Visual Artists Ireland is thrilled to publish the November-December 2023 special issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet. As recipient of the inaugural VAN Guest Editor Award 2023, London-based art critic and editor Orit Gat has developed a themed issue on the relationship between art and literature.

As stated by Orit in her editorial for this special issue, “The relationships of art and literature is a subject I have personally been engaging with for a long time […] But this theme was particularly inspired by the growth of the literary scene in Ireland, the amount of Irish fiction I’ve been reading, and my appreciation of the work of many Irish art and literary publications.”

This VAN special issue features a roundtable on publishing, in which Orit asks editors about the historic and contemporary forms, conditions and exchanges of the Irish publishing landscape. The columns for this issue are each short personal essays about the manifold ways in which a writing practice is formed. The feature articles touch on various subjects, including writing requirements in art schools, the representation of art in film, and a filmmaker’s new book. In addition, there are artist projects that show how artists relate to language and research, two poems about art and looking, and a short story about an artist who creates a monument to the victims of austerity. The Critique section focuses on exhibitions that relate in some way to literature, opera, science fiction, poetry, or historically important writers.

On The Cover

Shilpa Gupta, Words Come From Ears, 2018, Motion flapboard, 15-minute loop, 43 x 244 x 13 cm; photograph by Par Fredin, courtesy of the artist, Uppsala Art Museum, and the Henry Moore Institute.

Columns

6. Editorial. VAN Guest Editor Orit Gat introduces this special issue on art and literature.

On Magic and Dullness. Laura McLean-Ferris considers the transformative power of writing to conjure iridescent realities.

7. When Writers Socialise. Megan Nolan offers insights into New York’s literary and socialite scenes.

Stupidities. Brian Dillon outlines his approach when engaging with artists and their work.

8. Until the Penny Drops. Wendy Erskine discusses writing, process, and makes an argument for polyphony.

Making Prosinečki. Adrian Duncan discusses his short story and subsequent fi lm which premiered earlier this year.

Writing & Art Practice

9. Writing in Art School. Frank Wasser chronicles the standardisation of academic writing within art college education.
10. On Close Scrutiny, Ritual and Reverence. Isobel Harbison interviews Sara Baume about the evolution of her writing practice.

Roundtable

12. Roundtable on Publishing. Orit Gat interviews several editors about the Irish publishing landscape.

Poetry

16. Chromatology. Mónica de la Torre assembles extracts of writing on colour in response to Donald Judd’s multicoloured works.
17. The Day After Tragedy, Lunch Beneath Whistlejacket. Aea Varfi s-van Warmelo.

Critique

19. Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk, La Prose du Trans sibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France (Paris: Éditions des hommes nouveaux, 1913)
20. ‘Human Is’ at Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin.
21. Nour Mobarak, ‘Dafne Phono’ at Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, Greece.
22. ‘Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961): Poetry Is Everything’ at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
23. ‘The Weight of Words’ at The Henry Moore Institute.

Extended Essay

26. Eddie Murphy Walks into a Gallery. Orlando Whitfield on how no one understands the art world.
27. Art of Relations. Quinn Latimer considers filmmaker, writer, and theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha’s latest artist book, The Twofold Commitment (Primary Information, 2023).

Artist Project

30. Ages. Steve Bishop presents found photographs from an ongoing series.
31. Score for Unlanguaging. Orit Gat introduces the work of Jesse Chun.
32. The pagination of moments lost and found. Steven Emmanuel considers an old drawing that sits on his sideboard.

Prose

34. The Monument. Juliet Jacques presents a short story about a memorial to the victims of austerity.

Comics

36. In the Gutter. Chris Fite-Wassilak considers the successes and failures of comics in the gallery space.

Source

A friend sent me a great Venice Biennale Bingo Card as I set off for the airport, and not long after my arrival it was filling up.1 There are patterns that repeat every two years at this monster show, tensions between the market and public funding, shouty PR and actual art, with lots of inequality and excess. The super busy retro Austrian pavilion encapsulated so many of these contradictions, accompanied by a catalogue that was more furniture magazine than manifesto, but strangely both.2

As you may have heard, the 59th edition shifted its historic gender imbalance towards women, with an 80% dominance in artistic director Cecilia Alemani’s Arsenale and Central Pavilion exhibitions. Putting the emphasis on women artists does not mean the curatorial agenda was above critical reproach however, as the work was very mixed with strong modernist overtones. Meanwhile, the independently curated national pavilions did not follow suit and had a roughly equal three-way tie of women, men and group shows.

