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In advance of an exhibition of work by artist Sarah Pierce, IMMA is issuing two ‘calls for participants’

       1. General call out for participants to take part in an initiative between March and September 2023.

       2. Call out for Transition Year Students to take part in a one-day event in April/May 2023.

Details of how to apply can be found below.

In 2023, IMMA will present an expansive exhibition spanning twenty years of Sarah Pierce’s practice, from the early 2000s to the present. The solo exhibition consists of performances, videos, large-scale installations, and archives. Sarah Pierce, who lives and works in Dublin, relocated to Ireland from the US in 2000. Curator Rike Frank has brought together twelve major works, spanning twenty years, to highlight patterns of making and thinking that define Pierce’s influential practice. Borne out of sticky relationships between the narratives we reproduce and those we wish to leave behind, the exhibition asks what it means to protest, reflect and act in community. This will be the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to date. 

A large body of recent works relates to Pierce’s interest in the figure of the student, in particular the art student, and the tenuous relationship between teaching and learning, politics and art-making. Pierce’s upcoming exhibition will feature a significant selection of projects with students, who are regular collaborators in her work, including An Artwork in the Third Person (2009), made with the Dutch Art Institute, Campus (2011), a repeated performance by art students that mirrors repetitious acts in how art is understood, made, and installed, and The Square (2017), an experimental “play without a script” that uses Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstück – or learning play – as a starting point. Pierce will involve student groups in the re-learning and re-staging of certain performances.

This upcoming exhibition will be guest curated by Rike Frank, who is co-director of the European Kunsthalle, an institution without a physical space.


General Call for Participants

Application Details

IMMA is seeking expressions of interest from participants to take part in a performance programme in relation to Sarah Pierce’s exhibition between March and September 2023.

Expressions of Interest

  • Participation is open to all ages and abilities.
  • No prior experience necessary – amateurs, non-performers and non-arts practitioners are welcome.
  • The initiative may be of interest to anyone with an interest in performance and also current art students or recent graduates and students from other disciplines such as sociology, political science, architecture, dance, theatre studies, etc.
  • The performances will be documented for archive and communication purposes.
  • There is an honorarium of €1,000 per participant.
  • There will be approximately 8-10 participants selected.
  • The rehearsals for each performance will begin mid-morning and will not exceed two hours, with breaks every half-hour. The performances will be in areas throughout the museum and usually last 12-15 minutes.
  • The performance scripts include voice and movements that can adapt to the performer’s body.

 

Key Dates

Participation will involve approximately 15 days between March – September 2023 including:

  • March – Induction session (half day)
  • March/April – Three workshop sessions with artist Sarah Pierce (three days)
  • April – July – A phase of active engagement with the exhibition and its public (one half-day per week approx.)
  • September – Public seminar (one day)

For people unable to make this commitment, there will also be opportunities to participate in one-off events and workshops. Do let us know if this is of interest.

Please note, these are estimates of the time involved for planning purposes, and dates and times may vary as the exhibition evolves. Selection of participants is based on a statement of intention outlining why you wish to take part in this project (400 words max).

To apply, please send your name, contact details, CV and links to any relevant supporting documentation to [email protected].


Call for Transition Year Students

IMMA is seeking expressions of interest from Transition Year students to participate in a day-long project with the artist Sarah Pierce in April/May (date to be confirmed).

Students will participate in the presentation of the art work The Square with the artist Sarah Pierce.

The Square uses Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstück – or learning play – as a starting point for developing a new work with students. In this experimental “play without a script” the students are the authors, cast and audience. The performance takes place during the time of the exhibition in the gallery space, as the performers interact and migrate around and among the visitors. There are no characters, no plot or other narrative devices. This is a roaming set of memorised chants and gestures that speak quite abstractly to ideas of learning and gathering, and what it means to act, make and be together.

To apply, please title your email ‘Sarah Pierce – Transition Year Project’ and send the following information to [email protected]

  • Name
  • Name of School
  • Contact email address
  • short statement indicating why you wish to take part in the project

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