An exhibition which explores the unique relationship between art and cinema opens to the public in the New Galleries at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, Dublin 8, on Saturday 22 June 2013. IMMA invited artists Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Cerith Wyn Evans to exhibit their work and explore concepts of the poetic and imagination that together make up the cinematic experience, thereby investigating the relationships and influence of film. Through a series of conversations, Gonzalez-Foerster and Wyn Evans explored this influence of the cinematic as a theme for the show, and then expanded the exhibition through selected diverse works from filmmakers, writers and artists. The selection of installations, video, film, painting, text and events showcases the long-standing legacy of cinema as a source of inspiration for artists since its formation. The exhibition presents a dialogue with cinema that reveals the rich interplay between the two genres. 

Cloud Illusions I Recall features works that span generations and includes some of the most important artists of recent times – Marcel Broodthaers, James Coleman, Peter Doig, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Lady Clementina Hawarden, Chris Marker, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Andrey Tarkovsky and Cerith Wyn Evans. The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Irish Film Institute and is supported by the French Embassy in Ireland and the Institut Français.

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster explores cinematic conventions, temporality and subjective experience; her short films and installations recreate specific moments in which individuals intersect with places – highlighting the individual traces of cultural and social contexts. Her quiet, intimate interrogation of contemporary urban life spills into her conversations and her selection of art works with Cerith Wyn Evans for the exhibition. Wyn Evans’s work stems from his interest in language and communication. He uses found fragments from literature, philosophy and film that he distils into a distinct aesthetic. His use of repetition and elliptical meaning in his work indicates endless possible readings. This is echoed by his choice of (artistic and literary) quotations replete with both classical and personal implications.

Works included in the exhibition range from film posters painted by Peter Doig for his weekly film club in Trinidad; a video projection, Ligne de Foi, 1991, by James Coleman; Polaroid photographs by film director Andrey Tarkovsky, which were selected by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster for their poetic representation of landscape; photographs presenting an example of early self-cinema by Victorian photographer Lady Clementina Hawarden; and the screening of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s iconic The Red Shoes, 1948. This exhibition has been co-curated by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Cerith Wyn Evans and Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions at IMMA.

Two new works have been specially created for the exhibition, both performed on the opening night Friday 21 June, at 6.30pm a choral performance conceived by Wyn Evans taking Samuel Beckett’s Imagination Dead Imagine, 1965, as its foundation, with annotation by Leo Chadburn and performed by Silver Kites. At 7pm the premiere of a unique performance by Gonzalez-Foerster based on her ongoing work, M.2062, a fragmented opera that started during the Memory Marathon, 2012, at the Serpentine Gallery, London. This performance stands as a moment within a body of work by Gonzalez-Foerster which is centrally concerned with literature and musical adventures in the spirit of Werner Herzog’s epic 1982 film Fitzcarraldo and King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s fascination with Wagner.

Gonzalez-Foerster has also curated a selection of films by Chris Marker which will be screened at the Irish Film Institute starting with Marker’s acclaimed film essay La Jetée, 1962, on Saturday 22 June. The screening will take place following a panel discussion, presented in partnership with the Irish Film Institute. This event opens a Chris Marker Screening Series at IFI and includes a screening of Sans Soleil, 1983, on Sunday 23 June.

Cloud Illusions I Recall, takes its title from Joni Mitchell’s 1969 classic song Both Sides, Now. IMMA’s Head of Exhibitions Rachael Thomas explains “Mitchell’s lyrics contain three main themes: clouds, love and life. She saw all three of these things from both sides, and in her poetic lyrics she recalls the confusion that is a part of every human life. Both Joni Mitchell’s song and the project here at IMMA possibly allude to being both behind and in front of the camera, both artist and art work – a situation made more complex by the spectator’s understanding of this”.

An exclusive limited edition print has been created by artist Peter Doig for the Irish Museum of Modern Art on the occasion of Cloud Illusions I Recall, and is available from the Museum shop. Price €80.00.

A fully-illustrated artists’ book published by IMMA will accompany the exhibition, including texts by Cerith Wyn Evans and Rachael Thomas. Price €12.00.

Talks and Events Progamme
There is an extensive talks and events programme accompanying this exhibition which draws on the cinematic impulses of contemporary artists, addressing the cultural potency of cinema’s social, psychological and dissemination structures in art, film and everyday life.

Discussion + Screening |
Dominque Gonzalez-Foerster on Chris Marker
Saturday 22 June, 1.00pm, Irish Film Institute, Eustace St, Dublin 2
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Rachael Thomas and others discuss the artist’s interest in the influential work of film essayist Chris Marker, and her choice of films for the Chris Marker Screening Series at the IFI. This is followed by the first screening of Marker’s acclaimed film La Jetée, 1962. This event is in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute.

Lecture | Cinema as Art Project
Sunday 7 July, 3.00pm, the North Range, IMMA
Maeve Connolly (writer and Lecturer, IADT) presents a lecture on the cinematic turn in contemporary art practice theorised through reference to a variety of projects. Connolly addresses the attraction of social forms of the cinematic in public art, through reference to exhibition histories and practices associated with the movie theatre and art museum.

Artists Discussion | My Cinematic Impulse
Wednesday 9 July, 5.30pm, the North Range, IMMA
This discussion explores the cinematic impulses of Irish film artists and makers to address a new generation’s nostalgic view of a vanishing medium of the cinema canon. Exploring the complex and ever evolving relationship of art and film, practitioners recall first memories and experiences of film and discuss the gradual absorption of the cinematic language in their own work. Speakers include artists Ronan McCrea, Jaki Irvine, Clare Langan, and curator Cliodhna Shaffrey.