The enormous Simone Leigh sculptures dominated and punctuated all exhibition venues.3 A firm favourite and Golden Lion winner, the simplicity of form and message in these works are complicated examples of cultural appropriation with decolonising potential. The huge financial support to realise these sculptures sharply contrasts with the meagre budgets from some African nations and other indigenous artists’ projects who struggled for visibility. 

Within the strange geography of the national pavilions, G7 not G20 nations still rule – former colonial powers and their pavilions mostly prevail. There is a pretend level playing field which The Netherlands chose to act on and gave their Giardini space to Estonia, who have no permanent building. The gesture did not pay off so well, as the Dutch ended up beside the Victor Pinchuk Foundation funded show, which even had President Zelenskyy Zooming in for the opening.4 Despite propaganda weighing heavy over a range of practices and art stars there, the adjacent Melanie Bonajo film installation was rendered incredibly self-indulgent, despite touch, intimacy and loneliness being so relevant and post-Covid. Estonia did not fare much better with a squabble between artist and curator, which made for a very confused show. 

More money does not always make the best art but , my favourite pavilions were France and Italy (who have budgets that run into millions of euros.). Zineb Sedira’s movie set installation and biopic film contained content I found missing from the main curated shows. Her life story told through militant film and underground dance culture, shifted styles and techniques with a good humoured density that should not have worked but did brilliantly. The French5 pavilion was part cinema and film set – dressed as living room, bar, film storage area and more, where the work was shot. Similarly the Italian5 presentation accentuated the former warehouse setting, turning it into an abandoned post-industrial factory, with a strange mix of redundant machinery, air-conditioning hoses, sewing machines and a dark watery pier with simulated fireflies. While it was an amazing immersive installation that kept you guessing, once I read more about the main sponsors being a couture fashion house and superyacht manufacturer, Gian Maria Tosatti’s narrative seemed compromised and made the work oddly literal or complicit.

I may have drawn some connections to the war in Ukraine, but it was too recent a catastrophe to be reflected in exhibits that were three years previous in the making. The biggest elephant in the room was not the Katharina Fritsch sculpture (of a large elephant at the entrance lobby in the Central Pavilion) but the pavilions of Germany and Spain, who kind of had the same show. They both had architectural interventions, resulting in empty galleries, and instead provided guides and maps of the city for visitors and tourists. Germany showed sites of resistance and war memorials and Spain showed places to collect free books. These anti-spectacle gestures, rooted in detailed research, made for better catalogues – a difficult gamble to make at an event such as this.

Between them in the Giardini ironically, was the empty Russian pavilion, from which curators and artists withdrew just as the biennale banned their participation. The constant police presence and visitors photographing the closed building sadly created something from nothing. I witnessed a very dynamic shoot of a cleaner with a wheelbarrow of rubbish bags, which no doubt made some kind of statement on a social media feed. Opposite was the Nordic Pavilion which has temporarily become the Sámi Pavilion, populated for the press days by many happy, ethnically dressed folks. Participation rather than presentation seemed key here as the artworks appeared incidental to this grand gesture of the Nordic nations, who share this indigenous population and culture. Australia and New Zealand had strong indigenous acknowledgements and content, offering a welcome burst of sonic, strobe and camp. 

In an era of Instagram friendly post-internet art, the best works were surprisingly un-photographable. The viewer was required to be physically present to experience the work. A series of laser and prisms projected ticker-tape text across the entire Japanese pavilion interior by the collective Dumb Type, flashing words and dots, making it super hard to read and impossible to capture.

