The year just ending has been one of the most successful to date for the Irish Museum of Modern Art, not only in the quality and diversity of its programmes but also in the all-important area of public engagement with its work. Visitor numbers for 2004 are set to exceed 350,000, the highest yearly total in IMMA’s 13-year history. In addition to those visiting the Museum itself, many thousands more attended exhibitions and events throughout Ireland organised by IMMA’s National Programme.

Highlights for 2004 included:

· A series of exhibitions by leading international artists, including the Italian painter Francesco Clemente, the French installation artist Sophie Calle, the Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz and the Spanish abstract painter Juan Uslé.

· The largest exhibition of contemporary Chinese art ever seen in Ireland, which continues into 2005 and has proved a great popular and critical success. The show is part of the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange.

· Views from an Island, which brought works from the Collection by 23 Irish artists to Beijing and Shanghai, also under the auspices of the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange.

· Several important acquisitions by the Museum’s Collection, most notably three film works by the celebrated Irish artist James Coleman, three paintings by Hughie O’Donoghue and a painting by Sean Scully created in memory of the late Dorothy Walker.

· Curating Now, a major symposium on curating contemporary art in public museums and galleries, which attracted more than 250 participants and brought eight eminent international curators into contact not just with IMMA’s work, but also with that of many other public and private galleries in Dublin.

· The publication of a comprehensive evaluation of the Museum’s work with the Government’s Breaking the Cycle initiative, designed to address educational disadvantage at primary school level; also the completion of the Artformations action research project, with the Abbey Theatre and the Arts Council, and the related exhibition.

· A complete redesign of IMMA’s website, which provides a greatly increased level of information and services.

Commenting on the past year, the Museum’s Director, Enrique Juncosa, said, “Everyone at IMMA is delighted at the public’s very positive response to our range of programmes. Several of the developments, such as the acquisition of the James Coleman work, the Curating Now symposium and the redesigned website, are not just important in themselves, but will enable us to build on this success in future years”.

For further information, or to receive images, please contact Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900, Email: [email protected].

30 November 2004

An exhibition of over 20 works from the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s Collection opens to the public on Friday 19 November at Naas General Hospital as part of a collaborative project between the hospital and IMMA’s National Programme. Looking Beyond combines artworks by Irish and International artists in a wide variety of media and includes paintings by Jack Yeats and Paul Henry, tapestries by Louis le Brocquy and prints by Ilya Kabakov.

Works in the exhibition range from The Flying Komarov, one of ten character albums by the Russian artist Ilya Kabakov, who deals with both hope and fear through his fictional characters to St Stephens Green, Closing Time by Jack B Yeats, a good example of his unique form of expression by this artist who spent a lifetime painting the folklife and culture of Ireland.

Commenting on the project Johanne Mullan, National Programmer at IMMA said: “The arts have traditionally had a strong part to play in the healing process and their vital role in the well-being of many individuals has being clearly documented. The presence of a vibrant Visual Arts Programme at Naas General Hospital is testament to the benefits of initiatives such as this and IMMA is delighted to be involved in this project. It is clear that Naas General Hospital is seeking to promote the visual arts within the hospital not merely to distract but to engage the patient, visitor and staff alike.”

Rhonda Gibson, Community Affairs Manager, National Irish Bank, added "We are delighted to support this exhibition which brings art to patients at Naas General Hospital. Our award-winning Branching Out Programme has helped us facilitate learning, development and community involvement across Ireland through the arts".
 
Naas General Hospital, through this exhibition and through a series of workshops, is working towards enhancing the environment of the hospital and facilitating greater access to and participation in the arts. Each artwork in Looking Beyond is both thoughtful and stimulating and leads the viewer to both question and re-affirm their values and beliefs.

The National Programme, now in its eighth-year, is designed to make the assets, skills and resources of the Museum available to centres outside Dublin. Through the lending of exhibitions and individual works, and the development of collaborative projects with other organisations, the National Programme establishes the Museum as inclusive, accessible and national.

A series of workshops for hospital staff and patients will be held alongside the exhibition as part of the Branching Out project.  Branching Out is a programme designed by the Irish Museum of Modern Art and National Irish Bank to be national, inclusive and participative, bringing the visual arts to the community and providing opportunities for the community to get involved.