Lecture | Cinema fever in the everyday world
Wednesday 17 July, 5.30pm, the North Range, IMMA
This talk gives a historical perspective on the infectious status and relationship of the still, moving and cinematic image in everyday culture. Examining cinema’s fever as a mass medium for artists to utilise, this talk explores changing modes of film distribution and reception from popular, mass and viral cultures, to recent waves of film clubs and artists’ collectives. Presented by Martin McCabe (Lecturer in Photography, DIT), and Tony Tracy (Lecturer in Film, Huston School of Film and Digital Media, NUI Galway).

Artist Response | Dennis McNulty
Friday 26 July, 1.00pm, New Galleries, IMMA
Artist Dennis McNulty presents a response to the exhibition Cloud Illusions I Recall.

Booking is essential for all talks. For free tickets and a full programme of talks and events visit www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Irish Film Institute and is supported by the French Embassy in Ireland www.ambafrance-ie.org and the Institut Français.

Cloud Illusions I Recall continues to 25 August 2013. Admission is free.

Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm
except Wednesday: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12noon – 5.30pm
Monday: Closed

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

7 June 2013

A haunting film work by leading Derry-born artist Willie Doherty opens to the public in the Annex at the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s temporary off-site exhibition spaces in Earlsfort Terrace on Tuesday 21 May 2013. Secretion, 2012, first shown to critical acclaim at dOCUMENTA 13, draws on the possibilities of lost and forgotten narratives located somewhere between recent history and a near future. Shot on location in and around Kassel, Germany, the powerful narrative at times presents echoes of Doherty’s earlier work Ghost Story, 2007, pulling personal histories and experience to the foreground of the Kassel landscape. This same landscape served as the backdrop for much of the folklore collected by the Brothers Grimm while they lived and worked in Kassel.

Doherty is interested in the relationship between landscape and memory and in working in locations with untold stories; some forgotten, some half remembered. Many of his works involve looking at specific places, as a means of meditating upon the existence of traces of past events that will not disappear, that resurface and cannot be forgotten. Secretion builds on the possibility of suppressed or hidden stories being embedded within contemporary experience and knowledge. His approach and process is speculative. He often takes an existing image, or other information, as a starting point and then proceeds to see what can be discovered or found. At the same time, Doherty’s method is sensitive to the difficulties of working in a contemporary landscape that has been shaped by monumental historical events. To this extent Secretion is informed by his experience of making work that responds to the complexities of the political conflict in Ireland.

Doherty, referring to the film Secretion, has stated; “Obviously, my response cannot be emptied of what I already know or imagine about the German landscape and the traditions of its representation however the intention is not to impose a preconceived reading onto the landscape but to respond to what I might find there.” Secretion is about the present rather than the past. The work attempts to engage with the landscape as it looks today but also as a repository of the memories of past experiences and our apprehension about the future.

Born in Derry in 1959, Willie Doherty began exhibiting internationally in the early 1980s. Nominated twice for the Turner Prize (2003, 1994), his work has been the subject of many solo museum shows. In 2002 IMMA presented, False Memory, the first major solo exhibition of Doherty’s work in Ireland. Other solo exhibitions include, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (2011); The Speed Art Museum, Kentucky (2011); Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto (2009); Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2009); Lenbachhaus, München (2007); Kunstverein, Hamburg (2007); Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City (2006); Renaissance Society, Chicago (1999) and Tate Gallery, Liverpool (1999). Group shows include Manifesta 8 (2010), 3rd Auckland Triennial (2007), Venice Biennale 2007, 2005 and 1993, Reprocessing Reality, MOMA PS.1, New York (2006), Istanbul Biennale (2003) and the Carnegie International (1999). Doherty’s forthcoming exhibition, UNSEEN, will present a survey of photographic and video works as part of Derry-Londonderry City of Culture 2013.

The exhibition is curated by Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA, assisted by Séamus McCormack, Exhibitions, IMMA.
Talks and Events Programme

Artist Talk + Conversation | Willie Doherty
Thursday 20 June, 5.30pm
Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
Willie Doherty presents a talk on the conception and making of his film Secretion. This is followed by a chaired discussion with Declan Long (Lecturer, Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD) exploring how the artist utilises inherent qualities of film to reveal hidden histories and perceptions of a place and site.

Discussion | Turner Prize 2013
In the context of showing Secretion by Willie Doherty, twice nominee for the Turner Prize, this year hosted in Derry (Capital of Culture, 2013); prize judge Declan Long and others discuss the history and cultural context surrounding this coveted art prize, and examine its significance in generating public and media interest in developments in contemporary art. This event is in collaboration with MA Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD.

Booking is essential for talks and lectures. Free tickets are available online at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures.

The exhibition continues until 1 September 2013.

Admission is free.
Opening hours:
Tuesday: 10.00am – 5.30pm
Wednesday: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Thursday: 10.00am – 7.00pm
Friday and Saturday: 10.00am – 5.30pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12noon – 5.30pm
Monday: Closed

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

1 May 2013

The much anticipated reopening of the main building at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in October, coinciding with the opening of five exhibitions including a major retrospective of the work of Eileen Gray, one of the most celebrated and influential designers and architects of the 20th-century; the presentation of two pioneering exhibitions This Situation by the acclaimed British-German artist Tino Sehgal and an exhibition by a new generation of young European artists I knOw yoU; the launch of IMMA’s Collection online and an extensive programme of public talks and events which have been devised to engage with the themes of IMMA’s exhibitons are some of the exciting developments taking place throughout 2013 by the Irish Museum of Modern Art and announced today (Thursday 18 April) by IMMA’s Director Sarah Glennie. The 2013 programme also includes the haunting film work Secretion, 2012, by leading artist Willie Doherty, first shown to critical acclaim at dOCUMENTA 13; an exhibition exploring the relationship between art and cinema, Cloud Illusions I Recall, which includes some of the most important artists of recent times such as Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha, Marcel Broodthaers and Andrei Tarkovsky; and the first major retrospective of Leonora Carrington’s work in Ireland, a significant figure in the Surrealist art movement who exhibited alongside André Breton and Max Ernst.

