There is power in how we feed ourselves, with food being the cornerstone of cultures, ideologies, and principles. Eating or not eating can be an act of protest, feeding or not feeding — an act of control; food brings people together and pushes them apart. Through the presentation of current work and commissions, this year PhotoIreland Festival brings to local and international audiences selected artists exploring this contentious, yet every day, topic.

Taking its cue from current conflicts and affairs, the festival generates a discussion around complex social and global issues, with topics ranging from hospitality to colonisation, from hunger to overconsumption, trauma to technology, ethics to ideologies, to sustainability, and even surveillance capitalism. The programme does not claim an all-encompassing representation of food related issues, but is intended as a way to invoke specific questions, ideas, and research; it brings forth questions and considerations towards a conscious and informed consumption. We invite the audience to take a seat at our table and join the conversation on the politics and poetics of food.

For the month of July, PhotoIreland Festival brings together a programme presenting traditional and contemporary lens-based practices, alongside film and performance, serving a cornucopia of engaging and relevant material — with many works never seen before in Ireland — through exhibitions, talks, and an online critical cooking channel!

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

This year, the festival proposes four main exhibitions:
◦ Milky Way
◦ Bite The Hand That Feeds You
◦ Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation
◦ The Reading Room

Complementing these, visitors will enjoy a series of main events, with performances and talks delivered via this website and via Zoom such as:
◦ the Critical Recipes cooking channel
◦ Artists Talks
◦ Artist Films Screening in collaboration with aemi (artists and experimental moving image)
◦ OVER Journal issue 2 launch

We have selected four exhibitions for our Featured section that we are sure you will enjoy, and twelve events and shows as part of the Open Programme, the most effervescent and varied side of the festival.

Don’t forget to check the What’s On Today page to plan ahead your visit or book any of the free events online. Bon Appetit!