AN OPEN CALL TO THE IRISH IMAGINATION ART:2016 is the Arts Council s programme as part of Ireland 2016. The Arts Council is placing the artist and the arts at the centre of how it responds to the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The role of artists in the Celtic Revival and in the events leading up to the Rising cannot be underestimated. They challenged and provoked a different narrative that sought to imagine a new, culturally defined Ireland. In the century since the Rising, artists have continued to be the great signifiers of our island. Their work has been the enduring imagination of what Ireland can become. ART:2016 is a diverse and distinctive public showcase of Irish art which will be presented across Ireland and abroad throughout the year. Key programme strands include the Open Call National Project Awards, which feature cutting-edge, contemporary art events in dance, visual arts, poetry and music; the Next Generation Bursary Awards which highlight the work of eighteen rising stars of Irish art; and A Nation s Voice, an open-air, free concert at Collins Barrack on Easter Sunday, featuring new choral and orchestral work by Shaun Davey and Paul Muldoon, and the voices of a 1,100-strong choir. ART:2016 also includes a selection of national touring productions. ART:2016 is part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme and is supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and created with a range of partners; local, national and international. The Casement Project le Fearghus Ó Conchúir Íomhá léiriúcháin le Matthew Thompson OPEN CALL Through an open call, awarded by an independent jury, nine artists and arts organisations have been given the opportunity to engage with the centenary through the creation of ambitious projects across a range of artforms. The Open Call programme acknowledges the part played by artists in the events of 1916, and aims to share a vision of contemporary Ireland from the perspective of its artists.
1916 VISIONARIES AND THEIR WORDS Lorcán Mac Mathúna Lorcán Mac Mathúna uncovers the inspiring sean nós of Pádraig Pearse, the perfect meter of Joseph Plunkett, and the balladry of James Connolly. A cycle of songs inspired by the ideals of the leaders of the Easter Rising, written and performed by Lorcán Mac Mathúna. Drawing from the writings of Pearse, Connolly, Plunkett and others, Lorcán Mac Mathúna explores the vision of the revolutionaries and its contemporary resonance. Featuring new music, as well as traditional songs, 1916 Visionaries and their Words is an audiovisual experience of music, song and archive imagery. For more information about this project, please visit www.1916visionaries.ie CONCERT PERFORMANCES: St. Michan s Church, 30 January 2016, 1pm 31 January 2016, 8pm The Glassworks, Derry 2 February 2016, 7.30pm Fleadh Cheoil na héireann, Inis August 2016 THE CASEMENT PROJECT Fearghus Ó Conchúir The Casement Project dances with the queer body of British peer, Irish rebel and international humanitarian Roger Casement, to imagine a national body that welcomes the stranger from beyond the border, as well as the one already inside. This choreography of bodies and ideas by choreographer Fearghus Ó Conchúir takes place across national boundaries and includes a stage performance, a celebratory festival of dance, a short film, an academic symposium and a series of participatory events to address the legacy of 1916. For more information about this project, please visit www.thecasementproject.ie STAGE PERFORMANCES: The Place, London 11 June 2016, 8pm 12 June 2016, 8pm OPEN CALL Project Arts Centre, October 2016 Belfast October 2016 FÉILE FÁILTE: Banna Strand, Kerry 23 July 2016, mid-afternoon to midnight SYMPOSIA: Bodies Politic National University of Ireland, Maynooth 25 February 2016 Hospitable Bodies: The Casement Symposium The British Library, London 3 June 2016 A POET S RISING Irish Writers Centre The Irish Writers Centre has commissioned six poems, one for each day of the Rising, from influential contemporary poets, Theo Dorgan, Paul Muldoon, Thomas McCarthy, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Jessica Traynor. The poems reflect on significant figures and events associated with the Rising, including James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Dr Kathleen Lynn, Elizabeth O Farrell and Michael Joseph O Rahilly. Each poet has been filmed performing their poem at