Catherine Marshall; Head of Collections at IMMA will give a talk on the exhibition on Monday 22 November at 1.00pm.

Looking Beyond continues until 5 January 2005 at Naas General Hospital.

The exhibition is on view in the main foyer of the hospital.

For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : + 353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, email : [email protected] 

16 November 2004 

A daily online calendar of events, exhibition guides and essays available to download and the permanent collection database of some 1,650 works are just some of the features now available on the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s newly designed website, www.imma.ie, launched today Monday 15 November 2004.  Other innovations include booking forms, free postcards of works from the Museum’s Collection and a larger text version of the site for the visually impaired.  The new website also makes available online an improved level of information and visuals and is a significant step forward in offering increased access to all the Museum’s activities.

The complete redesign of the Museum’s website has resulted in a visually strong, fresh new look which allows for easier navigation.  The top navigation includes four new sections Visit IMMA, About IMMA, Support IMMA and Contact IMMA.  All Museum programmes appear on the left-hand navigation and each heading has a drop-down menu for further information on a specific aspect of the programme.  Each exhibition features a selection of images, downloadable text from an essay or exhibition guide and links to other relevant sites.  All visuals for exhibitions have the option of zooming in on the image to view more details.  The Education and Community Programme’s entirely new section lists all its programmes and activities and comprises booking forms on various projects which are available to download.  The Permanent Collection database is now online and allows the visitor to search the Museum’s Collection with a specific search query – a particular artist, artwork, collection or donation can be found at the touch of a button. 

The sites interactive features allows the user to register to receive regular information updates, send a free e-card to a friend, download booking forms and essays from exhibition guides and view an online daily calendar of events. The new site is Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) compliant and adheres to the WAI Level A Guidelines which provides a bigger text format of the site to allow the visually impaired to view the site. Other features includes a site map, search engine facility, links section, staff contact details and the option of a print version for every page.  The new site was developed by Redsky in consultation with Monica Cullinane, Public Affairs Executive, IMMA.

Commenting on the new website Enrique Juncosa, Director of IMMA, said “We are delighted with this new and clearer website. Its easy and fast navigation makes up-to-date and in-depth information about the Museum’s activities available to all web users.  This new site is an excellent resource to all IMMA visitors from the foreign tourist to the student and the local resident”.

Contact details for Redsky
Redsky, Docklands Innovation Park, 128-130 East Wall Road, Dublin 3. 
Tel: +353-1-887 8620 Email: [email protected]

For further information please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : +353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, Email : [email protected]

15 November 2004

An exhibition showing the work of younger Irish artists from the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s Collection has opened to the public at IMMA.  Tír na nÓg: Younger Irish Artists from the IMMA Collection comprises 27 works in a variety of media including DVD, video and installation by Irish or Irish-based artists who have come to prominence in the last two decades. Many of the works have been acquired by the Museum since 2000 and are shown here for the first time. The exhibition looks at the challenges facing these artists who are working at a time of significant social and demographic change. 
 
Works range from Martin & Hobbs Frieze, where painter Fergus Martin and photographer Anthony Hobbs, have collaborated for the first time to produce a 21st- century version of a medieval fresco, to Clare Langan’s Trilogy, which reveals human figures isolated in strange mysterious worlds created by the artist’s innovative use of coloured lenses and her feelings for the sublime, while Dust Defying Gravity by Grace Weir deals with the passing of time by focusing on the sands of time themselves, each dust molecule subject to the artist’s scrutiny.  
 
Time and the changes it brings are again referred to in New Sexual Lifestyles by Gerard Byrne. Comprising a series of DVDs and photographs, this work looks at our attitudes to life and sexuality by contrasting contemporary views to the views held in earlier decades. Contemporary lifestyles are again examined in David Timmons work There is no Estrangement between you and the Machine, an mdf structure painted with glossy car paint to evoke the atmosphere of the salesroom rather than the gallery while the accompanying title points to something far more mysterious.
 
The fantasy world of childhood is dealt with by Andrew Vickery and Alice Maher. Vickery’s Do You Know What You Saw? questions the relationship between real events and our recollection of them, while Maher’s The Axe (and the Waving Girl) evokes memories of childhood fairytales and the pleasures and fears associated with them.
 
