Category: Visual Arts

Weekly round-up: 4 February 2011

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Blowin’ in the wind this week:

  • As seen in the last post, the Dublin Contemporary‘s appointed 2 new curators; its site has just come back online again as of today, with further details of its theme and what the heck they mean by ‘The Office of Non-Compliance’, whose explanation still sounds a bit Cheneyesque to me.
  • The director job for the National Concert Hall was featured in The Irish Times today.
  • Many were dismayed this week (not least the staff) to hear of the closure of Waterstone’s Dublin branches. I can only hope great indies like the Gutter Bookshop, Winding Stair and The Company of Books continue to thrive.
  • The new Google Art Project has been wowing everyone in these parts– more fun than ArtStor, but can the Irish museums play too? Pretty please??
  • The Model: Sligo has a great new Jack Yeats exhibition ‘The Outsider’ on show, and a talk tomorrow (5 Feb) with Brian O’Doherty and Hilary Pyle that I wish I could attend!
  • Business to Arts has published a useful evaluation of its own ‘New Stream’ project, aimed at improving development skills in the arts sector through a series of workshops and professional development activities. Our own Pat Cooke provides some of the feedback on the programme.
  • Arts Audiences has launched details of two audience development schemes: Building Your Audience focuses on cultural tourism and assisting arts organisations with attracting domestic and international visitors (in partnership with Failte Ireland), while Media Mentoring offers the opportunity to match orgs with a mentor from Google who will provide advice and guidance on using new media to best advantage. Both schemes are currently open for application by organisations large & small!
  • The Moderns has continued to attract high visitor numbers (though some mixed reviews) but an announcement that the catalogue will be AGAIN delayed until March (when a significant part of the exhibition will be closed) was deeply disappointing (and frustrating for those of us hoping to use the exhibition for teaching purposes!)
  • Alain de Botton’s provocatively titled missive ‘Why are museums so uninspiring?’ set off lots of debate & discussion in the blogosphere; personally I think Charlotte Higgins from the Guardian had the most spot-on response (and interesting comments, too).
  • In the US, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman sparked more debate over his comments that suggest American theatre was in a state of oversupply and under-demand, and should be adjusted accordingly.
  • The Observer on Sunday had an interesting piece on the death of the critic in the face of social media, but it still sounds like the funeral may be premature.

Dublin Contemporary appoints new curators

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Following the recent news of Rachael Thomas’ departure from the Dublin Contemporary project, news of new curatorial appointments has come from a press release distributed today:

New York-based curator and writer, Christian Viveros-Fauné, and Franco-Peruvian artist and curator, Jota Castro, have been appointed joint Lead Curators of Dublin Contemporary 2011, one of the most ambitious art exhibitions ever staged in Ireland. Dublin Contemporary will take place for eight weeks from September 6th to October 31st 2011 and will present the work of Irish-based artists, alongside leading artists from around the globe.
Viveros-Fauné and Castro are very ambitious for Dublin Contemporary and will be presenting the work of some renowned international artists alongside artworks by outstanding Irish artists. They will present a programme of exhibitions that relate to the theme of Terrible Beauty—Art, Crisis, Change & The Office of Non-Compliance. Taken from William Butler Yeats’s famous poem, “Easter, 1916”, the exhibition’s title was inspired by Yeats’s response to political events in Ireland and is intended to highlight art’s potential for commenting on current events in Irish life.

Sounds like it’s been given a complete overhaul, including the title (now in its third version, although I think including the phrase ‘the office of non-compliance’ weakens the theme). Both of the curators would be fairly unknown in these parts, although with very interesting CVs. The press release makes no mention however of the other ‘curatorial voices’ previously involved with the DC, including Oliver Dowling et al. The DC’s site is currently down with a note it will be relaunching today. The press release reiterates that a programme will be announced in March.

Weekly round-up: 19 January 2011

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I need a lie down– far too much happening over the last week! Here’s the skinny:

