IMMA is delighted to celebrate Culture Night with the opening of two major exhibitions, Obedience and Defiance is a major retrospective exhibition by the renowned Portuguese artist Paula Rego; and Ghosts from the Recent Past an exhibition of over 80 artworks from the IMMA Collection, introducing works from the major donation of the Kerlin Gallery Collection to IMMA in 2018; alongside a day long programme of Culture Night events.

For Culture Night IMMA is taking a blended approach offering online and physical events. Visitors to IMMA will have the opportunity to see the newly opened exhibitions for free, a new site-specific work Club Chroma Chlorologia by Niall Sweeney in the grounds, as well as a live workshop, Embodiment and Mark Making in The People’s Pavilion and a walking tour on the biodiversity of IMMA. The online programme begins with an Armchair Azure, a dementia-inclusive live Azure tour delivered via Zoom available to people living with dementia, their families, friends and carers. This is followed by the launch of the fifth film work to be presented as part of IMMA Screen, Helen Cammock’s The Long Note, 2018. From 4pm join us for virtual walking tours on the biodiversity of the IMMA gardens and the hidden history of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham broadcast on our website; a family art workshop for you to do at home; a cookery demonstration with Peaches Kemp from the Kemp Sisters Café and lots more. At 6pm, IMMA’s Director Annie Fletcher will broadcast the launch of Culture Night and celebrate the opening of our new exhibitions. For those who do not have the chance to see the exhibitions in person on the day, our curators and visitor engagement team will be presenting a selection of the works to our audiences online. A full programme of events is available here.

Obedience and Defiance is a major retrospective by one of Europe’s most influential figurative artists Paula Rego. The exhibition spans over 50 years of Rego’s international career, from the 1960s to the 2010s and includes more than 80 works, including paintings never shown before and works on paper from the artist’s family and close friends. Rego is celebrated for her intense and courageous paintings, drawings and prints and for her outstanding and suggestive story-telling abilities.

Rego’s work explores moral challenges to humanity, including political tyranny, gender discrimination, abortion, female genital mutilation and the death of civilians in war. Other works in the exhibition begin with her Portuguese roots and lived experiences, or respond to current affairs and stories from literature, cinema, folklore, mythology and art history. Rego often works from life, exploring conflicting emotions experienced in intimate relationships – such as affection and resentment – and behavioural codes within society at large, whilst her work reveals a distinct form of feminism.

Ghosts from the Recent Past explores how urgencies of the recent past continue to inhabit the present. Framed by key political events of the past 40 years, both in Ireland and further afield, the exhibition presents artworks from the IMMA Collection from the 1980s onwards. These works tell stories of colonisation and contested borders, of human relationships to the environment, of radical self-representation in the face of oppression and of love.

The exhibition looks at how artworks carry the language of resistances, waywardness, joys and subversions, which continue to resonate and agitate. Given the Irish context and this moment of global reckoning, the impact of contradiction, duality and paradox abounds. The placement of artworks in the galleries plays with these tensions, highlighting that opposing forces are not always easily disentangled: love from hate, fear from hope, protection from invasion. These forces are akin to lingering atmospheres or “ghosts” from the past which play an active role in structuring the conditions of the present.

Featuring artworks from IMMA’s Collection together with international collections, the exhibition debuts works from the major donation of the Kerlin Gallery Collection to IMMA in 2018. Ghosts from the Recent Past includes 44 artists and over 80 artworks and paves the way for IMMA’s 30th anniversary in 2021 in which the IMMA Collection will take centre stage.

14 September 2020

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For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane E: [email protected], Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]

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Additional Notes for Editors

Culture Night Programme

11am – 12pm – Armchair Azure
Are you living with dementia, or do you know someone who is? Why not try IMMA’s Armchair Azure, an online experience designed for people living with dementia and their families and friends. During Armchair Azure, you will explore a selection of artwork from IMMA’s Collection with a facilitator who has received special training in dementia-inclusive arts programming. This experience is ideal for family members or friends to do together. Places are strictly limited and booking is essential. For more information and to place your booking, please contact Bairbre-Ann or Ciara via email at [email protected] or phone 01 612 9955. ONLINE via ZOOM

11am – 1.30pm – Embodiment and Mark Marking workshop in The People’s Pavilion
Join us for a multi-sensory experience involving movement, dance, music and life drawing. We will explore the relationship between embodiment and mark making through guided movement, sketching and drawing to the sound of music from all over the world. The workshop will be facilitated to suit all levels of practice, no previous experience of dance or drawing is required. Booking required. THE PEOPLE’S PAVILION, IMMA

From 11.30am to 8pm – Visit an Exhibition – Book your ticket in advance
From 11.30am visit Ghosts from the Recent Past; Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy; IMMA Collection: Freud Project; IMMA Archives: 1990s, From the Edge to the Centre.
From 4pm visit Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance
Please book your Museum admission ticket at imma.ie. GALLERIES, IMMA

From 11.30am – Club Chroma Chlorologia by Niall Sweeney
Come and see Club Chroma Chlorologia by Niall Sweeney, a site-specific work in the gardens and around The People’s Pavilion. Club Chroma Chlorologia is the first stage in a gradual outdoor extension of the recent exhibition CHROMA from the galleries to the grounds of IMMA. CHROMA was originally installed in the museum’s Project Spaces from 2019 to 2020 and explored themes of the body in relation to colour and space, identity politics, cultural blindness, forced anonymity and the theatrics of visibility and invisibility. GARDENS/THE PEOPLE’S PAVILION, IMMA

12noon – IMMA Screen: Helen Cammock, The Long Note
We are delighted to launch the fifth film work to be screened as part of IMMA Screen, Helen Cammock’s, The Long Note, 2018. IMMA Screen is an online screening series showcasing film and video works from the IMMA Collection. ONLINE

3pm – Exploring the Green Cube – Biodiversity Tour
A conversational biodiversity tour of the meadow and formal gardens led by Sandra Murphy, a member of IMMA’s Visitor Engagement Team and an amateur wildlife photographer and birdie. Sandra is the author of three blogs for the IMMA magazine, discussing the bio diversity of birds, butterflies and wild flowers found on our 48 acre site. Booking required. THE PEOPLE’S PAVILION, IMMA

4pm – Explorer at Home, Family Workshop
Explorer at Home: Culture Night Special will explore ideas of collecting and archiving, as seen in the exhibition IMMA Archive: 1990s, From the Edge to the Centre. This Explorer at Home art activity will invite you to make and decorate a card container for the things that you collect and archive. ONLINE

4.40pm – Exploring the Green Cube
A conversational biodiversity tour of the meadow and formal gardens led by Sandra Murphy, a member of IMMA’s Visitor Engagement Team and an amateur wildlife photographer and birdie. Sandra is the author of three blogs for the IMMA magazine, discussing the biodiversity of birds, butterflies and wild flowers found on our 48 acre site. ONLINE

5.15pm – Exploring IMMA’s Hidden History
A walking tour exploring the hidden history of the site of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham with IMMA’s Barry Kehoe and Stephen Taylor. Discover some of the rich and fascinating layers of history from within the buildings and grounds of IMMA, from the lost cherubs of the famine Queen to the final resting place of the original warhorse. ONLINE

5.50pm – Make your own Guinness Brownies with Peaches Kemp
Join Peaches Kemp, from the Kemp Sisters Café, to make your very own very yummy Guinness Brownies in this cookery demonstration. Including tips on making the perfect chocolate chips. ONLINE

6pm – Introduction from Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA
Annie Fletcher welcomes you to IMMA’s Culture Night 2020, a year like no other, introducing two new monumental exhibitions Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance and Ghosts from the Recent Past and looks forward to celebrating IMMA’s 30th Birthday in 2021. ONLINE

6.05pm – Curators in Conversation on Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance
With a message from artist Paula Rego from her studio, join IMMA’s Head of Collections Christina Kennedy and the Curator of the exhibition Catherine Lampert, for a conversation on Rego’s newly opened exhibition Obedience and Defiance. Christina will introduce the themes and concepts behind the exhibition and highlight some of her personal favourite artworks. ONLINE

6.35pm – Curators in Conversation on Ghosts from the Recent Past
Hear from the curatorial team of Rachel Gilbourne, Janice Hough and Claire Walsh as they reflect on the driving themes of the exhibition Ghosts from the Recent Past. This exhibition paves the way for future IMMA Collection displays and showcases the recent donation of works from the Kerlin Gallery. Members of IMMA’s Visitor Engagement Team will highlight key works within the show. ONLINE

7.05pm – Curators in Conversation on Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy
A Consummate Joy is an exhibition by Indian/British artist Bharti Kher, originally programmed to open in March, it has been a beacon of hope as visitors have returned to IMMA. Following a message sent from Kher in her London studio we will hear from the exhibition curator, IMMA’s Head of Exhibitions, Rachel Thomas as she describes the exhibition and discusses some of her favourite works. ONLINE

7.35pm – Outlandish Theatre Platform presents Women on Women / WoW, with an introduction by Helen O’Donoghue with Maud Hendricks and Bernie O’Reilly
Helen O’Donoghue, Head of Engagement & Learning, IMMA, introduces the WoW project which is one of the community projects that The People’s Pavilion is supporting as part of its access and inclusion policy. Outlandish Theatre Platform creates inter-disciplinary theatre and inter-media projects with local communities in Dublin 8 and beyond, exploring who we are within perceived cultural, national and global narratives. Women on Women | WoW is a project by women on women, it addresses issues of gender equality in a diverse and multicultural Europe, through a historical and contemporary perspective. Outlandish Theatre Platform will present five short videos of WoW Stories. ONLINE

7.50pm – Yes, But Do You Care? Dance Performance
Bairbre Ann Harkin, Curator, Art & Ageing, IMMA will introduce this dance work by visual artist Marie Brett (E.gress, Torpedo, Amulet) and chorographer/dance artist Philip Connaughton (Assisted Solo, Mamafesta Memorialising, Extraterrestrial Events) who are making a new collaborative, cross-medium art piece exploring how issues of capacity, autonomy and dementia care-giving are raising dilemmas amid Ireland’s new capacity legislation. ONLINE.

