The 40th EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art is open across venues in Limerick city from 31 August through to 29 October 2023, responding to the theme of citizenship.
Guest Programme: The Gleaners Society
Curated by Sebastian Cichocki, the Guest Programme of the 40th EVA International takes its thematic basis on the idea and practice of gleaning – a term that traditionally refers to the act of collecting leftover crops following a harvest. The Gleaners Society extends this reference in a multiple of ways, alternately serving as an artistic subject, a political metaphor, and a curatorial methodology to explore and propose art’s relationship to society. Featuring over 45 presentations by Irish and international artists and collectives, The Gleaners Society will unfold across a set of uniquely diverse venues in Limerick city (civic arts institutions, a primary school, a Cathedral, and a vegetarian cafe, among others).
“Convening the programme, I focused mainly on practices of artists engaged in generating social change and focused on daily chores, often unheroic and unspectacular and not always resulting in a tangible work of art. EVA International is a unique exhibition environment where such experiments are possible” –Sebastian Cichocki
Artists and collectives include: Kateryna Aliinyk, Orla Barry, Robert Barry, Kian Benson Bailes, bela, Kasper Bosmans, Eglė Budvytytė in collaboration with Marija Olšauskaitė and Julija Lukas Steponaitytė, John Carson, Jeamin Cha, Bryony Dunne, Clodagh Emoe, Rachel Fallon & Alice Maher, Rosalind Fowler, Freefilmers (presented by Asia Tsisar), Léann Herlihy, ikkibawiKrrr, Tamás Kaszás, Navine G. Dossos, Eustachy Kossakowski, Kim Beom, Li Mu, Sharon Lockhart, Goshka Macuga, Jumana Manna, Gordon Matta-Clark, Óscar Mascareñas, Olga Micińska with Mathild Clerc-Verhoeven, Janet Mullarney, Teresa Murak, Peter Nadin & Natsuko Uchino & Aimée Toledano, Antonina Nowacka, OHO, Rory Pilgrim, Sana Shahmuradova Tanska, Diane Severin Nguyen, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Joydeb Roaja, Slavs and Tatars & Leah Feldman, Åsa Sonjasdotter in collaboration with Mercè Torres Ràfols and NCAD FIELD, Seoidin O’Sullivan, Iza Tarasewicz, Thomond Primary School Gardening Club in collaboration with Deirdre O’Mahony and Hometree, Dominika Trapp, Natsuko Uchino, and Lala Merdith-Vula.
Platform Commissions / Partnership Projects
The 40th EVA International also includes new commissions developed through EVA’s Platform Commission and Partnership Project initiatives. Sarah Durcan, Phillip McCrilly, Sharon Phelan, Frank Sweeney, Cliodhna Timoney, and Amna Walayat will present their Platform Commission works selected by Emily Jacir and Pádraic E. Moore, while Bea McMahon presents a new installation that culminates a year-long series of collaborative video and performance works.
To coincide with the launch of the 40th EVA International, EVA will also launch Never Look Back – an ongoing programme of resources, commissions, and events that are dedicated to the traces of EVA’s history across Limerick city since EVA was established in 1977. From offices, shops, bars, museums, ex-industrial units, and public spaces – EVA’s use of the city has variously reflected the changing ambition of the visual arts to integrate itself into the broader social environment, while also serving as a map of changes in the urban fabric itself.
The first of these projects includes a new digital resource designed by An Endless Supply and curatorial commissions by RGKSKSRG and Michele Horrigan that respond to these histories.
Acknowledgments
40th EVA International Programme Partners: Arts Council of Ireland, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, Limerick City and County Council, IMMA, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ormston House, University of Limerick, Limerick Arts Office, Van Abbemuseum, Mondriaan Fund, Project Arts Centre, Belltable, Samdani Art Foundation, TUS LSAD, Shannon Foynes Port Authority, Limerick Civic Trust, St. John’s Hospital, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Thomond Primary School, The Commercial, The Grove Veggie Kitchen, Alex Synge – The First 47, An Endless Supply, and Sam Talbot.
The 40th EVA International is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, Instytut Adama Mickiwicza – Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, and Limerick City and County Council.
Press release from EVA International
