Ten years since its inception, L’Internationale Online launches its new research and publishing platform at internationaleonline.org. The platform includes over 200 long reads, opinion pieces and artist contributions on urgent cultural and political debates from some of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners, all available in PDF in reader formats. Over forty publications, produced by the confederation are available for free download.
IMMA is a proud member of L’Internationale, a European confederation of museums, art organisations and universities. Founded in 2009, L’Internationale works across programming (exhibitions, seminars, schools, residencies, public programmes) research and publishing, and communication. L’Internationale Online was initiated a decade ago and serves as the shared platform for the confederation. Its new version has been developed under the editorship of Nick Aikens, who assumed the role of the Managing Editor and Research Responsible in August 2023 as part of the four year, EU funded project ’Museum of the Commons’.
Nick Aikens explains: L’Internationale has grown considerably in 2023, currently comprising 11 partners, 3 academic partners and 3 associate partners. The focus on content-led collaboration and working for the commons makes the new L’Internationale Online platform a vital resource for the network and our diverse constituents. The new platform will be a generative tool for students, researchers and the wider arts community at a time when we desperately need imaginative, critical thinking to shape more fair, just worlds.
Internationaleonline.org includes contributions, reading recommendations, free ebooks, editorials, statements, essaysand articles by researchers affiliated to the institutions, think tanks or universities that make up L’Internationale alongside invited scholars and practitioners. The index allows you to search for material by title, author or thematic thread, including the three content strands within the Museum of the Commons project: climate, situated organisations and past in the present. All content on the platform is free and without advertising. Content is commissioned in the contributor’s original language and translated into English.
The project was led by Nick Aikens with Anna Granqvist and Tove Posselt. It was designed by Anja Groten, interaction and development was by Joel Galvez, website accessibility and ecology by Karl Moubarak. The Digital Ecology Institute served as Ecology Consultant. Content for the platform is decided through the L’Internationale Online Editorial Board.
L’Internationale is a European confederation of museums, arts organisations and universities, founded in 2009. It takes its name from the 19th century worker’s anthem written by Eugène Pottier. The confederation advocates a new internationalist model that challenges exclusivity and emphasises common heritage through interconnected archives and constituent-led approaches, fostering individual and collective emancipation. In its current configuration L’Internationale brings together eight major European art institutions: HKW (Berlin, Germany); MSU (Zagreb, Croatia); Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain); MACBA (Barcelona, Spain); M HKA, (Antwerp, Belgium); MSN (Warsaw, Poland), Salt (Istanbul, Turkiye), Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, the Netherlands), with Institute of Radical Imagination (Naples,Italy), tranzit.ro (Bucharest, Cluj and Iasi, Romania), and VCRC (Kyiv, Ukraine). L’Internationale has three academic partners: HDK-Valand (Gothenburg, Sweden), NCAD (Dublin, Ireland) and ZRC SAZU (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and three associate organisations IMMA (Dublin, Ireland), MG+MSUM (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and WIELS (Forest, Belgium).
L’Internationale is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This platform reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Hamad Butt ‘Familiars Part 3, Cradle’ 1992 Chlorine, glass, steel wire. Display dimensions variable. Tate. Presented by Jamal Butt 2015
IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, today (15 February 2024) announced highlights of its 2024 programme, featuring a retrospective exhibition of the work of pioneering modernist sculptor Hilary Heron; an immersive video installation by melanie bonajo presented in IMMA’s stunning 17th-century Baroque Chapel; and for the first time outside of the UK the showing of the work of ground-breaking artist Hamad Butt. A major group exhibition, Take a Breath, that provides an historical, social, political, and personal examination of breathing; why we breathe, how we breathe and what we breathe, includes live performances by Okwui Okpokwasili, Maria Hasabi and Camille Norment.
Other highlights include the presentation of We realised the power of it, an exhibition-project dealing with the history and archive of the radical film collective, Derry Film and Video Workshop; an exhibition of modernist and contemporary photographers derived from the David Kronn Collection; and the return of the popular Summer at IMMA programme and IMMA’s Eco Festival, EARTH RISING. IMMA is also excited to announce the opening of a new community space in partnership with Matheson created by Studio Makkink & Bey, and the roll out of a new IMMA MEMBERS programme with a series of bespoke events and happenings.
Continuing in 2024 is the momentous Museum wide exhibition Self-Determination: A Global Perspective,one of the largest exhibitions in the Museum’s history. The culmination of a three-year research project, this exhibition focuses on the nation-states that emerged in the wake of the First World War, exploring the role of art and artists in relation to the expression of national identities, nation-building, and statecraft. Opening today, two new works commissioned by IMMA are presented as part of the exhibition – Turkish artist İzÖztat site-specific installation, Rest, and a new multi-narrative environment, An Dún, by Belfast based Array Collective.
Opening in March, We realised the power of it, is an exhibition-project by Sara Greavu and Ciara Phillips that deals with the history and archive of the radical film collective, Derry Film and Video Workshop. This installation of archive material includes footage, photographs and documents that trace a history of the workshop, exploring concerns with gender, class, collective organising, the Irish ‘national question’ and the legacies of imperialism. Originally co-commissioned with EVA International, as part of the Guest Programme of the 39th EVA International.
In May, Hilary Heron: A Retrospective, celebrates the pioneering work of modernist Irish sculptor Hilary Heron (1923 – 1977). As the first major retrospective exhibition of Heron’s work since 1964, this exhibition will seek to correct the ways that her work has been overlooked in Irish and international histories of modern sculpture. Heron was a master welder, a practice highly unusual for an Irish artist, let alone a woman in the 1950s. Her work tactfully and skilfully broaches themes of gender, relationships, deep histories and religion through impressive, varied mediums including stone, lead, steel and wood.
IMMA’s summer season opens with Take a Breath, a major new exhibition that tracks the impact of air pollution from industrialisation to modern-day wars and how that effects our environment, our health and how we live. The act of breathing is central to existence, we inhale and exhale unconsciously, it gives voice through language and speech. The exhibition will explore the suppression of protests of voices from different communities, breath as a symbol of distinct voices, community, and resistance. Moving to the personal, the use of breath as meditation to move from the external to the internal, to consciously influence your breathing in daily life and focus on the present. Take a Breath features the work of Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Alex Cecchetti, Ammar Bouras, Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, Hajra Waheed, Ana Mendieta, Isabel Nolan, among many others. The exhibition will explore breath through movement and sound with performances by Okwui Okpokwasili, Maria Hasabi and Camille Norment.
Opening in July,When the body says Yes, is an immersive video installation by melanie bonajo (they/them), a queer non-binary Dutch artist, filmmaker, sexological bodyworker and somatic sex coach and educator. The installation, originally commissioned by the Mondriaan Fund for the Biennale Arte 2022, is part of the artist’s ongoing research into the current status of intimacy in our increasingly alienating, commodity-driven world. For bonajo, touch can be a powerful remedy for the modern epidemic of loneliness.
