C106
update
More lolly
for arts
The Republic's
Minister for the Arts (and Sport and Tourism) has announced
a nineteen-percent increase in funding to the Arts Council/An
Chomhairle Ealaíon. In 2004 the Council will get
52.5 euro million, up from E44 million this year. The Council
itself had stated that 53.660 euro million was the minimum
required, but it will doubtless be greatly relieved that
the amount has increased at all.
The ninteen-percent
increase is possibly attributable to the proactive strategy
adopted by the Council this year; it made a detailed submission
to government, outlining the detrimental effects of current
cuts and making the case for substantially increased funding.
The funding for 2004 will bring government spending on the
arts - or at least, that spending which goes through the
Arts Council - almost back in line with the Arts Plan.
Arts organisations
will have to wait until 19 December, at the earliest, to
hear how they have fared in the divvy up.
Arthouse
takes on new life
Arthouse, as
it was known, or the Multimedia Centre, as it is currently
known (to some), is no longer to be that spookily empty
building in the middle of Temple Bar, Dublin. It is to be
shared, in all likelihood, between (at least) two cultural
organisations. One will probably be the Ark, Temple Bar's
Children's Cultural Centre; the Ark will also retain its
old building.
The other organisation
is the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and
Technology, which will now have an outpost in the centre
of Dublin. 'A new way of teaching Fine Art' is the driving
philosphy of the Fine Art Department at IADT. Temple Bar
Gallery and Studios is to give over one of its largest studios,
No. 6, so that MA candidates will have a working gallery
space where, as Aileen MacKeogh, the Institute's head of
art and design, says, they can feel embedded in the real
world and away from isolated academia. The MA is to offer
three streams: art-making, curation and criticism. Offices
will be located in Arthouse-as-was. Co-ordinator of the
MA is Mick Wilson, who writes in this issue on pages 28
- 32.
Catalyst
finds a home
The new
Catalyst space gets ready; courtesy Catalyst Arts
|
Thanks to Belfast
City Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the
help of many individuals, Catalyst Arts finally has a home
after a year of wandering. 5 College Court is the new address
of the artist-run organisation. The first exhibition in
the new space was Folheado, featuring work
by Portugese artists; It was the second stage of an art-exchange
project called that recently saw eleven artists from Northern
Ireland present work in Lisbon's ZDB gallery.
If you are
interested in receiving more information about the events
planned by the Catalyst Art or for other enquiries or proposals
call (0044) (0)2890 313303 or e-mail info@catalystarts.org.
Both legs of
Veneer/Folheado are reviewed in this issue,
on pages 92 - 93 and page 95.
Many new
spaces
|
Artist's
impression of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at University
College Cork; courtesy UCC
|
Despite the
difficult economic times, new visual-arts spaces seem to
keep appearing.
Perhaps the
most important of these is (to be) the Lewis Glucksman Gallery
at University College Cork. With a floor area of 2,300 square
metres, it is due to open towards the end of 2004. UCC's
current visual-arts officer, Fióna Kearney, who herself
has been heavily involved in the development of the gallery,
will also be its first Director.
Located in
the centre of Galway and already open is the 'bold art gallery'.
Run by Hazel Hendy, it promises a wide selection of art
from a cornucopia of artists. Keep an eye on boldartgallery.com.
Back in Cork,
there's 'form gallery, at Unit 2, Paul Street Shopping Centre,
run by Hazel Purcell. It promises an ongoing series of shows;
a recent show featured artists Niamh Lucey and Patrick Barry.
More at affordableartireland.com.
And down the
road there's the 'Philip Gray Gallery', just opened in Cobh,
in the old Verolme Dockyard. More information from KD &
Associates, +353 1 2844378 or info@corporate-events.ie.
But perhaps
winning the prize for the most stunning location, there
is the new 'Russell Gallery'. At Newquay, Burrin, Co. Clare,
it is run by Stefania Russell, originally from Italy. It
is Òcommitted to the showcasing of work by Irish as well
as Italian artists on a continual basis.Ó More at russellrakuceramics.com.
The Russell Gallery, Co. Clare;
courtesy Russell Gallery
|
Talking of
spaces
CIRCA has been
very fortunate to receive funding from the Arts Council
of Northern Ireland's Lottery Fund, towards the production
of a new book, An Architectural Guide to Art Spaces in Ireland.
This book, edited by Gemma Tipton (see her article in this
issue on pages 60 -Ê66, will be in two sections. The first
will examine the theory and practice of art spaces - how
they are designed and used. The second part will be a directory
of visual-arts spaces throughout the island of Ireland.
If you would like to be included in this directory, and
have not already been contacted by CIRCA, please get in
touch; see our ad on page 7 for more details.
More Cork
luck
Cork is not
just enjoying new galleries. It will soon be host to James
Elkins as the new Professor of Art History at University
College Cork. Elkins, who is a prolific writer with a very
distinguished profile internationally, is also a frequent
contributor to CIRCA. Indeed, he offers his overview of
Art History, as taught in Ireland, on pages
56 -Ê59 of this very issue.