Speaking at the launch of the programme, Sarah Glennie said: “I am delighted to launch IMMA’s 2013 programme on the occasion of the opening of this our major new exhibition I knOw yoU. IMMA’s programme at our temporary home will continue until September with projects by acclaimed artists Tino Sehgal and Willie Doherty and this extensive show of some of Europe’s most exciting young artists. We are looking forward to welcoming visitors back to our home at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham for the opening on 12 October of our new season of exhibitions which includes a major retrospective of the work of Eileen Gray, one of Ireland’s most important cultural figures, rarely seen work by Leonora Carrington, a group exhibition of young Irish artists and a significant new exhibition drawn from our Collection. We are grateful to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and all our partners for their invaluable support in making this ambitious programme possible. We hope that our audiences will find plenty to enjoy over the coming year.”

IMMA’s first exhibition of 2013, Analysing Cubism, which explores the early decades of Cubism and features the work of such celebrated Cubist artists as Albert Gleizes, Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett continues its successful run in the New Galleries at Kilmainham until 19 May. From April IMMA presents two dynamic exhibitions at its off-site venue, IMMA at NCH, in Earlsfort Terrace – This Situation which offers visitors the first opportunity to experience British-German artist Tino Sehgal’s innovative approach to art, in which he responds to and engages with gallery visitors through the use of conversation, sound and movement; and I knOw yoU an exhibition by a new generation of young European artists, curated by artist Tobias Rehberger; Nikolaus Hirsch, Director of Städelschule, and IMMA’s Head of Exhibitions Rachael Thomas, which examines the idea of cultural capital, what it means to be European, and ideas at the core of the financial heart of Europe.

From 21 May IMMA presents the film work Secretion, 2012, by leading Derry-born artist Willie Doherty in the Annex space at Earlsfort Terrace. Secretion is a new direction for the artist and attempts to engage, not only with the landscape as it looks today, but also as a repository of the memories of past experiences and our apprehension about the future. Cloud Illusions I Recall, which explores the concepts of the poetic and the imagination in cinema, opens in the New Galleries at IMMA, from 22 June. Co-curated by artists Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Cerith Wyn Evans, and IMMA’s Rachael Thomas this exhibition offers a unique and wide-ranging exploration of the relationship between art and cinema. Two special works have been created for the exhibition, a choral performance conceived by Cerith Wyn Evans for the opening night of the exhibition, and the premiere of the unique performance of Lola Montes by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. The first major retrospective of Leonora Carrington’s work in Ireland opens in the New Galleries on 18 September. This iconic exhibition is a timely rediscovery of this Surrealist painter and her role in the Surrealist art movement.

From 12 October the Irish Museum of Modern Art will fully reopen at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham with four new exhibitions alongside the newly opened Leonora Carrington exhibition. IMMA is delighted to reopen its main building with a major retrospective of the work of Eileen Gray. Designed and produced by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in collaboration with IMMA, this exhibition is a tribute to Gray’s outstanding career as one of the leading members of the modern design movement alongside such distinguished figures as Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe. Eileen Gray at IMMA is a significant exhibition featuring many of the works shown at the Centre Pompidou. IMMA is the only other exhibiting venue after its first showing at the Centre Pompidou.

Other exhibitions opening at this time include a group exhibition of young Irish artists, In the Line of Beauty, which examines artists’ quiet fascination with the beauty of objects, and includes artists David Beattie, Oisín Byrne, Rhona Byrne, Aleana Egan, Fiona Hallinan, Sam Keogh, Caoimhe Kilfeather, Ciarán Murphy, Lisa Murphy, Joseph Noonan-Ganley, and Ciarán Walsh. The first solo exhibition in Ireland by Swedish-born artist Klara Lidén features a selection of her Poster Paintings, accompanied by a film work. Drawing on IMMA’s Collection, One Foot in the Real World, includes works that explore the urban environment, the everyday or the domestic. The exhibition addresses themes of transformation; the psychology of space; scale and the body; interior and exterior; or dress as architecture.

Other developments to coincide with the re-opening include the launch of the IMMA Collection Online. All artworks in the IMMA Collection will be listed, a substantial number with images and descriptions. The Collection Online is an on-going project, with further images and uploads to be added as the content become available. There will also be a new area in the Museum aimed at welcoming visitors to the range of work in the Collection. The displays in this area will rotate regularly, with an emphasis on showing works for the first time since their acquisition by IMMA. In an exciting new initiative IMMA has invited the Irish Architecture Foundation to take over a gallery space during the run of the Eileen Gray exhibition, from which they will run a programme that will provide contemporary context to Gray’s work.

Highlights from our Education and Community Programme in 2013 include an extensive programme of public talks and events which have been devised to engage with the themes of IMMA’s exhibitons. Drawing on the concept of knowing, in the context of the exhibiton I knOw yoU, IMMA is hosting a number of seminars, talks and events to consider themes such as the role of the art academy, the public intellectual and the experience of the artist as emigrant. This theme of knowing will also inform a range of thematic workshops and activities for families and children. The What is¬_? Programme will address theoretical perspectives, What is Theory?, in the context of I knOw yoU and the practices presented by
Tino Sehgal in his work This Situation.

New projects and events for children include the exhibition Pictiúr, a partnership with Children’s Book’s Ireland and the Laureate na nÓg Office, featuring the work of 21 children’s book illustrators curated by Laureate na nÓg, Niamh Sharkey.

DECIPHER, a three year, €4.3 million Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP) supported by the European Commission, in which IMMA is a partner, is now in its final year. Storyscope is the prototype software from DECIPHER. Using Storyscope’s workspace and tools, museum professionals and visitors can research, develop, and present stories that connect cultural objects across diverse museum collections. In 2013 Storyscope’s usability and performance will be improved through trials, workshops, showcases, and feedback from museum professionals, consultants, and the public.

