IMMA Outdoors invites the public to a rich programme of art events

IMMA Outdoors offers a large programme of free events in the heart of the Irish Museum of Modern Arts. From June 8 to September 24, performances, music, talks, screenings, workshops, open studios and tours will be open to the public.

This expansive programme, runs over four months and across multiple locations, connecting with a diverse set of communities, interests, and curiosities, furthering IMMA’s ambition to be a radically public space for all to enjoy. This year’s programme includes IMMA Nights, a series of events that take place every Thursday nights and Sundays at IMMA that presents artist-led workshops, personalised garden events, and music in the Courtyard for families. IMMA’s Courtyard also provides space to relax and eat from their new outdoor café, Camerino.

DJ Egg mixing in The Courtyard. Image by Marylou Prévost.

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Encourage dialogue about art’

IMMA Nights takes place on Thursday evenings from 6pm, and offers a vast array of events including talks, workshops, dance, performances, book launches, and open studios, alongside DJs and live music in the Courtyard. Throughout the summer, the IMMA will open its site to cultural organisations, initiatives, and artist groups.

Eleanor Mccaughey encourages participants of her workshop Beyond the Canvas experiment with found materials. At first a figurative and 2D painter, she now explores the blending of sculpture and painting. “I enjoy works that teeter on the edge of both disciplines”, the artist says, “I’m interested in painting in all its forms and I wanted to run a workshop where we can think and  talk about expanded painting. We look at work by artists that currently make work in this field and the workshop encourages people to experiment with found materials in a more spontaneous and playful way.”

Eleanor Mccaughey invites people to bring materials they have lying around at home like waste packaging, wood, and broken objects. “I welcome adults of all abilities to engage with the exhibitions at IMMA and to encourage dialogue about art in a welcoming, inspiring and friendly environment.”

Artist and designer Hannah-Clare de Gordun gives an introduction class of monoprinting for IMMA Nights. The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking, which allows for multiple originals. “With monoprinting, you are making an impression to make one print and you can’t repeat it. It’s one-off, unique. The results are usually unexpected. You can’t really plan what you are making and you have to let go of the expectation that it’s going to be perfect because it won’t be”, explains Hannah-Clare de Gordun.

“I’m extremely messy when I work so this art fits me quite well”, she adds. The artist uses low-relief textures like a piece of flat wood, textiles like netting or a loosely woven linen.

Jenna is a 21 year-old student in architecture. Hannah-Clare’s workshop about monoprinting is the third workshop she attends this year. “The first was embroidery stitching, the second was felting and this one is my third one. I like going to workshops and not knowing what you’ll do cause it’s funnier. You can learn from other people as well [when they participate in workshops too] and it’s also a way to meet like minded people”.

For IMMA Nights, Artist and designer Hannah-Clare de Gordun introduces monoprinting to the public. Image by Marylou Prévost.

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Summer exhibitions

This year’s programme draws on six exhibitions available to visit in the galleries throughout the summer. The Championing Irish Art: The Mary and Alan Hobart Collection exhibition displays paintings depicting the First World War, from images that record wartime experiences, as portraits of soldiers, to moments of rebellion and resistance. Irish artists are also shown, with the Cubist and Futurist style of Mary Swanzy and the rural and urban life scenes painted by Jack B.Yeats facing each other.

The exhibition also explores the hard-edged abstractions of the 1960s and ‘70s with the work of Micheal Farrell, Cecil King, and Charles Tyrrell.  Works made in response to the conflict in Northern Ireland by William Crozier, Rita Duffy, and F.E. McWilliam conclude this motley collection.

The Painting beyond the Canvas workshop begins by looking at paintings belonging to the collection. “I think by looking and analysing art it is a good way to get inspired and generate ideas for your own work. […] The Championing Irish art collection in Imma is the perfect pool of paintings to draw from. It is a powerful collection of Irish painting with a wide range of various painting styles and artists”, points out Eleanor Mccaughey.

IMMA also presents Sarah Pierce: Scene of the Myth, an expansive solo exhibition consisting of performances, videos, installations, and archives. Visitors can also look at the Influence and Identity exhibition that features the works of international photographers from the early through the mid-twentieth century.

Visitors can look at the works by Jack B. Yeats, John Lavery, William Orpen Mary Swanzy and Rita Duffy at Championing Irish Art: The Mary and Alan Hobart Collection exhibition. Image by Marylou Prévost.

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Events for families

Sundays at IMMA offer artist-led workshops, garden events and music in the Courtyard. It includes a workshop with artist Navine G. Dossos, who created the wall mural in the Courtyard, Kind Words Can Never Die; and Paradise, Paradise, Paradise! by Isadora Epstein, a garden performance aiming at families. The programme also offers events for the wider public such as drop-in Curator Talks and Screenings, including an Iranian film series presented in association with Artists for Woman, Life, Freedom.

IMMA Outdoors also includes yoga classes, heritage tours, biodiversity tours, Mornings at the Museum workshops for families, and Parent and Baby Hour for new parents.

Earth Rising, a four-day eco festival showcasing innovators in the field of eco citizen science, design and creativity, will be the final event, taking place from the 21 – 24 September to coincide with Culture Night 2023.