Throughout the Summer months Summer at IMMA will present a vibrant programme of artist performances, workshops, talks, and IMMA’s popular Music in the Courtyard series. The Summer programme culminates with EARTH RISING, a two-day festival of free events and experiences aimed at addressing the climate crisis and inspiring collective action towards a sustainable and hopeful future, taking place from 20 to 22 September.
In the Autumn an exhibition of photography from the David Kronn Collection celebrates the fourth donation from Irish-born, US-based collector David Kronn. This latest gift will bring the total number of works donated to IMMA to nearly 200 photographs.The present donation includes a diverse selection of works, ranging from 19th-century to the present day, by modernist photographers such as André Kertész, Irving Penn, Berenice Abbott, Brett Weston, Mike Disfarmer and Martine Franck, as well as contemporary works by Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard, and Doug DuBois.
IMMA is excited to present for the first time outside of the UK a retrospective exhibition of the work of Hamad Butt(1962-1994), organised by IMMA and Whitechapel Gallery, London, opening in December. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, and raised in London, he was British South Asian, Muslim, and queer. Before his AIDS-related death in 1994, aged 32, Butt completed and showed four key sculptural installations and left behind writings, drawings, paintings, and plans for new installations. He was a contemporary of the Young British Artists (and their peer at Goldsmiths) and critics described him as epitomizing the new ‘hazardism’ in art. He exhibited widely in his lifetime, and he was arguably the first British artist to respond in a non-militant, conceptual mode to HIV/AIDS. His iconic sculptural works have never been shown together, his paintings and drawings never exhibited until now.
Commenting on the 2024 programme, IMMA Director, Annie Fletcher said: “In 2024, IMMA is proud to present a diverse and thought-provoking programme that reflects our commitment to showcasing pioneering artists that resonate with contemporary life. From retrospectives honouring overlooked artists such as the sculptor Hilary Heron to ambitious immersive installations exploring intimacy and touch by artists like melanie benajo, our programme aims to spark dialogue, challenge perceptions, and inspire. We look forward to welcoming visitors to engage with these compelling works and to join us in fostering a vibrant inclusive cultural community, here at IMMA.”
A key element of IMMA’s work is the Collection on Loan. IMMA lends extensively its Collection, nationally and internationally, to support the exhibition programmes of other public institutions. To date in 2024, works from the IMMA Collection will travel to the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts; Tate Britain; Royal Academy of Fine Arts, London; Firstsite, Colchester; Lewis Glucksman Gallery, and Crawford Art Gallery. Touring exhibitions include works from IMMA’s acclaimed Patrica Hurl:Irish Gothic retrospective to be shown atthe South Tipperary Arts Centre and Source Arts Centre.
Please click on the links below to read more about the individual exhibitions, which will be accompanied by a dynamic programme of talks, events, screenings, performances, artist residencies and artist commissions to be announced throughout the year.
The Matheson Creativity Hub in Memory of Tim Scanlan
In March, IMMA in partnership with Matheson, will launch a new innovative community space designed by Studio Makkink & Bey called The Matheson Creativity Hub in Memory of Tim Scanlan. Studio Makkink & Bey was selected by a panel of judges, after an invited architectural competition, to create an innovative space at IMMA that combines exceptional architecture and design to provide a welcoming and inclusive space, that inspires creative engagement and fosters social connectivity for audiences of all ages. IMMA are thrilled to partner with Matheson to realise this new space.
IMMA MEMBERS
IMMA is built on the stories it holds, tells, and inspires. And there are no better ambassadors to tell these stories than our friends and supporters – IMMA’s newly launched membership programme, IMMA MEMBERS is an inclusive community of like-minded, curious, and creative individuals who would like to experience IMMA in new ways. Across the year, IMMA MEMBERS will be invited to all our exhibition openings, unlimited access to the museum’s programme of exhibitions, events and talks, enjoy retail discounts and bespoke membership merchandise, plus have the chance to experience money-can’t-buy seasonal events each quarter. You can read more about the programme on the IMMA website here
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland are delighted to announce a new 3-year pilot named IRELAND INVITES, aimed at showcasing Irish visual art to the international biennale circuit. Inti Guerro, Artistic Director of the Sydney Biennale, 2024, is the first visiting curator to come to Ireland as part of the programme to visit artist studios. He is pictured alongside from left Mary Cremin, Head of Programming, IMMA; Barbara Dawson, Director, Hugh Lane Gallery and Ciarán Walsh, Deputy Director, Culture Ireland. Pic: Marc O’Sullivan
IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland are delighted to announce the selection of two artists, Breda Lynch and Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, as participants of the 24th Biennale of Sydney, a direct result of the IRELAND INVITES programme.
Launched in early 2023, IRELAND INVITES seeks to enhance international exposure for Irish based visual artists by hosting biennale curators to undertake visits to studio and art institutions in Ireland. The first visiting curator Inti Guerrero, Artistic Director of the Sydney Biennale, 2024 travelled to Ireland as part of the IRELAND INVITES initiative in May of this year.
During his visit Guerrero met with several visual artists from across Ireland. Artworks by Irish artist Breda Lynch and Ukrainian artist Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, who produced her work while on a Production Residency at IMMA in collaboration with EVA International, have been selected to participate in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, which takes place from 9 March to 10 June 2024.
Commenting on the selection of Lynch and Shahmuradova Tanska to participate in the Biennale of Sydney, Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA, Barbara Dawson, Director Hugh Lane Gallery and Sharon Barry, Director Culture Ireland said: “We are thrilled for both artists on their selection for the Sydney Biennale and delighted that IRELAND INVITES was able to play a role in facilitating this wonderful achievement. Ireland has a strong visual arts practice, and we are excited about the opportunity IRELAND INVITES provides to further enhance the representation of Irish visual artists internationally”.
IRELAND INVITES gives visiting curators the opportunity to enhance their understanding of contemporary art practices in Ireland availing of the curatorial expertise of IMMA, Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland, who create bespoke hosted trips for each visiting curator.
The programme also welcomed Miguel A. López and Dominique Fontaine this year, co-curators of the Toronto Biennial of Art, 2024 who visited Ireland to coincide with EVA, Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art in Limerick. Plans are in place to welcome curators representing Hawaii, Karachi, and Berlin in the coming months.
– ENDS – Contact: For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]
Additional Notes for Editors
24th Biennale of Sydney
The 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns, takes place from 9 March to 10 June 2024. Visit Ten Thousand Suns – Biennale of Sydney for details.
Inti Guerrero
Inti Guerrero, together with Cosmin Costinas was announced last summer as the Co-Artistic Director of the 24th Biennale of Sydney which will take place from 9 March to 10 June 2024. Inti Guerrero is currently tutor of the Curatorial Studies programme at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts-KASK, Ghent. He was the Artistic Director of bap – bellas artes projects, Manila (2018-2022), Curator of the 38th EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial, Limerick (2018), Artistic Director of TEOR/éTica, San Jose (2011-2014) and the Estrellita B. Brodsky Adjunct Curator at Tate, London (2016-2020).