  • In a (relatively) surprising announcement, Fionnuala Croke (head curator at the National Gallery) was named new director of the Chester Beatty Library, replacing the outgoing legend Michael Ryan. Croke had been tipped as a potential replacement for Raymond Keaveney as Director of the NGI following his retirement this year, so her appointment to the CBL has led to much speculation about future leadership at the Gallery.
  • The word on Fundit.ie, Business to Arts’ new crowdsourcing site (check out the video above!), was leaked to a wider audience this week, with a formal launch coming in February. If you aren’t familiar with crowdsourcing, have a look-see at established sites like www.kickstarter.com— this project has major potential for Ireland’s creatives.
  • Music Generation, the new music education programme managed by Music Network and set to be rolled out nationwide, has received major sponsorship from U2 and the Ireland Fund which will allow it to be realised over the next three years (speaking of Music Network, they’re looking for an intern— deadline is Friday!)
  • Yesterday’s Irish Times ran an article by Gemma Tipton detailing pressure artists face to make ends meet: sobering first hand accounts strike a sharp contrast with critiques of the income tax exemption in recent months.
  • The Jameson International Film Festival has announced a screenwriting competition and issued a call for volunteers.
  • Why have I not seen this blog before? Diane Ragsdale (pursuing a PhD in cultural economics in Amsterdam), has written a great series of pieces on cultural management & policy (attracting many excellent & insightful comments).
  • The shortlist for the Irish Times Theatre Awards has been announced– according to the article, the Gate has refused its productions to be allowed for consideration (apparently last year was the same). I’ve yet to discern the logic behind this? In other theatre news, The Company is looking for a last-minute, eager assistant for its production ‘As You Now Are So Once We Were at The Abbey.
  • ACE cuts are to be announced in 2 weeks’ time… meanwhile the Guardian has made the excellent move of centralising information about UK arts funding on its Culture Cuts blog.
  • The VIP Art Fair is set to go live in 2 days — a groovy new model of an online-only art fair that’s attracted the participation of major international galleries, features high-tech means of viewing the work available and offers the ability to chat live with dealers in a suite of innovative features. Will have to check out and ogle the functionality, ummmm.
  • I’ve shied away recently from posting event announcement (as I receive so many!), but I always have a soft spot for projects run by programme alumni: tomorrow is the launch of ‘Haiti Lives – One Year On‘, a photography exhibition run by TCD’s International Development Initiative, on view at Trinity until Wednesday Februrary 9th.

Phew.

Dublin Contemporary in peril?

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This morning’s article by Aidan Dunne in the Irish Times confirmed what many had heard as rumour/speculation: Rachael Thomas is no longer one of the artistic directors of the high profile Dublin Contemporary project, despite her central role as one of its founders:

WITHIN THE past few days, all references to Dublin Contemporary’s artistic director Rachael Thomas have disappeared from the event’s website. This follows on from intense speculation about her position over the past month. Given that late last week Thomas was still very active as artistic director and said she had no intention of stepping aside, this suggests she had an abrupt change of heart. A founder of Dublin Contemporary, Thomas has been its driving force for several years.

A spokesperson for Dublin Contemporary says that Thomas, who was on secondment from her position as Head of Exhibitions at Imma, is returning to the museum. There is no artistic director of Dublin Contemporary at present, though developments will be announced early next month.

Thomas’s departure throws into sharp relief questions that have hung over the international festival of contemporary art, scheduled to take place in Dublin later this year, since it was launched with some fanfare last July.

Dunne suggests it was Thomas with an ‘abrupt change of heart’, but it seems hardly likely such a move was cordially agreed, and it has the appearance of a forced exit. Dunne goes on to criticise the DC for its lack of transparency, failure to communicate programme information, and confused sense of mission or purpose:

Communications have not been handled well. Bland, jargonistic generalities have too often taken the place of hard information. Those not directly involved might eventually feel they are being taken for granted. And the art world has been abuzz with rumours that Dublin Contemporary HQ is not a happy camp.

[…]

Can Dublin Contemporary go ahead without the input of the person who shaped its as yet uncertain identity, the person who is certainly responsible more than anyone else for its existence? Presumably it could go ahead in some form or another. The unpalatable truth may be, though, that Dublin Contemporary shouldn’t just be postponed, it should be cancelled and rethought from the ground up. The evidence so far suggests that it needs a more inclusive, strategic approach than has been evident, with closer involvement from all interested parties – including the main galleries in Dublin and other cultural bodies.

The criticisms Dunne references are hardly new, and have plagued the project since the beginning. Unfortunately the ultimate timing of the project couldn’t have been worse, though this was no fault of its founders — in a flush Celtic Tiger Ireland, what could have seemed more apt than an art event of this scale, finally placing Dublin on the international art tourism map? As the date has drawn nearer, the lack of programme information, involvement of the St Patrick’s Festival team (signalling a philosophical orientation very different from that of a typical biennale style event), and the proposed scale of the project versus capability to deliver have occasioned anxiety in many quarters. Nevertheless Thomas & Dowling managed to garner a significant amount of goodwill (and of course funding) towards the project, and this recent news has occasioned much dismay amongst those involved with or anticipating the DC. From a personal standpoint, many past and current students have been tremendously excited by the concept, eager to participate and lend assistance, and take part in such an ambitious project. I am saddened and worried about this turn of events.

Even more perplexing is the failure of the DC to issue an official statement on the situation– there are too many rumours circulating at the minute, too many clashing cooks in the kitchen and too much at stake for the visual arts in Ireland. Dunne has, quite rightly, issued a strong challenge to the DC executive team to reconsider the wisdom of plowing ahead. If it is the case that the DC is sufficiently developed and prepared to continue, it is not in their best interest to wait until March for a detailed announcement. Given the number of people who have committed professionally and personally to this endeavour, I hope this mess can be sorted soon, and a workable and realistic strategy be communicated.

note: CIRCA has an online post on the news item here (though no comments yet), but I’d welcome any comments/reactions below as well.

Weekly round-up: 17 December 2010

Last digest before Xmas, folks! And it’s a doozy…

Season’s Greetings to all my readers!! Thanks for granting me the gift of your eyeballs over the past year.