The main curated shows offered many works with highly crafted details that were at times overwhelming but mostly exasperating. The maze of works had an emphasis on making, with a clatter of modernist narratives that I found difficult to parse with contemporary art and thinking. What made wonderful sense after the long walk through the Arsenale was Niamh O’Malley’s Irish Pavilion.6 It was here that the hand crafted, elegant and sparse work spoke more to me than the maximalist main show. The works have a different sophistication which was absent elsewhere that also rejected the abject. O’Malley’s show hit the right notes, connecting better than the biennale curator could articulate in her selections. 

Alan Phelan is an artist who lives and works in Dublin. His trip to Venice was self-funded with press accreditation provided by VAI. 

alanphelan.com

Notes:

1 See: hyperallergic.com/725426/venice-biennale-bingo-card

2 Austria (biennalekneblscheirl.at)

3 USA (simoneleighvenice2022.org)

4 See: new.pinchukartcentre.org/thisisukraine

5 Italy (notteecomete.it)

6 Ireland (irelandatvenice2022.ie)

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VAN’s May/June issue features coverage of several major exhibitions, including ‘i See Earth’ at VISUAL, Carlow, and ‘girls girls girls’ at Lismore Castle Arts. Also featured in this issue is an interview with Rónán Ó Raghallaigh, a profile on the 40th anniversary of Black Church Print Studio, a Regional Focus on County Longford, and much more.

This issue introduces a new column series focusing on ‘endings’ from the Department of Ultimology, as well as several Arts & Disability columns, variously outlining: Arts & Disability Ireland’s Curated Space programme; Visual Thinking Strategies for people with visual impairments; and the realities of maintaining an art practice whilst living with chronic pain or long-term illness.

In Member Profiles for this issue, Orla O’Byrne reports from a stone-carving residency in Northern Italy, while Gillian Fitzpatrick and Justin Donnelly discuss their participation in ‘Moon Gallery: Test Flight’, which recently sent artworks to the International Space Station.

On The Cover:

Francesca Woodman, Self-portrait talking to Vince, Providence, Rhode Island, 1977, Gelatin silver estate print; Photograph courtesy The Woodman Family Foundation and Marian Goodman Gallery, © Woodman Family Foundation / DACS, London.

Columns

8. A Painter’s Sunrise. Cornelius Browne considers the benefits of early morning painting for a self-taught artist.

One Last Thing. Introducing a column series by the Department of Ultimology.

9. The Perils of Obedience. Evan Garza reflects on contemporary art and activism in Ireland.

The Social Turn. Miguel Amado considers the civic agenda of art and its contributions to activism.

10. The Practice of Looking. Róisín Power-Hackett considers how VTS could become more accessible for people with visual impairments.

Anticipatory Time. Paul Roy considers the temporalities of maintaining an art practice whilst living with a long-term illness. 

11. Pathology of Energy. Iarlaith Ni Fheorais reflects on Arts & Disability Ireland’s Curated Space programme 2021.

Body Without World. Day Magee reflects on chronic pain. 

Regional Focus: Longford

12. Engage Longford. Rosie O’Hara, Director of Engage.

Roads and Roundabouts. Marian Balfe, Visual Artist.

13. Genius Loci. Ciara Tuite, Visual Artist.

A Sociological Gaze. Amanda Jane Graham, Visual Artist.

14. Hidden Heartlands. Emily Brennan, Visual Artist.

Am I Inside or Outside? Gary Robinson, Visual Artist.

15. Immersive Process. Siobhan Cox-Carlos, Visual Artist.

Myth Memory. Gordon Farrell, Visual Artist.

Career Development

16. Performative Rituals. Barry McHugh interviews Rónán Ó Raghallaigh about his celtic and pagan influences. 

Critique

19. Cover Image: Angela Gilmour, Cladoxylopsida Wattieza (first forests, 383 Ma, Gilboa, US), 2022, acrylic on FSC birch panel.

20. ‘Shadow Forests’ at The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Cork 

21. Gerry Blake at Municipal Gallery, dlr Lexicon

22. Aoife Shanahan at Golden Thread Gallery

23. Conor McFeely at St Augustine’s Old Graveyard, Derry

24. ‘With Other Matter, Part One’ at Roscommon Arts Centre

Exhibition Profile

26. Black Heart in Flight. Clare Scott reflects on ‘girls girls girls’ at Lismore Castle Arts.

28. Consequences of Language. Rod Stoneman reflects on ‘Mountain Language’ at Galway Arts Centre.

30. Stories Taking Shape. Darren Caffrey considers current exhibitions at VISUAL.

32. On Steady Ground/Unsteady Ground. Jonathan Carroll interviews Cora Cummins and Saoirse Higgins about their show at dlr Lexicon.