As an independent curator, Guerrero has curated exhibitions across Asia, Europe, Latin America and West Africa, including ‘Myth Makers” (curated with Chantal Wong) at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2023), ‘Fraccionar’ at Casa Museo Luis Barragan, Mexico City (2019), ‘A Chronicle of Interventions,’ Tate Modern, London (2014) and ‘A Transatlantic Affair: Josephine Baker and Le Corbusier,’ (curated with Carlos Maria Romero) at Museum of Art of Rio-MAR, Rio de Janeiro (2014). He has edited and contributed his writing to numerous books, magazines, and exhibition catalogues and has taught and lectured at different universities, art academies, and institutions across the world.
Over the past 10 years, Costinaș and Guerrero have co-curated a number of exhibitions together including ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ (Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and San Francisco, 2013-2015) ‘Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs’ (Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, 2016-2017), ‘Long Green Lizzards’ – Dakar Biennale, La Biennale de l’Art africain contemporain, Dakar (2018). Both curators are based in Berlin.
Breda Lynch
Artist, curator and teacher, Brenda Lynch attended the Crawford College of Art, Cork, Chelsea College of Art, London, and the University of Wolverhampton. Lynch has exhibited extensively in Ireland and abroad. International exhibitions include curated group exhibitions in Scotland, England, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, China, USA, and Australia.
Solo exhibitions in Ireland and Northern Ireland include:’WItch and Lezzie’, Ashford Gallery RHA (2017), ‘Fragments of a Lost Civilisation’, Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar (2016), ’The Pit and Other Stories’ , at Siamsa Tire Gallery, Tralee (2014), ’Thursday’s Clinic’ , 126 Gallery, Galway (2013), ‘Strangelove’, Black Mariah, Triskel, Cork (2010),’Song to the Siren’, Galway Arts Centre (2009), ‘Place of the Crows’ and ‘Fleurs Fatales’, Context Gallery Derry (2007) and ‘Dark Brides and Silent Twins’ Limerick City Gallery of Art (2006).
She is represented in several national collections including the OPW – Office of Public Works, NUIG Collection – Galway, Luciano Benetton Italy, Trinity College Art Collection, Limerick City Gallery Collection, University of Limerick Collection, Hunt Museum Limerick and other private collections.
Sana Shahmuradova Tanska
Sana Shahmuradova Tanska is a Ukrainian artist currently based in Kyiv, a significant part of her childhood was spent in the countryside in the Podillia region, among rivers and forests. In 2014 she relocated to Toronto as an immigrant where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at York University, Toronto, ON in 2020. Following this Sana decided to return to the city of Kyiv which has always inspired her.
Sana Shahmuradova Tanska was on a Production Residency at IMMA from February to April 2023 and was nominated for this opportunity by EVA International ‘Guest Programme’ curator Sebastian Cichocki. The 40th EVA International took place in Limerick, from 31 August – 29 October 2023. Production Residencies support national programming through the provision of space and time leading up to major exhibitions or research projects with partnering organisations and programmes.
About IMMA www.imma.ie
Founded in 1991, IMMA is Ireland’s National Cultural Institution for Modern and Contemporary Art located in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Its vibrant, bold, and diverse programme comprises exhibitions, commissions, and event-based projects by leading Irish and international artists, as well as a rich engagement and learning programme which together provides audiences of all ages the opportunity to connect with contemporary art and unlock their creativity. IMMA is also the home of the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art of nearly 4,000 artworks by Irish and international artists. IMMA makes this national resource available through exhibitions at IMMA and other venues nationally and internationally, engagement and learning programmes and digital resources.
About Hugh Lane Gallery www.hughlane.ie
Located in Dublin’s City Centre, in Parnell Square, Hugh Lane Gallery, (originally named Municipal Gallery of Modern Art), houses one of Ireland’s most exciting collections of modern and contemporary Irish and international art. It is also the home of Francis Bacon’s Studio. The Gallery was founded by Sir Hugh Lane in 1908 as part of the dynamic and pioneering Celtic Revival Movement in Ireland at the turn of the 20thcentury. Since its foundation, the gallery’s collection of modern and international art has grown considerably. As rich resource in the visual arts, HLG, where art and ideas meet, participates with many diverse communities nationally and globally through its programmes of engagement, learning, exhibitions, rotating displays, and research. About Culture Ireland www.cultureireland.ie
Culture Ireland promotes Irish arts worldwide and creates and supports opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues. Culture Ireland develops platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals and the Venice Biennales.
Oksana Pavlenko, Women’s Meeting, 1932, tempera on canvas. National Art Museum of Ukraine
This autumn, IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) presents a major international exhibition Self-Determination: A Global Perspective, one of the largest exhibitions in the Museum’s history, opening on Thursday 30 November 2023. Self-Determination is the culmination of a three-year research and commissioning project, in dialogue with museums and institutions worldwide, presenting over 110 artists. Focusing on new nation-states which emerged in the wake of the First World War, it explores the role of art and artists in relation to the expression of national identities, nation-building and statecraft. The exhibition is part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012–2023.
Bringing together a range of Irish and international works, both modern and contemporary, the exhibition illuminates the shared experiences of early 20th century new states. It includes key works from national and international collections – including the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), who have sent major works from Kyiv to Dublin for the exhibition – as well as new commissions by artists invited to respond to the theme of self-determination.
The juxtaposition of historical and contemporary perspectives is a key element of the exhibition. IMMA has commissioned new works by Array Collective, Jasmina Cibic, Declan Clarke, Minna Henriksson and İz Öztat. The exhibition also presents co-commissions by Banu Çennetoğlu, and Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind. These commissions benefit from a century of hindsight, inviting audiences to navigate between the past and the present, fostering a deeper understanding of the long-term impacts of nation building.
Two major Ukrainian art institutions, the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) and the Museum of Theatre, Music, and Cinema of Ukraine, are lending more than 20 artworks to the exhibition. These works, which will have travelled from Kyiv to Dublin for this collaboration, reflect the bold creative expression of Ukrainian national identity after the First World War, and attest to the creative fruition of a distinct Ukrainian modernism. IMMA is honoured to work with partners in Kyiv to show these important artworks in Ireland, reflecting on the urgency of self-determination both historically and in the present day.
In addition, the exhibition will include a number of artworks by contemporary artists, reflecting on the preoccupations of the project. This will encompass works from the IMMA Collection as well as a number of key contemporary loans, including works by Ursula Burke, Dorothy Cross, Ieva Epnere, Dragana Jurišić, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Gülsün Karamustafa, Istvan Laszlo, Niamh McCann, Brian O’Doherty, Alan Phelan, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Sasha Sykes and Dilek Winchester.
Self-Determination: A Global Perspective is part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012–2023, which marks the 100-year anniversary of the foundation of the Irish State. In 1919, Arthur Griffith, writing from Gloucester Prison, urged his colleagues to ‘mobilise the poets’ to help make Ireland’s case for independence on the international stage. Griffith’s letter acknowledges the role of art and culture in developing international solidarities and justifying Ireland’s right, among other small nations, to ‘self-determine’. It also highlights the new possibilities for artists in the early twentieth century, an era of collapsing empires and seismic geopolitical shifts, to articulate and enact radical modern and democratic principles.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD welcomes the opening of the exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art: “This is a significant exhibition that is inspired by our own journey of self-determination in Ireland. It is most fitting that my Department is supporting the exhibition and associated IMMA programming under the Decade of Centenaries Programme. Putting the Irish story in the context of the wider historical international movement through the medium of diverse multi-national cultural imagination and expression is highly effective in helping audiences to gain a deeper grasp of history and the perspectives and interpretation of great artists from the period.”
