SHELLY MCDONNELL TALKS ABOUT THE VARIOUS SUPPORTS AND ADVICE OFFERED TO EMERGING ARTISTS THROUGH THE VAI HELP-DESK. I deal with professional queries through VAI’s Help-Desk – a free and confidential service available to all artists, by phone, email, through the website and in clinics nationwide. If you have a question, an idea or a problem, I’ll usually be able to offer advice or at least point you in the right direction. Every artist faces their own challenges, but a few regular queries are touched on below. These themes are expanded upon in the ‘How To Manual: A Survival Guide for Visual Artists’, available on the VAI website. Finding Opportunities You
ROB HILKEN OUTLINES OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE TO EMERGING ARTISTS THROUGH VAI’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME. Visual Artists Ireland offers a range of supports and opportunities to artists at all stages of their careers, including emerging artists. We recognise that recent graduates have different needs to those with more established practices, but also that it is important to share new developments that affect everyone. We value peer support and encourage artists to discuss their experiences and learn from each other. Many of our events and seminars are free, while those that do have a booking fee are heavily discounted for VAI members. The Visual Artist’s Café format combines information-sharing, discussion and networking. We
The July/August issue of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet is out now. It has been sent out to all members of Visual Artists Ireland, as well as to art galleries and art centre across the country. In light of the historic vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, we asked Cecily Brennan to reflect on the contributions of the Artist’s Campaign. In other columns, Victoria Durrer, lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy at Queen’s University Belfast, discusses a new collaborative research project, aimed at evaluating the impact of art as a catalyst for reconciliation. VAI NI Manager Rob Hilken reports on the symposium, ‘Best Practice
CHRISTOPHER STEENSON REPORTS ON SONORITIES FESTIVAL – AN EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC AND SOUND ART FESTIVAL THAT TOOK PLACE IN BELFAST FROM 17 TO 22 APRIL. If someone asked you where they might find a week-long, international festival dedicated to the latest developments in experimental music and sound art, you might recommend somewhere like Berlin. But since 1981, when Sonorities was founded at Queen’s University (QUB) as a “festival of twentieth century music”, Belfast has been just the place for an exploration of all things sonic. This year’s Sonorities Festival, which featured artists from over 40 countries, made a conscious effort to be more inclusive and open to the general public. By
CURATOR DANIEL BERMINGHAM INTERVIEWS ARTISTS EIMEAR WALSHE AND EMMA HAUGH ABOUT THEIR RECENT EXHIBITION, ‘MIRACULOUS THIRST’, AT GALWAY ARTS CENTRE (5 – 25 MAY). Daniel Bermingham: The exhibition title, ‘Miraculous Thirst’, is a totem for shameless desire, in the face of personal sexual trauma. During the development of your show, Ireland responded to a particularly violent period of national sexual trauma. Can you discuss the relationship between personal and collective trauma? Eimear Walshe: Coming from the online lexicon, ‘thirst’ is a playfully condemning word for shameless displays of queer desire. I use ‘miraculous thirst’ to describe persistent, undisguised desire that has been suppressed, under whatever personal or systemic regime. Such