During the refurbishment of the main building at IMMA in 2013 the Artists’ Residency Programme is working in association with artists’ studios around Ireland to offer young Irish based artists the opportunity to occupy a studio for four months during the partial closure of IMMA. From October 2012 until June 2013 eight artists were nominated to use four studio spaces at IMMA. This opportunity was realised through an open nomination and selection process in conjunction with national artists’ studios. It was initiated to continue providing resources to emerging artists already resident in Ireland during the closure of the main building at IMMA.

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

18 April 2013

A dynamic exhibition, by a new generation of 40 young European artists, examining the idea of cultural capital, what it means to be European, and ideas at the core of the financial heart of Europe, opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s temporary off-site exhibition spaces in Earlsfort Terrace on Friday 19 April 2013. I knOw yoU takes a fresh look at contemporary art in Europe as a reflection of the exchange and openness that exists between artists working today. The exhibition represents the exciting diversity of approach in current contemporary art practice. I knOw yoU is curated by artist, Tobias Rehberger; Nikolaus Hirsch, Director of Städelschule and Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator, Head of Exhibitions, IMMA.

I knOw yoU focuses on the central points of Europe and harnesses its context to address European notions and questions of power and that of economic dominance within the banking industry as a prominent debate in contemporary society. The exhibition seeks to further expand this debate by examining concepts of symbolic and cultural capital alongside the role of art and creative innovation, its particular questions on the production of meaning and value. The current discourse of capital in Europe is overwhelmingly dominated by the discourse of economic power and structure. The particular symbol for this, especially within the media, is the Euro and the European Central Bank, located in Frankfurt. I knOw yoU aims at an alternative model of capital that explores a new set of relations between knowing and owing.

The artists in I knOw yoU have been selected from graduates of the Städelschule academy in Frankfurt am Main, and reflect the ambitious undertaking made by the school in its development as a leading centre for experimental art practice. The exhibition has an open curatorial approach that allows each artist to nominate another practitioner of their choosing. Uniquely, this can be from any discipline they connect with (ie. a poet, philosopher, musician, scientist, chef, gardener, artist etc.), either on a collaborative or stand-alone basis, thereby extending the connection point for each artists work. The invitation to this core group of artists to nominate another practitioner encompasses the school and the city as a prism through which international debate can be explored. Artists in the exhibition include Simon Denny, Simon Fujiwara, Jeppe Hein, Jay & Q, Sergej Jensen, Maria Loboda, Michaela Meise, Tris Vonna-Michell, Nora Schultz, Danh Vo Haegue Yang and Thomas Zipp.

Full list of contributors:
Harold Ancart
Ei Arakawa
Michael Beutler
Michael Callies
Pattara Chanruechachai
Simon Denny
Daniel Dewar
Elstir
Vincenzo Estremo
Jana Euler
Simon Fujiwara
Timothy Furey
Tue Greenfort
Jeppe Hein
Aurel Iselstöger
Jay & Q
Sergej Jensen
Maria Loboda
Denise Mawila
Michaela Meise
Tris Vonna-Michell
Simon Dybbroe Møller
Stefan Müller
Henrik Olesen
Pennacchio Argentato
Kirsten Pieroth
Att Poomtangon
Pratchaya Phinthong
Queen Victoria
Maria von Hausswolff
Mark von Schlegell
Claus Rasmussen
Michael Riedel
Tomás Saraceno
Bernhard Schreiner
Nora Schultz
Sean Snyder
Marcus Steinweg
Woody Tasch
The World
Alexander Tovborg
Jelena Trivic
Torben Ulrich
Danh Vo 
Jeronimo Voss
Holger Wüst
Haegue Yang
Thomas Zipp

I knOw yoU | Talks and Events Programme
IMMA will present a range of talks and events in the context of the I knOw yoU exhibition which further explore the themes of the exhibition; our relationship to the EU, knowing and the role of knowledge in contemporary society and the contemporary artists’ relationship to our national and European identity.

Round Table Discussion with Curators | I knOw yoU
Thursday 18 April, 5.30 – 6.15pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
Exhibition Curators Tobias Rehberger, Nikolaus Hirsch, and Rachael Thomas, will discuss the curatorial and conceptual framework for I knOw yoU.

Seminar |The Art Academy and Knowing
Friday 19 April, 1.00 – 4.30pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
A seminar to explore the role of the art academy and its relationship to knowing from a range of perspectives, including philosophy, psychoanalysis and art theory and practice. This features a keynote presentation by Nikolaus Hirsch. Other speakers include Mick Wilson (Head of Valand Academy, Sweden), Francis Halsall (Lecturer, Co-ordinator MA Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD), Sinead Hogan, Lecturer, IADT; Cathy Haynes, curator and co-founder, The School of Life, London; Ian Miller, psychologist and psychoanalyst; and others.

Lunchtime Talks | Lesson from the Art School
Friday 7/ 14 June, 1.15pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
Artists’ reflections on what they know from their experience in art school.

The Arts and the Public Intellectual in a time of crisis
Thursday 4/ 11/18 July, 5.30pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
A series of talks and discussions about the role of the arts and the public intellectual in a time of social, economic and political crisis. This features a keynote presentation by Mary Corcoran (Professor of Sociology, NUI Maynooth (and co-editor of Reflections on Crisis: The Role of the Public Intellectual, 2012).

Panel Discussion | Artist as Emigrant or Nomad?
Friday 10 May, 4.00pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
A round table discussion exploring the experience of emigration from the perspectives of Irish artists living abroad. This discussion leads into VISIT 2013 (12/13 May), a weekend of artists’ open studios across Dublin. For further details see www.visitstudios.com

10 x 10 | Talk Marathon
What does it mean to be Irish in Europe Today?
Friday 18 May, 5.30 – 8.00pm, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
Ten cultural practitioners/brokers/thinkers are invited to present 10 minute manifestos on their views on what it means to be Irish in Europe today.