Conceived by IMMA Director Annie Fletcher, Self-Determination was developed by lead curator Seán Kissane, lead researcher Nathan O’Donnell and commissions curator Johanne Mullan, following a process of speculative enquiry and long-term consultation and exchange with researchers, artists and curators from around the world. It asks questions around how diverse countries understood the formation of the new state; how it was imagined; and how contemporary artists today reckon with the legacies of this period. At the same time it explores some of the common cultural strategies that emerged across many of the new nation-states including Finland (1917), Estonia (1918), Latvia (1918), Poland (1918), Ukraine (1917), Turkey (1923), and Egypt (1922), against the backdrop of the international movement towards self-determination, most famously articulated by Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Talks in 1919.
Each of the new states produced its own cultural complexities, with its own traditions, histories, and industries to be reimagined in line with the new imperatives of modernity. Self-Determination: A Global Perspective explores common strategies and methodologies developed by artists, cultural practitioners, and others invested in the formation of a new state in the first half of the twentieth century.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication, Art and Self-Determination: A Reader, edited by Lisa Moran (Curator: Engagement and Learning, IMMA) and Stephen O’Neill (IMMA/IRC Enterprise Postdoctoral Research Fellow).
Self-Determination: A Global Perspective is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012–2023.
Commissioned artists are Array Collective, Banu Çennetoğlu, Jasmina Cibic, Declan Clarke, Minna Henriksson, İz Öztat, and Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind. Throughout 2023 IMMA Residencies enabled sited research and production supports for several commissions.
Art and Self-Determination: A Reader
The Self-Determination reader comprises some 30 texts addressing the theme of self-determination drawn from the 2022 International Conference: 100 years of Self-Determination and the International Summer School, alongside an introduction to the exhibition and illustrated list of works.
Conference: 100 years of Self-Determination
An international research conference took place from 9 to 11 November 2022, organised by Lisa Moran (Curator: Engagement and Learning, IMMA); Sophie Byrne (IMMA Talks and Public Programmes) and Stephen O’Neill (IMMA/IRC Enterprise Postdoctoral Research Fellow). Available to watch back are key papers presented by invited keynote speakers and selected researchers, drawn from an open call for papers responding to conference themes – Self Determination Resources – IMMA
Podcast: IMMA Past Futures
A related podcast series on the shared site histories of IMMA / RHK co-hosted by Barry Kehoe and Stephen Taylor (IMMA Visitor Engagement Team), produced by Sophie Byrne (IMMA Talks and Public Programmes) is available to listen back too – IMMA Past Futures Podcast – IMMA
Poetry as Commemoration
IMMA is collaborating with the project Poetry as Commemoration, an initiative of the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at University College Dublin and supported by the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 programme.Poetry as Commemoration is a project led by Catherine Wilsdon that encourages creative engagement with the material history of the revolutionary period. Throughout the exhibition the Poetry as Commemoration Jukebox will be installed in the Courtyard at IMMA – the jukebox is a sound installation that animates public spaces through the medium of poetry. Poet-led workshops will also run over the course of the exhibition.
Ali Curran, new Chair of the Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Photo Marc O’Sullivan
Ali Curran appointed as new Chair to the Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, T.D. has today announced the appointment of Ali Curran as the new Chair of the Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). The appointment is for a five year term.
Ali was initially appointed to the Board as Board Member on 18th January 2023 and is an experienced business and organisational consultant. She is a Director of CHL Consulting Ltd., a member of the Institute of Directors Ireland, and a certified Management Consultant with the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors. She holds a Masters in Organisational Psychology, professional certificate in Organisational Change and is a qualified executive and leadership coach.
Ali has a strong history of successful leadership and management of cultural organisations having previously worked as Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival, Director of The Peacock Theatre @ The Abbey, and Director of the Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
The Minister also announced that she has re-appointed Margot Lyons and John A Cunningham to the Board for a second term. The Minster wants to thank them for agreeing to serve again on the Board and to help to guide IMMA over the coming years.
Speaking today Minister Martin said: “I want to congratulate Ali Curran on her appointment and wish her well in this new and exciting role. She is already serving on the Board and comes to the position of Chair with excellent experience and understanding of leadership and organisational change. I am confident that under her leadership, the Board will provide the necessary oversight and support to IMMA and its executive Team lead by Annie Fletcher as they continue to develop and grow this dynamic and innovative institution.”
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Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle, Episode 7: Africana, Ken Bugul & Nemo, 2022. Single screen, HD video, 14.42. Commissioned by Toronto Biennial of Art and Leviathan – Human & Marine Ecology. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions.
IMMA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, is proud to present EARTH RISING, a four-day festival of free events and experiences aimed at addressing the climate crisis and inspiring collective action towards a sustainable and hopeful future. Taking place, from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 September 2023, at the landmark Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, EARTH RISING promises an unforgettable experience that seeks to provoke, inspire, and empower audiences to become agents of change.
As a space for dialogue and understanding, IMMA recognises the significance of the climate crisis as one of the greatest challenges of our time. EARTH RISING will be a catalyst for creative thinking, imagination, and individual agency in tacking this urgent issue, reimagining a more sustainable and liveable future for generations to come.
The festival programme offers a diverse array of events, including over 50 artists and collaborators who will showcase their work via installations, screenings, workshops and tours; a talks stage that brings together influential voices in the fields of science, design and creativity; a dedicated food-themed site that will explore challenging topics curated by Gerry Godley and Jennie Moran; a Screening programme that includes the ground-breaking film series Leviathan Cycle by Shezad Dawood that examines climate change, migration and mental health; an exhibition by American artist Jo Baer inspired by the artist’s stay in the archaeologically rich countryside of Co. Louth; and a Future Generations Tent curated especially for children and young adults by ECOUNESCO. Throughout the festival visitors can enjoy Music in the Courtyard, including an Eco Ceilíbrought to you by Martin O’Donoghue and Damhsa Liomhsa, and a wide variety of food vendors.
Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA said “EARTH RISING embodies IMMA’s commitment to fostering creative-thinking, dialogue, and understanding as we collectively address the climate crisis and envision a brighter, more sustainable future. The museum is dedicated to promoting social progress and cultural innovation through dialogue and understanding. With a mission to address contemporary challenges and inspire positive change, this festival serves as a catalyst for creative thinking and our collective agency in the face of pressing global issues”.
The festival programme is available on the EARTH RISING FESTIVAL APP, which can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
Festival Highlights:
EARTH RISING PRESENTS: Through an open call IMMA has provided funding to support over 50 artists who will showcase their work during the festival weekend. Events include workshops ranging from human-size nest making with Ilaria Delcane, Simona Roveda, Zoë Uí Fhaoláin Green and Silke Michels to cheesemaking with David Beattie and Michelle Darmody, a live cinema indoor performance from Colm Higgins and an outdoor Gaelic ritual immersive theatre piece by Sadbh Grehan, a community smokehouse by William Bock and Max Jones, a wind activated clay pipe installation by Brendan Lomax and an interactive moss-pit from RE-PEAT to name a few.
