Announcing: Irish Book Week Sale 📣
Celebrate Irish Book Week and save up to 50% on a handpicked selection of beautiful photography books.
Sale on for a limited time only. Support our independent bookshop and your favourite artists this Irish Book Week from 19 - 26 October 2024 - don't miss it!
Shop in-store and online
🎥 Missed our PHOTO FUTURES symposium? Watch the full live stream now!
Bringing together artists, curators, academics, and museum professionals from north and south of the Irish border, PHOTO FUTURES addresses the key challenges and opportunities facing artists working in Ireland.
Featuring insightful discussions from three thought-provoking panels:
1️⃣ Addressing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
2️⃣ Challenges for the Future – Artists and AI
3️⃣ Sustainable Practices
Organised by the Irish Photo Network. Kindly supported by Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Photo Museum Ireland and Fighting Words are excited to announce a dynamic series of youth workshops designed to ignite creativity and foster community engagement among young creatives.
Photo Museum Ireland is delighted to announce the selected recipients of the African-Irish Artist Residency Award 2024-25. African-Irish artists and artists with African heritage living or making work in Ireland were invited to apply by submitting a recent photographic series or body of work on a coherent theme or subject.
Photo Museum Ireland is delighted to support and encourage the growth of new creative talent in Irish photography. We want the Early Career Artist Awards programme to empower the recipients in developing sustainable individual practices, making a significant contribution to the exciting future of photography in Ireland.
The work of our 22 finalists is now featured in the Young Photographer of the Year Finalists Showcase exhibition at Carrickmines, and will be shown as a professionally produced exhibition in Photo Museum Ireland in October
Photo Museum Ireland is inviting African Irish artists and artists with African heritage living or making work in Ireland to apply for our new African Irish Artists’ Residency. Artists are invited to submit a recent photographic series or body of work on a coherent theme or subject.
Closing date: Friday 7th June 2024 at 5pm
Three artists will be selected to receive the 9-month Residency Award by an international panel of curators with expertise in African photography
International Curator Panel:
Ala Kheir is a photographer based in Khartoum, Sudan. Through photography, Kheir actively engages with the city of Khartoum, creating personal perspectives and narratives about his immediate space. His work has been showcased in various African and worldwide spaces. Kheir runs The Other Vision (TOV), a photography platform that focuses on photography education and training in Sudan. Through this, he assists young photographers and connects Sudanese artists to the rest of the continent. Through TOV, Kheir engages with the public in an attempt to address social issues and change in Sudan.
Anne Nwakalor is the Founding Editor of No! Wahala Magazine is one of Africa's first-ever contemporary photography magazines dedicated to showcasing authentic visual stories by African creatives. She is also a Photo Editor and presently works as a Communication Officer within the art space in the UK.
John Fleetwood (b. 1970, South Africa) is a photography curator, educator, and director of Photo; a multi-operation platform for the development and promotion of socially engaged photography work, projects, photographers, and critical visual culture. He recently curated ‘Five Photographers: A tribute to David Goldblatt’ exhibited in various cities including Johannesburg, Maputo, and Bamako (2018-2019). In 2017, he was guest editor for Aperture’s Platform Africa edition. From 2002-2015 Fleetwood was the director of the Market Photo Workshop. He lives and works in Johannesburg.
The 3 selected award-winning artists will each receive:
An exhibition opportunity to exhibit their submitted work as part of the Contemporary African Photography Prize exhibition at Photo Museum Ireland in July/August 2024.
Curatorial mentoring from our expert curatorial team and selected guest mentors to develop their artistic practices and create a new body of work for exhibition at the end of the 9-month presidency as part of our New Talents Exhibition and publication in 2025
Specialist artists’ professional development and training workshops
How to Apply:
About the Contemporary African Photography Prize:
The Contemporary African Photography Prize exhibition presents award-winning work by African artists globally - selected by an international panel of experts with specialist knowledge of African photography.
As co-curators of the Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century, a group exhibition of Irish artists, to be presented at Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, we are very mindful of the context in which the exhibition will take place. Photo Museum Ireland, IKS Photo and Haus am Kleistpark have discussed this situation throughout our partnership, which began in April 2023.
Some artists have chosen to withdraw from the exhibition as part of a call to boycott German cultural institutions. Others have chosen to remain. A number of artists have opted to donate their fee to pro-Palestinian causes. We respect the position of all artists on this issue and support their right to make political statements in whichever way they choose. We are opposed to the censorship of free speech in any form.
We strongly believe that it is important to continue with the exhibition. It has been curated to showcase contemporary artists who through their practices question existing paradigms and power structures, addressing Ireland’s recent, profound social change, shifting demographics, and the long-term legacy of colonialism.
The exhibition is funded by the Government of Ireland through Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland. It is part of the wider Zeitgeist Irland 24 programme, an inclusive cultural initiative to promote contemporary Irish arts in Germany.
The exhibition partners are committed to providing a platform for artists’ expression that enables the discussion of significant and at times difficult issues. We do not wish to undermine our commitment to supporting artists’ practices by cancelling this exhibition. We believe that it is important now more than ever, that artists’ voices continue to perform a vital part of wider public conversations.
Trish Lambe & Darren Campion, Photo Museum Ireland
Ralph Goertz, IKS Photo
Barbara Esch Marowski, Director, Haus am Kleistpark
Photo Museum Ireland is delighted to announce the selected recipients of the African-Irish Artist Residency Award 2024-25. African-Irish artists and artists with African heritage living or making work in Ireland were invited to apply by submitting a recent photographic series or body of work on a coherent theme or subject.