WHAT IS_?  PROGRAMME
What is Participatory and Collaborative Art?
Saturday 27 April, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH
Talk 12.00 – 1.00pm | Presenter Brian Hand (artist and lecturer, Carlow IT) discusses the theory and practice of  collaborative art in the context of exhibitions Tino Sehgal: This Situation, 2007 and I KnOw YoU. This is followed by a panel discussion.
Panel Discussion 2.00-3.00pm | Panelists include Chairperson Patrick Fox (Director of Create, Ireland), Tim Stott (Lecturer in Art History and Theory, DIT), Culturstruction (artists, Tara Kennedy and Jo Anne Butler) and others.

What is _? Marxism and Critical Theory?  MA Art in the Contemporary World (NCAD) and IMMA
A new series focusing on theoretical perspectives, What is Theory? is being developed in collaboration with MA Art in the Contemporary World (NCAD). The talk will be followed by a screening of Intelligence Squared’s debate Karl Marx was Right and a panel discussion to consider the renewed interest in Marxist theory and its manifestations and relevance for contemporary art theory and practice.
 
Saturday 25 May, Lecture Room, IMMA @ NCH                                         
Talk 11:30am – 12:30pm | Presenters: Declan Long and Francis Halsall, ACW, NCAD
Screening 1.00 – 2.30pm | Karl Marx was Right – debate from Intelligence Squared
Panel Discussion 2:30 – 4.00pm

Booking is essential for all talks. For free tickets and a full programme of talks and events visit www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

Publication
An innovative artist led publication, published by onestar press, Paris accompanies the exhibition.

I knOw yoU is part of the programme of visual arts events celebrating Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union and has received dedicated financial support from the Department for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Dublin and is supported by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, The French Embassy, The Embassy of the Republic of Poland, The Embassy of Denmark, The Embassy of Belgium and The British Embassy.

I knOw yoU continues until 1 September 2013.

Admission is free.

Opening hours:
Tuesday: 10.00am – 5.30pm
Wednesday: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Thursday: 10.00am – 7.00pm
Friday and Saturday: 10.00am – 5.30pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12noon – 5.30pm
Monday: Closed

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

3 April 2013

 

A pioneering work by the British-German artist Tino Sehgal made up entirely of live encounters between people opens to the public on the second floor of the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s temporary exhibition space in Earlsfort Terrace on Friday 12 April 2013. This Situation offers Irish gallery-goers the first opportunity to experience Sehgal’s approach to art, in which he responds to and engages with gallery visitors through the use of conversation, sound and movement. His recent project in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall was described by The Observer’s art critic, Laura Cumming as a potentially life-changing experience for visitors, enabling people to learn about other people and themselves, and by The Guardian’s Adrian Searle as the defining art work of the year. This Situation has toured globally with the support of the Goethe-Institut and is a unique unmissable experience.

In this most recent version of This Situation at IMMA, the gallery is occupied by a group of six ‘participants’ or ‘interpreters’ whose choreographed actions  generate a discussion of cultural, economic and philosophical issues. As with previous manifestations of This Situation, the work comprises of both local and international ‘participants’ who have been carefully selected by the artist.

Sehgal studied both political economics and choreography, working in dance before focusing on his ‘constructed situations’. Revealed only as experiences in the time and space they occupy, his works exist for those who encounter them and in their memories, but not as physical objects. Sehgal’s practice explores social processes, cultural conventions and the allocation of roles, reconsidering fundamental values of our social system while questioning definitions of materiality, authenticity and ownership. Sehgal does not photograph or record his work perhaps suggesting that the memories of the participants and the visitors engaging with the work are given the responsibility for remembering and interpreting the experience.

Tino Sehgal was born in London in 1976 and currently lives and works in Berlin. He represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize 2006 and the Preis der Nationalgalerie für Junge Kunst 2007. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Villa Reale, Milan; ICA, London; as well as showing in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and Documenta 13 Art Festival, Kassel, Germany in 2012.

This Situation is curated by Rachael Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, IMMA, and co-curated by Georgie Thompson, Assistant Curator: Exhibitions, IMMA and produced by Louise Hojer.

Presented with the support of the National Concert Hall.

Supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland. 
 
This Situation continues until 19 May 2013. Admission is free.

Opening Hours: Tuesday: 10am – 5.30pm, Wednesday: 10.30am – 5.30pm, Thursday: 10am – 7pm, Friday and Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm, Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12noon – 5.30pm, Monday: Closed.

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

19 March 2013

474: mise-en-scène, an exhibition resulting from a collaborative project between the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and IMMA’s National Programme, opens to the public at the Drawing Project Gallery, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin on Friday 8 March 2013. The official opening of the exhibition takes place on Thursday 7 March at 6.00pm at the Drawing Project Gallery.

As a component of their seminar studies module at IADT, graduating students of the BA (Hons.) in Visual Arts Practice co-curated this exhibition of works from the IMMA Collection in response to the theme ‘mise-en-scène’. The project focused on the behind the scenes work of the Museum Collections Department exploring the various aspects of caring for a Collection, including conservation, storage, technical and installation considerations.  474: mise-en-scène consisted of an extensive programme of talks and workshops with IMMA Curatorial, Mediator and Technical staff. 

Artists included in the exhibition are Stephen Antonakos, Robert Ballagh, Christo, Michael Craig-Martin, Marcel Duchamp, David Godbold, John Kindness, Sol LeWitt, Paula Rego, Richard Wilson and Paul Winstanley. Through their curation and installation decisions, the students investigated how bringing these works together might create a critical conversation on the selection, staging and behind-the-scenes aspects of creating an exhibition.

A selection of student’s own work is also being shown as part of the exhibition.

474: mise-en-scène continues until 13 March 2013. Admission is free.
 
Opening hours:
Monday –Saturday: 11.00am – 8.00pm
Sunday: 12noon – 6.00pm
The Drawing Project is located in DunLaoghaire town centre; it can be reached easily by public transport and is located directly across the road from both DunLaoghaire DART station and the 46a Bus terminal. See http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Drawing-Project

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

26 February 2013

An exhibition exploring the diversity of contemporary Irish art practice through the work of 20 artists opens to the public at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, on Thursday 28 February 2013 as a key event in the culture programme on the occasion of Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union supported by Culture Ireland. The exhibition also presents archive material, photographs, and unfinished paintings from Francis Bacon’s Studio.