8.15pm – #IMMAINSIDEOUT Collective Project
During the lockdown the #IMMAInsideOut Collective Project allowed us to share art, ideas and our experiences. We asked our followers on social media to share their art and lives with all of us in a collective effort to combat social isolation and boredom using the hashtag #IMMAInsideOut. View our image gallery as a digital exhibition, a reflection of our shared experience of these exceptional times. The image gallery comprises work shared by our audience from March to July 2020. ONLINE.

Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance
18 Sept 2020 – 3 Jan 2021

About Paula Rego
Born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1935, Dame Paula Rego trained at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Rego is celebrated for her bold and intense paintings, drawings and prints, which intertwine the private and the public, the intimate and the political, the real and the imagined, combining autobiographical elements with stories from literature, folklore, and mythology, references to earlier art, and observations on the contemporary world.. Rego lives and works in London and has exhibited widely in Britain and internationally. Since 2004, major retrospectives of her work have been held at Tate Britain, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.

Exhibition Details
Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance is curated by the distinguished art historian and former director of Whitechapel Gallery, Catherine Lampert. With thanks to Paula Rego and family and to the Marlborough Gallery.

The exhibition organised by MK Gallery, Milton Keynes with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and IMMA, Dublin.

Admission:
€8.00 / €5.00 Concession (Senior Citizens and Unwaged)
Free Admission for IMMA Members, full-time students and under 18’s.
Free Admission for all every Tuesday. Please book tickets before your visit at imma.ie

Please note that this exhibition addresses challenging subjects and includes images of a suggestive and/or graphic nature. Parental and carer discretion may be required.

Ghosts from the Recent Past
19 September 2020 – 2021

List of Artists:
Janine Antoni, Boyd & Evans, Gerard Byrne, Nina Canell, Helen Chadwick, Phil Collins, Joshua Compston, Barrie Cooke, Dorothy Cross, Vivienne Dick, Willie Doherty, Patrick Hall, Siobhán Hapaska, Patrick Jolley, Isaac Julien, Michael Landy, Les Levine, Brian Maguire, Tim Mara, Mónica Mayer, Niamh McCann, Stephen McKenna, William McKeown, Tom Molloy, Janet Mullarney, Asako Narahashi, Isabel Nolan, Brian O’Doherty/Patrick Ireland, Mairead O’hEocha, Mark O’Kelly, Garrett Phelan, Sarah Pierce, Jack Pierson, Kathy Prendergast, Veronica Ryan, Margaret Salmon, Norbert Schwontkowski, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Kara Walker, Robin Warren, Elinor Wiltshire, Bill Woodrow, Suné Woods.

Kerlin Gallery Donation
In 2018, IMMA received the donation of the Kerlin Gallery Collection through Section 1003 to join the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. This donation comprises sixty works by twenty-six artists including paintings, sculpture, photography, film. It is a compilation of some of the most significant developments in Irish art practice of the 1990s and early 2000s. The range of works overlaps and reflects patterns of extraordinary social, cultural and political change in Ireland while also connecting to distinctive developments in contemporary international practice of the time.

While IMMA Collection had already held certain works by many of the artists, each of whom are leading figures in Irish art of this period, the Kerlin Gallery donation enables IMMA to more comprehensively chart the careers of those artists’ practices and evidence how they have reached the stature they now occupy.

New to the IMMA Collection are works by Jim Lambie, Maureen Gallace, Mairead O’hEocha. Tal R, Norbert Schwontkowski, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Tony Swain, all highly significant artists in their fields.

Artists in the donation are Gerard Byrne, Phil Collins, Dorothy Cross, Willie Doherty, Mark Francis, Maureen Gallace, Liam Gillick, Siobhán Hapaska, Roger Hiorns, Callum Innes, Jaki Irvine, Jim Lambie, Elizabeth Magill, Brian Maguire, Stephen McKenna, Isabel Nolan, Mairead O’hEocha, Kathy Prendergast, Tal R, Norbert Schwontkowski, William Scott, Paul Seawright, Seán Shanahan, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tony Swain and Andrew Vickery.

Exhibition Details
Ghosts from the Recent Past is co-curated by Rachael Gilbourne, Janice Hough and Claire Walsh, Assistant Curator’s, IMMA. Steered by the vision of Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA.

Exhibition design by Emma Conway.

Admission Free. Please book tickets before your visit at imma.ie
.

We are delighted to welcome the public back to IMMA as we reopen the campus from today, Monday 29 June. The grounds of IMMA reopen with a new outdoor tented area called The People’s Pavilion located on our front lawn and Social Distancing Circles placed across the site where friends and families can meet safely and enjoy IMMA. Our outdoor programme will focus on art trails, our gardens and an activated programme of pop-up events in The People’s Pavilion which will include collaborations with local community groups and artist collectives from mid-July. All this will be complemented by a new outdoor pop-up café The Flying Dog.

Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA, said “The roadmap to recovery has placed a new focus on the importance of outdoor convivial spaces where we can gather safely and I am pleased that we can celebrate this at IMMA. The grounds are going to be of central importance to IMMA’s programming going forward. This summer we encourage you to use IMMA as a place to meet with friends and family in our Social Distancing Circles, follow our outdoor art trails, drop into the People’s Pavilion and try our new outdoor pop-up café The Flying Dog”.

The galleries will reopen in phases from tomorrow, Tuesday 30 June, beginning with the Freud Project which examines the work of Lucian Freud through an accompanying digital research programme exploring the role of the studio. Also opening is our archive exhibition IMMA Archive: 1990s, From the Edge to the Centre which celebrates the ambitious IMMA Collection and Archive Digitisation Project. From 21 July we will open the long-awaited exhibition by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy, together with the main reception area, the IMMA Shop and an increased offering in The People’s Pavilion. We will launch a full programme of exhibitions in the autumn.

In order to ensure that public health guidelines are adhered to we are reducing the number of people into our exhibition spaces. Entry to the exhibitions is free but by ticketed timeslot. Tickets can be booked via our new booking system at www.imma.ie where visitors will find more information to ensure their visit is safe and enjoyable.

We will also continue to offer our online programme throughout the summer months. Newly launched is the IMMA International Summer School which takes place from 3 to 28 August 2020. This is an online programme of lectures, discussions and workshops by artists, theorists and educators who will focus on the theme of ‘statecraft’ and the role of art and artists in relation to the state. We will also continue to present IMMA Screen, an online screening series showcasing film and video works from the IMMA Collection. We are delighted to present Visibility: Moderate (1981) by Vivienne Dick as the second work from the Collection to be showcased as part of IMMA Screen alongside a new interview with the artist.

29 June 2020

– ENDS –

For further information and images please contact:
Monica Cullinane E: [email protected]
Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]

 

Additional Notes for Editors

 

Museum opening hours

Mon: Closed (Grounds are open to the public)
Tues to Fri: 11.30am – 5.30pm
Sat: 10am – 5.30pm
Sun: 12noon – 5.30pm

 

The Flying Dog Café
Mon to Sat: 10am – 5pm

Sun: 12noon – 6pm

 

The People’s Pavilion
The People’s Pavilion is open Museum hours.

 

Exhibitions
Links to our website for further details on exhibitions

IMMA Collection: Freud Project, The Artist’s Studio – from 30 June

IMMA Archives, 1990s: From the Edge to the Centre – from 30 June

Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy – from 21 July

Outdoor Art Trails

IMMA Families: Outdoor artworks, Natural Materials & Steel and Bronze

A Guide to the Gardens and Meadows: Tree Walk

A Guide to the Gardens and Meadows: Wild Plants and Flowers

 

IMMA Explorer Activity Pack
This free family activity pack includes an activity booklet with games, puzzles and tasks, as well as a pack of colouring pencils and an Explorer identity badge. Packs can be picked up from the Freud Centre reception.

 

IMMA Online

Further details of IMMA’s online programmes are available on our webpage IMMA Online.

IMMA is delighted to present IMMA Screen, a new series which celebrates film and video works from the IMMA Collection. Previously only shown in an exhibition space, IMMA Screen provides an exciting opportunity for audiences to view artworks by Helen Cammock, Phil Collins, Vivienne Dick, Kevin Gaffney, Isabel Nolan and Alanna O’Kelly in their own homes.

Available from today, Tuesday 26 May, we are pleased to present Sanctuary/Wastelands (1994) by Alanna O’Kelly as the first work to be screened as part of this programme. The screenings are available online for a limited time only alongside a new interview with the artist.

As we reflect on the psychological implications of newly imposed physical distancing between ourselves and others, IMMA Screen invites a timely reflection on the power and politics of representation and the continuous fabrications of the self and the other. In different ways, the works engage with performance and the role of the camera in the construction and mediation of identity. A number of these works also deal poignantly with ideas of loss and erasure.

Alanna O’Kelly’s, Sanctuary/Wastelands (1994), was shown as part of the exhibition IMMA Archive: 1990s, From the Edge to the Centre when it was closed on 12 March due to COVID-19. In addition to the video, the original soundtrack, which accompanied the 1994 slide-tape installation of Sanctuary/Wastelands, is available for the first time since the re-making of the work in 1998.

Alongside the screening a new interview with O’Kelly is also available with a poem by the late Eavan Boland and a photograph taken by the artist showing the now disappeared burial mound at which the video was set. The poem and photograph were both presented alongside Sanctuary/Wastelands when it was first shown as part of the 1994 Glen Dimplex Artists Award exhibition.

