The arrival of a new academic year usually brings with it a blossoming of cultural events and artistic activities across campus and throughout Dublin. This year is different. The pandemic has created a paradox – art has never been more obviously needed, yet has never faced a more profoundly existential threat. What must be remembered is that even without access to physical exhibitions, there is always art being made available around the country. To attain it, one need only venture online.
Day of the Straws
Hysteria spread when a series of events took place in early June 1832 during Ireland’s cholera epidemic – now referred to as the “Day of the Straws”. With it came panic, conspiracy theories and “otherworldly” events. Sound familiar? Marie Brett’s exhibition, its name an eponym of these outlandish events, examines how the social history of the 1832 epidemic relates to today’s coronavirus pandemic. The exhibition stands as a testament to the power of hope and courage in the face of adversity. Day of the Straws draws together familiar works by Margaret Clarke, Seán Keating, John Lavery, Daniel Maclise, Norah McGuinness, Edith Somerville, Mary Swanzy, and Jack B. Yeats, alongside lesser known works which are sometimes startling or troubling in mood or tone. The project runs online until the end of 2020.
Siam Through the Lens of John Thompson, 1865-66
A pioneer of photojournalism, Thomson is one of the 19th century’s greatest photographers. Interested in Western ideas and sciences, he was keen to exploit the relatively new technology of photography during his lifetime. The Edinburgh-born photographer travelled to Asia in 1862, where he spent some 10 years travelling across the continent, and almost a year in the kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand). The Chester Beatty Gallery has made Thompson’s masterful photographic vision available to view online until January 3rd, 2021. This wonderful temporary exhibition introduces us to the sights and people of 19th century Thailand as witnessed through Thomson’s camera lens.
Reined In: Photographs from Irish Horse
This landmark exhibition was originally set to open in The National Gallery in April 2020 but has since been moved entirely online. Featured photographs, captured by Kim Haughton, Spencer Murphy, Perry Ogden, and Laurence Riddell, explore the place of the horse in Irish society . Ogden’s renowned “Pony Kids” series, featuring images from the controversial Smithfield horse market are among those on display. In an attempt to maintain the relationship between art and the wider public, The National Gallery of Ireland is providing this online service for free until November 1st.
Tongue the Sun
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Gallery is hosting Tongue the Sun by artist Jonah King. This exhibition, which was designed specifically for online presentation, encompasses a streamed video artwork, an interactive digital sculpture and text piece aligned with a series of live-streamed discussions. Tongue the Sun seeks to contextualise the materiality of our bodies in the present ecosystem. In this unprecedented moment, our biology, in all its fragility, has taken priority over party politics, global trade, and identity divisions that characterise our time. This project prompts the viewer to look at the world through a lens that disrupts heteronormative categorisations. The artwork will live online indefinitely.
Screening 5, IMMA Online Screen Series
IMMA Screen is an online screening series showcasing film and video works from the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Collection. New screenings are made available monthly, presenting works by Irish and international artists alongside an interview and related material from the IMMA Archive. Currently on its fifth screening, The Long Note by Helen Cammock is being showcased until October 20th. The exhibition celebrates the involvement of women in the civil rights movement in Derry in 1968. In addition to the screening of her work, Cammock participated in a live-streamed panel discussion on the topic of artists working with archive material, programmed with aemi. Screening series end November 10th.
The experience of online museums is in some ways far from second best. Anyone who has ever been elbowed by a fellow Caravaggio enthusiast as they muscle towards the front of “The Taking of Christ” in the National Gallery can tell you as much. At its essence, coming into communion with a piece of art is a personal experience. So, while we can’t go anywhere, couch tours of Ireland’s museums more than suffice. Besides, don’t most museum attendees witness art through the lens of their phone anyways?