Organisation Profile

33. Black Church Turns Forty. Alan Crowley discusses the evolution of Black Church Print Studio.

Residency

34. Blessing, Curse, or Inoculation. Maria McKinney reflects on her Bolay Residency at Linenhall Arts Centre. 

Member Profile

36. Like gold to airy thinness beat. Gillian Fitzpatrick and Justin Donnelly.

Peeling the Stone. Orla O’Byrne.

37. Le Segrete Vite. John Keating. 

A Good Impression. Maria Noonan-McDermott.

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January/February 2022 issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

In VAN’s first issue of the year, we profile a range of exciting projects, exhibitions, screenings and festivals taking place around the country, as 2021 came to a close.

On The Cover

Anthony Haughey, Anthem Art Intervention, Fort Dunree, on the Eve of the Anglo-Irish Treaty Signing, 5 December 2021; photograph by Anthony Haughey, courtesy the artist and Artlink.

Columns

Kites. Cornelius Browne considers aerial vantage points and objects of flight.

Patience. Andy Parsons discusses his residency at Sligo University Hospital.

Glimpses. Clíodhna Shaffrey chronicles ongoing preparations for the Venice Biennale.

Revising the Rainbow. Hannah Tiernan discusses the touring initiative ‘Rewind << Fastforward >>Record’.

Catalytic Intersections. Mary Catherine Nolan reports on a recent symposium organised by the Irish Artists’ Film Index.

The Black River of Herself. Gwen Burlington discusses Patrick Hough’s recent film.

The Sisyphean Task. Rod Stoneman discusses a recent exhibition in NUI Galway, presenting the work of practice-based PhD students from the Burren College of Art.

Regional Focus: Tipperary

To Be ‘Of a Place’. Helena Tobin, Artistic Director, South Tipperary Art Centre.

Source Arts Centre. Brendan Maher, Director.

Edgelands. John Kennedy, Visual Artist

Forest Bathing. Karen T Colbert, Visual Artist.

Vessels of Strength. Carissa Farrell, Writer and Curator.

Festival

Mutuality. Conal McStravick considers activist histories and communities of care at the 17^th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival.

Ephemeral Permanence. Jennie Taylor interviews Eoin Dara, curator of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts 2021.

An Example of Something Inside Out. Frank Wasser reports on FIX 21 as both a performer and observer.

Critique

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon, The Map, 2021, [Detail]; photograph by Ros Kavanagh, courtesy the artists and Rua Red.

‘Innate Flow’ at Market House, Craftwork, Cappoquin

‘Dear www’ at glór, Ennis.

Helen Hughes, ‘and Yes, daydreamer SurRender, Roscommon Arts Centre

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon, ‘The Map’ at Rua Red.

Joseph Beuys and Asbestos at Hugh Lane Gallery.

Exhibition Profile

Practices of Emancipation. Miguel Amado reflects on Daniela Ortiz’s show at Sirius.

Water – More or Less. Susan Campbell reviews Marie Hanlon’s recent solo show.

Residency

Citizen Action. Seán Beattie interviews Anthony Haughey about his Artlink residency.

VAI Event

Sustainable Ambition. Joanne Laws reports on VAI Get Together 2021.

Project Profile 

Test Site. Róisín Foley discusses a recent project in Kyrls Quay, Cork City.

Breaking Cover. Cathy Fitzgerald reports on a recent performance event at IMMA.

Organisation Profile

Stack. Gabrielle Flynn speaks to Elizabeth Kinsella about her exhibition at Solas Art Gallery.

The Global Contemporary. Kate Antosik-Parsons interviews Annie Fletcher about IMMA’s 30^th anniversary.

Thinking Publicly. Megs Morley speaks to Francis McKee about how institutions learn and think publicly with artists.

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VAN’s final issue of the year has just been despatched to members and arts organisations, while the digital version is now available for subscribers in the members’ area of the VAI website.