Although the work itself takes the form of a video, Sanctuary/Wastelands is deeply connected to performance and the embodied cultural expression of grief. Made in 1994, Sanctuary/Wastelands captures a famine burial ground at Teampall Dumhach Mhór, or ‘Church of the Great Sandbank’ in Thallabhawn, County Mayo. This site was a monastic settlement from the 6th century and a famine burial ground in the 19th century. Known as ‘The Sanctuary’ to 17th century mapmakers, it was referred to as ‘The Wastelands’ by local people in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work was conceived following a performance by O’Kelly at the site in which she circled the burial mound while keening for the dead. Once located on the edge of an estuary between Mweelrea Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean, the burial ground has now completely dissolved due to erosion.

Originally a slide-tape installation involving three projectors, Sanctuary/Wastelands was later digitised in 1998. The visuals remained the same, with the video capturing the 1994 set-up of one static image of the mound projected onto a wall overlaid with slowly revealed close-ups of the site from the two other projectors. However, a new audio track added in 1998 replaced the original. While the first track related specifically to the site in Mayo and featured the sound of the artist keening as she had done in her early performance there, the new version, made with musician Tommy Hayes, moved the focus away from the cultural specificities of Ireland.

To coincide with IMMA Screen, a new online talk by Dr Maeve Connolly, titled Media-based Time: Infrastructure and Temporality in 1990s Art, is available to listen to. This talk explores media-based time and artworks as it relates to the exhibition IMMA Archive: 1990s and selected work by Willie Doherty, Alanna O’Kelly and Caroline McCarthy.

New screenings will be available monthly alongside a new interview, related resources and material from the IMMA Archive. Each screening will be accessible online for one month.

26 May 2020

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For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] or Patrice Molloy E: [email protected]

Additional Notes for Editors

Visit the webpage IMMA Screen

Watch Sanctuary/Wastelands (1994) by Alanna O’Kelly

Talks Online
Media-based Time: Infrastructure and Temporality in 1990s Art by Dr Maeve Connolly
40mins | May 2020
To coincide with IMMA Screen, this new online talk explores media-based time and artworks, as it relates to IMMA Archive: 1990s and selected work by Willie Doherty, Alanna O’Kelly and Caroline McCarthy. Presented in collaboration with ARC at IADT. Listen here

About the Artist – Alanna O’Kelly
Irish artist Alanna O’Kelly (born 1955) attended the National College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Art, London. Her practice incorporates sculpture, performance, slide installation and film. Influenced by feminist politics, O’Kelly explores ideas of the psychic conflicts of our shared history and the continuity of tradition. O’Kelly’s work has featured in major group and solo exhibitions since the 1980s. She represented Ireland at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 1996.

Opening on Friday 13 March 2020, IMMA presents A Consummate Joy a solo exhibition by acclaimed British-Indian artist Bharti Kher (b1969 London). Kher’s art gives form to daily life and its rituals in a way that reassesses and transforms its meaning to yield an air of magical realism.

A Consummate Joy comprises nineteen new and recent works, ranging from sculpture, painting, installation and watercolours. Now living in New Delhi, India, Kher’s use of found objects is informed by her own position as an artist located between geographic and social surroundings. Kher’s way of working is exploratory; surveying, looking, collecting and transforming, as she repositions the viewer’s relationship with the object and initiates a dialogue between metaphysical and material pursuits.

Bharti Kher on the significance of showing her work in Ireland said “Ireland has always been an interest for me in its similarities to ancient Indian history and mythologies; from the worship of pagan goddesses to the practice of oral storytelling and song”. 

At the centre of Kher’s practice are her sculptures, early examples of which featured fantastical hybrid characters, blurring the distinctions between humans and nature, ecology and politics. In line with this early practice, Kher continues to assemble, juxtapose and transform found objects that are witness to their own histories.

The title of the exhibition, A Consummate Joy, is taken from a work in the exhibition, Consummate joy and a Sisyphean task (2019), a sculpture made of wood, copper, steel and red jasper stone. The term Sisyphean is derived from Greek mythology, where Sisyphus was punished in Hades for his misdeeds in life by being condemned eternally to roll a heavy stone up a hill. As he reached the top, the stone rolled back down again and his labour in loop, was everlasting and seemingly futile. This endless metaphor translates for the artist as a metaphor for the cycle of life itself, aligning Eastern and Western philosophies. A Consummate Joy celebrates the repetition of all cycles, to find meaning in the everyday, in the enacting and activating of our daily rituals.

The exhibition explores further these cycles of life and Kher’s interest in myth and the narrative, in the work Artemis (2019), also inspired by ancient Greek mythology. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, animals and the moon. Kher portrays her as the ‘many breasted’ goddess and her many heads represent her plurality. She is the archetype mother goddess and is also its antithesis, of death, she gives life and takes away life. Artemis like many of the female Indian goddesses such as Kali, that Kher also refers to in her sculptural works, remain for her, essentially transformative beings, whose equivocal natures, both nourish and destroy.

Rachel Thomas, Senior Curator: Head of exhibitions at IMMA, said “Bharti Kher’s practice acknowledges and celebrates the architypes women of great importance from mythology and the past. It is interesting then to have the exhibition here as Ireland has a wealth of Celtic goddesses who were pioneers and shaped history. This exhibition explores these themes with complex narratives of history, duality and questions the ideas of ritual itself”.

Three of Kher’s artworks are currently on show at IMMA as part of the international group exhibition Desire: A Revision from the 20^th Century to the Digital Age. Two sculptures And all the while the benevolent slept (2008) and Warrior with Cloak and Shield (2008), an empowered life-size hybrid sculpture of a half-woman, half-stag; and the painting Blind matter, dark night (2017), one of Kher’s Bhindi paintings; the Bindi is a signature material of Kher’s work. Desire: A Revision is on show until 22 March 2020. The work, Warrior with Cloak and Shield, started a conversation with the artist on the role of the female, both in historical, mythological and contemporary representations that then led to the inspiration for her solo exhibition at IMMA.

24 February 2020

– Ends –

 

For further information and images please contact:

Monica Cullinane, [email protected] tel: 01-612 9922  

 

Additional Notes for Editors

 Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy
13 March – 17 May 2020
Admission Free

About the artist
Bharti Kher was born in 1969 in London, England and lives in New Delhi, India. She studied painting, graduating in 1991 from Newcastle Polytechnic. In 1992 she travelled to India, deciding to live there in 1993. Kher’s recent solo exhibitions include: ‘A Wonderful Anarchy’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, ‘Chimeras’, Centre Pasqu’Art, Biel (2018), ‘Djinns, things, places’, Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo (2018), ‘Points de départ, points qui lient’, DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montreal (2018), ‘Dark Matter’, Museum Frieder Burda, Berlin, 2017), ‘This Breathing House’, Freud Museum, London (2016), ‘The Laws of Reversed Effort’, Galerie Perrotin, Paris (2016),’Three decimal points. of a minute of a second. of a degree’, Hauser & Wirth, Zürich (2014) and ‘Misdemeanours’, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai(2014).

Recent group exhibitions include: ‘In the Company of Artists’ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (2019), ‘Desire in Art, from the 20th Century to the Digital Age’, IMMA, Dublin (2019), ‘Les arts du Tout-Monde’, Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal (2019), ‘Driving Forces: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Ann and Ron Pizzuti’, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus (2019), ‘Facing India’ Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2018), ‘Like Life: Sculpture, Colour and the Body (1300-Now)’, The Metropolitan Museum, New York (2018), ‘Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada’, Canada tour: Art Gallery of Alberta – Alberta; University of Toronto Art Centre – Toronto; Winnipeg Art Gallery – Winnipeg (2018-2019).

Full captions for above images:
Bharti Kher, Artemis, 2019, Clay, cement, wax, brass, 157.2 x 30 x 30 cm / 61 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches, Sculpture: 48.2 x 16 x 16 cm, Cement plinth: 100.5 x 30 cm. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Bharti Kher, Consummate joy and a Sisyphean task, 2019, Wood, copper, steel, red jasper stone, 247 x 66.9 x 200 cm / 97 1/4 x 26 3/8 x 78 3/4 inches. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Associated Talks, Events

Preview Artist Discussion / Bharti Kher and Dr Lisa Godson
Thursday 12 March 2020, 5.30pm, Lecture Room, Booking required – Book here
Bharti Kher joins Dr Lisa Godson (Lecturer, NCAD) in conversation to discuss the artist’s new solo exhibition A Consummate Joy. Together they trace key tenets that inform Kher’s longstanding sculptural practice that combines hybrid beings that unite contradictions of gender, race, ecology, labour and politics; juxtaposed with the material histories of found objects.

Post-colonial interests in Indian and Irish mythologies, the worship of pagan goddesses, oral storytelling and song, are amongst the topics to be explored with the artist. This talk launches the exhibition A Consummate Joy and is followed by the preview and drinks reception.

Curators Lunchtime Talk Series: Bharti Kher, A Consummate Joy
Friday 1 May 2020, 1.15 – 2pm / Meeting Point – IMMA Main Reception, Drop In
Join Annie Lynott, Exhibitions, IMMA for a guided walkthrough of the exhibition and hear more about the themes and artworks selected for this solo show.

A full talks programme will accompany the exhibition, please check www.imma.ie for details.

The IMMA Collection: Freud Project presents a new research and activation programme exploring The Artist’s Studio

Very few artists spent as much time in the studio as Lucian Freud (1922–2011). The studio was his world. Now in its fourth year, the IMMA Collection: Freud Project is dedicating a six-month period to the investigation of the theme of the artist’s studio, exploring its role and function in the production of art. Opening today, Wednesday 12 February, The Artist’s Studio presents the work of Lucian Freud with a new research and activation space in the Freud Centre.

