DUBLIN, IRELAND.- The year just ending has been one of the most successful to date for the Irish Museum of Modern Art, not only in the quality and diversity of its programmes but also in the all-important area of public engagement with its work. Visitor numbers for 2004 are set to exceed 350,000, the highest yearly total in IMMA’s 13-year history. In addition to those visiting the Museum itself, many thousands more attended exhibitions and events throughout Ireland organised by IMMA’s National Programme.

Highlights for 2004 included: A series of exhibitions by leading international artists, including the Italian painter Francesco Clemente, the French installation artist Sophie Calle, the Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz and the Spanish abstract painter Juan Uslé.

The largest exhibition of contemporary Chinese art ever seen in Ireland, which continues into 2005 and has proved a great popular and critical success. The show is part of the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange.

Views from an Island, which brought works from the Collection by 23 Irish artists to Beijing and Shanghai, also under the auspices of the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange.

Several important acquisitions by the Museum’s Collection, most notably three film works by the celebrated Irish artist James Coleman, three paintings by Hughie O’Donoghue and a painting by Sean Scully created in memory of the late Dorothy Walker.

Curating Now, a major symposium on curating contemporary art in public museums and galleries, which attracted more than 250 participants and brought eight eminent international curators into contact not just with IMMA’s work, but also with that of many other public and private galleries in Dublin.

The publication of a comprehensive evaluation of the Museum’s work with the Government’s Breaking the Cycle initiative, designed to address educational disadvantage at primary school level; also the completion of the Artformations action research project, with the Abbey Theatre and the Arts Council, and the related exhibition.

A complete redesign of IMMA’s website, which provides a greatly increased level of information and services.

Commenting on the past year, the Museum’s Director, Enrique Juncosa, said, “Everyone at IMMA is delighted at the public’s very positive response to out range of programmes. Several of the developments, such as the acquisition of the James Coleman work, the Curating Now symposium and the redesigned website, are not just important in themselves, but will enable us to build on this success in future years”.