You can receive a copy directly in the post, as part of VAI’s membership subscription (Professional or Associate, €25/€50 per year). Alternatively, you can pick up a copy for free in galleries and art centres nationwide.

In VAN’s Nov/Dec 2021 issue, we reflect on some timely exhibitions and festivals taking place across Ireland, while profiling several new organisations.

On The Cover

Aideen Barry, Klostes, behind the scenes; photograph by Martynas Plepys, courtesy the artist and Kaunas 2022, European Capital of

Culture.

Columns

The Painter’s Friend. Cornelius Browne considers the marginal position of working-class artists.

An Ever-evolving Series of Projects. Pamela de Brí discusses her latest body of work, created by cycling around the Irish midlands.

Pluid: The National Comfort Blanket. Claire Halpin and Madeleine Hellier discuss their ambitious collaborative artwork.

Day Dream. The founders of trans-art in Cavan discuss the evolution of the platform to date.

Plan C: Whereabouts? Michaële Cutaya discusses the making of GMIT’s MA in Creative Practice graduate show.

Momentum. Emmett Scanlon reflects on a new exhibition programme at the Irish Architecture Foundation.

Regional Focus: Sligo

Take a Walk for Me. Catherine Fanning, Arts Development Worker, Sligo Arts Service.

The Model. Emer McGarry, Artistic Director and CEO.

It’s OK to be an Outsider. Emma Stroude, Visual Artist.

Conversations with Waters. Ruth Le Gear, Visual Artist.

Hamilton Gallery. Martina Hamilton, Director.

Hyde Bridge Gallery. Nuala Clarke, Chair of Board.

Queer Bodies, Rural Landscape. Bog Cottage, Artist Collective.

Exhibition Profile

Citizens of the Cosmos. Miguel Amado reflects on Anton Vidokle’s recent exhibition in Rampa, which was coproduced by Sirius.

Amongst the Daughter. Jennie Guy contextualises Cecilia Bullo’s show at Hillsboro Fine Art.

Critique

Pigsy, ‘Catharsis of Collapse’ at The Butter Market Gallery.

Emma Wolf-Haugh, ‘Domestic Optimism’ at Project Arts Centre.

Abigail O’Brien, ‘Justice – Never Enough’ at Highlanes Gallery.

Joe Caslin, Counterpart, mural at the Ulster Museum.

‘Queer Mind, Body and Soul’ at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Róisín Kennedy, Art & The Nation State (Liverpool University Press, 2021).

Exhibition Profile

Reliquary of Beasts. Meadhbh McNutt reviews a recent group exhibition at 126 Artist-run Gallery.

Feeling of Knowing. John Graham reviews a recent group exhibition at The Complex.

Festival

Klostės/Folds. Joanne Laws interviews Aideen Barry about her commission for Kaunas European City of Culture 2022.

Hyperobjects. Joanne Laws interviews three artists exhibiting at the PhotoIreland Festival 2021.

Member Profile  

Testing/testing. Brendan Maher speaks with Joy Gerrard about her current exhibitions.

Hypnagogia. Aifric Kyne interviews Ann Maria Healy about her recent exhibition at The LAB.

Organisation Profile

Grass Roots. Founders Mark Buckeridge and Leah Corbett discuss Muine Bheag Arts.

Dynamic Power. Matthew Wilkinson introduces The Horse – a new project space in Dublin.

Source: Visual Artists Ireland News

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In celebration of physical encounters with art – and the role of writing in recording these experiences – this issue focuses almost exclusively on the many interesting and vibrant exhibitions taking place around the country over the last few months.

Among numerous Exhibition Profiles, Mary Flanaghan interviews artist Anna Spearman about her recent solo show, ‘Loose Parts’ at Roscommon Arts Centre; Dr Yvonne Scott reflects on Mary-Ruth Walsh’s touring exhibition, ‘SKIN DEEP’; and Davey Moore outlines the recent group show, ‘Double Estate’ at the Pearse Museum, presenting works from the OPW State Art Collection.