EARTH RISING TALKS: The Earth Rising talks stage will bring together influential voices from diverse fields to explore creative solutions for environmental and societal change. Eminent author and activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva; Irish inventor and environmental advocate Fionn Ferreira; Irish broadcaster and ecologist Anja Murray, and best-selling author Eoghan Daltun are among the notable speakers. GOAL’s NextGen Youth Programme will hold a panel discussion featuring their current youth participants who are travelling from Uganda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and will be joined by Irish participant Clodagh Sully. On Culture Night, Friday 22 September, the festival will host a special Seanchoíche storytelling evening exploring the theme of “Creativity for Change”. The EARTH RISING TALKS programme is presented in partnership with the DCU Centre for Climate and Society.
EARTH RISING FIELD KITCHEN, curated by Gerry Godley and Jennie Moran, is a dedicated food-themed site within the festival, fostering discussions, provocation, demonstrations, and conviviality. Topics explored include Imagining a different kind of Dublin Food Landscape, Grain Sovereignty,Farming in Transition, Thoughtful Meat Consumption and Who decides what Ireland eats?. With an empowered and positive stance on our shared food future, this space promises a richly diverse programme throughout the four-day event. For Culture Night the Field Kitchen will co-host a special evening of food demos, music, and dancing with Cooking for Freedom, a group of refugees in Direct Provision hostels who advocate to cook for themselves and their families.
EARTH RISING FUTURE GENERATIONS TENT, curated especially for children and young adults by ECOUNESCO, will host a vibrant programme of exhibitions, workshops, and discussions, exploring themes of biodiversity, sustainability, mental health and agency for change, involving younger generations in the crucial conversations about our planet’s future.
EARTH RISING EXHIBITON: Coming Home Late: Jo Baer in the Land of The Giants is a solo exhibition by the American artist Jo Baer that brings together a series of recent paintings inspired by the artist’s stay in the archaeologically rich countryside of County Louth between 1975 and 1982. The series of six works completed between 2009 and 2013, presented alongside two additional paintings dating to 2020, was fuelled by Baer’s continued research into Irish Neolithic artefacts and myths. They reflect the artist’s long-life interest in history and science and trace the convergences and timelines of thought and memory between the ancient and now.
All events and experiences at EARTH RISING are freeof charge, ensuring the festival is accessible to all. However, booking in advance may be required for specific workshops and events. For updates and further details, visit www.imma.ie.
From Leviathan Cycle by Shezad Dawood, screened on Friday 22 and Sunday 24 September. About:Leviathan Cycle is a multi-episode film series, and part of Shezad Dawood’s ground-breaking Leviathan Project. Leviathan Cycle looks at the key issue of our day: how do we understand the intersection between climate change, migration and mental health in our shared ecosystems?. In dialogue with a wide range of marine biologists, oceanographers, political scientists, neurologists, evolutionary geneticists, forensic anthropologists, trauma specialists and activists, Leviathan Cycle is set 20-50 years into the future, envisaging a future eerily like our present to consider possible links between borders, psychological trauma, and human and marine ecologies. Every film in Leviathan Cycle is a universe unto itself, and follows the journeys of a cast of characters who are the survivors of a cataclysmic solar event.
Taking a global and collective approach, Leviathan Cycle reflects on the systemic crises within our biosphere, to imagine where we might end up if we fail to gain a deeper understanding of the intersections between fields of knowledge and ways of living, across and between human and more-than-human ecologies.
Caption: Shezad Dawood, Leviathan Cycle, Episode 7: Africana, Ken Bugul & Nemo, 2022. Single screen, HD video, 14.42. Commissioned by Toronto Biennial of Art and Leviathan –Human & Marine Ecology. Courtesy of the artist and UBIK Productions.
Jo Baer, Snow-Laden Primeval (Meditations, on Log Phase and Decline rampant with Flatulent Cows and Carbon Cars), 2020, painting, oil paint on canvas. Anne Madden / Death of Ann Lovett (1968-1984) / 2020-21, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm / IMMA Collection / Donation the Artist, 2022.
IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) is delighted to launch solo exhibitions by two renowned artists, Jo Baer and Anne Madden, opening today Thursday 24 August 2023. American artist Jo Baer and Irish-Anglo-Chilean artist Anne Madden have both demonstrated an uncompromising commitment to painting as a medium lasting over the past seven decades. These solo presentations, alongside exhibitions by Patricia Hurl and Howardena Pindell, continue IMMA’s programming strand that champions the practices of long-established female artists whose relevance and contribution to the contemporary discourse remains as urgent as ever.
The solo exhibition by Jo Baer, Coming Home Late: Jo Baer In the Land of the Giants, brings together a series of recent paintings inspired by the artist’s stay in the archaeologically rich countryside of Co. Louth between 1975 and 1982.
Born in 1929, Baer was one of the key figures of the Minimalist painting movement in New York in the 1960s and early 1970s. During this period, she explored the formal aspects of the medium and developed a visual language of non-objectivity in her black and white hard-edge paintings, culminating in her acclaimed solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1975. That same year, reflecting on Minimalism’s failure to respond to the dramatic events of the 1960s, Baer abandoned the style and left New York to become chatelain of Smarmore Castle in Co. Louth. Over the next seven years, her practice gradually shifted towards a ‘radical figuration’, also known as ‘image constellations’ that combine figural elements, text, images, and symbols.
The series of six works completed between 2009 and 2013, presented alongside two additionalpaintings dating to 2020, was fuelled by Baer’s continued research into Irish Neolithic artefacts and myths. They reflect the artist’s long-life interest in history and science and trace the convergences and timelines of thought and memory between the ancient and now.
Seven Paintings by Anne Madden (b.1932) is a series made during the Covid-19 pandemic. It follows a sixty-year international career, during which the artist has produced a powerful and distinctive body of work. Madden’s themes explore the transformative forces and cyclical nature of life and experience. Ideas of the empyrean, the subterranean and of the emergence from darkness to light have informed all of her work; from her earliest canvases of the glaciated Burren landscape, her series of Megaliths, Monoliths and Doorways from the 1970s, the Elegy, Pompeii, Odyssey and Garden series of the 1990s, and since 2003 atmospheric phenomena such as the Aurora Borealis.
Madden’s present series continues to excavate the human imprint through themes of death, rebirth, liminality and hubris, and draws on ancient forms and mythologies that give potent shape and expression to the anarchic forces and uncertainties of today. The paintings reference Antigone, Ariadne and Daphne, archetypal women whose voices are not silenced, in spite of their fate, and who connect with existential, feminist perspectives today. In their midst is Ann Lovett – a young girl of our time. Death of Ann Lovett (1968-1984),recallsthe teenager’s tragic death in childbirth in a religious grotto in rural Ireland and the surrounding hypocrisy, silence and the failure of the social system, an event which continues to resonate in Irish society.