The plight of refugees and economic migrants features strongly in the work How to Make a Refugee by Phil Collins, an issue particularly relevant in contemporary Ireland given our long experience of emigration and our more recent experience of migrants coming to Ireland seeking the same assistance which our emigrants once sought. Cultural and religious differences are referred to in Janet Mullarney’s Alpha and Omega, a sculpture of bronze cows inspired by the memory of a cow, bedecked with its ritual ribbon, emerging from the River Ganges, while the complexities of personal identity are dealt with by Isabel Nolan’s Sloganeering 1-4, reminding us of the difficulties that surround our sense of self in a world of mass advertising and communication.
 
Commenting on the exhibition Catherine Marshall, Head of Collection at IMMA, said: “The title of the exhibition, Tír na Óg, refers to eternal youth rather than a chronological state.  The artworks in this exhibition, in their newness and freshness, keep us all in a state of anticipation that denies age and stimulates original attitudes to age-old experiences.”
 
An exhibition guide, with an essay by Catherine Marshall, accompanies the exhibition (price €3.00).
 
Tír na nÓg: Younger Irish Artists from the IMMA Collection continues until 28 March 2005.
 
Admission is free.
 
Opening Hours: 
Tue – Sat    10.00am – 5.30pm
Sun and Bank Holidays,  28- 31 December, 1 January 12 noon – 5.30pm
Mondays, 24 – 27 December  Closed 
 
For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : + 353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, Email : [email protected]
 
8 November 2004 

O’Donoghue announces approval for €1.3m artworks acquisition by Irish Museum of Modern Art

John O’Donoghue T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, today (10th November, 2004) announced that he had approved the use of the Heritage Fund by the Irish Museum of Modern Art to acquire the three most important film art works, produced in the 1990s, by the celebrated Irish artist James Coleman. The works: Background (1991-94), Lapsus Exposure (1992-94), and INITIALS (1993-4), comprise a trilogy.

These works have formed the basis of James Coleman’s international reputation and have been shown to enormous critical acclaim in many leading museums in France, USA, Britain, Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. Each of the three works lasts just over twenty minutes. There is only one complete set of the trilogy available and the Minister agrees that their purchase is fully compatible with the aims and objectives of the Heritage Fund.

Minister O’Donoghue said: "I applaud the Irish Museum of Modern Art and its Director, Enrique Juncosa in acquiring these art works and in enabling a major Irish artist of international stature to have his work shown in Ireland."

Mr. Enrique Juncosa, Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, has stated that he is “thrilled that IMMA has been able to acquire such an important group of works by James Coleman, thanks to the generosity of the Government and with the support of the Council of National Cultural Institutions. He has a significant reputation abroad but was, until now, not properly represented in the National Collections.  IMMA is now the only museum to own the trilogy of his best-known slide projected works. We hope that it will help his work to be better known in Ireland and also are happy to be able to add to our collection such important seminal works.”

ENDS

Note for Editors: The Heritage Fund

The Heritage Fund Act, 2001 established a Fund with an overall limit of €12,697m over a five-year period.  The Act provided for an allocation of €3,809,214 in the financial year 2001, €2,539,476 in each of the financial years 2002, 2003, 2004, and €1,269,738 in the financial year 2005. The Act also established the Council of National Cultural Institutions on a statutory basis to recommend appropriate uses for the fund to the Minister for Arts, who may authorise the use of the funds subject to the agreement of the Minister for Finance.

The five eligible institutions that may benefit from the Heritage Fund are Ireland’s principal collecting national institutions:

National Archives
National Gallery of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
Irish Museum of Modern Art

The principal collecting institutions are charged with expanding their collections for present and future generations. The Fund allows for the acquisition of heritage objects that are considered outstanding examples and pre-eminent in their class so that Irish people may enjoy, appreciate and value such magnificent artefacts.  These artefacts include archaeological objects, manuscripts, books and works of art of national importance. The Act only allows for the acquisition of such artefacts above a valuation of €317,435.

A major new publication celebrating more than 50 years of collecting by George and Maura McClelland will be launched at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Thursday 18 November 2004 at 6.00pm.  The Hunter Gatherer, produced by IMMA and kindly sponsored by Christie’s, documents the history of the McClelland Collection, its links with the McClelland Galleries in Belfast and George McClelland’s personal experience of collecting. The collection, generously given on long-term loan to IMMA in 1999, comprises over 400 artworks and includes such prominent Irish artists as Gerard Dillon, Sean Keating, FE McWilliam, Tony O’Malley, William Scott, Louis le Brocquy and Jack B Yeats.