In addition, Jane Morrow reviews the recent exhibition series, ‘Mediating Signals’ at Flax Art Studios, curated by Edy Fung; Luan Gallery outlines the thematic inquiries of their current show, ‘Queer As You Are’; Sinéad Keogh discusses the curatorial inquiries underpinning ‘I Am What I Am’ at Ballina Arts Centre; and Dr Barbara Dawson reflects on the 20th anniversary of the Francis Bacon Studio project.

Among festival coverage in this issue, Michael Hill’s column considers the resonance of large-scale international art exhibitions like the Venice Biennale, Jennifer Redmond reviews the visual art programme of Cork Midsummer Festival 2021, and Gwen Burlington considers some of the artworks presented during the second phase of EVA International.

Reviewed in the Critique section are: ‘Sweeny’s Decent’ at An Táin Arts Centre; ‘A Conversation Ensued, Nobody Said A Word’, a two-person show with Colin Darke and Yvonne Kennan at Belfast Exposed; Claire Murphy, ‘Here is Where I Am’ at South Tipperary Arts Centre; ‘The Loneliness of Being German’, a two-person show with Vera Klute and Thomas Brezing at Limerick City Gallery of Art; and ‘The Maternal Gaze’, an online screening programme at IMMA.
In Cornelius Browne’s latest Plein Air column, ‘The Painters in The Trees’, he reflects on painting with his children close to home, while Miguel Amado discusses collections, colonial legacies and ‘art from elsewhere’. John Graham outlines key aspects of his drawing process in his skills column, and Ann Quinn discusses her recent paintings, to be shown in a forthcoming solo exhibition at Taylor Galleries.

VAI member profiles include Carolann Courtney’s interview with John Conway about his durational and multi-disciplinary art practice, and Ingrid Lyons’s reflection on two recent installations by Liliane Puthod.

The Regional Focus for this issue comes from County Waterford, with organisational insights from Síle Penkert (Executive Director, Garter Lane Arts Centre), Paul McAree (Curator, Lismore Castle Arts), Claire Meaney (Director, Waterford Healing Arts Trust) and Jenna Whelan (Director, GOMA Gallery of Modern Art), while visual artists Clare Scott and Sarah Lincoln reflect on the realities of maintaining a visual art practice in the region.

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As this issue goes to print, we find ourselves on the cusp of summer, yet still awaiting clarification from government on the easing of public health restrictions, which would bring about the much-anticipated reopening of studios, galleries and art centres across the Republic of Ireland. We lament the loss of gatherings and public events that define the Irish visual arts community, who have been so dramatically impacted by successive lockdowns, as recently asserted by patron of Visual Artists Ireland, President Michael D Higgins, who celebrated his 80^th birthday on 18 April.

Reflecting on the absence of public moments to punctuate his painting practice over the last year, Cornelius Browne considers the historical rejection of exhibitions by outsider artists in his Plein Air column for this issue. Conversely, tasked with developing a large-scale exhibition during a global pandemic, Niamh O’Malley outlines ongoing preparations for Ireland at Venice 2022. In other columns, Matt Packer reports from the recent Curatorial Ethics workshop at Void, Derry, while Miguel Amado tracks toxic philanthropy in the global art world. In addition, Shane Finan outlines open-source software and alternative platforms, and Ciarán Murphy reflects on the mysteries of the ‘self’ in relation to the creative process and its affinities with psychoanalysis.

Over the last year, we have been publishing a popular series of articles in which VAI members offer insights into the challenges of maintaining an art practice during a global pandemic. This issue features Member Profiles from artists Audrey Walshe, Elaine Hoey, Giulia Berto, Austin Hearne, Kate Murphy and Ellen Duffy, who each offer generous insights into the research and artworks they have been developing during lockdown.

In Project Profiles, Clare Scott outlines ongoing archival research on the Aileen MacKeogh Project, Barbara Knezevic discusses her recent artwork, ‘The Record Keepers’, commissioned for Cabra Library, while Kate Antosik Parsons reflects on Amanda Coogan’s new work, ‘They come then, the birds’, due to be exhibited at Rua Red, as the first in the series of Magdalene commissions.

