It is hard to believe that 2013 is almost over.
PhotoIreland worked extra hard this year to promote Photography in Ireland, and Irish Photography abroad. We feature here a selection of events to remember and celebrate a very spectacular year. You can check a list of the festival’s media exposure in our previous post.
THE TEAM
The team was composed by Katie Mooney-Sheppard, Gill Thorpe, Steven Maybury, and Nigel Payne working on The Library Project, and Sinéad Corcoran, Lorna Murphy, Moritz Neumüller, and Angel Luis Gonzalez managing the PhotoIreland Festival. Ana Villalgordo Saura and Ramón Romero Pastor came all the way from Murcia (Spain) to join the team during the festival.
This is what we do.
PhotoIreland is dedicated to promoting critical thinking around Photography, enhancing a wider visual literacy and a deeper engagement with the Visual Arts.
This is how we do it:
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PHOTOIRELAND FESTIVAL 2013
232 Artists, 47 Exhibitions, 56 Venues, 25 Events, +180 Publishers and +900 books.
PhotoIreland Festival was kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, and by the Arts Offices of Dublin, Limerick and Cork City Councils. Our main sponsors, to whom we are very thankful, were Fire Fine Art Printers, Castle Print, Canon Ireland and Hang Tough Frames. Our cultural partners were The National Photographic Archive, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Dublino, Instituto Cervantes Dublin, Goethe Institut Dublin, Alliance Française Dublin, French Embassy, Polish Embassy, Dutch Embassy Ormston House, Occupy Space, TACTIC, Stag & Deer, and the Gallery of Photography.
NEW IRISH WORKS
[Video: PhotoIreland’s TV advert, kindly grant aided by RTE]
Reviewing the state of Photography in Ireland, we called all Irish and Irish based photographers to submit their latest projects for PhotoIreland Festival 2013. A panel of seven curators dealt with the tough task of selecting works from almost 200 submissions. Together, the 25 projects chosen offer a comprehensive view of the exciting time that the practice is currently enjoying the island.
To accompany the exhibitions, we published the New Irish Works book, designed not to be a catalogue but to be enjoyed as a stand alone publication. The book has been enjoyed and distributed widely – and you can still get yours online.
Adding to a diverse programme, we counted with 9 excellent featured exhibitions and 29 exhibitions in the Canon Open Programme.
SUMMER CAMPUS
The Summer Campus was devised as ‘a space to converse, reflect and create’. The programme included a selection of workshops, such as Cristina De Middel’s on photographic narratives, and talks by our international guests. At the Book & Magazine Fair, visitors enjoyed the latest photobooks, magazines and fanzines, plus our modest yet mind-boggling collection of over 900 contemporary publications from The Library Project.
We brought two special events from Germany, for the first time in Ireland, the 6th Fotobook Festival Kassel and the POPCAP ‘13 prize for Contemporary African Photography. POPCAP ‘13 was exhibited in Dublin, Limerick and Cork.
Portfolio 13, PhotoIreland’s international portfolio reviews, gave the opportunity to 58 photographers to meet with 24 experts for that valuable feedback and constructive advice that helps develop their projects and their careers. Every year these sessions create a very positive and productive environment, clearly beneficial for the photographers but also for the invited experts.
We treated our guests to a private tour around the main exhibitions and key venues in Dublin, giving them the chance to get to know each other, discover what the city has to offer, and meet other relevant professionals.
Keep an eye for the call for submissions for PhotoIreland Festival 2014, coming to your inbox very soon.
NOTES ON NEW IRISH WORKS
PhotoIreland presented the book ‘New Irish Works’ and a selection of the latest Irish photobooks and fanzines at UNSEEN Photography Fair, in Amsterdam. Last November, during Paris Photo, we organised a special presentation at düo gallery, supported by Culture Ireland. These two events brought significant international attention to the emerging photographers showcased. Finally, we felt that having a space where Irish photographers could network during both events, and a place where visitors could specifically engage with Irish Photography, has proven to be quite beneficial – we aim to work hard on making the most out of the opportunities that such events present.
