted to announce that in 2014 two further interactive family exhibitions will be presented in the Project Spaces coinciding with school holidays in February and the autumn, as well as a number of family focused interventions for our seasonal open weekends. Opening on the 15 February Light Rhythms invites families and young people to discover how artists work with light, sound and line. The focus for these exhibitions and activities is to support and enhance families and young people’s experience at IMMA. IMMA’s new Project Spaces present a variety of exhibitions, interventions, events and discussions that reflect contemporary art practice and consider how a museum engages with its Collection, artists, curators and visitors. Activities in the Project Spaces will be announced throughout the year.

• Throughout 2014 IMMA will continue to present its extensive programme of public talks and events. Highlights include an international symposium on Eileen Gray presented in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou on 15 and 16 April. The symposium will bring together acclaimed historians, critics, architects, collectors, and some of Gray’s close working associates to present papers that explore the broader impact of Gray’s legacy. In Spring IMMA and the Goethe Institut will present LUNCH BYTES, an exciting new series of critical discussions that explore art and digital culture. A range of international experts on this subject will offer their perspectives on the impact of the internet on visual arts practice.

• IMMA continues to work with partners nationally to provide access to the IMMA Collection through loans and partnerships; projects in 2014 include the exhibition 474: document | work | space a collaboration with the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), in The Drawing Project, Dún Laoghaire, from 27 March to 3 April; a collaboration with the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, The Art of the Great Book of Ireland, from 10 April to 13 July; an exhibition by Nick Miller which will include a selection of Miller’s work from the IMMA Collection at Arthouse, Stradbally, in July and August; and an exhibition from the IMMA Collection, Sculpture & Installation from the IMMA Collection, at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studio, Banbridge and the High Lanes Gallery, Drogheda, from 5 September to 22 November.

• Following the launch of its Collection Online in 2013, IMMA will continue to expand its digital projects. To compliment this year’s exhibition programme, a selection of recordings from IMMA’s extensive talk’s archive, on-going since 1991, alongside a selection of current talks, will be made available via the IMMA website throughout 2014. For the Patrick Scott exhibition a detailed timeline of Scott’s biography with images from selected archival material has been assembled and digitised and will be accessible online on data screens within the exhibition and through IMMA Collection Online and on the IMMA website.

• The Education and Community Programme is at the core of everything that IMMA does. This year, despite funding challenges, it continues to create programmes that engage all sectors of the public including schools and colleges, children and young people, families and adults; through guided tours, talks, lectures and seminars; gallery and studio-based workshops and artists’ projects. IMMA invites everyone to enjoy its Exhibitions and Collection by looking, discussing and making.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]

11 February 2014

IMMA and VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, are delighted to present a major exhibition of the work of Irish artist Patrick Scott, showing across the two venues as a single exhibition. Patrick Scott: Image Space Light brings together the most comprehensive representation of this remarkable artist’s 75 year long career. Scott had his first exhibition in 1941 with the White Stag Group. Now 93, the exhibition brings together more than 100 pieces that illustrate the breadth and longevity of his career as an architect, designer and artist. The exhibition at IMMA concentrates on Scott’s early works from the 1940s to the early 70s while VISUAL displays works from the 1960s to the present.

The opening reception at VISUAL will take place on Tuesday 11 February 2014 at 6.30pm; the exhibition will be opened by artist Michael Warren. The opening reception at IMMA will take place on Saturday 15 February 2014 at 3.30pm; the exhibition will be opened by artist Corban Walker. A press preview will take place on Tuesday 11 February 2014 in both venues.

Commenting on the exhibition Christina Kennedy, curator and Head of Collections at IMMA, said “The works in this exhibition represent a distillation of Patrick Scott’s lifelong concerns and achievements and the continuum that has existed in his life as an artist, designer and architect. Mel Gooding, in his accompanying text, makes a definitive statement that presents Scott as not just a fine artist but that demands international recognition for his extraordinary and singular greatness”.