VAN’s May-June issue includes an expanded Regional Focus on Belfast, with insights from Peter Richards, Chair of the Belfast Visual Arts Forum; Ben Crothers, Curator and Collections Manager at the Naughton Gallery; Jane Butler, Co-director of Household; the codirectors of Catalyst Arts; and Clodagh Lavelle, Project Coordinator of Reimagine, Remake, Replay. In addition, artists Justine McDonnell, Gerard Carson and several members of Queen Street Studios offer detailed insights into visual arts activities and infrastructure within Belfast city.

Reviewed in the Critique section are an interesting selection of recent online exhibitions and projects: Rory Tangney, ‘Tales of the Future Past’; Kurb Junki, ‘Meditative Monitor’; Vera Ryklova, ‘Aesthetic Distance’ at Cultúrlann, Belfast; ‘Passing-time’, passing-time.org; and ‘The Museum of Ancient History’ at University College Dublin.

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Welcome to the March – April 2021 Issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet. 

As galleries and museums across Ireland and Northern Ireland remain closed to the public, we have once again had to temporarily shift our focus away from physical exhibitions. VAN’s March – April 2021 issue is loosely themed around artist publishing activities, while also covering a timely range of online film screenings and moving image programmes. 

We seem to be witnessing an unprecedented return to publishing in the Irish visual arts community, evident in the vast array of artist books, catalogues, monographs and photobooks currently being produced. These exciting developments are reflected across this issue of VAN. In place of our usual Exhibition Roundup, we are presenting an inaugural Publishing Roundup, which profiles an assortment of recent Irish publications and zines, as well as current and forthcoming international art books. 

We have invited contributions from several independent publishing projects and imprints based in Ireland – Numbered Editions, Bloomers Magazine, Soft Fiction Projects and Stereo Editions – who each discuss their scope, evolution and future plans. In addition, Christopher Steenson outlines some key considerations for self-publishing; Sean Lynch interviews John Carson about his new book, produced by ACA Public; while VAN Editor, Joanne Laws, discusses several new photography publications, developed to accompany high profile exhibitions in Ireland this year.

In columns for this issue, Matt Packer considers the impact of art falling ‘out-of-sync’ with its intended proposal, and Miguel Amado calls for a curatorial resistance to the interdependence of finance and the institutions of art. Cornelius Browne reflects on the relations between art and walking in is column, ‘The Gentle Art of Tramping’, while Éilís Murphy and Grace Wilentz discuss their two-year collaboration.

In VAN’s Career Development section, Mary Flanagan interviews artist Jo Killalea about her painting practice; Gwen Burlington discusses the work of Irish artist, Renèe Helèna Browne; and Meadhbh McNutt interviews Jan McCullough about her current exhibition at CCA Derry~Londonderry.

Among other profiles, Susan Campbell outlines the evolution of the Golden Fleece Award, marking its twentieth anniversary this year; while Jennifer Redmond considers various artworks in ‘Cahoots: The Space Between’ – an artist-led digital exhibition, organised in collaboration between A4 Sounds (Dublin), Sample Studios (Cork), and Engage Art Studios (Galway).

VAN’s Critique section features recent online screening programmes: Patrick Hough, ‘Revenant Images’ for aemi; ‘We Interrupt This Apocalypse’ curated by Jesse Jones, aemi and Isolation TV’s Vaari Claffey; ‘Irish Short Reel Series’ for CIACLA & MART; Sasha Litvintseva, Every Rupture (2020) for the Douglas Hyde Gallery; and Phil Collins, Bring Down the Walls (2020) hosted by Void Gallery. 

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Happy new year! After a difficult year, we hope you all enjoyed a peaceful festive season. The January-February 2021 issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet has a broad thematic focus on artist-led practice, with timely profiles on various DIY projects, artist collectives, residencies, workspaces and other infrastructure.

As well as profiling various artist-led studios (including The Complex, Atelier Maser, Graphic Studio Dublin, spacecraft and Vault) we also hear from NINE, Angelica and Na Cailleacha – collectives and networks established during lockdown to enhance visibility and provide peer support for artists.

