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IMMA is thrilled to host the most important platform for visual art graduates in Ireland, the RDS Visual Art Awards. The programme consists of a curated exhibition opportunity and a prize fund of over €35,000

The RDS Visual Art Awards offers the most comprehensive assessments of graduate work in Ireland undertaken on a thirty-two-county basis. The competitive process is transparent, highly regarded and harnesses the expertise of some of the best visual arts professionals working in Ireland. Inclusion in the exhibition has a proven positive impact on the accelerated career progression of young artists.

The RDS Visual Art Awards is a flagship RDS Foundation project and is part of the wider RDS Arts Programme which provides a platform to support the transition from student to emerging artist encouraging the pursuit of a career in visual art, craft and classical music.

Artist and guest curator Elaine Hoey will host gallery tours throughout the run of the exhibition, follow us on Instagram or Facebook for future updates.

Wed 17 Jan 2024 / 1.15 – 2pm / Lecture Room
Exhibition Curator’s Talk & Introduction with Elaine Hoey.

Fri 9 Feb 2024 / 1.15 – 2.45pm / Lecture Room
Panel Discussion with selected artists, moderated by guest curator Elaine Hoey. Book here

Sat 10 Feb 2024 / 1.15 – 2pm / Meeting Point: Main Reception
Exhibition Tour with Curator’s Elaine Hoey. Book here

2023 Awardees

RDS Taylor Art Award Winner 2023: Taïm Haimet
R.C. Lewis-Crosby Award Winner 2023: Oisín Tozer
RDS Members’ Art Fund Award Winner 2023: Cian Handschuh
RDS Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency Award Winner 2023: Christopher Mc Mullan
RHA Graduate Studio Award Winner 2023: Asha Murray


2023 Awardees

The RDS Visual Art Awards was launched in 2016 and is a result of the restructuring of a previous RDS project supporting artists which through many iterations, dates to the nineteenth century. The RDS Taylor Art Award is a cash prize of €10,000 and is awarded as first prize in the RDS Visual Art Awards to the person the judges believe to be the most promising emerging visual artist in that year.

All visual art disciplines are considered for this award, which has been awarded since 1860. Some of Ireland’s most respected and successful artists have won the award over the years including, Walter Osbourne, William Orpen, Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness, Harry Clarke, Roderic O’Connor, Séan Keating, Louis le Brocquy, Dorothy Cross and James Hanley.

Awardees Fund Award
Taïm Haimet RDS Taylor Art Award (Awarded by RDS since 1860) €10,000
Oisín Tozer R.C. Lewis Crosby Award  €5,000
Cian Handschuh RDS Members Arts Fund Award €5,000
Christopher Mc Mullan RDS Mason Hayes & Curran Centre Culturel Residency Award €1,700 cash prize plus 3-month residency/studio space in CCI Paris valued at €6,300
Asha Murray RHA Graduate Studio Award €2,500 cash prize plus 12-month free studio at the RHA School valued at €5,000

Sponsors and Partner organisations include: the Taylor Art Trust, the family of R.C. Lewis-Crosby, Mason Hayes & Curran LLP, the RDS Members Arts Fund, RHA, IMMA and the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.


Exhibiting Artists

The 2023 Visual Art Awards finalists include artists, Àjàó Babátúndé Lawal, Anthony Freeman O Brien, Asha Murray, Christopher Mc Mullan, Cian Handschuh, Emily Waszak, Grace Ryan, Jinny Ly, Laura Grisard, Luis Enrique Martín, Nikolas Ryan, Oisín Tozer, Ren Coffey, Saoirse McGarry and Taïm Haimet.


Nikolas Ryan
Transition To Transcendence, 2023

We would like to advise visitors this work will not be running on Wednesday,28 February due to maintenance.

Nikolas Ryan
Transition To Transcendence, 2023
Computer, keyboard, mouse, Oculus Quest, link cable,
headphones, cables; video with audio
Duration 9:00 min

This VR artwork will be run during the below dates and times.