The studio, in all its forms, exerts a fascination as the physical and conceptual site of an artist’s work. The IMMA Collection: Freud Project provides the framework for an investigation of the timeless subject of the relationship between the artist and their studio. The basement of the Freud Centre is a new site for research, functioning as a reading, screening and seminar room. This is the home for a public exploration of the role and function of the studio as the space of production. This project maps out and builds on existing ways of thinking about the studio, focusing on international contexts as well as the contemporary situation in Ireland.

Annie Fletcher, Director of IMMA said “the significance of The Artist’s Studio as a model of research and activation within the Museum, together with the IMMA Archive exhibition ‘From the Edge to Centre’, are dynamic templates for looking to the enormous potential of a future Collection and Learning Centre at IMMA.

Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator: Head of Collections at IMMA said “The Artist’s Studio stands for the creative process. With this programme of research and activation IMMA positions itself at a juncture where curatorial, art historical and educational research can converge. IMMA is uniquely poised, by fusing where art is made and art is displayed, to investigate at first hand the role and function of the studio in the relationships between art, politics and contemporary life.”

A series of core research questions inform and steer the various activities taking place. What are the uses of the studio? What are the limits of the studio? What are other possibilities for the studio? How do we value studio versus non-studio practices and how do we make space for alternatives within the Museum? Using Freud’s work, and his intense focus on the interiors of his studios as a prompt, this project explores and makes visible the alternative forms of research and learning that can take place in the environment of the Museum.

Highlights of the research programme include a summer school in June; engagement with IMMA’s own Artists’ Residency Programme and the IMMA Archive including the history of the Residency; discussion on Freud’s studio and an investigation into the contemporary situation in Ireland today.

This research project is rooted in the IMMA Collection: Freud Project, which presents 29 paintings and 16 works on paper in this exhibition. Freud is widely recognised as one of the greatest realist painters of the twentieth century, renowned for his intimate, honest, often visceral portrayal of the human form. He changed the way we see portraiture and the nude in art. The works in this exhibition, mainly dating from 1970 onwards, explore several of the artist’s key themes such as portraiture, self-portraiture, still-life, animals and nature. They include portraits of his family, other artists, an art writer, his art dealer, business people and his doctor. The loans also reflect his friendships and contacts within the racing world, his love of horses and dogs, his interest in the physical and psychological relationships between human and animal sitters, his studio and garden.

12 February 2020

– Ends –

For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane, [email protected] tel: 01-612 9922  

 

Caption for image: Lucian Freud standing on his head, with daughter Bella, in his studio, circa 1986. © Estate of Bruce Bernard, courtesy of Virginia Verran.

Image use: Full title and copyright notice must be displayed with the photograph. No cropping or alteration is allowed. Full image must be used, ie that the top of the foot (at top of photo) is fully in view.

 

Additional Notes for Editors

IMMA Collection: Freud Project, The Artist’s Studio

12 February – 30 August 2020

Admission Free

 

About the Artist

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was born in Berlin to Ernst, the architect son of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his wife Lucie Brasch. In 1933, age ten, Freud fled with his family to England, ahead of the rise of Nazism. The family settled in London where Freud lived for the rest of his life.

Freud studied briefly at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London and later at Cedric Morris’s East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham. His first solo exhibition, at the Lefevre Gallery received critical acclaim in 1944, followed by a number of hallucinatory, finely-painted portraits that marked him as an artist to watch. Freud’s adherence to realism and focus on the human figure, when abstraction and other progressive forms of practice were more prolific, moved him in and out of the spotlight until the 1980s when renewed international interest in painting and figuration gave his work a new significance. Since then Freud has become one of the best-known and most highly regarded British artists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Companion of Honour and the Order of Merit. Major retrospectives of his work were held in Tate Britain, 2002, IMMA 2007, MOMA, 2008 and the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2012. Further exhibitions are planned in London for 2022 to celebrate the centenary of Freud’s birth.

Freud visited Dublin and Connemara in Ireland in the late 1940s and returned regularly over the next decade. After his marriage to Caroline Blackwood of the Guinness family he was also a regular visitor at Luggala, Co Wicklow. During the late 1940s and early 1950s Freud connected with Irish artists such as Patrick Swift whose Dublin studio he used and Edward McGuire whose tutor he was at the Slade Art School, as well as the literary circle of Patrick Kavanagh, John Montague, Brendan Behan, Anthony Cronin and their Soho milieu. An in-depth account of Freud and Ireland will be explored through the Freud Project, including his close links with the other great figurative painter of the 20th century, Irish-born and London-based, Francis Bacon – his friend, mentor and great rival of thirty years, whose studio you can visit in Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.

 

About the IMMA Collection: Freud Project

The IMMA Collection: Freud Project marks a major five-year initiative for IMMA. Fifty-two works by Lucian Freud have been lent to the Museum’s Collection until 2021. The loans, from a number of private collectors, include thirty-two paintings and twenty works on paper comprising nineteen large-scale etchings and one early drawing.

Four exhibitions have been presented to date, the inaugural IMMA Collection: Freud Project exhibition; The Ethics of Scrutiny curated by Daphne Wright; Gaze and Life above Everything: Lucian Freud and Jack B. Yeats.

 

The Freud Project in 2020

From 12 June to 1 November, affiliated to the Freud Project exhibition programme, IMMA presents a major exhibition of the work of Paula Rego, Freud’s fellow artist and peer, in Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance. From September in the Freud Centre we will present the exhibition Lucie and Daryll: Chantal Joffe looking at Lucian Freud focusing on the theme of the Painter’s Mother.

 

Associated Events

A full talks programme will accompany The Artist’s Studio, please check www.imma.ie for details.

IMMA today announces highlights of its 2020 programme which includes solo exhibitions by Bharti Kher, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Paula Rego and Eva Rothschild; a major international exhibition Xenogenesis by The Otolith Group and an exhibition from the IMMA Collection Ghosts From the Recent Past. The IMMA Collection: Freud Project will be accompanied by a response by Chantel Joffee to Lucian Freud’s portraits.

The first major exhibition Ghosts From the Recent Past explores how urgencies of the recent past continue to inhabit the present. Framed by key political events over the recent past it focuses on artworks from the IMMA Collection, including a major donation from the Kerlin Gallery, from the 1980s to the present. This exhibition can be seen as part of a series of major collection displays which will open at IMMA over the next three years, combining the IMMA collection and other international collections all established in the 1990’s as the beginning of the contemporary Global moment and will bring Irish practice in dialogue with other innovative artistic centres and collections throughout the world.

This summer a major retrospective of the work of renowned Portuguese artist Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance, spans Rego’s entire career from the 1960s, comprising more than 80 works, including paintings that have never been seen before and works on paper from the artist’s family and close friends.

Opening in the autumn The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis presents a cross section of artworks from 2011 to 2018 by The Otolith Group; the artist’s collective with Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. Xenogenesis weaves together many strands of imaginative speculation on deep pasts and possible futures.

Chantal Joffe has been invited to engage with Lucian Freud’s portraits of his mother, Lucie Brasch in Lucie and Daryll: Chantal Joffe looking at Lucian Freud. The investigation will centre around two of Freud’s most outstanding portraits of his mother which form part of the IMMA Collection: Freud Project (2016-2021).

Other solo exhibitions showing throughout the year include Bharti Kher whose art gives form to quotidian life and its daily rituals in a way that reassesses and transforms their meaning to yield an air of magical realism.

Christodoulos Panayiotou’s exhibition will engage with the history of IMMA’s building and site. His research-based practice focusses on the identification and uncovering of hidden narratives in the visual records of history and time.

IMMA is also delighted to present The Shrinking Universe by Eva Rothschild which was first shown as the national representation of Ireland at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2019.

The final exhibition of the year from the David Kronn Collection entitled Borders will reflect on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The exhibition includes work by the Magnum Agency, Evelyn Hofer, Paul Caponigro, Roger Mayne, Rosalind Solomon, Paul Seawright and Donovan Wylie

IMMA and EVA International (Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art) are excited to announce a new commissioning partnership for 2020. This partnership will see two of Ireland’s most significant contemporary arts organisations work together on a major artistic production.

Exhibition Highlights 2020

IMMA Collection: Freud Project
The Artist’s Studio
February –  August 2020

Bharti Kher
March – May 2020

Ghosts From the Recent Past
24 April – 13 September 2020

Christodoulos Panayiotou
24 April – 13 September 2020

Eva Rothschild, The Shrinking Universe
12 June – 11 October 2020

Paula Rego, Obedience and Defiance
12 June – 1 November 2020

IMMA Collection: Freud Project
Lucie and Daryll: Chantal Joffe looking at Lucian Freud
11 September 2020 – Feb 2021

The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis
9 October 2020 – 17 January 2021

David Kronn Collection, Borders
21 October – Feb 2021

– ENDS –

For further information and images please contact: Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] T:+353 (0)1 612 9922 or Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T:+353 (0)1 612 9921

PROTEST! is a major retrospective of the work of acclaimed British artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman (1942-1994), marking 25 years since his death, presented at IMMA, Dublin in partnership with Manchester Art Gallery.

IMMA is delighted to present PROTEST!, a major retrospective of the work of one of the most influential figures in 20^th century British culture, Derek Jarman. While addressing Jarman’s important contribution to film, this exhibition will focus on his wider practice as a painter, writer, set-designer, gardener and political activist. This is the first time that these diverse strands of his practice have been brought together in over 20 years, since the important exhibition at the Barbican, London, in 1996.

PROTEST! captures Jarman’s engagement with both art and society, as well as his contemporary concerns with political protest and personal freedoms arising from the AIDS crisis. Major bodies of work, from the 1960s to the 1990s, have been gathered together; many of which have never been seen in public before. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue will provide a comprehensive examination of Jarman’s work, with over 150 works in diverse media, dating from 1958 – 1993.