This issue also explores several experimental artist-led projects taking place outside the gallery and largely disseminated via social media. John Busher discusses ‘Sift’, a painting exhibition on the grounds of Wilton Castle in Wexford; while Rachel McIntyre interviews Eleanor McCaughey and Richard Proffitt about their temporary exhibition in East Wall, Dublin, titled ‘What Remains of This Place?’ Also in this issue, Róisín Foley discusses the artist-led residency, Oileán Air 2020 on Cape Clear Island, which recently hosted artists Brigid O’Dea, Vicky Langan and Noah Rose. We also hear from the students of NCAD’s second year MFA programme about their recent exhibition, ‘We Are Solitary’, which was installed at Rua Red Gallery in Tallaght, Dublin, in November 2020.

Among Career Development profiles, we hear from three Irish artists working across various disciplines – Aoife Dunne, Pascal Ungerer and Kevin Francis Gray – who offer insights into the progression of their practices to date. In columns for this issue, Miguel Amado discusses curating as civic practice, while Art Writing Award-winner, Meadhbh McNutt, reflects on her recent workshop at CCA Derry~Londonderry, titled ‘Should Artists Write?’ In addition, Albert Weis discusses ‘The border’ – a group exhibition featuring several Irish artists at Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin, which considered the historic legacy of the Troubles, while reflecting upon current restrictions and insecurities in the context of looming Brexit.

In October and November 2020, galleries and museums were closed to the public, with no guarantee of reopening before Christmas. For this reason, we were reluctant to commission our usual series of exhibition reviews. Therefore, the Critique section for this issue focuses on art books recently published in Ireland, with reviews of: Small Town Portraits; Winter Papers, Volume 6; Curriculum: Contemporary Art Goes to School; Everything is Somewhere Else; and Art Ireland and the Irish Diaspora. This timely focus on art publishing resonates with the highly successful tenth edition of the Dublin Art Book Fair at TBG+S (23 November — 06 December 2020), which is discussed in Renata Pekowska’s profile on artists’ books.

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With the ongoing closure of all cultural venues nationwide (due to Level 5 public health restrictions, aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19) once again galleries are having to find ways to supplement, extend or archive their exhibition programmes across a range of digital platforms. VAN’s November – December issue considers the pragmatic, conceptual, aesthetic and institutional benefits and challenges of these virtual and screen-based presentations – displaced from physical encounters and no longer dependant on bodily proximity.

The competition brief for the DCC/VAI Art Writing Award 2020 drew on current critical debate surrounding online exhibitions, with writers invited to consider whether this curatorial model, without significant precedent, is an alienating or democratising force for the presentation of art. Applicants responded to the complexity of the brief in diverse and interesting ways. Meadhbh McNutt’s winning essay is published in this issue, outlining the scope of current discourse and potential innovations in artistic practice.

Also in this issue, Matt Packer considers the proliferation of screen-based art as an important opportunity to reimagine the functionality and form of exhibitions. For the first time, VAN’s Critique section includes remote coverage of two online exhibitions, namely ‘Not Alone’ – a travelling exhibition of small-scale works, initiated by Golden Thread Gallery and disseminated via social media – and ‘Drawn From Borders’, a 3D virtual gallery, developed by Artlink in Donegal. Also reviewed in the November/December Critique section are: Sinéad Mi Mhaonaigh at The Dock; ‘The Sea Around Us’ at The Model; and Bernadette Doolan at GOMA Waterford.

Several regional exhibitions are also profiled in this issue, including: Austin McQuinn at The Source Art Centre; the ‘Connection’ project at Droichead Arts Centre; Orla Whelan at Rathfarnham Castle (Dublin); and ‘6’ group exhibition in Kilfane Glebe House Studio, Thomastown, which also coincides with the Regional Focus on County Kilkenny.

This issue also features coverage of several recent or ongoing festivals: Joanne Laws interviews Sarah Browne, Curator of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts 2020; Joanne also reports on key projects commissioned for Galway 2020 European City of Culture; while Theo Hynan-Radcliff reviews phase one of the 39^th Eva International. In addition, curator Alissa Kleist outlines various artistic projects realised as part of the Freelands Artist Programme.

In the last issue of 2020, we are profiling several Irish organisations who have been celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, namely 25 years of Hillsboro Fine Art and 30 years of Backwater Artists Studio.

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