Artists abroad
The Republic's
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism is becoming increasingly
important as another source of funding - in particular as
a different source of funding than the Arts Council - for
artists and arts organisations. The Department recently
announced funds, on the recommendation of the Cultural Relations
Committee, that will boost Ireland's visual-arts profile
abroad. The awards include the following:
| Biennial
of Sydney: grant towards the cost of participation (James
Coleman) from June to August 2004 |
25,000
euro |
| Haus
der Kunst: grant towards the cost of Irish participation
(Abigail O'Brien) in an exhibition in Munich in 2004
|
8,000
euro |
| Berlin
Biennial: grant towards the cost of participation (Willie
Doherty) in the Third Annual Berlin Biennial February
- April 2004 |
5,000
euro |
| Black
Church Print Studio: grant towards the cost mounting
an exhibition in New York in November 2003 |
5,000
euro |
| Corban
Walker: grant towards the cost of an exhibition in London
in August/September 2003 |
4,600
euro |
| Ci‡ran
Lennon: grant towards the cost of an exhibition in Denmark
from January to April 2004 |
3,000
euro |
| Se‡n
Mc Crum: grant towards the cost of a project in Newfoundland
in June 2004 |
3,000
euro |
| Bak:
grant towards the cost of Irish participation (Gerard
Byrne) in an exhibition in the Netherlands January -
March 2004 |
3,000
euro |
| Niamh
McCann: grant towards the cost of an exhibition in Chicago
in September/October 2003 |
1,000
euro |
| Mark
Curran: grant towards the cost of an exhibition in Cologne
in September/October 2003 |
1,000
euro |
| John
Keating: grant towards the cost of participating in
the First Beijing International Art Biennale in September/October
2003 o |
1,000
eur |
MacWilliam's
Perspective
Susan MacWilliam: Kuda Bux,
2003; courtesy Ormeau Baths Gallery
|
Susan MacWilliam
is the winner of this year's prestigious Perspective award.
Perspective is the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, annual
open-submission exhibition, and the award winner walks away
£6,000 richer. Perspective 2003 is reviewed on page 84 of
this issue.
Cymru calling
We don't seem
to have a great deal of visual-arts interchange between
Ireland and Wales, so it is good to see that a new cultural
initiative has been announced by CCAT, Cultural Cooperation
and Tourism, whose branches are both in Aberystwyth Arts
Centre, Wales, and Temple Bar, Dublin. The main aim of CCAT
is to raise the artistic profile both of Ireland and Wales
through the exchange of creative works between these two
'Interreg regions' (Interreg promotes cross-border, transnational
and inter-regional co-operation within the EU). The initiative,
relevant to arts organisations dealing with dance, interdisciplinary
works, literature, multimedia works, music, theatre and
visual arts, will run until 2006.
For more information
contact Zita Griffin at +353 1 677 22 55 or ccat@templebar.ie;
or visit ccat.ie.
IMMA eyes
ARCO
ARCO, the international
art fair based in Madrid, is a big-league event. The Irish
Museum of Modern Art's new Director, Enrique Juncosa, has
been invited to curate a major exhibition of work by young
Irish artists at its February 2005 incarnation. According
to the press release, ÒThe exhibition will form one of the
main elements in the fair, which takes place every year
and is one of the most popular in the world, attracting
up to 150,000 international curators, gallery owners, critics
and art loversÉÓ
Start press!
The Sculptors'
Society of Ireland has been doing great things in the printing
department of late. Two new publications have taken over
from the SSI Bulletin. The 'practical' one is the Visual
Artists' Newsletter, a six-weekly digest of news, articles,
columns, reviews and opportunities. Its functionality is
signalled by the paper used - newsprint - and by its price:
it is free. It is being distributed through art spaces throughout
Ireland. The 'theoretical' magazine, the handsome-looking
printed project, is the intellectually weightier publication.
The first issue is out now. It is scheduled to appear around
three times a year. More on it in the See section, page
22.
|
Cover of the
first Visual Artists' Newsletter; courtesy
Sculptors' Society of Ireland
|
Dear Editor,
I was taken
aback that my review of the Digital Surface event in the
previous issue of CIRCA was given the title Superficial
art. For the record, I had no part in choosing the title,
nor do I believe it accurately reflected the viewpoint expressed
in the article, or indeed the quality of the work reviewed.
Sincerely,
Paul O'Brien
(The titles
of articles are generally chosen at CIRCA by the Editor.
Sometimes titles are chosen for their attention-grabbing
effect, rather than as a necessary indicator of the article's
content. Where the choice goes awry, apologies. Ed.)
Badovinac
for ev+a 2004
Still probably Ireland's
most ambitious open-submission exhibition, ev+a continues
its tradition of inviting innovative curators from abroad
to oversee its annual event. 2004's adjucator will be Zdenka
Badovinac from Slovenia. Her roll-call of past achievements
includes being Slovenia's commissioner for the Venice Biennale
from 1993 to 1997. Submission deadline for ev+a is early
December.
Temple Bar wants
you!
One of the better-kept
secrets of Temple Bar, Dublin, is the number of cultural
organisations it houses. Now, under the aegis of Temple
Bar Properties, forty-three such organisations are banding
together to present Temple Bar Opens Up, a day-long (11
a.m. to 11 p.m.) culture-vulture fest which will feature
performances, launches and art-stuff generally. As an added
enticement, culture-stuffed goodie-bags will be given to
the first one hundred visitors to take in six of Temple
Bar's arty venues.