Coming Home Late: Jo Baer In the Land of the Giants is a co-curation between IMMA and Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda in collaboration with Jo Baer and guest curator and Baer scholar Janine Armin. The exhibition was first shown at Highlanes Gallery from 29 April – 17 June 2023.
Coming Home Late: Jo Baer In the Land of the Giants has been made possible with the generous support of Mondriaan Fund and PACE Gallery.
Image Credits from Left: Jo Baer, Snow-Laden Primeval (Meditations, on Log Phase and Decline rampant with Flatulent Cows and Carbon Cars), 2020, painting, oil paint on canvas. Anne Madden / Death of Ann Lovett (1968-1984) / 2020-21, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm / IMMA Collection / Donation the Artist, 2022.
Dates:24 August 2023 – 21 January 2024 Admission free, book online at imma.ie Location: Courtyard Galleries Open: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm. Wednesday: 11.30am – 5.30pm. Sunday: 12noon – 5.30pm. Bank Holiday Mondays: 12noon – 5.30pm
Curator Talk Sunday 27 August, 2 – 3pm \ Drop-in Join Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator, Collections, IMMA for a gallery walk-through and discussion on selected works presented in both exhibitions.
About the Artists
About Jo Bear In the 1960s and 70s, Jo Baer (b. 1929, Seattle, Washington) explored non-objectivity in her black and white hard-edge paintings as part of the New York Minimalist movement. She left New York for Europe in 1975, eventually settling in Amsterdam after years spent in Ireland and London. Through the course of her move to Europe, Baer’s work shifted away from pure abstraction, gradually adding figural elements, text, images, and symbols.
Baer has been the subject of one-artist exhibitions at institutions worldwide at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1975); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (1978, 1986); Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1986, 1999, 2013); Dia Center for the Arts, New York (2002); Secession, Vienna (2008); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2013); Camden Arts Centre, London (2015); MAMCO, Geneva (2022); and Dia | Beacon, NY (2022–26).
Significant recent group exhibitions include Busan Biennale, Busan Museum of Art, Korea (2012); São Paulo Biennale, Brazil (2014); Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2014); Drawing Dialogues: Selections from the Sol LeWitt Collection, The Drawing Center, New York (2016); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art (2016); Calder to Kelly, Die amerikanische Sammlung, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2017); The Absent Museum, WIELS, Brussels (2017); and Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017).
Her works are part of numerous public collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London; and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main.
About Anne Madden
Anne Madden (b. 1932, London, UK) spent her first years in Chile. Her family moved to Europe when she was four and lived in Ireland and London. She attended the Chelsea School of Arts and Crafts. In 1958 she married the Irish painter Louis le Brocquy. Madden’s work, abstract at first glance, but generally with a figurative element, regularly carries references to her Irish background as well as reflecting on life and death.
Madden’s works from the1960s on are inspired by the glaciated landscape of the Burren, pre-historic landscape, notions of the empyrean and the subterranean, astronomy and megalithic structures. While another aspect of her practice during this time responded to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
From the 1990s, Madden’s works reflected ancient Mediterranean civilizations in series such as Pompeii, Oddessy and Garden that draw on themes of death, rebirth, liminality, hubris and human imprint.
Since the 2000s she has responded to climate, weather patterns, the Aurora Borealis and the effects of the Anthropocene as well as existential, feminist perspectives through ancient cycles.
Madden has exhibited widely, including a significant retrospective at IMMA in 2007. She is a member of Aosdánaand is represented by Taylor Galleries, Dublin.
Today Minister Catherine Martin announced the acquisition of over 100 works of contemporary art to the National Collection. This was supported by an allocation of €1.5m from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford Art Gallery. The purpose of the award was to respond to significant gaps identified in the Collections of the National Cultural Institutions. These new additions to the National Collection will ensure that it is more representative of the diverse communities of contemporary Ireland.
The new works include painting, sculpture, photography, installation, works on paper, digital media works and textiles, by both Irish and international artists. The acquisitions, which encompass pressing issues including climate change, diversity and global migration, will ensure that seminal artists previously missing from the National Collection are now represented. This investment builds upon the €1m fund provided to Crawford Art Gallery and IMMA in 2020 for the acquisition of artworks to support Irish artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking today, Minister Martin said:
“It is critical that our National Collection speak to Irish audiences about the issues that matter now. This significant investment in acquisitions at IMMA and the Crawford delivers on that need and strengthens the holdings of both institutions. It is heartening to see generations of artists finally find their home in the Collection and to see the complexity and diversity of our nation reflected in these exciting works.”
Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Annie Fletcher, stated:
“The impact of this acquisitions funding cannot be underestimated. It has re-focused and reinvigorated the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s resolute determination to build a vital, accessible and ambitious world class Collection for Ireland. We recognise and sincerely thank Minister Martin’s commitment to the arts and for her Department’s support in realising these strategic aims with our valued colleagues in the Crawford Art Gallery. This important injection of funding matches our ambitions and commitment to make IMMA a significant site and resource of Irish and international artwork for the Irish public now and into the future.”
Director of the Crawford Art Gallery, Mary McCarthy, said:
“We are deeply appreciative of the Minister and her Department’s support of Crawford Art Gallery to expand our Collection at this key time. The works acquired breathe new energy into our Collection and will ensure that new conversations through the artworks can continue to be made across the centuries. It provides much needed support for artists and galleries as well as providing the public with an opportunity to see these works in context with the wider National Collection. The collaboration with IMMA has been significant and one that we will sustain into the future.”
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Press and Information Office
An Roinn Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán
Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
The fund announced in June 2022 provided €850,000 to IMMA and €650,000 to the Crawford Art Gallery for the acquisition of contemporary artwork. The fund was designed to enable both institutions to address gaps that have persisted in the contemporary art holdings of the National Collection. On this basis:
IMMA have acquired 24 works from 17 artists.
Crawford Art Gallery have acquired 80 artworks by 40 artists.
48 of the 57 artists were Irish.
38 artists identify as female, 16 as male and 3 as non-binary.
The Crawford Art Gallery acquired works that:
represent a cross-section of contemporary Irish and international artists.
represent the diverse perspectives and identities of contemporary Ireland.
develop its Collection of historical works from the 1800s onward.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art purchased works:
From global communities and geographies that have particular resonance for Irish audiences.
From the 20th century and 21st century that speak to Irish and international contemporary art practice. This may include artists’ archives and digital archives.
That stand outside market forces, including works that reflect modernist and forgotten histories.
That address diversity and plurality and tackle the urgent issues of our time such as climate change and global mobility.
That develop IMMA as a leader in the collection and preservation of performance artworks.
That further develop the IMMA Collection as an international resource in the development and preservation of new media, born-digital and time-based media art in general, as well as new technologies.
The Crawford Art Gallery is currently undergoing a major capital project, supported by the Department. This ambitious redevelopment will see the expansion and modernisation of the Gallery, the provision of new exhibition spaces, a new public gallery and a Learn and Explore facility to engage new audiences. Planning permission for the project was granted on March 15th by Cork City Council. The gallery will remain open to visitors until the autumn of 2024 after which time the redevelopment will commence on-site.
