• EVA International 2018 Submission

    January 28, 2017 - By 

    Ireland’s biennial international art extravaganza EVA International was a huge success last summer in Limerick, attracting over 100,000 – you can read our review of the festival here. Entitled Still (the) Barbarians and curated by Cameroon-born Koyo Kouoh, the biennial was a response to the year that saw Ireland celebrate and remember the centenary since The Rising. Submission for next year’s event, curated this time by Columbian Inti Guerrero, are open until January 31st – full details here. Only 15 months till we get to see what’s in store!

  • Turner Month @ The National Gallery

    January 28, 2017 - By 

    To the benefit of both the National Gallery of Ireland and Irish art fans Henry Vaughan in 1900, despite having no connection to this island, donated his sizeable Turner collection to be split among the national galleries of Scotland and Ireland as well as the Victoria & Albert and Tate museums in London. A quirk of the Vaughan Bequest was a stipulation that the work only be shown in January – to both better preserve the works and enhance it in the lower light of January – and for it to be free of charge. Over a hundred years later the tradition is still being kept and…

  • RHA Annual Exhibition Announced

    January 27, 2017 - By 

    Details for this year’s RHA Annual Exhibition have been announced by the Dublin gallery. With last year’s showcase moved forward to accommodate centenary celebrations for The Rising, this year it will return to its traditional summer slot – running from May 23rd to August 12th. Applications for this the 187th edition of Ireland’s largest and oldest open submission exhibition are due to close on March 23rd, with full details on submissions and forms available here. As well as providing an unrivaled opportunity to view and purchase works by artists emerging and established, it also provides a timely cross-section or current…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Reflection

    November 16, 2016 - By 

    2016 has been proposed as a year of reflection for the island of Ireland. While the main focus of this reflection has been channelled towards the centenary of the two conflicts that dominated Ireland – The 1916 Easter Rising – and Europe – The Battle of the Somme – it has also instigated a broader societal reflection on the current state of play of this and many other nations; as well stirring a personal reflection of our own past and familial history. This process is set to continue over the next few years as the centenary of many events that…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Time

    October 24, 2016 - By 

    Mankind has always will be obsessed with time. How long does anything take? When will something happen? We use it as a yardstick for task and events. As a society we’re enthralled by time-travel, constantly preoccupied with how long things take to do and get to. We’ve even coined the phrase ‘time immemorial’ to indicate how long things have been the way there are – it’s July 6th 1189 in case you were curious. Time is a revisionary tool by which we revisit the past and judge previous actions, comparing and contrasting them to now – they same time heals…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: Culture Night 2016: Dublin

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    Ireland’s annual night of culture is upon us again this Friday as her galleries, museum, studios and a host of others cultural hotspots open their doors for a night of exhibitions, demonstrations and insights. Culture Night 2016 sees over 3,000 events take place across the whole island, and what started out as a capital only event 10 years ago has now spread to 40 towns and cities across the all of Ireland. Dublin sees a host of music gigs, gallery openings, late night museums and open houses with events taking place across the city until 11pm. As always Culture Night…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: Collection

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Collections come in many sizes, outputs and forms. They can be collated by the similarity in object or output, they can also be defined by a universal signifier such as a time, artist or theme. In this edition of The Thin Air’s Picture This we see this idea manifested in four of its many tropes. In Wexford we see a collection of national and international artists explore the idea of a residency and it’s impact on an artist’s practice. Galway also presents us a collection of artists, this time all of the Finnish and all of them discussing the same…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: PhotoIreland Special

    July 22, 2016 - By 

    July is a strange month in Ireland, an interim of sorts. It’s the summer month without a bank holiday. Most sports have taken a hiatus. The Euros are done and dusted. Even the GAA Championship, that bastion of Irish summer months, doesn’t really start until August. The Leaving & Junior Certs are over, as Alice Cooper once said – school’s out for the summer. You could be half tempted to either count down or whittle away the days until that glorious long weekend at the start of August – and with the weather we’ve had this week who’d blame you.…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Environment

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    The concept of environments, and environmental impact, resonates across the broad content and diverse mediums featured in this edition of The Thin Air’s Picture This. While this theme is present in the traditional sense of the impact we as a human race have had on the environment, it is more keenly felt in the reverse and the impact an environment can have on us – the subject and the audience. The four shows highlight how it can alter the cultures and traditions of its inhabitants, help formulate ideologies and craft viewpoints. In a broader sense we also see the impact…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Boundaries

    June 27, 2016 - By 

    Boundaries as a theme is present in the four shows in this week’s Picture This – don’t worry we here at The Thin Air are not talking about Brexit. We mean boundaries in the sense of where something can be pushed to and expanded beyond, rather than the traditional sense of landmass and exclusion. Boundaries come with preconceptions, limitations and a sense of where something should stop or where you should stop exploring. The shows this week in Dublin, Belfast, Sligo and Cork alter, expand and shatter these while housing engaging and thought provoking exhibitions. We see a reexamination of…