Home

•

2022 Review

•

IMMA Director’s Message

The year 2022, marked a resounding success for IMMA, with a programme brimming with innovative creativity.

Any visitor to the site last year will undoubtedly have encountered the epic mural in the courtyard colonnades, a new outdoor commission by the celebrated artist Navine G. Dossus called Kind Words Never Die. The artist’s installation reflects, through colour, on the psychological impact of heightened awareness around climate change. It is truly a pleasure to witness visitors meandering through the colonnades, enjoying this phenomenal artwork on display.

After months of meticulous planning, we were delighted to host the inaugural Earth Rising festival in 2021. Over seventy artists and 9,000 visitors took part in the three days of festival events, talks, and encounters and included, Éirigh, a major new architectural installation in the centre of the historical IMMA courtyard, kindly supported by Lioncor and Reddy Architects.

We understand that the climate crisis is at the forefront of our audience’s minds and many artists have been exploring ecological themes in their work. And so, it seems timely to bring together practitioners from various fields and disciplines to exchange ideas and engage in discussions on how the creative community can contribute to the movement for change. We are proud to say that Earth Rising 2022 was the first of what will be an annual event.

One of the most notable exhibitions of 2022 was Xenogenesis, by the Otolith Group, a London-based artist’s collective. The exhibition showcased cinematic works that delved into the speculative fiction of Octavia Butler, exploring themes of identity, race, and the loss of natural human experiences. The exhibition received widespread critical acclaim and was included in Frieze’s round up of the Top Ten Shows in the UK & Ireland in 2022 and was accompanied by a major new publication.

The IMMA Outdoors programme has continued to expand and flourish, becoming increasingly integrated into the fabric of our local community. In 2022, with the support of our parent Department, we introduced a Late Nights element, featuring live music on Thursday and Friday evenings throughout the summer. In July, we hosted a Summer Party, showcasing a weekend of live music and performance in the idyllic setting of the courtyard at evening time.

A photograph of a group of people sitting and lying on grass can be seen through out-of-focus flowering shrubs in the foreground. They are looking to the viewer’s left, at a DJ behind a mixing desk under a black awning supported by metal poles, which has been set up under a tree. He is holding a microphone and wearing a cap, and his head is bowed so that his face can’t be made out. To the right of the tree there is a large speaker on the ground. A couple of balloons, one green and one yellow, can be seen in the background behind a hedge. To the right is a pale green wooden bench facing away from the camera, and through the bars of the back someone with rainbow coloured hair can be seen sitting on it.

IMMA Outdoors. Photo by Molly Keane

November saw IMMA host an international research conference as part of Ireland’s Decade of Commemorations Centenaries: 100 Years of Self Determination. With over 30 international speakers in attendance, the conference focused on the role of art and artists in shaping the national imagination in states that emerged in the aftermath of the First World War. The stimulating discussions that arose from this conference will inform a large-scale exhibition that will be unveiled in autumn of 2023.

Several other exciting initiatives were launched in 2022. One such initiative was the Matheson Creativity Hub, an innovative architectural competition to design a convivial space designed to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment for creative engagement, catering to both artists and audiences alike.

A computer animation projected in a dark room, looks at first like wisps of smoke against a black background. It is in fact black and white image of figures flying around a central globe. A black reflective plinth or perhaps a container of water below mirrors some wisps of the projected image. In the bottom right corner, a light we cannot see picks out the corner of the plinth and a patch of floor, which looks blueish, while everything else is black. The piece is ‘Sovereign Sisters’ by the Otolith Group artist collective’s exhibition Xenogenesis.

Sovereign Sisters: Sovereign Sisters, 2014, detail, HD video 16:9. Computer animation transferred to black and white, no sound, wood, glass, reinforced, plastic, purified water. Duration 3:47 minutes. Installation view The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis, IMMA. 2022. Image courtesy of the artists and IMMA, Dublin.

Photo: Ros Kavanagh.

Meanwhile, the IMMA Collection continued to expand throughout the year with notable acquisitions including Navine G. Dossus’ ‘Kind Words Never Die’ and Brian O’Doherty’s ‘Five Identities 2002 – 2022’.

I consider myself privileged to lead such a team of dedicated individuals who have fully embraced the ambitious direction we are taking. Their creative energy has been integral in finding new and innovative ways to showcase art and its importance in understanding the world we live in, as well as the future we aspire to create together.

A photographed section of one side of the IMMA’s courtyard, taken at an angle so that the right-hand side of the image is taken up by one arch of which only the left supporting pillar can be seen, and four diminishing arches are visible to the left. Through the arches, site specific paintings by Navine G. Dossos are visible on the colonnade wall. The installation is called ‘Kind Words Can Never Die’, and this view features a red background. Through the closest arch there is a white door with a stone doorstep and a pale blue semicircle painted over it, in a fanlight shape. There is an arched-shaped painting to the left of the door of two sets of three overlapping ovals, mirrored vertically to make a flower shape, with a circle drawn in the centre of each set. Each of the sections created by the overlaps is a different colour: yellow, green, red, and white on top, and peach, green, black, white, and two shades of blue on the bottom. The background is mottled dark blue. Through the second arch is a white window with a purple semi-circle above, and an orange semi-circle below. It’s edged at the side in green. Beneath the window are two narrow benches with arms and backs. The third arch reveals another, similar white door with a dark green fanlight painted above. The angle of the image means that the viewer cannot see through the remaining two arches.

KWCND: Installation view of Kind Words Can Never Die by Navine G.Dossos. Photo by Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

The support of our Board has been invaluable, and their unwavering dedication to our mission has helped drive us forward. We are also fortunate to have the Office of Public Works as our partner, who has helped create a space where the historic beauty of our buildings intersects with the contemporary relevance of art and the role of the modern art museum.

Furthermore, our parent Department remains our most important partner, and their guidance and support have been instrumental in making our vision a reality. Looking ahead to 2023, we have a full programme of exhibitions lined up as well as the unveiling of our new strategy. This will showcase our global connections, our innovative research plans, our commitment to radical public engagement, and our ambition to be a catalyst for change.

Annie Fletcher
Director