The Garden Galleries at IMMA present a broad range of Patrick Scott’s paintings from his early association with the White Stag Group in the 1940s when he rendered playful, deliberately naïve birds, trees, railings and other forms in simplified settings. These were followed during the 1950s by linear, quasi abstract works depicting boxes, still life, goal posts, cables, scaffolding, including a number of paintings with which the artist represented Ireland at the XXX Venice Biennale in 1960, such as the reductive forms of women bearing boxes and bunches of twigs on their heads. Also included are the seminal Bog Paintings evoking the waterlogged terrain of the bog and lakeshore. From there Scott moved to the Device works, a series of paintings in which the artist registered his dismay at the testing of H-bombs by painting abstract ‘explosions’ of diffused and dripped colour to symbolise the terrifying beauty of such destruction. The IMMA exhibition also includes a superb selection of the early Gold Paintings from 1964  onwards, arguably Scott’s best known expression; works related to ROSC ’67; as well as diverse material showing Scott’s production as a designer with Signa Design Consultancy during the 1950s and 60s.

The second part of Scott’s career is presented in VISUAL, with a significant display of the artist’s tapestries woven at Aubusson, examples of the looped and tufted carpets which he produced with V’Soske-Joyce, the Rainbow Rugs commissioned by Kilkenny Design, as well as rugs woven in Oaxaca. The monumental main space at VISUAL presents Kite!, a painting on linen six metres square, created in 1977 as an actual kite for the Kilkenny Arts Festival. It is accompanied by a select representation of the artist’s Gold Paintings, ranging from 1966 to 2007, examples of the diptych and folding screens and a number of the series of eleven Tables for Meditation produced by the artist in 1990. Also presented in VISUAL are various suites of work on paper, including a selection of the Gestural Drawings, a display of the Christmas Cards commissioned annually from the artist for 36 years by Scott Tallon Walker, and the recent Meditations, carborundum prints published by Stoney Road Press in Dublin.

Artist Corban Walker has been invited to guest-curate a selection of Patrick Scott’s works for the Link Gallery in VISUAL. Focusing on the theme of the grid in Scott’s work and responding to Scott’s graphic design work, Walker has also created a site-specific installation for the window area in the Link Gallery.

Born in 1921 in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, Patrick Scott trained as an architect. From 1945 he spent 15 years working with Michael Scott in the architectural practice of what became Scott Tallon Walker, where his innate talent as an artist and designer developed in unison. He became a leading graphic designer with the Signa Design Consultancy (set up in 1953 by Michael Scott and Louis le Brocquy), all the while continuing to test various ideas in his painting. On winning a National Prize at the Guggenheim International Award in 1960 and representing Ireland at the XXX Venice Biennale in the same year, Scott became a full-time artist.

Scott twice represented Ireland at the Guggenheim International Exhibition, in 1958 and 1960; during the 1950s, 60s’ and 70s’ he was included in numerous group exhibitions of Irish art in the US, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland, such as The Irish Imagination 1959-71, which travelled from the Municipal Gallery of Modern Ireland to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. His first retrospective exhibition was at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in 1981 which toured to the Ulster Museum, Belfast, and the Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork; he represented Ireland at the Baghdad International Art Festival in 1988; in 2002 a major monographic exhibition took place at Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane. Scott is included in major public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; and in Ireland in the collections of the National Museums Northern Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, The Arts Council and Trinity College Dublin. In 2007 Scott was elected Saoi of Aosdána by President Mary McAleese.

IMMA is delighted to accept the donation of two works from the artist, of a hitherto unknown work, Rosc Diptych, 1967, which has remained in the artist’s studio for the past 47 years and Meditation Painting 28, 2006, both of which are included in the exhibition.

The exhibition is curated by Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator: Head of Collections, IMMA.