The launch of The Hunter Gatherer coincides with an exhibition, the fourth in a series drawn from the McClelland Collection, focusing on the work of artists active in Northern Ireland during the middle of the 20th-century.  Northern Irish Artists from the McClelland Collection comprises some 38 works by five artists – Gerard Dillon, Daniel O’Neill, FE McWilliam, Colin Middleton and William Scott. Each of the artists chosen came to maturity just before and during the second world war and all had to face the difficulties of making a living in the immediate aftermath of war, at a time of reconstruction and rationing.  This exhibition celebrates the dominant strength of the McClelland Collection, its fine assemblage of paintings and sculptures by artists working in Northern Ireland during this period. 

A native of Omagh, Co Tyrone, George McClelland bought his first drawing, which he still owns, at the age of 12.  He and his wife Maura settled in Belfast where in 1965 they opened an antique and art gallery in May Street.  In 1972 they re-organised their gallery and set up McClelland Galleries International on the Lisburn Road.  The McClelland Galleries showed a wide variety of art, including Islamic and African art, Russian icons and Eskimo sculpture, as well as contemporary Irish art.  Artists from Northern Ireland were especially encouraged and George McClelland became the agent and friend to many of them.  Artists at that time where very dependent on the limited number of private galleries which provided them with exhibition opportunities and financial support in an otherwise difficult cultural environment.   The McClellands moved to Dublin in 1975 following the loss of their Lisburn Road gallery during the continued political unrest and retired to the Isle of Man in 1986. They now divide their time between the Isle of Man and Ireland.

Commenting on the significance of the publication Catherine Marshall, Head of Collections, IMMA, said “The roles of the collector and the gallerist in facilitating art practice should never be overlooked.  They operate on many levels – encouraging and promoting artists, collecting their work, sometimes commissioning new work and above all befriending them.  This publication throws light on both those activities and on the personal choices of one collector who was a gallerist and dealer at a particularly interesting time in the history of Irish Art”.

The Hunter Gatherer is available from the Museum’s bookshop (price €25.00).

Northern Irish Artists from the McClelland Collection continues until 28 March 2005. 

Admission is free.

Opening hours:
Tue – Sat 10.00am – 5.30pm
Sun and Bank Holidays, 28 – 31 December, 1 January  12 noon – 5.30pm
Mondays, 24 – 27 December, 25 March Closed

For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : +353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, Email : [email protected]

8 November 2004

A major exhibition by some 50 contemporary Chinese artists opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 27 October 2004.  Dreaming of the Dragon’s Nation: Contemporary Art from China is the largest exhibition of Chinese art ever shown in Ireland and forms part of the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange, an intergovernmental project to promote cultural links between the two countries. The exhibition will be officially opened by John O’Donoghue TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Zhou Heping, Vice Minister for Culture for the People’s Republic of China, on Tuesday 26 October at 6.00pm. Already, as part of the overall collaboration, Views from an Island, comprising two exhibitions from IMMA’s Collection, was shown in Beijing and Shanghai earlier this year.
 
The exhibition is drawn primarily from the collection of the Shanghai Art Museum, one of the most vibrant centres in the increasingly dynamic Chinese contemporary art scene; the exhibition will also include a number of works borrowed directly from the participating artists.  Curated by Li Xu, the Director of Academic Research Department at the museum, it presents 59 works, including painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video. In all, the show provides a fascinating overview of the state of the visual arts in modern-day China. Li Xu sees the exhibition as reflecting the many complex concerns of contemporary Chinese society, from the "unique historical context and cultural experience" to which the country is heir, to the desire to forge a contemporary culture that is entirely its own. In his text in the catalogue which accompanies the exhibition, he describes how cultural life in China continues to emerge strongly from a difficult period following the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s.
 