relevant and resonant locations, including Moore Street, City Hall, the GPO, Liberty Hall and the Garden of Remembrance. An original score for the film has been composed by Colm Mac Con Iomaire. The filmed performances will be broadcast and released online during the Easter week anniversary. For more information about this project, please visit www.irishwriterscentre.ie LIVE PERFORMANCE: Irish Writers Centre, 31 March 2016 BROADCAST OF FILMED PERFORMANCES: RTÉ 24 29 April 2016 THE SOUVENIR SHOP Rita Duffy The Souvenir Shop will examine the shifting meanings and commoditization of gestures and symbols associated with the revolution, examining how the images, objects and themes of the 1916 Easter Rising and conflict more generally become souvenirs that upend ideologies or neutralize their significance. Referencing the city centre shops once owned by Proclamation signatory Tom Clarke, Duffy will create a shop as an art installation in city centre filled with goods and the stuff of ordinary life, with images of the rising and its heroes, woven into these everyday things. The artist will transform the historical and everyday into the magical and absurd, and will question fundamental public attitudes towards violence, commemoration and national identity. The Souvenir Shop is curated by Helen Carey. EXHIBITION: Location: 13 North Great Georges Street, 1 24 April 11 June 2016 I ll do it myself design for tea towel (2015) by Rita Duffy. Photograph by Stanislav Nikolov.
FUTURE HISTORIES Performance Art Live Foundation Artists: Michelle Browne, Fergus Byrne, Brian Connolly, Amanda Coogan, Pauline Cummins, Francis Fay, Debbie Guinnane, Sandra Johnston, An Dr Laura McAtackney, Danny McCarthy, Ciara McKeon, Alastair McLennan, Katherine Nolan, Sinéad O Donnell, Méabh Redmond, Dominic Thorpe agus Helena Walsh. Future Histories will be a one-day, 12-hour, live performance art and digital media event at Kilmainham Gaol. Sixteen Irish artists and an historical archeologist will respond to the site and its iconic, historical associations with the 1916 Easter Rising. Exploring themes of nationality, freedom and gender through time-based performances, the invited artists will engage with the centenary commemoration by creating contemporary perspectives on our shared past, conflicts, crises and passions in relation to the Rising and its greatest monument, Kilmainham Gaol. Future Histories is curated by Níamh Murphy and Áine Phillips. LIVE PERFORMANCE ART AND DIGITAL MEDIA EVENT: Kilmainham Gaol, 21 May 2016 NEW WORK Willie Doherty Willie Doherty will make a new video work which examines the legacy of the 1916 Easter Rising. The work will build on Doherty s interest in the relationship between landscape and memory, and will be shot in sites of contested history in Donegal and. The video will premiere in the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny in July 2016 as part of the Earagail Arts Festival. EXHIBITIONS: Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny 9 July 24 September 2016 Kerlin Gallery, November 2016 THESE ROOMS CoisCéim / ANU These Rooms, an important new collaboration between ANU and CoisCéim Dance Theatre, is an intimate and immersive live performance that cross pollinates contemporary dance, theatre and visual art. The work is based on a historical incident which took place on North King Street, in April 1916. Drawing audiences into the events of one hundred years ago, These Rooms explores the 1916 rebellion from the perspective of civilians whose homes and lives were violated by the conflict with devastating consequences. These Rooms combines eye witness testimonies from thirty-eight women, with the recently released findings of the government inquiry which followed, and investigates questions of dignity and trauma, belonging and dispossession. It is a fearless and embodied physical performance, which focuses on the effects of conflict on ordinary people s lives and reaffirms the role of art in negotiating history. These Rooms will premiere in the north inner city as part of Theatre Festival 2016. For information about These Rooms, please visit www.theserooms.ie IN THE SHADOW OF THE STATE Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones In the Shadow of the State is a collaboration between visual artists Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones, exploring statehood from the perspective of the female body, through a process