Derek Jarman studied at the Slade School of Art, London in the early 60s, and was part of a group of young painters, including Patrick Procter and David Hockney, who embodied a changing mood in British art. His early career focused entirely on painting, and from 1960 onwards he produced a variety of self-portraits and figure studies with diverse influences and constantly evolving outcomes. Often auto-biographical, his work across varied media reflected how his own life experience spoke to wider social and political contexts. Included in this exhibition are early paintings showing Jarman’s rapid stylistic evolution such as Self Portrait (1959), Trick (1964) and Landscape with Marble Mountain (1967). More than 80 early works have been identified from the period 1958 to 1970, and some 30 of these are previously unknown and have been catalogued, conserved and documented for this exhibition.

In 1967 Jarman was included in Tate Young Contemporaries; in the inaugural exhibition at the Lisson Gallery and the 5th Biennale des Jeunes, Paris; a remarkable record of achievement for a painter in his mid-twenties. Alongside painting he began to produce set designs for opera and ballet which fused his personal style of painting with the scale and three-dimensionality needed for the theatre. Sometimes called ‘The Andy Warhol of London’, as early as 1967 Jarman was hired to produce design sets such as Jazz Calendar by Frederick Ashton at the Royal Ballet; and in 1971 the set for Ken Russell’s The Devils. The exhibition includes many original designs by Jarman; photographs of the realised sets and a group of seven costumes designed by Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell. While collaboration was at the heart of Jarman’s practice it also highlights his status as an incubator of young talent. Figures such as Tilda Swinton, Toyah Wilcox, Joanna Hogg, Sean Bean and John Maybury had their first opportunities under Jarman’s direction.

Throughout his career Jarman retained a deep interest in history and the art of the past. In 1976 he produced his first full length feature film Sebastiane, a queer telling of the story of the martyrdom of St Sebastian. Against the backdrop of Thatcherism and a socially conservative Britain, Jarman’s work made queer lives and history visible; a provocation to the dominant hierarchies. His films Sebastiane (1976) and Jubilee (1978) were broadcast on Channel 4 in the early 80s to a very broad audience. This led to a conservative backlash from figures such as Mary Whitehouse and Winston Churchill who appealed to the Arts Minister to have funding withdrawn. Jarman responded by becoming ever-more frank and un-apologetic about his subject matter, and from the late 80s, put queer lives at the centre of his practice through figures such as Caravaggio, Edward II and Wittgenstein.

Caravaggio’s life and art were a source of inspiration for their fusion of passion, beauty and violence. Over a period of more than ten years Jarman made paintings using techniques borrowed from the Renaissance master. Making a feature film on Caravaggio’s life became an obsession. This research led to the creation of volumes of sketchbooks, storyboards, and paintings which will be included in this retrospective. Following the release of the film Caravaggio in 1986, he received recognition by the Tate Gallery when he was included as a nominee for the Turner Prize that year.

At the end of 1986 Jarman was diagnosed as HIV-positive. AIDS was then a fatal, non-treatable disease which the tabloid press described as a plague. This diagnosis transformed Jarman’s practice and led to a new kind of activism as he worked to raise awareness of AIDS. He was one of the only public figures to ‘come out’ with the disease, an extraordinary act of courage in the social and political climate of the time. This is expressed in his paintings such as Queer (1992) [Manchester Art Gallery Collection], from his expansive series of ‘Slogan Paintings’. These monumental works, from the early 1990s, incorporating phrases related to government policy, tabloid hysteria and public fear of the AIDS crisis, are included in the exhibition and remain powerful comments on the socio-political climate of the time.

Jarman’s diagnosis coincided with a move to Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent, which is over shadowed by the Dungeness nuclear power station. Here he created a unique and highly-regarded garden, the site of his film The Garden (1990) and book Derek Jarman’s Garden (1995). For this exhibition the garden will be the subject of new critical texts which will explore its lasting legacy and its place as a living work of art. The diverse bodies of works that were made there, tar paintings, landscape paintings, assemblages and feature film are represented in the exhibition.

Throughout his life Jarman was a committed diarist and regularly published memoirs that reflected his thoughts on art, life and society, these include Modern Nature (1991) and Dancing Ledge (1984). They offer a clear insight into his working process and the political backdrop to the creation of his work. This practice will be reflected in the exhibition through diaries, sketchbooks and spaces for reflection.

Moving image works from across Jarman’s career will be shown throughout the exhibition, charting the evolution of his filmmaking. Jarman’s achievement in film will be presented in association with the Irish Film Institute (IFI) who will screen a selection of his feature films in their original format during the month of December.

Jarman remains an essential and influential figure in contemporary art. Against the backdrop of Section 28, enacted on 24 May 1988 that stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality”, and the AIDS crisis, Jarman made explicitly political art. In his use of installation (including beds), multiple media and religious iconography he prefigured the work of younger artists including Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

 

PROTEST!, published by Thames and Hudson 2020

IMMA and Thames and Hudson will publish a major new monograph on Derek Jarman to accompany the retrospective, covering Jarman’s artistic development as well as reflecting on his life and legacy. The book will feature contributions from Seán Kissane, Curator, IMMA; Sir Norman Rosenthal; Jonny Bruce, gardener and journalist; Professor Robert Mills, University of London; Jon Savage, music critic and writer; Mary Cremin, Director, VOID; Michael Charlesworth, an authority on landscape and the history of gardens and author of the book Derek Jarman, Critical Lives, and writers Olivia Laing and Philip Hoare.

The exhibition is curated by Seán Kissane, Curator, Exhibitions, IMMA and is assisted by Benjamin Stafford, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, IMMA.

Derek Jarman, PROTEST! is organized by IMMA, Dublin, in partnership with Manchester Art Gallery, and is accompanied by additional projects at VOID, Derry and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton.

The exhibition has been developed in close cooperation with the Keith Collins Will Trust, James Mackay and Amanda Wilkinson Gallery.

 

Full Exhibition Partners/Programme

PROTEST!

IMMA, 15 November 2019 – 23 February 2020.

Irish Film Institute, December 2019

The Irish Film Institute will show a selection of Jarman’s feature films in their original format.

VOID, Derry, 15 November 2019 – 18 January 2020

Focusing on Jarman’s Punk works including The Last of England and the GBH series, curated by Mary Cremin, Director, VOID.

 

Touring to

Manchester Art Gallery, 2 April – 31 August 2020

PROTEST! will be re-presented by Fiona Corridan, Curator, Manchester Art Gallery with writer and music journalist Jon Savage.

HOME, from June 2020

HOME will present a film programme and series of events curated by Jason Wood and Rachel Hayward. homemcr.org

John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Summer 2020

Focusing on Jarman’s Prospect Cottage landscape paintings and his relationship with nature.

– Ends –

 

For further information and images please contact:
Monica Cullinane, [email protected] +353-1-612 9922

 

Additional Notes for Editors

Admission is Free

 

About the artist

Derek Jarman (1942-1994) was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, political activist and author. He was educated at the University of London and at the Slade School of Art. In 1967 Jarman exhibited in Young Contemporaries, Tate Gallery, London (prizewinner); Edinburgh Open 100, Lisson Gallery, London and Fifth Biennale des Jeunes Artistes, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris. Jarman’s first work in the cinema was as a set designer on Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971). Selected set designs include Savage Messiah (1972) and The Rake’s Progress (1982), along with numerous designs for stage and ballet. Jarman’s first moving image works were Super 8mm experimental films. His first full-length feature film Sebastiane was released in 1976, followed by, amongst others, Jubilee (1978), Angelic Conversation (1985), Caravaggio (1986), The Garden (1990) and Edward II (1991) and Blue (1993).

Jarman has been the subject of exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (2017); the Serpentine Art Gallery, London (2008); Tate Britain (2008) and Barbican Art Gallery, London (1996); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (1994) and ICA, London (1984). His work has been presented at the Walker Art Centre (2009); Kunsthalle Wein, Kunsthalle Zurich (both 2008); the Venice Biennale (1993) and Third Eye Centre (1989), amongst many others. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1986.

Jarman also wrote several books, including the autobiographical Dancing Ledge (1984), two volumes of memoirs, Modern Nature (1992) and At Your Own Risk (1992), and the poetry collection A Finger in the Fishes Mouth (1972). Derek Jarman’s Garden, which documents the creation of his extraordinary garden at Dungeness was published in 1995.

 

Associated Events

Seminar & Preview: Derek Jarman, PROTEST!

Thurs 14 Nov / 2.30 – 5pm / Lecture Room

Join curator Seán Kissane and invited guests for a series of keynote responses that delve into the world of Derek Jarman. Jarman is considered by many as one of the most influential figures in 20th century British culture often described as a true ‘Renaissance man’, who combined a confrontational aesthetic with pure pop culture. Speakers share their diverse encounters spanning the life and work of Jarman, reflecting on his legacy as a renowned and revolutionary film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, political activist and author. The seminar is followed by the exhibition preview.

Curators Lunchtime Talk Series: Drop In

Fri 6 Dec / 1.15 – 2pm / Meeting Point – IMMA Main Reception

Join curator Benjamin Stafford for an insightful walkthrough

of PROTEST! and hear about the key themes and

artworks featured.

A full talks programme will accompany PROTEST! Please check www.imma.ie for details.