The exhibition begins with the New Wave movement of the mid-1980s when Chinese artists turned away from the production of clichéd, propagandist works and started to create work based on western models of art making.  These older generation artists are represented in the exhibition in the work of painter Zhou Changjiang, and a retrospective of the film works of Zhang Peili. Most of the works in the exhibition were made in the past five years and reflect a new confidence on the part of Chinese artists. No longer content with imitating Western practice, they are now looking to their own remarkable artistic heritage for both subject matter and media. This is reflected  in the ink paintings of He Saibang and Cai Guangbin, both of whom are attempting to take this ancient medium and make it relevant to a contemporary society, with some startling results.
 
Almost all of the work is new to Irish audiences, with the exception of Yang Fudong, who had a successful exhibition at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in 2003 and has also been short-listed for the Guggenheim’s Hugo Boss Prize this year. Yang Fudong is represented in this exhibition with a large-scale film installation of his work Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest from 2003. The work is based on a Chinese third-century story describing a group who during the change from the Wei to Jin dynasties, fled to the countryside to escape political upheaval. There, in a bamboo forest, they paused and engaged in ch’ing-t’an, the Taoist ideal of "pure conversation".  Following a period of quiet and introspection, they return to the city where their new ideas bring enlightenment to the troubled society.
 
The title of the show, invoking the dragon – China’s most revered talisman – is designed to embody both the search for identity, in a nation of 1.3 billion people, and the imaginative character of art itself.
 
This exhibition forms part of the programme for a Chinese Festival of Arts and Culture taking place around the country this autumn which itself is part of a larger, more ambitious cultural exchange between Ireland and China.  In addition to the exchange of art exhibitions, the China Ireland Cultural Exchange Programme also initiated a series of artists’ residencies in both countries. Earlier this year three Irish artists – John Behan, Amanda Coogan and Caroline McCarthy – spent several weeks in China learning about and experiencing Chinese life and culture. In October, IMMA in turn will welcome two painters from Beijing – Li Xiaoke and Yan Zhenduo – as part of the Museum’s Artists’ Work Programme.
 
A publication with contributions by Li Xu, Enrique Juncosa, Director, IMMA, Li Xiang-Yang, Director, Shanghai Art Museum and Richard Wakely, Commissioner of the China Ireland Cultural Exchange Programme, accompanies the exhibition (price €20.00).
 
Curator’s Talk – Wednesday 27 October at 11.30am
Li Xu, curator of the exhibition, presents a guided introductory tour of the exhibition.  Artists Liu Jianhua and Shi Hui will also discuss their work.
 
All talks are free and open to the public.
Booking is essential, as space is limited, Tel: 01-612 9948.

Dreaming of the Dragon’s Nation continues in IMMA’s New Galleries until 16 January 2005 and in the main Museum building until 6 February 2005.
 
Admission is free.
 
Opening Hours : 

Tue – Sat  10.00am – 5.30pm
Sun and Bank Holidays, 28- 31 December, 1 January  12 noon – 5.30pm
Mondays,  24 – 27 December  Closed 

For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : + 353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, Email : [email protected]
 
6 October 2004 

A major exhibition of the work of the internationally-acclaimed Spanish painter Juan Uslé opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 8 September 2004. Juan Uslé: Open Rooms, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Ireland, comprises some 33 abstract paintings dating from the early 1990s to his most recent works. Although influenced by ideas ranging from philosophy to multiculturalism, Uslé’s work is not in any way representational, rather it seeks to convey his personal vision of the world, which is poetic rather than narrative.

The works in Open Rooms are grouped in five categories and all date from the period after 1987, when Uslé left Spain for New York. This move lead of a marked change in his work, away from the calming browns, blacks and blues of his native Cantabria to a more varied, contrasting palate, reflecting the fleeting sensory impressions and intense visual stimulation of a vibrant, ever-changing city.

The Soñé que Revelabas (meaning I dreamt you were revealed) series comprises large dark canvases – deep, pulsating spaces built up from luminous horizontal stripes, which seem to register the vital pulse of the artist, as it might appear on a cardiac monitoring machine. The Eolo (“el otro orden” or “another order”) works, by contrast, contain much lighter shades, often with large white spaces and simple playful forms in the style of Joan Miró as in Mosqueteros, o mira cómo me mira Miró desde la ventana que mira a su jardin, 1995 (Musketeers, or look at how Miró looks at me from the window that looks out onto his garden).