Date Time
Wednesday, 31 Jan 11.30am – 1.00pm & 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Wednesday, 7 Feb 11.30am – 1.00pm & 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Wednesday, 14 Feb 11.30am – 1.00pm & 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Wednesday, 21 Feb 11.30am – 1.00pm & 2.30pm – 4.30pm

Please note, VR is not suitable for viewers under the age of 13 and those who experience motion sickness or Vertigo.


Collaborators, Judging panel, Process

The competitive process seeks to identify and select the very best graduating artists from the BA & MA graduate shows on the island of Ireland, for inclusion in a high-profile curated exhibition and to award prizes in recognition of excellence and innovation using agreed criteria. The RDS Visual Art Awards is also open to Irish artists graduating from overseas art colleges and to those whose degree shows fall outside the tradition summer period. The competition is a three stage process starting with the long listing which is done via visits to the degree shows by a team of professional curators who are engaged by the RDS to travel around the country and long list those who they feel are the strongest artists in each college’s graduate show, in co-operation with co-ordinators in each of the thirteen colleges. Only long listed artists can then contact RDS for the link to the application form.

Shortlisting is subsequently done by the judging panel of five, which is currently chaired by Mary McCarthy, Director of the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. They review the applications of all long listed artists and shortlist them down to a smaller number which they review in more detail when they come together as a group to select the exhibitors who will be included in the show. Three arts institutions nominate judges to the panel: the RHA, National Gallery of Ireland and IMMA. The RDS selects the chair and the fifth member of the panel is the exhibition curator who changes every year and is usually a senior Irish artist, selected by RDS. The 2023 curator is Elaine Hoey, a former RDS Visual Art Awards exhibitor (2016 & 2017) and multiple prize-winner. The judging panel selects the exhibitors from those on the shortlist for inclusion in the show, and the exhibition curator works with the exhibiting artists to provide an overall perspective and coherence to the exhibition. Winners are selected by the judging panel once the show has been installed.

2023 RDS Visual Art Awards Judging Panel

Elaine Hoey – Professional Artist & Exhibition Curator

Mary McCarthy – Director, Crawford Gallery, (Chair)

Christina Kennedy – IMMA Nominated Judge

Eithne Jordan – RHA Nominated Judge

Gary Coyle – National Gallery of Ireland Nominated Judge


About the Curator

Elaine Hoey is a New Media Artist with a specialty in virtual reality and interactive art. Elaine creates interactive based installations, appropriating contemporary digital art practices and aesthetics to explore the politics of digital humanity and our evolving relationship with the screen. Elaine is interested in creating new forms of art informed by questions arising from complex social, political and cultural processes.

Elaine’s work often addresses and critiques themes arising from identity, place and the bio-political body. Her virtual reality works commonly include immersing the viewer in performative and often uncomfortable roles within her digitally constructed worlds. She works through a wide variety of mediums such as, virtual reality, AI systems, video, gaming, installation and live performance, including remote cyber performance.

Elaine holds a BA and MFA in Fine Art Media from the National College of Art and Design. Upon graduating from both degrees, Elaine exhibited at the RDS Visual Art Awards in subsequent years, where she was won the RDS Taylor Art Award 2016, the R.C. Lewis-Crosby Award​ 2017 and the RDS Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency Award 2017. Elaine has exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally.

Artist and guest curator Elaine Hoey will be hosting gallery tours throughout the run of the exhibition, follow us on Instagram or Facebook for future updates.

Wed 17 Jan 2024 / 1.15 – 2pm / Lecture Room
Exhibition Curator’s Talk & Introduction with Elaine Hoey.

Fri 9 Feb 2024 / 1.15 – 2.45pm / Lecture Room
Panel Discussion with selected artists, moderated by guest curator Elaine Hoey


Exhibition Video

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Artist Catalogue 

 

Artist Catalogue

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