Popped along to the opening of IMOCA‘s new exhibition ‘This Must Be The Place‘ :
Vodpod videos no longer available.It’s great to see artists getting together and creating new spaces for exhibition and activity, even if some of the work in this particular show felt a bit slight to me (perhaps a consequence of the ‘contemporary budget’ as was described?) Clearly there’s some ambitious aspirations with the space (although the name itself I think is a bit misleading), and I look forward to seeing what they get up to next…
arts management ireland 
Greetings, and thank you for your attendance and subsequent press concerning IMOCA. After visting our current exhibition space, if you have any questions or misconceptions regarding the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art as an institution or the educational, curatorial or archival programmes we are undertaking please refer to our website or feel free to contact me directly.
All the best-
kbk
Hi there, thanks for your comment! I have been asked by several people about IMOCA, but am still learning about it myself and wish I had more to go on– at the moment there isn’t much information on your site about what your intentions are. The name ‘museum’ in a fine art context tends to suggest a collection and an institution, but it’s not clear if this is your aim? In what way do you intend to be archival or educational? The name suggests parallels with places like the MCA in Chicago or MOCA (as I’m from Los Angeles myself I’d be most familiar with the latter), but I’m not sure if their types of activities and interests align with your intentions. Or are you looking to interrogate the label of the museum in some way? Perhaps providing a mission statement or some other brief description of your organisation would be helpful… I’d like to speak with you further about all this, but wanted to reply to you publicly on the blog as a way of highlighting the kinds of questions about IMOCA which I have personally, and which have been voiced by others to me… thanks!!
I have to agree with you Emily – at the AAH conference over the weekend I mentioned IMOCA and several of us Dublin based people were unclear as to the who, what and where of IMOCA. Clarification is definitely needed!
Hi Emily,
I think many people are interested as to the direction of IMOCA but pleased at the initiative of this group of artists.
I feel that your comment about the work in this exhibition being ‘slight’ is rather glib. You make no mention of the conceptual basis of the exhibition, that each piece is a response to a question. That many of the pieces are constructed by collectives that would not normally work this way. If you read the information on hand it is evident that each group is attempting to articulate itself through a process that is not their normal practice. Some may fail, some may fail beautifully like the Mongrel Collectives ‘Requiem’, made by one member.
Regarding the IMOCA name, I don’t think that it is meant to confuse but to question what may qualify a space to call itself a museum, especially in the context of an artist run space, and here maybe the words ‘contemporary budget’ may come into play.
Obviously my blog entry was very brief, not an extended review of the show– and unfortunately I did find some of the work slight, collectives or no. A blackboard installed on the ground as somehow demonstrative of collective practice? Sorry, I don’t think that’s particularly interesting and pretty lightweight for a ‘conceptual’ piece. But everyone’s entitled to an opinion…
I also don’t see any indication on IMOCA’s website or any press material that I’ve received that the name is meant to be ‘questioning’ the idea of the museum– especially with the suggestion it has a education dept, board of directors, etc. If that is the intent, it should be more explicit I think… as I’ve said, I’ve had a half dozen people asking me what IMOCA is, and I don’t think this is clear.
As you say, we are all entitled to an opinion, so as a purely subjective response… I feel an action can also be a question without having to qualify itself in an institutional form. In fact, to do so may be just the opposite of what they are attempting, could the surface be a decoy? I know that this does not help with your position and I agree that more information would be helpful.I hope that IMOCA’s next move, articulated, as they will, as artists, may be more illuminating but still as intriguing.
As regards the blackboard (and I seem to remember more elements than that), sure isn’t a glass of water an oak tree?