Rizomas includes some of Uslé’s most complex compositions, with a layering of line and colour creating rhythmic, dynamic spaces which celebrate the sensory possibilities of painting. They also reveal the thought processes behind the works, while at the same time pointing to the complex history of painting. The In Urbania paintings are based on the horizontal and vertical structures of an urban landscape and also, the movement of light and form. Their tones of red, white and blue call to mind the flag, while their geometric structures, referencing freeway interchanges and subway lines, underline their urban inspiration.

The rich variety of Uslé work is evident in Celibataires (singles). Although identical in size, this series can be seen almost as an exercise in the varied styles which are such a defining feature of his work. The Duchampian title emphasises further the individuality of each work.

Commenting on Uslé’s work, the curator of the exhibition IMMA Director Enrique Juncosa said: “His work depicts the history of painting, with a complete awareness of its linguistic splendour . . . But it also expresses a vision of the world which moves and affects us, exploiting the power of metaphors and symbols which derives from the assimilation of new ideas and of a world which has changed externally, above all, with the extensive use of new technologies.”

Born in Santander in 1954, Juan Uslé began painting in the early 1980s. Since then his work has been presented internationally in many important museum and gallery exhibitions, including at the MACBA, Barcelona, the Saatchi Gallery, London, the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, and at Documenta IX, Kassel, Germany.

Discussion
Juan Uslé discusses his work in conversation with Enrique Juncosa, on Tuesday 7 September at 5.00pm, in the Lecture Room at IMMA. Booking is essential as space is limited. All talks and lectures are free and open to the public.

Juan Uslé: Open Rooms was first shown at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (MNCARS), Madrid. It has travelled to Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain, and Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, (S.M.A.K.), Gent, Belgium. The exhibition is supported by the Directorate General for Cultural and Scientific Relations of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, along with the State Corporation for Cultural Action Abroad (SEACEX) and MNCARS. The opening event at IMMA is supported by the Instituto Cervantes, Dublin.

A fully-illustrated catalogue, with essays by Enrique Juncosa, Jan Hoet and David Carrier, writers, and Eva Wittocx, Co-Ordinator of Exhibitions, S.M.A.K., accompanies the exhibition.

Admission is free.

Juan Uslé: Open Rooms continues until 3 January 2005.

Opening Hours:

Tue – Sat 10.00am – 5.30pm Sun and Bank Holidays 12 noon – 5.30pm 28- 31 December, 1 January

Mondays, 24 – 27 December Closed

For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : + 353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, email : [email protected]

6 August 2004

A major international symposium on curating contemporary art in public museums and galleries will be held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, from 10 to 12 November 2004.  Curating Now, one of the most important events of its kind ever staged in Ireland, will bring together ten leading international curators, who together represent a vast range of experience across all aspects of the curator’s role.

The speakers, from Europe, North and South America and Japan, will give illustrated presentations on their, often diverse, curatorial practice.  Topics will include programming, acquisitions and purchasing policies, as they relate to artists, arts practice and the audience for art.  They will also set out the context in which their institutions operate – nationally and internationally, and in terms of their relationships with other museums and galleries and general global trends. 

The symposium is aimed at curators, artists, critics, arts administrators and students, and anyone interested in the subject of curating contemporary art.

Curating Now will be chaired by IMMA’s Director, Enrique Juncosa.  The speakers are:
Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Portikus, Frankfurt am Main,
Iwona Blazwick, Director, Whitechapel, London,
Paolo Colombo, Curator, MAXXI, Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI Secolo, Rome,
Douglas Fogle, Curator Visual Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis,
Rachael Thomas, Acting Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin,
Ivo Mesquita, Curator, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paolo,
Fumio Nanjo, Deputy Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo,
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Curator of Contemporary Art, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris,
Kevin Power, Deputy Director, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and
James Rondeau, Curator for Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago.

Commenting on his reasons for initiating the symposium, Enrique Juncosa said: "Museums have become in recent years major cultural players in our societies.  A debate about their different policies is thus topical and relevant.  Also by inviting highly influential curators from different countries to Ireland we hope to inform them about the Irish art scene."

The fee for the symposium is €150.00, concession €130.00 (students, OAPs, unwaged).  In addition to the presentations, this includes a wine reception, tea/coffee and light lunch at IMMA over two days and the symposium pack.