IMMA Collection developments
This year sees works from the IMMA Collection go on display across the country in a range of locations including at the Crawford Art Gallery, The Butler Gallery, Wexford County Council, The Clifden Arts Festival, The Ulster Museum and at EVA, Limerick.
In 2024 IMMA presents a three-year exhibition from the Collection. The new display will follow a number of lines of research; including the notion of ‘the Return’, in which new acquisitions connect with or re-envision earlier works in new contexts – artwork such as world-renowned Joan Jonas’s work Woman in the Well, 1996-2002; Nil Yalter’s Exile is a Hard Job, 1977-2015; Andrea Geyer’s Revolt they said, 2012; Daphne Wright’s Stallion, 2009; Willie Doherty’s Unseen, 2020 will feature.
A new Collections Acquisitions Policy has been developed as part of the Museum’s Strategic Plan, 2023 – 2027.
Howardena Pindell, Untitled, 2021, Handmade abaca paper and ink, 30.5 x 30.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, and Victoria Miro, London. Made in collaboration with Dieu Donné, New York.
Opening on Friday 30 June 2023, IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) presents the first solo exhibition in Ireland by renowned American artist Howardena Pindell. Pindell is an artist, activist, and educator working through the media of painting, drawing, print and video. Primarily an abstract painter, she emerged in the early 1970s in New York, making process-driven abstractions, embellishing the language of minimalism – of circles, grids and repetition – in a visibly laborious process of hole-punching, spraying, sewing, and numbering. The exhibition, titled A Renewed Language, is the largest presentation of her work in Europe to date.
Born in Philadelphia in 1943, Pindell began her career in the 1960s. Having studied painting at Boston and Yale Universities she became an Exhibition Assistant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1967, rising to Associate Curator and Acting Director, and serving on the Byers Committee to investigate racial exclusion in museum acquisitions and exhibitions. She first exhibited her art in 1971, and was a founding member of A.I.R (Artists in Residence), the first women’s cooperative gallery in New York City. In 1979 she began teaching at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where she is now a distinguished Professor of Art. She rose to prominence throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had her first major solo exhibition at the Studio Museum, Harlem in 1986.
Trained as a figurative painter, Pindell began working abstractly in the 1960s. She started drawing and layering, a process that grew on its own and developed into the abstract works she is known for today. Her growing use of abstraction coincided with the famous “dematerialization” of the art object, the emergence of conceptual art as a movement that prioritized thought over form.
From the 1980s Pindell’s practice began to deal explicitly with issues of racism and discrimination, her work took on a more overtly political tenor, which anticipated the Black Lives Matter movement by thirty years. Pindell deals with issues including colonisation and enslavement, violence against indigenous populations, police brutality, the AIDS crisis and climate change.
Alongside paintings and works on paper, the exhibition includes two videos that frame her long career – Free, White and 21 (1980) and Rope/Fire/Water (2020). These works tackle the pervasiveness of racial inequality, drawing on Pindell’s own experiences and also on her collation of historical data relating to segregation, discrimination and race-based violence in America.
The exhibition includes new paintings fresh from Pindell’s studio, just shown in New York in 2022. These new works show Pindell circling back to some of her concerns of the early 1970s and 80s. These ‘cut and sewn’ canvases are a celebration of colour. Here Pindell expands on the scale of her paper pieces, bringing new depth and texture to her surfaces. The making of individual panels and sewing them together, is a novel and labour-intensive method of construction. The work is unstretched and pinned to the wall and harks back to her 1970s works in which she took canvas off the stretcher to create new shapes that speak of the form and function of the painted ground. These monumental works mark the artist’s return to the grid—a theme of particular interest to Pindell and other modern artists.
Pindell’s work encompasses her own story with abstraction joined to a sense of social and political urgency and an understanding that the pressures, prejudices and exclusions she faced as a black artist and a woman needed to be part of the subject of her art. Pindell considers her abstract paintings as “an intense relief, a kind of visual healing, so that you get some distance from what you’ve seen. Then you can have a more peaceful or critical way to acknowledge what you’ve seen. And it helps you maybe overcome some of those deadly emotions that come from being shocked. So I want people to see… It’s like using beauty as a healing element, and for me making them has a healing side to it.”
A keynote talk on Howardena Pindell will be presented by Naomi Beckwith, Chief Curator, Guggenheim, NYC, offering reflection on lessor known feminist art histories and identity politics that underpins the arc of Pindell’s extraordinary live and career as artist, curator and educator. The talk is followed by an in-depth discussion with Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA. The talk takes place on Saturday 8 July at 12noon at IMMA. Book here.
A Renewed Language had its origins in Howardena Pindell: A New Language, organised by the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh; in collaboration with Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; and Spike Island, Bristol.
29 June 2023
– Ends –
For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane | [email protected]
Additional Notes for Editors
Exhibition Details
Title: Howardena Pindell: A Renewed Language Exhibition Dates: 30 June – 30 October 2023
Admission free, book online at imma.ie Open: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10am – 5.30pm. Wednesday: 11.30am – 5.30pm. Sunday: 12noon – 5.30pm. Bank Holiday Mondays: 12noon – 5.30pm
IMMA Talks
Keynote Talk: Naomi Beckwith on Howardena Pindell’s Renewed Language Saturday 8 July 2023 / 12noon to 1.15pm Booking required – Book here Location: People’s Pavilion at IMMA
To coincide with the exhibition Howardena Pindell: A Renewed Language IMMA presents a keynote talk by Naomi Beckwith, Chief Curator, Guggenheim, NYC. This talk examines some of the most inspiring works of figuration, abstraction and conceptualism by Howardena Pindell; offering reflection on lessor known feminist art histories and identity politics that underpins the arc of Pindell’s extraordinary live and dual career as artist, curator and educator. Followed by an in-depth discussion with Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA.
Howardena Pindell, born in Philadelphia in 1943, began her career in the 1960s. Having studied art at Boston and Yale Universities she became an Exhibition Assistant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1967, rising to Associate Curator and serving on the Byers Committee to investigate racial exclusion in museum acquisitions and exhibitions. She first exhibited her art in 1971, and was a founding member of A.I.R (Artists in Residence), the first women’s cooperative gallery in New York City. Resigning from MoMA in 1979, she became a professor in the Art Department at Stony Brook University, where she still teaches today.
She rose to prominence throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had a major solo exhibition at the Studio Museum, Harlem in 1986. In 1992, Howardena Pindell: A Retrospective, her first solo touring exhibition, brought her art and writing together and in 1997, she published The Heart of the Question, an anthology of her written works. She was included in WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2007; in We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 at the Brooklyn Museum, New York and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at Tate both in 2017; and The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago presented her first major US survey exhibition, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen in 2018. In 2020, an exhibition of new work at The Shed, New York showed recent work against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement and growing international outrage at anti-Black state violence in the US and elsewhere, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
Pictured at the launch of IMMA Horizons: Lifelong Creativity for the Curious are Mike Hanrahan, Singer Songwriter and Global Brain Health Institute Fellow; Sheena Barrett, Head of Reseach & Learning, IMMA; Bairbre-Ann Harkin, Curator of IMMA Horizons; Maser, Visual Artist and mental health advocate; Jackie Golden, IMMA Horizons participant and Dementia Carers Campaign Network member, and Dr Kevin McCarroll BA MD MRCPI, Director of Creative Life, MISA and Consultant Geriatrician & Physician.