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THE LIBRARY PROJECT
We started the year by moving The Library Project collection to the warm and cosy quarters at The Copper House Gallery, where we spent six fabulous months working side by side with the team at FIRE.
While the collection kept expanding, we continued cataloguing all the items, nearing now 1,000 publications. This year, we finally launched a new web site where they are all now available. It is a very helpful tool for everyone to consult what the collection holds before they visit, and especially to search for specific subjects.
TEMPLE BAR
In September, Black Church Print Studios offered PhotoIreland a month long residency at their gallery space in 4 Temple Bar, previously used by Monster Truck. Having spent the last years looking for an ideal location for the library, we were delighted with the opportunity to bring the collection to the heart of Dublin city.
During this period, we received many visits by students from many colleges such as the Burren College of Art, Coláiste Dhulaigh, IADT 1st and 2nd years, and accommodated other visits, like that of Anthony Haughey, Le Cool‘s Dublin Experience Walking Tour.
Le Cool and Pilcrow organised a fantastic day of talks on the back of the Web Summit entitled Spiel @ The Summit – the guests were Jimmy Maymann, CEO The Huffington Post & Baratunde Thurston, Former Director of Digital at The Onion, all in aid of Movember. We also programmed a ‘Sell Your Own Book’ day, portfolio reviews by Super Massive Black Hole‘s editor Barry W Hughes, and a great photobook Show & Tell day by Read That Image.
We celebrated Culture Night Sep 2013, Open House Dublin, World #PhotoBookDay Monday, and hosted ‘Proof It!‘ Black Church Print Studios’ Fundraiser.
Thankfully, our proposal to Black Church Print Studios to become permanent residents at the space was accepted and since late September we have been enjoying this great location, open every day to all visitors. As part of the efforts to bring to Ireland the latest specialised publications, a new bookshop was opened, currently stocking a fantastic selection of items from all corners of the world. The remit of the bookshop expands from Photography and the photobook to all artistic disciplines, and stocks essential texts of critical theory – and pretty funky stationery too.
But having secured such excellent location, we did not sit down and relax. Instead, we continued our hard work and pushed forward. We brought selected publications to Irish audiences from festivals and fairs like Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam and Paris Photo, and hosted further visits by students from LSAD, SouthEastern Regional College, Griffith College, and DIT. We also offered the space as backdrop for a documentary and organised the first exhibition in the gallery space, by Eoin Moylan.
This year we celebrated Après Paris at The Library Project in Temple Bar. Conceived as an informative event for those who couldn’t make it to Paris, or couldn’t manage to see all the events programmed in November, Après Paris is an evening for all to enjoy and stay informed.
With the support of the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Ireland, PhotoIreland presented the third edition of Après Paris, a night dedicated to contemporary Photography with a special focus on Paris’ photographic events during November around Paris Photo. This year’s special guest was Sebastian Arthur Hau, bookseller at LE BAL, Paris. We presented a selection of publications brought from Paris, and screened a set of videos that included interviews by Read That Image of key photographers in Paris – that we recommended you to watch.
On the request of Sebastian, we organised the following morning a series of informal meetings with five photographers to discuss their photo book projects. It became quite an interesting session were Sebastian learnt about their practice and the photographers from his expertise and advice. Sebastian kindly donated a copy of Mark Cohen’s Dark Knees to The Library Project.
In December, We brought a selection of publications from The Library Project bookshop to the Dublin Flea Market & Block T Christmas Cracker Market, and were delighted with the great public response. It is evident that there is a high interest in specialised publications and we will continue our hard work to bring the latest to you.
Finally, recently we announced a call for proposals for The Library Project Programme 2014. We are interested in promoting contemporary Photography, and any practice that engages with, emphasizes, and challenges Visual Culture. Nevertheless, proposals from all disciplines will be considered and accepted on the basis of artistic quality and critical engagement, regardless of the medium used.
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So, this has been 2013 for us. Quite something!
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts.
In the meantime, from all the PhotoIreland team, best wishes for 2014.
If you enjoy what we do and want to support PhotoIreland and The Library Project, you could volunteer, donate and help spread the word about our work.
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