Free, book here.
Location: Lecture Room

In 2018, photographer Gilbert McCarragher was asked to create a visual record of Prospect Cottage, the iconic Dungeness house of artist, filmmaker and gay rights activist, Derek Jarman. Situated on the austere and windswept shingle beach near the looming nuclear power station, the house and surrounding garden has become an artwork in its own right, drawing Jarman devotees and curious onlookers from around the globe. Gilbert will present an illustrated lecture describing his project, followed by a conversation with Seán Kissane, curator of the 2019 exhibition, Derek Jarman: PROTEST! The lecture will be followed by a book launch. 

The event will be accompanied by a screening:

Screening

Derek Jarman,
The Angelic Conversation, 1985
Colour, sound; 78mins
©1985 Derek Jarman / BFI / Courtesy of the BFI National Archive

Intense, dreamlike, and poetic, The Angelic Conversation is one of the most artistic of Derek Jarman’s films. With his painter’s eye, Jarman conjured, in a beautiful palette of light, colour and texture, an evocative and radical visualisation of Shakespeare’s love poems.

Of the 154 sonnets written by Shakespeare, most were written to an unnamed young man, commonly referred to as the Fair Youth. Here, Judi Dench’s emotive readings of 14 sonnets are coupled with ethereal sequences; figures on seashores, by streams and in colourful gardens. The disruption of these magical scenes with images of barren and threatening landscapes echoes perfectly the celebration and torment of love explored in the sonnets.

Shot on Super-8 before being transferred to 35mm film, the unique technical approach results in a striking aesthetic, with Coil’s languorous soundtrack completing the intoxicating effect.

Free, Drop In / No booking required
Location: Meeting point Main Reception

IMMA Curator’s Talks Series take place during the summer months on Sundays at 2pm. Join Seán Kissane, Curator, Exhibitions, IMMA, for an in-gallery discussion, that explores a selection of works comprising the major retrospective of Hilary Heron. 

Hilary Heron: A Retrospective celebrates the pioneering work of modernist sculptor Hilary Heron (1923 – 1977). Bringing together work from national and international collections, this exhibition seeks to to correct the ways that her work has been overlooked in Irish and international histories of modern sculpture.

Free, Drop In, No booking required
Location: Meeting point Main Reception

Join Mary Cremin, Head of Programming, IMMA, for an in-gallery discussion of Take a Breath, a major new exhibition that explores a selection of works by renowned contemporary artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Alex Cecchetti, Ammar Bouras, Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, Hajra Waheed, Ana Mendieta, Isabel Nolan, among many others.

Free, Drop In, No booking required
Location: Matheson Creativity Hub

To coincide with the week of Trans and Intersex Pride on Sat 13 July IMMA welcomes back members of ShoutOut for an informal talk on the topic of Trans Joy – Reasons to be Hopeful.

ShoutOut is a national charity working to fight homophobia and transphobia by sparking empathy and allyship in schools and workplaces across the country. Through workshops and educational resources for young people, ShoutOut shares LGBTQIA+ stories and starts conversations which nurture compassion and solidarity.

Among these resources is ShoutOut, Listen In, an educational podcast broadcasting LGBTQIA+ voices from all backgrounds. Join ShoutOut and a panel of trans and non-binary artists and activists in conversation for this live podcast recording, as they discuss the future of trans communities, the joys of trans life as they work towards liberation, and the utopias on the other side of that goal.

Free, book here
Location: Johnston Suite

Drawing on the exhibition Take a Breath join us for a conversation with special guests Mary Cremin, (Head of Programming, IMMA); Nina McGowan (Professional Freediver, artist and climate change activist), Isabel Nolan (artist) and Ian Robertson (Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Co-Director Global Brain Health Institute, TCD) as we talk about breath, and the themes that underpin the Take a Breath exhibition. Presented and hosted by Luke Clancy of RTÉ lyric fm’s Culture File in the series The Culture Files Debate.

For this episode of The Culture File Debate, Luke Clancy and guests discuss the varied routes that bring them to consider, and work with, breath, from our communal dependence on breathable air, to the deeply personal act of breathing, to the uncommon states of mind and body rooted in attention to breath.

This is an in-person event, recorded live at IMMA for broadcasted on RTÉ lyric fm’s The Culture File Debate. Presented in association with the exhibition Take a Breath.

Free, book here
Location: Johnston Suite

This artist conversation will focus on Dutch artist melanie bonajo’s creative practices and immersive installation, When the body says Yes, presented in IMMA’s Baroque Chapel from 26 July. The exhibition seeks to answer the question of whether there is still a place for intimacy in today’s increasingly commercialised and technological world. The central theme of the exhibition is touch: literally, but also representing our relationship to each other and the world around us.

The discussion explores the artist’s interests in non-mainstream communities pushed to the margins of society, either through cultural exclusion or because they do not belong to a normative system. Issues of ethical and empathic coexistence, body politics, equality and alternative forms of perception of the world and oneself are prominent themes of enquiry in bonajo’s work.

This talk offers a pretext to artist led workshops by Skinship Collective on Sat 27 July exploring Consentship (10am) and Collective Body Spells (2pm) at IMMA.

Free, book here
Location: Lecture Room

Old Models, New praxis – A curatorial approach in times of ecological emergency

Join us for a curator’s talk and discussion with international visiting curator Blanca de la Torre who discusses her research and art interests as appointed Head Curator of the Helsinki Biennial 2025 with Kati Kivinen (Head of exhibitions at HAM Museum, Helsinki), that focuses on ecology, collective action, environmental empowerment sustainable practices.

For this talk Blanca de la Torre explores curating in times of climate emergency – an approach that implies developing projects that are ecological in content, form, and attitude. By embracing artistic practices that are aligned with the sustainability discourses, we will hear more about potential ways to stimulate collective action, and a re-think of cultural processes that can encourage environmental empowerment. de la Torre will introduce some her most innovative methodologies, among them, a series of guidelines and sustainability decalogues created to apply socioecological practices throughout the life cycle of the projects.

This talk is presented at part of the initiative IRELAND INVITES organised by IMMA, Hugh Lane Gallery and Culture Ireland