 

About IMMA

IMMA is Ireland’s National Cultural Institution for Contemporary Art. Our diverse and ambitious programme comprises exhibitions, commissions and 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 home to the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, started in 1990 and now numbering over 3,500 artworks by Irish and international artists. We make this national resource available through exhibitions at IMMA and other venues nationally and internationally, engagement and learning programmes and digital resources. We are situated in our home at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, one of Ireland’s most historic sites. imma.ie

About Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery is the original useful museum, initiated in 1823 by artists, as an educational institution to ensure that the city and all its people grow with creativity, imagination, health and productivity. The gallery is free and open to all people as a place of civic thinking and public imagination. It promotes art as a means to achieve social change with its origins from the Royal Manchester Institution for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts.  It has been at the centre of city life for nearly 200 years, and has been proudly part of Manchester City Council since 1882. The gallery is for and of the people of Manchester. Through its collections, displays and public programmes it works with all our constituents to ensure creativity, care and consideration infect all aspects of the way we live. This is an art school for everybody and for life. manchesterartgallery.org

About VOID

Void Gallery is a contemporary art space located in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland. With up to 5 exhibitions per year showing the work of established international and Irish artists, Void has created an international reputation for its wide-ranging and challenging exhibition programme. A key element to the gallery is the Engage programme, which places participation, engagement and learning at the heart of Void, making contemporary visual art accessible to visitors of all ages. derryvoid.com

The Prince of Homburg is a solo exhibition of new works by Patrick Staff. Featuring a video installation and series of works in sculpture and print, the work reinterprets 19th century German writer Heinrich Von Kleist’s play The Prince of Homburg.

Opening with a disoriented Prince sleepwalking in royal gardens, the original play, written in 1810, develops by swift degrees into a personal nightmare that questions the limits of state control and individual freedom. While often interpreted as an assertion for the might of authority, many consider Kleist’s work to be a passionate defence of free will. Kleist’s death by joint suicide with his close friend in 1811 contributed to an ongoing fascination with this complex play that continues today.

In their new body of work, Staff reconfigures the play to focus on the symbol of the exhausted, sleepwalking figure as political dissident. Presented across IMMA’s galleries as a video installation with accompanying sculptural and print works, the exhibition considers cycles of violence, desire and repression that are embedded in contemporary cultural and political crises. Through a range of mediums, Staff explores dream-like transgressions of law and order and the fraught spaces where queer desires manifest.

Through an unconventional narrative structure, Staff’s video cuts together a narration of Kleist’s play with interviews, conversation, found footage, hand painted animation and song. In a series of fragmented ‘daytime’ sequences, a range of artists, writers and performers reflect on contemporary queer and trans identity and its proximity to desire and violence. Intercut with flashes of the sun and sky, city streets and text, subjects include Sarah Schulman, Che Gossett, Macy Rodman and Debra Soshoux. Each of these segments is punctuated by ‘night-time’ diversions, narrated by writer Johanna Hedva in the dual role of both narrator and Prince. Loosely following the structure of Kleist’s play, the sleepwalking Prince struggles with his somnambulant habits, and the invasion of the unconscious mind into flesh and bone. In half-remembered dream images, the narrative unfolds through flashes of nocturnal gardens, high visibility reflective clothing, neon signs and a lugubrious ballad.

Throughout the gallery spaces Staff has installed a sculpture resembling the type of decorative, defensive architecture that surrounds many colonial and royal properties. Protruding from the walls of the gallery above head height, objects, lights, fabrics and furniture are impaled and discarded on its teeth. Also on display are a series of new, large scale hand-processed photogram prints, collecting images and objects from The Prince of Homburg that have been developed in complete darkness. Through flashes of coloured light, items such as a lost glove, knives, blades and chains reveal themselves.

Through a varied, interdisciplinary and often collaborative practice comprising video installation, performance, text and sculpture, Staff considers ideas of discipline, dissent, labour and the queer body. This new work is the product of several years’ research and is Staff’s most ambitious and large-scale project to date, bringing together languages of film and live performance with sculptural and photographic works to explore the how history, technology, capitalism and the law have fundamentally transformed the social constitution of our bodies today.

Two new texts by Isabel Waidner and Johanna Hedva for part of the exhibition in the galleries and are available for audiences to take away. These texts were commissioned by DCA as part of their publishing programme.

The Prince of Homburg is curated by Rachael Gilbourne, Assistant Curator: Exhibitions – Projects & Partnerships, IMMA, in collaboration with Eoin Dara, Head of Exhibitions, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland. The work is co-commissioned by IMMA and DCA. Supported by Arts Council England, Elephant Trust, UK, and Commonwealth & Council Gallery, USA. Video work produced by Spike Island, UK. Special thanks to producer Ali Roche and Humber Street Gallery, UK.

The exhibition was presented at DCA, Scotland, from 22 June – 1 September 2019.

Preview: Friday 20 September, 6 – 8.30pm

About the artist

Patrick Staff (b.1987, Bognor Regis, England) is based in London, UK and Los Angeles, USA. Their work combines video installation, performance and publishing. They have exhibited extensively, gaining significant recognition and awards for their work, which is held in private and public collections internationally.

Staff received their BA in Fine Art and Contemporary Critical Studies from Goldsmiths University of London in 2009. They completed the LUX Associate Artists Programme and studied Contemporary Dance at The Place in London, in 2011.

Their work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2017); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2017); Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (2016); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2016); Serpentine Galleries, London (2015); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2015); Tate Liverpool, England (2014); Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles (2012); Tate Modern, London (2012); and Whitstable Biennale, Whitstable, England (2012), among others. Staff’s film work Weed Killer was recently acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Opening on Saturday 27 July, IMMA presents She bites her tender mind a solo exhibition by legendary multi-disciplinary artist Kim Gordon. With a career spanning more than three decades, Gordon is one of the most prolific and ground-breaking artists working today. Synonymous with the iconic band she co-founded in 1981, Sonic Youth, her work crosses boundaries between visual art, music, fashion, film, writing and performance, and insists on radical experimentation within every field.

She bites her tender mind features a series of new works including recent and previously unseen paintings, drawings, and ceramic sculptures, alongside a glitter installation and an immersive video projection.As part of the programme of events for the exhibition, on Saturday 27 July, An Evening with Kim Gordon takes centre stage in the beautiful surroundings of the IMMA Courtyard, which promises to be an intimate and unmissable event. The evening features live performances by Body/Head, an experimental electric guitar duo composed of Kim Gordon and Bill Nace; poet Elaine Kahn; and guitarist Heather Leigh. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday 19 June at 9am. Those attending can view the exhibition prior to the performance. Food and drinks will be available to purchase on the night. Tickets €25.00 + BF at https://imma.ie/whats-on/performance-an-evening-with-kim-gordon/

The exhibition She bites her tender mind is a poetic response by the artist to the atmosphere and architecture of IMMA’s Courtyard Galleries. For Gordon, this series of four interconnecting rooms, each with its classical detailing, mouldings, mantles and fireplaces, ‘feels like a home of sorts’. A seasoned traveller, Gordon has drawn upon the domestic sensibility of these galleries as an analogy for contemporary urban lodgings, such as Airbnb or Homestay. There can be a certain dislocation and alienation within these faux homes away from home. Gordon wonders about the experience of morphing one’s own reality with these idealised, commercialised lifestyles. At IMMA, she suggests an imagined scenario where the galleries have become her own branded urban lodgings, decorated with lyrical gestures, with one of the new drawings on display taken from Gordon’s Airbnb Series.

The new and recent paintings in the exhibition also contain references to the prolific ancient Greek poet Sappho. Renowned as a symbol of desire and love between women, Sappho’s work continues to influence writers and artists today. The exhibition itself, together with one of the featured new works, takes its title from one of the poet’s word fragments ‘She bites her tender mind’. Several of these paintings see Gordon continuing her research about the body in a feminist reconsideration, where she uses materials such as metallic ink, interference pigments and tracing papers in gestural works. Gordon describes her uniquely visceral approach to creating this exhibition and the effect of her imagined scenario, “I wanted to feel Sappho and make physical manifestations about her in sort of a daydreaming meditation; to make myself into her. Similarly, I try to locate or imagine myself within an Airbnb… Waking up in a strange place to strange art as decoration”.

Alongside these new and recent works, other pieces within the exhibition draw from various series Gordon has produced since 2008. These include the ongoing Noise Painting series, depicting the names of experimental and noise groups; the From The Boyfriend series that use denim mini-skirts as paint surfaces turned on their sides and presented as minimalist art; and word paintings that refer to ‘hashtag culture’. The word paintings here also serve as a comment on other artworks around them.

An insistence on dismantling the hierarchical sanctity of the object has become a through line in Gordon’s practice, and in previous work, canvases were treated with direct application of paints, resins, glitters and fiberglass, as well as physical manipulation. Performing a painting becomes its own medium, as finished works are crumpled, overturned and flung. Fixed between states of decomposition and recomposition, battle scars from past performances become gestural abstraction via mischievous punk irreverence.

ENDS –

For further information and images please contact

Monica Cullinane E: [email protected] T: +353 (0)1 6129922

Patrice Mollloy E: [email protected] T:+353 (0)1 6129920

 

Image caption: Kim Gordon / Proposal For a Dance, 2008 – 2010 / DVD, TRT: 12 minute / Dimensions variable / @ the artist / Image courtesy, 303 Gallery, New York

 

Additional Notes for Editors

EXHIBITION

Kim Gordon, She bites her tender mind
27 July – 10 November 2019

Admission is free

About the artist

Kim Gordon studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and has continued to work as an artist since. Her first solo exhibition presented under the name ‘Design Office’ took place at New York’s White Columns in 1981. For the past thirty years Gordon has worked consistently across disciplines and across distinct cultural fields: art, design, writing, fashion (XGirl), music (Sonic Youth, Free Kitten, Body/Head), and film/video (both as actress and director).

Gordon’s artworks include the ongoing ‘Noise Painting’ series, depicting the names of experimental and noise groups; a series of paintings depicting the names of contemporary galleries and gallery owners; works from the untitled ‘From The Boyfriend’ series – Rorschach-like images painted on used denim skirts; ‘Twitter Paintings’ sourced from the Twitter streams of ‘GIRLS’ producer Jenni Konner, critic Jerry Saltz, and artist Richard Prince among others; and her ‘Wreath Paintings’, which employ the decorative folk forms as stencils to produce vertiginous colour abstractions. An insistence on dismantling the hierarchical sanctity of the object has become a through line in Gordon’s practice, and in her most recent work, canvases are treated with direct application of paints, resins, glitters and fiberglass, as well as physical manipulation. Performing a painting becomes its own medium, as finished works are crumpled, overturned and flung. Fixed between states of de- and re-composition, battle scars from past performances become gestural abstraction via mischievous punk irreverence.