A new initiative aimed at supporting health and wellbeing through creative programmes and experiences called, IMMA Horizons: Lifelong Creativity for the Curious, was launched today (Wednesday 14 June 2023) at IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art). IMMA Horizons will contribute to new thinking on how creativity can positively impact wellbeing through advocacy, partnerships and programming that offers opportunities to connect and be curious.
IMMA Horizons provides free creative experiences and events for adults to meet and explore art together at a relaxed pace. Its focus will be on participants in older age and those who are in a transitional time in their lives (moving into or out of a caring role within a family, changing job, experiencing job loss), but is open to all adults. Most importantly it is an enjoyable and fun sociable experience, delivered in a supportive environment that encourages participation by all.
The programme includes a new summer series of sensory themed workshops, In The Moment with IMMA Horizons, exploring art, place and wellness in the grounds of IMMA. Talking Art with IMMA invites participants to take a close look at artworks from the IMMA Collection and discuss exhibitions together, delivered monthly in the galleries and online for those who cannot attend the Museum. Talking Art with IMMA Conversation Starter Packs highlight selected artworks from the IMMA Collection to guide conversations which can be followed with friends and family or used by Activity Coordinators within nursing home or other residential settings. The Slow Art video series offers an enjoyable guided exploration of IMMA Collection artworks and includes a short warm-up, A Moment of Mindfulness, to help you relax and get into the right frame of mind for your virtual visit.
Speaking at the launch Sheena Barrett, IMMA’s Head of Research & Learning said; “I’m so delighted we are launching IMMA Horizons which builds on IMMA’s long history of innovative education and learning programmes to develop a range of experiences that support people at times of transition in their lives. Art has an incredible ability to help us to be curious, to connect to others and keep our minds active in a safe and welcoming environment. IMMA Horizons is designed to create really special moments that support people to be brave, inquisitive and creative as adults.”
Curator of IMMA Horizons, Bairbre-Ann Harkin said; “Extensive research has identified a major role for the arts in the promotion of wellbeing across the lifespan. IMMA Horizons will contribute to new research and ongoing conversations both in Ireland and globally, advocating for the arts and creativity to be recognised as an important contributor to a rich quality of life.”
A panel discussion took place as part of the launch with Maser, Visual Artist and mental health advocate; Mike Hanrahan, Singer Songwriter and Global Brain Health Institute Fellow; Jackie Golden, IMMA Horizons participant and Dementia Carers Campaign Network member; Dr Kevin McCarroll BA MD MRCPI, Director of Creative Life, MISA and Consultant Geriatrician & Physician; Sheena Barrett, Head of Research & Learning, IMMA, and Bairbre-Ann Harkin, Curator of IMMA Horizons. The discussion explored creativity and wellness from an artistic, academic and health perspective, reflecting how IMMA Horizons straddles all three disciplines.
IMMA Horizons builds on the success of IMMA’s established Art & Ageing programme including the highly praised Azure programme. Azure offers online and in-person Museum experiences designed to support people living with dementia and their family, friends or carers, to engage with artworks. The launch of IMMA Horizons is built on the strong foundations of IMMA’s existing Art & Ageing partnerships including MISA Creative Life at St James Hospital, the Azure Network, Age & Opportunity, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and HSE Understand Together as well as new collaborators including the Global Brain Health Institute and Arts & Health Coordinators Ireland.
14 June 2023 – ENDS – Contact: For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]
W.H.O Report: What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review - culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk pdf
Over the past two decades, there has been a major increase in research into the effects of the arts on health and well-being, alongside developments in practice and policy activities in different countries across the WHO European Region and further afield. This report synthesizes the global evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, with a specific focus on the WHO European Region. Results from over 3000 studies identified a major role for the arts in the prevention of ill health, promotion of health, and management and treatment of illness across the lifespan. The reviewed evidence included study designs such as uncontrolled pilot studies, case studies, small-scale cross-sectional surveys, nationally representative longitudinal cohort studies, community-wide ethnographies and randomized controlled trials from diverse disciplines. The beneficial impact of the arts could be furthered through acknowledging and acting on the growing evidence base; promoting arts engagement at the individual, local and national levels; and supporting cross-sectoral collaboration – Fancourt D, Finn S. What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2019 (Health Evidence Network (HEN) synthesis report 67).
TILDA Report (Wave 6) Creative Activity in the Ageing Population Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Principal Investigator of TILDA (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing): ”After more than a decade of extensive research, TILDA possesses an exceptional and valuable dataset that unveils significant facets of successful ageing. This new report from TILDA, in collaboration with Creative Ireland, examines the relationships between participation in these activities and various aspects of physical, mental, and behavioural health, as well as exploring the long-term advantages of such engagement, expanding upon the findings of previous work. Moreover, it delves into the realm of engagement, motivations, and barriers to participation in creative activities.
Notably, the data collection period was during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time marked by public health measures that imposed restrictions on social gatherings, events, transportation, and the operation of cultural venues in Ireland, so these findings hold immense importance. To foster greater involvement of older adults in creative pursuits, it is essential to establish policies that facilitate their participation while eliminating accessibility barriers, regardless of disability. Such measures have the potential to enhance the health and well-being of a rapidly expanding ageing population.”
Testimonials: IMMA Horizons Participants:
“Getting us out doing things, doing things we maybe should be doing anyway, but…it gives you a push.” “I enjoyed it immensely. It was enlightening – you have to examine and look closely. It takes the cobwebs off the brain, it sharpens you up.” “Ah, it was a wonderful experience, a wonderful experience…You’d be sad when you come to the end of it…” “I enjoyed it very much, very much indeed. I felt very much part of what was going on. And I wanted to be part of it.” “You are opening up the world to us.”
Participant in Talking Art with IMMA online: “I very much enjoyed today’s Talking Art conversation and really appreciate the care taken by the IMMA facilitators – I can’t make it to Dublin at the moment because of my health, so these online conversations mean so much.”
Participant in Talking Art with IMMA in-person: “Thanks again for a great morning – the facilitation was excellent, everyone was put at ease and made to feel really welcome. The pace was relaxing but I left feeling energised!”
Nursing Home participant: “Bairbre-Ann and her team have been kind enough to provide our Nursing Home with guided Azure tours of IMMA which are specifically designed for people living with dementia, their professionalism shines through in the experience they provide. The guides have a good understanding of dementia, their communication and active listening skills are excellent, and they ensure everyone is included. They run the tour at a pace that suits everyone, so no one feels rushed or overwhelmed. Our residents really enjoyed it and have all returned to the nursing home in great form and many have talked about it for weeks later. The staff in the nursing home was amazed with the transformation in one resident who would normally hardly touch her dinner, they said she appeared very happy and content on returning and cleaned her plate at dinner time. Many thanks to all involved, please keep up the good work.”
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
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