Changing States: Contemporary Irish Art & Francis Bacon’s Studio draws on the impressive collections of Ireland’s two leading institutions for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. This ambitious exhibition brings together the work of 20 contemporary Irish artists who have made significant contributions to art practice since 2000 and a fascinating exhibition of materials and unfinished paintings from the studio of Francis Bacon, one of the most important artists of our time.
Changing States presents works ranging across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video-art and new media. Featured artists include Orla Barry, Gerard Byrne, Nina Canell, Dorothy Cross, Willie Doherty, Fergus Feehily, John Gerrard, Patrick Graham, Katie Holten, Brian Maguire, Alice Maher, Martin & Hobbs, Niamh McCann, William McKeown, Richard Mosse, Gavin Murphy, Alan Phelan, Garrett Phelan, Eva Rothschild and Paul Seawright.

The exhibition also presents Francis Bacon’s Studio, offering a fascinating insight into the creative process and working methods of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. Francis Bacon’s Studio was faithfully relocated to the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and opened to the public in 2001.

Contemporary Irish Art

Changing States serves to underscore the vitality and diversity of visual art in Ireland today. From multiple viewpoints, they examine the forces beneath the layered complexities of their political, social, economic and cultural territories, demonstrating a capacity to converse creatively with the present, responding to the distinct forces at work in their cultures. In an increasingly globalised society, their art questions ideology and tests alternatives, by addressing selfhood and collectivity.

The contemporary exhibition features expressive paintings by Brian Maguire and the large-scale colour photographs of Richard Mosse and Paul Seawright that share concerns with geopolitics and the experience of conflict. Works variously informed by social and political questioning, countercultural histories, the deconstruction of media and art history images include sculpture by Eva Rothschild and installations by Alan Phelan and Garrett Phelan for whom political and ecological activism is central.

The poetic and transformative possibilities existing in everyday life is invoked by artists Dorothy Cross, Nina Canell, Alice Maher, Niamh McCann, William McKeown, Katie Holten, Fergus Feehily and others. The exhibition features a number of film-based works by artists such as Willie Doherty who explores the complexities of place, identity and memory and John Gerrard who creates hyper-real studies of environments with unnerving banality. How images are constructed, transmitted and mediated is examined in Gerard Byrne’s large-scale film and photography installations.

Despite the diverse nature of the 20 artists’ work, reflecting a great variety of concerns, ideas and media, they have in common an attempt to construct compelling aesthetic universes, to convey their own intensity of experience and perception of the world.

On the night of the exhibition launch, Wednesday 27 February 2013 at 6.00pm, artist Orla Barry, winner of the BOZAR prize in the Young Belgian Painters Award in 2003, will present her live performance Mountain in the BOZAR galleries. This performance was premiered in October 2012 at the Playground Festival at STUK(Leuven) and continues to London and Amsterdam. Following the performance the set will be reconfigured as a sound installation for the exhibition featuring elements from the set combined with a specially designed sound work.

Francis Bacon Studio

Born in Dublin of English parents, Francis Bacon left Ireland in 1925, at the age of 16. Although he lived and worked in London, Francis Bacon’s early life in Ireland informed his sensibility and psyche which contributed to his waging war on the figure, resulting in an extraordinary new visual language. It embodies a fearless introspection into the nature of existence, a despair of the world countered by a ‘desperate optimism’.

In 1998 Francis Bacon’s studio in London, where he worked and lived until his death in 1992, was presented by John Edwards to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane where it was painstakingly relocated along with the 7,500 studio items and opened to the public four years later. The relocation of the studio by the Hugh Lane is recognized as a ground-breaking initiative in conservation, archival and curatorial practice. Photographs by Perry Ogden of Bacon’s studio and living spaces provide the last view of the studio before the Hugh Lane team removed it to Dublin.

The studio provides a unique portrait of Francis Bacon, his thought processes and working methods. Studio items such as the manipulation of photographs including those of John Deakin, Peter Stark and Peter Beard; reproductions of Muybridge’s pioneering studies of the human figure and animals in motion; images torn from books, magazines and newspapers of skin diseases, war atrocities, boxers, wildlife, art, lovers and friends all of which are of intense interest and relevance in the field of contemporary art practice. The archival systems and methodologies created by the Hugh Lane for Bacon’s archive prompt questions as to management of meaning and the role of the archive as a means of inquiry in contemporary art.

Changing States is supported by Culture Ireland as part of the International Culture Programme to celebrate Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013.

A fully-illustrated catalogue, with essays by Barbara Dawson, Director, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Margarita Cappock, Head of Collections, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Luke Gibbons, Professor of Irish Literary and Cultural Studies, National University of Ireland, Charles Esche, Director, Van Abbemusuem, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, Annie Fletcher, Curator, Van Abbemusuem, Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Christina Kennedy, Head of Collections, Irish Museum of Modern Art, accompanies the exhibition. Price €24.50.

Changing States is curated by Michael Dempsey, Head of Exhibitions, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and Christina Kennedy (Contemporary Irish Art) and Barbara Dawson and Margarita Cappock (Francis Bacon Studio).

Changing States continues until 19 May 2013.

