LIMERICK.- EVA International announced the 2021 programme of the 39th Irish Biennial, its phase 2 featuring 14 presentations by renowned Irish and international artists and collaborating curators, across venues in Limerick, remotely and online. Taking inspiration from the ‘Golden Vein’, the bountiful pastures of Limerick and Tipperary region, the 39th EVA International programme seeks to address ideas of land, borders and its contested values in the context of Ireland today.
Guest Programme: Little did they know
Curated by internationally acclaimed curator Merve Elveren, phase 2 of the 39th EVA International’s Guest Programme, Little did they know, extends across two venues in Limerick city (Park Point and Sailor's Home) and on a dedicated online platform. Functioning as an “exercising ground” for interpreting current social and political conditions in various geographical contexts, the exhibition centers around two archival research projects; Asia Art Archives’ Betsy Damon Archive: Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa) and Kosovo Oral History Initiative’s Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign 1990-1991.
Works by Diego Bruno, Barış Doğrusöz, Melanie Jackson & Esther Leslie, Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho, Hana Miletić, Deirdre O’Mahony, Richard Proffitt, Mario Rizzi, and Aykan Safoğlu surround these presentations, allowing for broader dialogues between notions of home and uprooting, remembrance and forgetting, care and action.
Platform Commissions and Partnership Projects
New video work presented by Eimear Walshe that considers relationships between sex, sexuality, and Ireland's housing crisis which will be shared with viewers through a postal subscription; and the ongoing presentation of Áine McBride’s sculptural work that augments the 19th century architecture of Limerick's Sailor’s Home. Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan present works at spacecraft Studios as part of EVA International’s Partnership Projects initiative, developed through EVA’s participation in the Magic Carpets network. Their recent work investigates man-made landscapes around the world, where the modification of the landscape goes hand-in hand with heightened state violence and the over-exploitation of resources.
EVA International Initiatives
Additional project activities include Better Words, an initiative empowering new forms of access and engagement with contemporary art through creative language projects. Phase 2 will include free exhibition resources for visiting children, including activity postcards and publication copies of Better Words: A Field Guide to Contemporary Art and Culture.
A limited edition print portfolio of posters by Ciara Phillips will also be available to purchase, following the It's not for you we did it online programme developed in collaboration with Sara Greavu and other contributors.