A major publication, produced by IMMA, accompanies the exhibition which comprises a lead essay by Mel Gooding and a collection of insights from writers, artists, curators and collectors who were invited to ponder on aspects of Scott’s life and work. They are Mary Ann Bolger, Michael Craig-Martin, Barbara Dawson, Margaret Downes, Christina Kennedy, Roisín Kennedy, Des Lally, Peter Lamb, Padraic Moore, Brian O’Doherty, James O’Nolan, Stephen Pearce, Raymund Ryan, Ronald Tallon and Corban Walker.

A detailed timeline of Patrick Scott’s biography with images from selected archival material has been assembled and digitised and will be accessible online on data screens within the exhibition and through IMMA Collection Online on the IMMA website.

Light Rhythms, an exhibition exploring sound, light and line that is activated by families and young people, made in response to the Patrick Scott exhibition, will open in IMMA’s Project Spaces from 15 February – 6 April 2014. This exhibition is free.

Patrick Scott IMAGE SPACE LIGHT will travel to Glebe Gallery, Churchill, Co. Donegal, 14 July  – 29 August 2014 and Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, 14 July – 27 September 2014.

Talks and Lectures

VISUAL, Carlow, Tuesday 11 February, 5.30pm – 6.30pm
Corban Walker, in conversation with Christina Kennedy, discusses his guest curation of Scott’s work in VISUAL’s Link Space, and the creation of a new installation of his own work in response to the exhibition. Booking is essential, call box office 059-9172400 to book.

IMMA, Saturday 15 February, 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Mel Gooding writer and critic, presents Radiant Negation: A Modern Master. Booking is essential for talks. Free tickets are available at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

A full talks, lectures and events programme will take place at IMMA and VISUAL, full details are available from www.imma.ie/talksandlectures and http://www.visualcarlow.ie/events/category/lectures-talks

To celebrate the exhibition, IMMA has commissioned a limited edition print of Patrick Scott’s design for tapestry, Device 1971 (2013), which is available to purchase for €50.00 in both venues and online at www.theimmashop.com

The exhibition is supported by Irish Rail, Colourtrend and THE IRISH TIMES.

Exhibition dates:
Garden Galleries, IMMA, 16 February – 18 May 2014
VISUAL, Carlow, 16 February – 11 May 2014

Admission:
IMMA: Admission: €5.00 full price, €3.00 concession (senior citizens, unwaged), under 18’s and those in full time education free.
VISUAL: Admission is free.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]

29 January 2014

Media Sponsors:

Pictiúr, an exhibition of work by leading Irish children’s book illustrators, concludes its successful Irish tour when it opens at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on 14 November 2013. Pictiúr is the largest single exhibition of Irish children’s book illustration ever assembled, curated by Laureate na nÓg, Niamh Sharkey, the exhibition features 42 pieces by 21 illustrators, from books written in English and Irish, including illustrators Oliver Jeffers, P.J. Lynch, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick and Steve Simpson. The official launch by Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, takes place at 4.30pm on Wednesday 13 November.

For its showing at IMMA the exhibition will also present a selection of videos exploring the world and practice of many of the illustrators, their sketchbooks, three-dimensional works and family friendly reading pods for those who wish to escape into the world of the illustrators and the featured books. A busy series of events is also planned these include a book clinic where parents and children can meet a Book Doctor who can offer the best advice for young readers; a panel discussion with artists and illustrators on the place of illustration within contemporary art; poetry readings with poets who feature in the O’Brien Press anthology Something Beginning with P; and a Pictiúr Family Day which will open up the wondrous world of literature and visual arts to all the family!

Commenting on the exhibition at IMMA, Laureate na nÓg, Niamh Sharkey said ‘We were thrilled and excited to be concluding our Irish tour at IMMA. This is the home of the best of contemporary art and we are delighted to showcase this wonderful work by some of our leading artists. The exhibition will allow us to demonstrate the range, scope and skill of Irish illustrators, whose work is world class. We are very grateful to the Arts Council and IMMA for their support in making this possible.’