of collective legal drafting and vocalization. Through a series of participatory live events in historically resonant spaces in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain, the project includes collaborating experts from medicine, law, material culture and music. The project proposes critical remembering and reflecting on the birth of a nation, and the political imaginary necessary to move from one historical moment to another. In the Shadow of the State is co-commissioned by Create (Ireland) and Artangel (UK). LIVE PERFORMANCE EVENTS: 35 Westland Avenue, Derry 12 March 2016 Liverpool Summer 2016 The Pillar Room, Rotunda Hospital, 23 25 September 2016 London Winter 2016 HEED Garrett Phelan HEED is a public sound work, which will be made by artist Garrett Phelan in collaboration with groups of -based young people (aged 18 to 25) and with the support of youth and community groups. HEED will focus on, and give voice to, the disaffected and increasingly disenfranchised. It aims to highlight the concerns and issues facing young people, in a positive and constructive manner, through the creation of a significant sound project. HEED calls ambitions of the past into the present; namely an Ireland that consistently questions the integrity of its governance, the manifestation of its cultural identity and the ministration of civic society. PUBLIC BROADCAST: October/November 2016
A Nation s Voice, an open-air, free performance taking place on Easter Sunday afternoon at the National Museum, Collins Barracks,. It will include the world première of One Hundred Years a Nation, a major new orchestral and choral work commissioned for the occasion by RTÉ from composer Shaun Davey with text by writer Paul Muldoon, in addition to orchestral works by Seán Ó Riada and Bill Whelan and a massed choirs performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel s Messiah. The event, presented by Miriam O Callaghan, will be broadcast live on RTÉ One, on RTÉ Radio 1 and on www.rte.ie/1916.
A Nation s Voice is presented by the Arts Council and RTÉ, in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Association of Irish Choirs and Music Generation, as part of Ireland 2016. In excess of 1,100 voices from 31 choirs and 18 counties, from Cork to Donegal, will join with the full forces of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy in performance. Paul Muldoon will also narrate One Hundred Years a Nation. Tickets are limited and will be allocated by means of an online lottery. Full details on how to apply can be found at www.artscouncil.ie.
ADULT CHOIRS Marine Insititue Singers Tullamore Academy Choir The Oriel Singers Carlingford Choir Cór Chairlinne The Unity Singers City of Cork Male Voice Choir Donegal Abbey Singers Cill Aodáin Choral Society The Fleischmann Choir Gloria DLGC Cavan Singers Wexford Festival Singers Carlow Choral Society Lismore Choir Millenium Choir Culwick Choral Society The Guinness Choir RTÉ Philharmonic Choir Galway Offaly Monaghan Louth Kilkenny Cork Donegal Mayo Cork Cavan Wexford Carlow Waterford Letrim CHILDREN S CHOIRS Escalation Singers & The Burren Children s Choir Clare Borris VS Junior Choir Carlow Cork City SINGS! in 2016 Cork The Donegal Youth Choir Donegal Music Generation Laois National Schools Choir Laois Sing Together Vocal Group Limerick Young Louth Voices Louth The Westport Children s Choir Mayo Midhe Offaly/Westmeath Music Generation Sligo Choir Sligo Blessington No 1 School Choir Wicklow Scoil Chronáin Choir South Cór na nóg
NEXT GENERATION The Next Generation bursaries have been awarded to innovative young artists working across visual arts, music, literature, film, dance, theatre and circus. The bursaries are offered in recognition of the role of artists in the events of 1916 and are designed to support contemporary artists ongoing practice. The artists will come together for a one-week collective residency in April 2016. Ruth Clinton Dan Colley THEATRE Philip Connaughton DANCE Guillaume Cousson CIRCUS For information about each of the Next Generation artists, please visit http://www. artscouncil.ie/ireland2016/next-generation/ Portrait photography: Enda Rowan Niamh Moriarity Matthew Smyth THEATRE David Coonan MUSIC Ella de Búrca Angela Fulcher Ramon Kassam Mollie Anna King Annemarie Ní Churreáin LITERATURE Dylan Coburn Gray THEATRE Alma Kelliher MUSIC Sofie Loscher Sian Ní Mhuiri THEATRE Fiona Reilly Jijo Sebastian FILM