Visitor Information:

Address:
BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts
Rue Ravensteinstraat 23
1000 Brussels

Dates:
28 February – 19 May 2013

Opening hours:
Tuesdays – Sundays: 10.00am – 6.00pm
Thursday: 10.00am – 9.00pm

Tickets:
€ 6.00: Changing States
€ 18.00: Changing States + Antoine Watteau + Neo Rauch

BOZAR Information and tickets:
Tel: +32 2 507 82 00
Email: [email protected]
Web:  www.bozar.be

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

6 February 2013

An exhibition exploring the early decades of Cubism and featuring the work of such celebrated Cubist artists as Albert Gleizes, Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett, opens to the public in the New Galleries at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham, Dublin, on Wednesday 20 February 2013. Analysing Cubism focuses especially on the Continental milieu in which Hone, Jellett and other Irish artists worked in the 1920s and ‘30s, learning from and contributing to the development of European Modernism. The exhibition will be opened by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, TD, at 6.30pm on Tuesday 19 February. The exhibition is a partnership between the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, and IMMA and includes major loans from the National Gallery of Ireland, and is presented within the context of the Sharing Services initiative being promoted by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The exhibition is a collaboration with the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge, Co Down. The exhibition is part of the programme of visual arts events celebrating Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union and is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the French Embassy in Ireland and The Irish Times.

Analysing Cubism takes its title from the early years of the movement, sometimes referred to as ‘Analytical Cubism’. However, the exhibition extends its scope to the end of the Second World War, a watershed in modern art when the focus shifted from Paris to New York. It  looks at the work of a number of pioneering Irish artists who travelled to France and further afield to study modern art. The exhibition seeks to place these artists in context, examining the influence of their teachers, as well as exploring the work of some of the leading international exponents of Cubism.
The exhibition focuses on the Irish artists May Guinness, Jack Hanlon, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness and Mary Swanzy, and on their English counterparts Paul Egestorff and Elizabeth Rivers. It also includes work by European painters such as Georges Braque, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Henri Hayden, André Lhote and Pablo Picasso. The largest concentration of work in the exhibition is by Gleizes, Hone, Lhote and Jellett – in recognition of the extensive influence that these artists had on modern Irish abstract painting.

The influence of André Lhote is evident through his many pupils; these included May Guinness, Jack Hanlon, Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness and Elizabeth Rivers. These artists travelled to Paris, seeking to discover abstraction and new forms of expression, each artist interpreting these influences in their own unique style. Mainie Jellett, was perhaps the most influential of her generation, through her own painting, her founding of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and her work as a teacher, promoting Modernism in a country firmly committed to the academic tradition of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Evie Hone was Jellett’s dearest friend and intellectual partner, and the two travelled extensively in each other’s company. Mary Swanzy, like Jellett and Hone was first trained in Paris, but also travelled to Italy and later to Samoa in the South Seas – following in the footsteps of Paul Gauguin, where the colours and forms of the tropics dominated her practice.

Analysing Cubism was first proposed by Peter Murray, Director of the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, commenting on the exhibition he said: “Analysing Cubism provides an opportunity to revisit a period in the first half of the twentieth century when Irish artists studied and worked on the Continent, learning, but also contributing to the development of European Modernism. The exhibition is significant on many levels. Not only does it make a contribution to the growing appreciation of the Modern Movement in 20th century Irish art, it also raises questions relevant to today’s art world, regarding the relationship of centre and periphery, and of the sometimes under acknowledged contribution made by young creative talents to the development of the art of their time.”

The exhibition has been planned and developed within the context of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht’s Shared Services initiative, an innovation that will bring the Crawford Art Gallery Cork, the National Gallery of Ireland and IMMA into closer co-operation in the coming years. The exhibition is curated by Seán Kissane, Curator of Exhibitions at IMMA and Dr Riann Coulter, art historian and Curator of the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio. Anne Boddaert at the Crawford Art Gallery and Seán Kissane have organised the exhibition and are co-editors of the exhibition catalogue.

The exhibition will travel to the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, from 20 June to 1 September and to the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Banbridge, Co Down, from 13 September to 30 November. 

A fully-illustrated catalogue, published by IMMA, accompanies the exhibition, with texts by Peter Brooke, painter and author of Albert Gleizes, For and Against the Twentieth Century, published by Yale University Press; Dr Riann Coulter, art historian and Curator of the F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio; Dickon Hall, author of books on Nevill Johnson and Colin Middleton; Dr Roisin Kennedy, lecture Art History Department, University College Dublin; and curator of the exhibition Seán Kissane. The catalogue is available to purchase from the IMMA bookshop or online at www.theimmashop.com Price €20.00.

As part of the talks and lectures programme IMMA will host a seminar, Analysing Cubism – From Past to Present, to coincide with the exhibition preview and launch on Tuesday 19 February at 2.30pm to 6.30pm in the North Range of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. This seminar investigates early forms of European Cubism, outlining the various directions taken by Irish artists Mainie Jellet, Evie Hone and Mary Swanzy. This seminar intends to revisit the life, work and legacy of these artists, examine their creative relationship to Paris and Ireland, and explore the significant role these artists played in the history and development of Irish Modernism both nationally and abroad.

Critics, writers, artists, curators and art historians are invited to offer a range of views on the subject. Speakers include, Peter Brooke, Julian Campbell (author and art historian), Dr Riann Coulter, Dickon Hall, Dr Roisin Kennedy, Seán Kissane, Peter Murray and Grace Weir (artist). This seminar is followed by a wine reception and the exhibition preview of Analyzing Cubism in IMMA’s New Galleries at 6.30pm.

There will also be two Gallery Talks.  On Wednesday 13 March at 4.00pm Seán Kissane will present a gallery-walk through of the exhibition, through selected paintings he will explores the various themes and cultural links which connect the life and work of Ireland’s most celebrated 20th-century artists Mainie Jellet, Evie Hone and Mary Swanzy. On Saturday 18 May at 1.00pm, Dr Riann Coulter will discuss key influences on the work of pioneering artist Mainie Jellett.

Admission is free to all talks and lectures but booking online is essential at www.imma.ie/talksandlectures

Analysing Cubism continues until 19 May 2013. Admission is free.

Analysing Cubism is presented as part of the programme of visual arts events celebrating Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union and is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The exhibition is presented with the support of the French Embassy in Ireland and The Irish Times.

Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm
except Wednesday: 10.30am – 5.30pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays: 12noon – 5.30pm
Monday: Closed

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

4 February 2013

Supported by:

With the support of the French Embassy in Ireland www.ambafrance-ie.org

Media Sponsors:

In partnership with:

The significant programme of works to upgrade the fire and safety systems in the main building at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which has been underway throughout 2012, will now not be completed until 2013. Because of this and the need for additional works relating to the installation of an art lift, which are subject to planning permission, it has been decided to defer the reopening of the main building until all major construction works are complete. This will also ensure that a possible second period of closure, and associated disruption for the Museum and its visitors, will be avoided.  Accordingly, the main building at IMMA will now reopen in autumn 2013.

In the meantime, exhibitions will continue in the New Galleries at Kilmainham and in the exhibition spaces at the National Concert Hall site in Earlsfort Terrace. Indeed, IMMA’s visitors would appear to have become quite accustomed to this temporary, dual-location model, with up to 200 people visiting both the Alice Maher exhibition (at Earlsfort Terrace until 17 February 2013) and the Sidney Nolan exhibition (at the New Galleries until 27 January 2013) each day. The Museum is continuing to present its full range of children’s, young people’s, adult and education programmes in both locations; as well as an extended talks and lectures programme.

In addition to the exhibitions in the New Galleries, the café and bookshop in Kilmainham will remain open to visitors as will the grounds at IMMA, with four different art trails available to visitors. The Artists’ Residency Programme is operating on a limited basis and will resume fully following the reopening of the main building.

IMMA’s National Programme continues at the newly-opened Luan Gallery in Athlone, Co Westmeath, with an inaugural exhibition drawn from the Museum’s Collection running until 24 February 2013.

The Museum is very grateful to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, TD, and the officials in his Department, for making the spaces in Earlsfort Terrace available; to the OPW, who are responsible for the upkeep of the buildings at IMMA, and to the Chairman, Board, Director and staff of the National Concert Hall for their generous cooperation.

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

19 December 2012

Borrowed Memories is the inaugural exhibition at the new contemporary art gallery in Athlone, Co Westmeath. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD, will officially open the Luan Gallery at 2.30pm on Thursday 29 November 2012 with an exhibition of works from the Collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of IMMA’s National Programme.

In its previous incarnations the building which now houses the Luan Gallery has been many things to many people and to the town of Athlone – a library, concert hall, cinema and town hall to name but a few. Commenting on the exhibition Miriam Mulrennan, Manager, the Luan Gallery said: “Rich and colourful memories are associated with the building. Respect for people’s connection to the building formed a centre point in curating Borrowed Memories.” Designed by Keith Williams Architects, the Luan Gallery is first new visual art gallery to be opened in the country in over three years. The name ‘Luan’ derives from the Irish for Athlone, ‘Baile Áth Luain’ and was proposed as part of a public competition organised to name the new gallery.

Where Do Broken Hearts Go, 2000, by Longford-born Bristol-based artist Daphne Wright became the lynch pin for the idea of memories and the combination of shadow and light that are our own memories and those of others. Layering plays an important part in Wright’s work and here we see, not only the physical layering of the foil strips to create the giant foil cacti, but also the layering of the different elements which come together to make the entire installation – the folded strips of household tinfoil, the Country and Western lyrics and the intaglio prints made from found photographs by an anonymous photographer.

Westmeath-native Patrick Graham’s Ark of Dreaming, 1990, explores both colour and gesture. Words combined with vestiges of figurative imagery, and layers of heavily worked and reworked paint are applied to the canvas which has been ruthlessly split open and crudely stitched together in a diptych suggestive of an alterpiece.

The work of Irish artist Shane Cullen created from the smuggled messages of the 1981 Maze hunger strikers presents itself to the audience as a forceful narrative of a dark time in our history which demands reflection. Fragmens Sur Les Institutions Républicaines IV, 1993 – 1997 was made over a period of four years and consists of 96 large styrofoam panels, each carrying transcriptions of the secret messages smuggled out of the H-Blocks in the Maze Prison. The subject matter is controversial but presented in a highly disciplined manner that references historical monuments. Each painted word mimics official government documents.

The location of the Luan Gallery, in the centre of Ireland, on the banks of the River Shannon is reflected in the work of American artist Ann Hamilton. Filament II, 1996 comprises a silk organza curtain, which has been distressed by the artist, hanging from a circular rail. It is a sculpture with blurred boundaries and changeable volume and form, at once a public and private space. The curtain envelopes you but is transparent, so a shadowy figure is still visible to others standing outside. The presence or absence of people changes perceptions and experience of the work and in this regard it is interactive and participatory.

Works such as Blue Crucifixion, 2003, by Manchester-born, Irish-based artist Hughie O’Donoghue and Dublin-based photographer Amelia Stein’s Memory and Loss, 2002, series of photographs are also shown. Other works shown in the exhibition include Dublin-based artist Amanda Coogan’s photograph Medea, 2001, and Northern Irish photographer Hannah Starkey’s Untitled, August, 1999.

Borrowed Memories is the result of collaboration between the Luan Gallery and IMMA’s National Programme. The National Programme is designed to promote the widest possible involvement with the Museum’s Collection and programmes, through creating access opportunities to the visual arts in a variety of situations and locations in Ireland. IMMA’s Collection is the focal point for each project. The National Programme is also committed to working with venues normally outside the scope of the contemporary art world. This core principle involves a process of encouraging people to view and enjoy ownership of their national collection, as held by IMMA, in their own locality and on their own terms.

Borrowed Memories continues until 24 February 2013. Admission is free.

Luan Gallery
Custume Place
Athlone, Co West Meath
Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 11.00am – 5.00pm
Sunday: 12noon – 5.00pm
Phone: 09064 42154
Email: [email protected]
Web:  www.athloneartandheritage.ie

For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy, IMMA at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected]
or
Louise Cassidy, The Marketing Department, Athlone at Tel: +353 86 383 5727, Email [email protected]

21 November 2012