Illustrators included are Lily Bernard, Alan Clarke, Michael Emberley, Tatiana Feeney, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Adrienne Geoghegan, Olivia Golden, Chris Haughton, Paul Howard, Oliver Jeffers, Anita Jeram, Chris Judge, PJ Lynch, Oisin McGann, Mary Murphy, Donough O’Malley, Niamh Sharkey, Steve Simpson, Kevin Waldron, Olwyn Whelan and Andrew Whitson.

IMMA are delighted to be co-curating the final stage of this touring exhibition. Pictiúr toured to Europe earlier this year as part of the Culture Connects International Culture Programme to celebrate Ireland’s Presidency of the European Council. It was seen by more than 25,000 people in four countries. It was also shown in Draíocht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown and the Galway Arts Centre as part of the Baboró Children’s Festival. A film of the European tour can be seen at http://youtu.be/qzL4j6n8tow.

The Irish tour is supported by the Arts Council’s Touring and Dissemination Scheme.

Pictiúr opens at IMMA on 14 November 2013 and continues until 12 January 2014. The exhibition is located in the vaulted area approaching and within the IMMA Café itsa @imma.

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]

5 November 2013

Ends

Editors Notes:

Further information on upcoming Pictiúr events at IMMA:

Family Book Clinic
Saturday 23 November, 12 – 3pm, Lunch Room
Looking for a new series to delve into? Feeling uninspired by your bookshelves at home? Do you need a prescription for an exciting new read? Then pop along to the Book Clinic! Parents and children of all ages are invited to drop in for informal chat with one of Children’s Books Ireland’s friendly panel of Book Doctors, who are ready to offer the best advice for the young readers in your family. There’ll also be impromptu readings and games along the way!

Panel Discussion on the place of illustration within visual art
Thursday 5 December, 6.00pm, Lecture Room
Panel Discussion on the place of illustration within visual art, with artists and illustrators. Speakers include Felicity Clear (artist), P.J. Lynch (illustrator) and others. Booking is essential. Free tickets are available online at www.imma.ie/talksandlecures

Something Beginning with P Poetry Reading
Sunday 15 December, 2pm, Johnston Room
Alan Clarke’s Illustration from Pictiúr, The giraffe who lived in a shoe, is featured in the O’Brien Press anthology, Something Beginning with P, edited by Seamus Cashman. To celebrate Pictiúr at IMMA, some of the poets featured in Something Beginning with P will do a poetry reading.

Pictiúr Family Day
Saturday 11 January, 11.00am-3.00pm, please ask at Gallery Reception for locations
Family Day with Niamh Sharkey and other authors and artists. Join us to enjoy picture books and open up the wondrous world of literature and visual arts.

All family events are free to attend and are drop-in.

     

Press Release   14 October 2013

Successful Reopening Weekend at IMMA  

Record numbers attended the reopening of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, with over 6500 people attending at the weekend. Highlights included the opening of the highly anticipated Eileen Gray exhibition; two days of family friendly events including an exhibition especially designed for children Action all Areas, an installation by artist Rhone Byrne where children built their own dens in IMMA’s courtyard and art making workshops for all ages; a full talks programme by IMMA curators and exhibiting artists, including a discussion on Eileen Gray by curators Cloé Pitiot, Curator, Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Jennifer Goff, Curator, National Museum of Ireland. The weekend came to a close with a hugely popular Tea Dance where young and old took to the dance floor to bring this successful weekend to a close.

Commenting on the reopening weekend, IMMA’s Director, Sarah Glennie said:  “I would like to thank so many people for coming to IMMA from Friday to Sunday to celebrate our reopening and making the weekend one to remember. Audiences of all ages found something to enjoy at IMMA and we look forward to building on this success over the coming months”.

For further information and images (all images available in high resolution) please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected] 

14 October 2013

Ends

Editors Notes:

Action all Areas – Family exhibition continues to this Sunday 20 October 2013

Eileen Gray Architect Designer Painter continues to 19 January 2014