TOURING MAKING IRELAND MODERN Curators: Gary A. Boyd and John McLaughlin Architects Making Ireland Modern explores the relationship between architecture, infrastructure and technology in the building of a new nation. Constructed as an open matrix of drawings, photographs, models and other artefacts, the exhibition presents ten infrastructural episodes Negation, Electricity, Health, Transportation, Television, Aviation, Education, Telecommunications, Motorways, Data spanning a period of one hundred years from 1916 2016. Exploring a range of scales from the detail design of objects to entire landscapes and other territories, Making Ireland Modern describes architecture s role in transforming the physical and cultural identity of the new state through its intersession in the everyday lives of its population. TOUR SCHEDULE: Galway International Arts Festival Gallery, Galway 11 24 July 2016 St Peter s Church, Cork 1 September 7 October 2016 Earlsfort Terrace, November December 2016 THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS REMEMBERING IN 2016 Sean O Casey Directed by Sean Holmes Presented by Chamber Choir Ireland Directed by Paul Hillier Set amid the tumult of the Easter Rising, The Plough and the Stars is the story of ordinary lives ripped apart by the idealism of the time. The residents of a tenement shelter from the violence that sweeps through the city s streets. A revolution that will shape the country s future rages around them. What kind of Ireland awaits them? Chamber Choir Ireland will remember significant anniversaries in 2016, not least the 1916 Rising but also the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. The programme will include two newly commissioned works marking the 100year anniversary of the Rising one by Belfast-born Stephen McNeff with a newly commissioned text by Irish poet, Aoife Mannix and the second by Irish composer, Grainne Mulvey. As well as Shakespeare settings from around the world, the programme will be interspersed with some of the best Irish choral music from the last 100 years. The Plough and the Stars was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1926. The audience rioted. Now regarded as a masterpiece, this provocative play is an essential part of our understanding of 1916. Olivier Award-winning director Sean Holmes will bring a new perspective to Sean O Casey s absorbing play. The Plough and the Stars is presented by the Abbey Theatre and by Culture Ireland as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. STAGE PERFORMANCES: The Abbey, 9 March 23 April 2016 Cork Opera House, Cork 26 30 April 2016 The National Opera House, Wexford 4 7 May 2016 Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick 10 14 May 2016 Town Hall Theatre, Galway 24 28 May 2016 TOUR DATES: Newry Conference & Banqueting Centre, Newry 27 April 2016 St Fin Barre s Cathedral, Cork 29 April 2016 GPO, 12 June 2016 National Concert Hall, 15 September 2016 Gregynog Hall, Tregynon, Wales 26 June 2016 Derry. 28 October 2016 KATHLEEN LYNN: INSIDER ON THE OUTSIDE Linenhall Arts Centre Curated by Catherine Marshall Infra Eireann installation at La Biennale di Venezia, 14th International Architecture Exhibition, 2014 Artists: Michelle Browne, Gary Coyle, Patrick Graham, Joanna Hopkins, Mary Kelly, Margo McNulty, Janet Mullarney, Seamus Nolan, Conor O Grady, Will O Kane, Deirdre O Mahony, Geraldine O Reilly, and Dermot Seymour. Mayo Arts Collaborative has invited thirteen visual artists to respond to the life of Kathleen Lynn, extraordinary Mayo woman, revolutionary, social activist and medical doctor. The project will create a cultural trail through the county where both visitors and locals alike will be encouraged to engage with the work in all of the county s publicly-funded exhibition spaces. Kathleen Lynn: Insider on the Outside is supported by Mayo Council Council. DATES: 26 March 30 April 2016 PARTNER VENUES: Aras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet Ballina Arts Centre Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle Customs House Studios, Westport Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar The Arts Council, An Chomhairle Ealaíon, is the national government agency charged with developing and promoting the arts in Ireland. It works in partnership with artists, arts organisations, public policy makers and others to build a central place for the arts in Irish life. www.artscouncil.ie