Thrilled to announce that Ben Malcolmson, a talented visual artist based between Belfast and Dublin, has been awarded the artist commission in the transformative cross-border initiative 'Shared Histories - Diverse Views'.
This cross-border Initiative supported by Creative Communities on a Shared Island Scheme is designed to engage communities on both sides of the border, encouraging them to explore their heritage and share experiences through the medium of photography. 'Shared Histories' aims to forge connections across borders through creative engagement, challenging stereotypes and sharing authentic representations of the borderlands through a public programme of co-curated public events.
As an artist, Ben works within the parameters of photography, video and sculpture exploring alternative photographic processes with relation to one’s land and identity. A current studio artist based at Flax Artist Studios in the Emerging Artist Programme, he has been awarded support from various quarters, including A-N Bursaries, and recognition from the Arts Council Northern Ireland Individuals Emergency Resilience Programme (2020). In 2019, Ben was awarded the opportunity to be part of 'Making Marks' by the Arab British Centre, funded by the British Council Kuwait, exploring the impact of international working on emerging artists. Over several months, Ben worked with Belfast Exposed Gallery on a body of work titled 'Murmur' which was exhibited in the gallery as a solo show during February 2020.
'Shared Histories - Diverse Views' is a collaboration with Donegal County Council, Photo Museum Ireland, Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, the Nerve Centre, Derry~Londonderry, and the National Library of Ireland. This project is supported by Creative Communities on a Shared Island initiative.
06 June 2024 – 11 August 2024
Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, Germany
Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century is a major new group exhibition that looks at the ways photography has made visible the changing nature of Irish life. It concentrates on the first decades of the twenty-first century, marking 100 years since the foundation of the state. Featuring works by over 40 contemporary artists, this large-scale exhibition surveys the development of contemporary photography in Ireland. It charts how leading artists working in Ireland have addressed major socio-political developments to reflect on changing demographics, cultural identities, contested territories and social reform. The exhibition brings together diverse points of view, critically reframing contemporary life across the island of Ireland.
Moving from traditional documentary practices towards more socially engaged and conceptual practices to the medium, Changing States considers how artists have responded to the profound shifts that have occurred in Irish society. This survey represents the depth and range of recent Irish photography, as well as the extent to which artists have engaged with the most pressing issues of contemporary life. It charts our transformation from an insular nation-state to a more liberal, globalised and multicultural society.
This exhibition is a partnership with German curator Ralph Goertz, Director of the Institute for Art Documentation (IKS), Düsseldorf, Barbara Esch Marowski, Director of Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, and Trish Lambe and Darren Campion, Photo Museum Ireland. Curated for Haus am Kleistpark, one of Berlin’s most prestigious municipal art spaces, it is the largest international exhibition of contemporary Irish photography to date.
Zeitgeist Irland 24 is an initiative from Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany to promote Contemporary Irish Arts and Culture in Germany in 2024.
About the partner organisations:
Photo Museum Ireland
Photo Museum Ireland is the national centre for contemporary photography. We aim to lead the way in showcasing the very best of photography for all audiences encouraging debate and new thinking about the role of the photographic image in society. Innovative exhibitions showcase work by established Irish and International artists to address important artistic, cultural or societal issues and reflect emerging photographic practices. An average of 5-6 exhibitions per year enlighten, challenge and are enjoyed by visitors to the museum. Our engagement programmes foster increased awareness and understanding of photography and visual culture by creating innovative and inclusive opportunities for people to engage with our programmes, creating opportunities for meaningful exchanges between artists and the public. Photo Museum Ireland believes photography is for everyone. Our exhibitions and events enlighten, challenge and build connections with people in real life and online. Photo Museum Ireland is supported by The Arts Council and Dublin City Council.
For more information visit: www.photomuseumireland.ie
IKS PHOTO
The IKS - Institute for Art Documentation was founded in 2009 by Ralph Goertz and today contains the largest private media archive of contemporary art in Europe with almost 500 documented artists and 92 documentary films. In 2022, the IKS was expanded to include its own photo institute, the non-profit recognized IKS PHOTO. The aim of the IKS PHOTO is to promote, preserve and convey the medium of photography through exhibitions and publications. In addition to retrospective exhibitions of the work of important photographers, thematic group exhibitions will be developed and presented as touring exhibitions by European partner institutions. In close cooperation with the exhibiting institutions, the exhibitions will be adapted and expanded to meet individual and local needs. The work of IKS PHOTO focuses on artistic and art historical significance as well as social and societal relevance.
For more information visit: www.iks-medienarchiv.de
Haus am Kleistpark
Haus am Kleistpark is one of the largest and longest-running municipal art galleries in Berlin and is affiliated with two further sites: the Haus am Kleistpark | Projektraum and the Galerie im Tempelhof Museum. As non-commercial contemporary art spaces, municipal galleries stand for cosmopolitanism, experimentation, and artistic discoveries at a high level. Here, local reference and intercultural exchange coalesce with the inclusion of global contexts. As municipal galleries they are tasked with the cultural development of their respective districts, the promotion of artists, grassroots work within the art sector, and continuing support for the exploration of current issues of importance. Special emphasis is on the promotion of artistic photography. Since 2011 the director of the Haus am Kleistpark has been Barbara Esch Marowski.
For more information visit: www.hausamkleistpark.de/en