Recent selected exhibitions include in 2017 Kim Gordon & Rodney Graham, L’Académie Conti, Dijon, France; in 2016 Manifesta 11, Zurich, Switzerland; 2015 Noise Name Paintings And Sculptures Of Rock Bands That Are Broken Up, Benaki Museum / Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece Design Office: The City Is A Garden, 303 Gallery, New York; All Instruments Agree: an exhibition or a concert, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. In 2014 Coming Soon, Design Office, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles; 1NVERSIONS with Nick Mauss, Frieze Projects, London; in 2013 Design Office with Kim Gordon – 1980, White Columns, New York and in 2012 Karen Kilimnik & Kim Gordon, 303 Gallery, New York and in 2009 Sonic Youth ETC.: Sensational Fix, (Traveling exhibition) MUSEION, Bolzano; Kunsthalle Dusseldorf; Malmo Kunsthalle; Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid.

A full talks programme will accompany She bites her tender mind, please check www.imma.ie for details.

 

PERFORMANCE

An Evening with Kim Gordon

with performers Body/Head, Heather Leigh and Elaine Kahn in the IMMA Courtyard

Saturday 27 July, 19.00 – 22.00
Tickets €25.00, on sale Wednesday 19 June at 9am from www,imma.ie

Those attending can view the exhibition She bites her tender mind prior to the performance (limited capacity). Food and drinks will be available to purchase on the night.

Note: Please be advised this is an outdoor event, while we hope for sunshine, please dress appropriate to the weather. Please note our 17^th-century courtyard has a cobbled surface appropriate footwear is advised.

 

About the Performers

Body/Head – The Switch

Creative alchemy doesn’t just happen in the studio or in the practice space; so much of it is the product of solo time with one’s instrument, learning how body and wood and electronics fuse, and of subconscious processes as one lives one’s daily life—picking up the ambient noise of the world outside, listening to others’ work, talking through ideas with friends. For Kim Gordon and Bill Nace, time together these days is limited to live performances and recording, so they’ve got to bring all their magic to every encounter. Lucky for us, these are two experimental sorcerers of significant renown.

Their debut album together as Body/Head, Coming Apart, from 2013, was more of a rock record—heavy, emotional, cathartic, spellwork in shades of black and grey. The Switch is their second studio full-length, and it finds the duo working with a more subtle palette, refining their ideas and identity. Some of it was sketched out live (if you’ve not had the fortune of seeing them in that natural environment yet, see 2016’s improvisational document No Waves), but much of it happened purely in the moment. Working in the same studio and with the same producer as Coming Apart, here Body/Head stretch out, making spacious pieces that build shivering drones, dissonant interplay, Gordon’s manipulated vocals, and scraping, haunting textures into something that feels both delicate and dangerous. Less discrete songs than one composition broken up into thematic movements, a slow-moving narrative that requires as much attention and care from the listener as it did from everyone involved in its creation, it is a record that sticks around after it’s done playing.This is Nace’s favorite of Gordon’s guitar work; she’s truly come into her own as a guitarist, having built up her confidence through solo shows. The way the duo work together, you’d never know they spend so much time apart; on The Switch, their vision and focus feel truly unified. If Coming Apart was dark magic, The Switch works with light, though it never forgets that these approaches are two sides of the same coin, and that binaries—black/white, near/far, emotion/analysis, body/head—are made to be broken open, and that the truth of things is in the energy between.

Jes Skolnik, May 2018

 

Heather Leigh

The daughter of a coal miner, weaving a trail from West Virginia to Texas to Scotland where she’s lived for over a decade, Heather Leigh furthers the vast unexplored reaches of pedal steel guitar. Her playing is as physical as it is phantom, combining spontaneous compositions with industrially-charged psychedelic rock. With a rare combination of sensitivity and strength, Leigh’s steel mainlines sanctified slide guitar and deforms it using hypnotic tone-implosions, juggling walls of bleeding amp tone with choral vocal constructs and wrenching single note ascensions. 2015’s critically acclaimed I Abused Animal (Ideologic Organ) was a turning point, a breakthrough album that marked her first venture into professional studio recording. Throne (Editions Mego) is her latest achievement, an album of punch-drunk desire clouded by peripheral danger. After the rawness of its precursor, Throne is a record of late night Americana and heavy femininity; a suite of alluring heartbleed ballads cauterised with burning riffs, its melodies and hooks set alight with the fiery core of her unique and distinctive pedal steel. Leigh’s work explores themes of glamour, abuse, sexual instinct, desire, romance, vulnerability, memory, shadow, fantasy, jealousy, cruelty, delusion, deception and projection.

In addition to her work as a solo artist, Heather Leigh has worked extensively with a long list of unique collaborators, most recently with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. The duo have released four highly idiosyncratic albums: Ears Are Filled With Wonder, Sex Tape, Crowmoon and their most recent LP, Sparrow Nights on Trost Records.

Heather Leigh’s albums have been met with widespread critical acclaim and coverage in The Wire Magazine, FACT Mag, MOJO, Uncut, The Guardian, The Quietus, The New York Times, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, Dusted, Spex, Magnet, Rolling Stone, Vice, Brainwashed, Blow Up, The List and many more.

Known for her captivating live performances, Leigh’s songs come into vivid life on stage. She has performed across the globe throughout Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA and Mexico, playing venues/festivals including Cafe OTO, Red Bull Music Festival, Moers, Donau, Le Guess Who, Tectonics, ATP, Supernormal, Supersonic, TUSK, Issue Project Room, Tate Britain, Jazzhouse Copenhagen, A L’ARME! Festival, Dundee Contemporary Arts, South London Gallery, Colour Out Of Space, iDEALFEST, Islington Mill, CCA Glasgow, Edition Festival Stockholm, St Johns Sessions, Le Weekend Festival, The Art Institute of Chicago and many more.

Heather Leigh is published by Mute Song. Heather Leigh is a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award

 

Elaine Kahn

Elaine Kahn is the author of Women in Public (City Lights Publishers, 2015) and Romance or The End (forthcoming from Soft Skull Press). Writing has appeared in Frieze, The Brooklyn Rail, jubilat, Poetry Foundation, Art Papers, and elsewhere. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and teaches at Pomona College and the Poetry Field School. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

 

Major group exhibition and accompanying programme of events exploring desire in visual art opens at IMMA.

Featuring an exciting selection of modern masterworks and landmark contemporary art works by Matthew Barney, Dorothy Cross, Marcel Duchamp, Tracey Emin, Rene Magritte, Eddie Peake and others.

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) presents one of its most ambitious and compelling exhibitions exploring desire in our everyday lives. In particular, Desire: A Revision from the 20^th Century to the Digital Age considers desire’s relationship to structures of power, individualism and emerging collective actions.

Spanning over a hundred years, the exhibition follows the development of desire through the lens of the Eurocentric male gaze and its influence in shaping artistic depictions of desire in contemporary culture, across the world. A selection of masterworks of the 20^th century, from artists such as Duchamp, Ernst and Magritte, sit alongside new commissions and contemporary work, by artists including Matthew Barney, Tracey Emin, Genieve Figgis and Yayoi Kusama, tracing desire from the historical canon to present-day digital transformations. Desire: A Revision resists becoming a comprehensive survey that traces the role of art and desire. Instead, it presents perspectives on desire from a range of unique viewpoints in over 100 works, many of which have never been seen in Ireland before. It extends beyond the gallery space with newly commissioned performances by Eddie Peake and Elaine Hoey, alongside a programme of events and talks taking place during the exhibition.

The exhibition is divided into seven pivotal moments. These seven moments act as a conceptual framework from which to unpack the complexities of the following: desire and intimacy, the desire to integrate, desire and the gaze, the politics of desire, technology, and transformations of desire, and finally, an exploration of the evolution of utopianism in desire.

Desire: A Revision is the third in a trilogy of major international group exhibitions devised by IMMA to explore universal themes and their representation through art from the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2015, the first of these exhibitions, What We Call Love, From Surrealism to Now, looked at how notions of love have evolved in art, and in 2017, the second, As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics, examined how the spiritual endures in our everyday lives.

The exhibition is sponsored by luxury shopping destination Kildare Village representing Kildare Village’s commitment to supporting Irish art and culture. The collaboration will include a programme of events and innovative installations in Kildare Village, offering its guests the chance to experience the exhibition in another setting.

Commenting on the exhibition Annie Fletcher, Director, IMMA said; “IMMA is delighted to present Desire: A Revision, a key part of our ambitious programme for 2019. We are particularly pleased to extend the exhibition beyond the gallery spaces through a programme of performances, talks and events in the grounds at IMMA and even more excitingly at our new partners Kildare Village. We are grateful to co-curator Yuko Hasegawa and all the artists involved for their collaboration with IMMA and we remain indebted to our Corporate Partners, Patrons and Members whose invaluable support allows IMMA to realise projects of this scale and depth. Our new partnership with Kildare Village is inspirational, not only because they are fully engaged with our artistic project, but we are discovering together that we can see the potential of having a broad and international dialogue; about how art and creativity zooms into our most core desires while pushing us outward and onward into the world and into the future.”

Commenting on the exhibition Co-Curator, Yuko Hasegawa said; “ “From the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, we have witnessed major shifts in how we collectively conceive of desire, owed both to changes in how we perceive subject/object and individuality, as well as mechanisms of modern information capitalism that continue to dislocate desire from the realm of the internal to that of external forces. The “pro” mindsets of product, promotion, productivity belie the sense of acceleration and external projection of our contemporary reality. Within this loss of desire’s inner agency, the artists in this exhibition help us re-manifest the internal imaginary realms and landscapes of desire.”