Curating Now is supported by the Arts Council, the Morrison Hotel, CIRCA Art Magazine, the French Embassy, the Italian Cultural Institute and Dublin Bus.

Contact details for bookings
Aoife Ruane, Assistant Curator: Education & Community Programmes
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital
Military Road
Kilmainham
Dublin 8
Ireland
Tel +353-1-6129900 Fax +353-1-612 9999
Email [email protected]  Website  www.imma.ie

Direct Line Aoife Ruane Tel +353-1-6129913
Email [email protected]

Brochure with biographic details of speakers and other information attached.

For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : +353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999,  Email : [email protected]

15 July 2004

An exhibition based on three different projects undertaken by the Irish Museum of Modern Art with teachers, artists, and children opens to the public at IMMA on Tuesday 20 July.  The exhibition, entitled Artformations, is organised by the Museum’s Education and Community Department as part of its remit of engaging with the primary school, community and education sectors.
 
Artformations includes work resulting from three specific projects, in which the Museum took a leading role, both as an active participant and instigator of projects as well as a resource used independently by arts organisations and teachers.  The first, Breaking the Cycle, which ran in several schools from 1997 to 2000, was undertaken as part of collaboration with the Department of Education and Science, which also co-funded the project.  The exhibition includes children’s work from classroom sessions with teachers and artists from St Thomas’s Junior National School in Jobstown, Tallaght, which grew from long-term contact with artists and artworks at IMMA.
 
The second project included in the exhibition is Artformations, from which the exhibition takes its title, an action research project with the Abbey Theatre and the Arts Council.  This project explored the relationship between writing and fabric and fibre with the artist Lucinda Jacob.  During a short-term residency, the artist worked alongside two teachers and two groups of primary school children from the North Dublin National School Project and St Killian’s Senior National School, Tallaght.  The residency was followed by a visit to the exhibition Louise Bourgeois: Stitches in Time at IMMA and to Argentinian artist Gabriel Baggio’s studio when he was participating on the Museum’s Artists’ Work Programme.
 
The third project, Creativity in the Classroom, an initiative funded by the Department of Education and Science, has been running in six schools from the Canal Communities Partnership area since 1997.  Situated in the locality of the Museum, the project used IMMA as a resource for both the teachers and children.  Artists worked on 10-week programmes with each class, which were planned with each teacher, and included classroom-based work as well as visits to a number of sites, including the Museum.
 
Although the children’s ages and project timelines vary greatly in each project there are connecting themes, such as the extraordinary use of materials.  These range from watercolours and charcoal drawings, created by children from St Thomas’s Junior National School, to artwork made from fabric, fibre and stitching in both St Killian’s Senior National School and the North Dublin National School Project, to coloured pastel work from the children participating in Creativity in the Classroom.   
 
The staging of an exhibition based on this work serves to underline the importance which the Museum places on making the outcomes of such projects available to a wider public.  This policy has been endorsed by the level of interest in such projects shown both by fellow museum professionals within Ireland and internationally, and by the general gallery going public.      
 
Commenting on the exhibition, Helen O’Donoghue, Head of Education and Community Programmes at IMMA, said: "In 1999 the revised Primary School Curriculum was implemented and visual arts was one of the first subject areas to be introduced.  Galleries and museums are a critical factor in ensuring that teachers and children have ongoing access to and engagement with a full range of excellent and innovative artwork and artists.  IMMA’s potential as a resource to a broad range of schools has been extended and enhanced as a result of working in close co-operation with both the Department of Education and Science and the Arts Council.  Ongoing collaboration with our sister institution the Abbey Theatre has facilitated IMMA in extending the breath of our work and enabled us to bring children, through their teachers, into contact with artwork and artists of the highest quality."
 
A review of the IMMA/Breaking the Cycle initiative, carried out by Eibhlin Campbell and Anne Gallagher, entitled Red Lines between My Fingers is available (price €18.00).  This publication will be launched at a Seminar for artists, teachers and educators taking place from 24 – 25 September 2004. 
 
Artformations continues until 10 October 2004.
 
Admission is free.
 
Opening Hours : 
Tue – Sat 10.00am – 5.30pm
Sun and Bank Holidays 12 noon – 5.30pm
Closed Mondays
 
For further information and colour and black and white images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel : + 353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999, email : [email protected]
 
9 July 2004