Desire: A Revision is under the direction of, and curated by, Rachel Thomas, Senior Curator, Head of Exhibitions, IMMA and Yuko Hasegawa, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

ENDS

 

For further information, and images, please contact:

Patrice Molloy E: [email protected] T: +353 1 612 9920

 

Additional Notes for Editors

Exhibition dates: 21 September 2019 – 22 March 2020

Admission: €8.00 / Concession €5.00 (Senior Citizens and Unwaged)

Free Admission for IMMA Members, full-time students and under 18’s.

Free Admission for all every Tuesday. Book online at imma.ie

Desire: A Revision open on Culture Night, Friday 20 September, with a performance by singer Lisa Hannigan as part of an ongoing collaboration with artist Dorothy Cross. The Opening Party, supported by O’Hara’s Irish Craft Beers, will take place from 6.00 – 8.30pm, with complimentary free drinks by O’Hara’s. Access to the exhibition will be free of charge on the night.

Featured artists within the exhibition include Matthew Barney, Frank Bowling, Lee Bul, Oisín Byrne, Helen Chadwick, Dorothy Cross, David Douard, Marcel Duchamp, Tracey Emin, Justine Emard, Max Ernst, Awol Erizku, Cao Fei, Genieve Figgis, Ann Maria Healy, Elaine Hoey, James Joyce, Bharti Kher, Jonah King, Seiha Kurosawa, Yayoi Kusama, Rene Magritte, Eddie Peake, Tschabalala Self, VALIE EXPORT, amongst others to be announced.

A significant publication accompanies the exhibition, featuring contributions from the exhibiting artists, co-curators and key contemporary thinkers from a variety of fields, ranging from poetry and philosophy to architecture and performance, including Sasha Bonét, Vaari Claffey, Pádraic E. Moore, Yuko Hasegawa, Johanna Hedva, Jonah King, Aidan Mathews, Eddie Peake, Mario Perniola, Jennie Taylor and Nathalie Weadick.

A series of Limited Artist Editions by artists, including Dorothy Cross, Tracey Emin and Genieve Figgis, are available for this exhibition.

The architecture of the exhibition is designed by AP+E.

A special associated project, The Prince of Homburg, by artist Patrick Staff, is co-commissioned by IMMA and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland. The work at IMMA is curated by Rachael Gilbourne, Assistant Curator: Exhibitions – Projects & Partnerships, IMMA in collaboration with Eoin Dara, Head of Exhibitions, DCA. The Prince of Homburg opens alongside the exhibition Desire: A Revision and continues until 17 November 2019.

The Prince of Homburg is co-commissioned by Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland, and IMMA. Supported by Arts Council England, Elephant Trust, UK, and Commonwealth & Council Gallery, USA. Video work produced by Spike Island, UK. Special thanks to producer Ali Roche and Humber Street Gallery, UK.

 

Associated Events

Curator to Artist Discussion / Friday 20 September / 5.30pm / Lecture Room, IMMA
Exhibition curators Yuko Hasegawa, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Rachel Thomas, Senior Curator; Head of Exhibitions, IMMA invite a panel of artists to discuss their featured work and commissions comprising the exhibition Desire: A Revision. From the 20th Century to the Digital Age. Admission Free, Book online at imma.ie

 

On Spirals, Part 3, Performance by Eddie Peake / Saturday 21 September / 6.00pm / IMMA Courtyard

Performed by Emma Fisher, Sara Lupoli, Kieram Corrin Mitchell and Eddie Peake.

Please Note: contains nudity. Admission Free, Book Online at imma.ie

 

Curators Lunchtime Talk / Friday 4 October / 1.15pm / Meeting Point, IMMA Main Reception
Rachael Gilbourne, Exhibitions, IMMA presents an informal walk-through of the exhibition, introducing key themes and the work of artists that are central to major group show.
Drop-In / Exhibition fee applies.

For further information on a full programme of events and to book tickets visit imma.ie

 

About the Curators

Rachel Thomas Biography

Rachel Thomas is the Chair of long-term planning and Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions at IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Dublin. Thomas is a Leonardo fellow at Trinity College Dublin, contributor to the MA/MFA Art in the Contemporary World programme at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and the European judge for the Rise Art Prize for young artists. Thomas has curated various exhibitions including solo surveys of Nan Goldin, Etel Adnan, Hélio Oiticica, Haroon Mirza, Tino Sehgal, the American Fluxus and feminist artist Eleanor Antin, Thomas Ruff, Karen Kilimnik, Margherita Manzelli, Willie Doherty, Sophie Calle and Mark Manders. She initiated and organized with Philippe Parreno the seminal group show of post relational aesthetics .all hawaii eNtrées / luNar reGGae (2007), artists included Thomas Demand, Liam Gillick, Carsten Höller, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Garrett Phelan. Thomas has introduced a new project strand to IMMA bringing to Ireland solo and group projects and new commissions by young international artists such as Gerard Byrne, Franz Ackermann, Pierre Huyghe and Thomas Demand and the ground-breaking virtual retrospective with artist Jorge Pardo. Critically acclaimed international group shows such as Primal Architecture (2015), which included Mike Kelley, Linder, Conrad Shawcross, Bedwyr Williams and What We Call Love, from Surrealism to Now (2016), co-curated with the Director of Biennale di Venezia 2017, Christine Macel and included artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marina Abramović, Constantin Brancusi, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Wolfgang Tillmans, Alberto Giacometti, Meret Oppenheim, Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono. Thomas has also re-examined the role of spirituality in As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics (2017), and included artists such as Hilma Af Klint, Bruce Nauman and Alejandro Jodorowsky. Most recently Thomas has curated the critically acclaimed solo exhibition of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Sunset, Sunrise (2018) which will travel to the Sharjah Art Foundation later in 2019.

Thomas was awarded a Millennium Fellowship to produce papers on global frameworks of contemporary art practice at Tate Britain, London. In 2006, she curated the Irish Pavilion, New Territories, ARCO ’06, Madrid. Curated Biennales include the Welsh Pavilion with Cerith Wyn Evans in 2000 at the Biennale di Venezia and the Lyon Biennale, with Gerard Byrne in 2008. She has lectured on the role of the curator at various symposia such as Curating Now and The Role of Painting in the 21st Century. Thomas initiated and curated the Irish Times critically acclaimed offsite project video with Dorothy Cross Stalactite (2011) in Cork. As a writer, she has published widely in journals and exhibition catalogues including an interview with Michael-Craig Martin and texts on artists such as Dorothy Cross, Gerard Byrne, Eleanor Antin, Sophie Calle, Pierre Huyghe, Alex Katz, and Thomas Scheibitz. She is actively pursuing research on the politics of space with philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben. She has lectured on the role of the curator at various symposia and on contemporary Irish art at the Guggenheim with Nancy Spector. As a writer, she has published widely in journals and exhibition catalogues, and has also worked as an online curator for Curate NYC.

 

Yuko Hasegawa Biography

Yuko Hasegawa is Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2016 – present) and Professor of Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts (2016 – present). She was a Chief Curator and Founding Artistic Director (1999 – 2006) of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2006-2016). She is Artistic Director of Inujima Art House Project (2011-present).

Her recent exhibitions include Intimate Distance: Masterpieces from the Ishikawa Collection (MoCo), FUKAMI –une plongée dans l’esthétique japonaise at Hotel Salmon de Rothschild, Paris（2018, Saudade : Unmemorable Place in Time at Fousun Foundation, Shanghai,（2018), Japanorama: NEW VISION ON ART SINCE 1970 at Centre Pompidou-Metz (2017), Kishio Suga: Situations at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2016), New Sensorium Exiting from Failures of Modernization at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (2016), Tokyo Art Meeting VI “TOKYO” －Sensing the Cultural Magma of the Metropolis (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2015-2016).

Yuko Hasegawa has worked for various kinds of biennale projects: 7th Moscow Biennale (Clouds⇄Forests), 2017, Unfamiliar Asia: The Second Beijing Photo Biennial 2015 (Co-curator, 2015), The 11th Sharjah Art Biennial Re Emerge – Toward a New Cultural Cartography (Curator, 2013), The 29th Sao Paulo Biennial (Co-curator, 2010), The 12th Venice Architecture Biennale (Artistic Advisor, 2010), The 4th Seoul International Media Art Biennale Dual Realistic (Co-curator, 2006), Venice Biennale 2003, 50th International Exhibition of Art, Japan Pavilion Heterotopias , Yutaka Sone, Motohiko Odani (Commissioner, 2003), Shanghai Biennale 2002 (Co-curator, 2002-2003), and 7th International Istanbul Biennial (Artistic Director, 2001)

Her past exhibitions include Oscar Niemeyer The Man Who Built Brasilia, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, 2015), KISHIO SUGA – SITUATED LATENCY (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, 2015), Thomas Demand (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2012), Atsuko Tanaka – The Art of Connecting (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, traveled to the Espai d’art contemporani de Castelló, Valencia, Spain, and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, U.K., 2012), Trans-Cool Tokyo – Contemporary Japanese Art from MOT Collection (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, traveled Singapore Art Museum, Bangkok Art Culture Center and Taipei Fine Art Museum, 2011-2012), Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan, traveled to Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Korea and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA, 2005), Liquid Crystal Futures: 11 Contemporary Japanese Photography (Edinburgh,1994-1996), Atsuko Tanaka – The Art of Connecting (IKON Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, 2012)

She was a member of the Asian Art Advisory Board at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2008 – 2012), currently an advisory committee member of the Rockbund Art Museum (2014-present), an international advisory board member of The Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (CCA), 2014-present）and an international jury of the Nasher Prize Nasher Sculpture Center (2015-present).