Ireland’s International Festival of Photography & Image Culture.

PhotoIreland Festival 2023: R/evolutions

2023.photoireland.org@PhotoIrelandFST

Vibrant, friendly, all-inclusive: a festival for all to enjoy, this year’s edition brings to Ireland contemporary photography by celebrated artists from diverse cultural backgrounds through a series of guest-curated exhibitions by internationally established curators—including newly commissioned and rarely seen works, and hundreds of publications to discover at the art book fair, alongside an engaging public talks programme with a series of discursive events taking place online and in-person.

Key Dates, Events and Locations

• 30 June Festival Launch
• Overall Festival Dates: 30 June-
• 30 June to 2 July Professional Weekend
• 13 to 16 July TSUNDOKU Art Book Fair
• Primary Location: The Printworks, Dublin Castle
  • Other locations for events, exhibitions, and affiliated festival activities:  The Library Project, The Darkroom, Dublin.

The Festival

The nature of the PhotoIreland Festival is defined by its plasticity, not its rigidity. Meaning, the format of the festival adapts and changes yearly in by its inclusions and in its nature. 

Main Exhibitions

The Printworks at Dublin Castle hosted three main exhibitions:

• Catherine E. McKinley curated newly commissioned, photography-based multi-media work by artist Atong Atem. Dust explores the relationship of Dinka women who act as mediums and custodians to the earth, to the rupturing history of Christianity and colonialism.
• A diverse constituency of creative practitioners working in photography and lens-based media including Aida Silvestri, Bernice Mulenga, Frida Orupabo, Heather Agyepong, Hélène Amouzou, Lola Flash, Mónica de Miranda, Phoebe Boswell, Silvia Rosi, and Zanele Muholi, the latter presented in collaboration with The McKinley Collection, are brought together in a group show titled I See the Face of Things to Come by guest curator Renée Mussai. The thematic exhibition centres around a fluid interpretation of (self) portraiture—as repertoire, as chorus and soliloquy, as moving image, as vision, as breath, as vessel, as archive, as embodiment, as justice, as activism, as community—showcasing the interdisciplinary work of artists whose evocative praxis amplifies notions of self and other through the prism of past, present and future tenses.
• Artist Ethel-Ruth Tawe presents work in response to Ben Krewinkel historic and contemporary photobook archive Africa in the Photobook.

The Library Project will be host to a solo exhibition And you, why are you black? by artist Rubén H. Bermúdez, providing the most extensive presentation of his work. Starting from an investigation into the origins of black slavery in Spain, the author constructs an autobiographical tale.

PhotoIreland launches RELAY, the new artist-driven and artist-focused mentorship programme. Each year, RELAY will see an invited artist engaging in a mentorship and development process with emerging artists, responding to the thematics of the festival. In 2023, the invited artist is Alice Rekab working with artists from Irish and Ireland-based artists of the African diaspora, selected through an open call. The Digital Hub kindly supports the programme providing studios for the participant artists.

Featured Exhibitions and Open Programme

Each year, we highlight the work of other organisations and curators around the island of Ireland through the Featured Exhibitions section of the programme. Organisations and venues planning exhibitions with lens-based artists are invited to inform us at info@photoireland.org to become part of the PhotoIreland Festival programme.

The Open Programme is the most effervescent element of the festival, offering individuals and organisations the opportunity to participate in the festival programme.

Educational Programming and Events 

2022’s engaging talks, curatorial and artists tours, and many other events

PhotoIreland Festival places great importance on its educational programme, aiming to provide a friendly and accessible manner for all members of the public to engage with the work of the exhibited artists and the curatorial themes presented. In addition to a series of in-person talks, workshops, and tours with the curators and artists, the festival will host:

• Critical Conversations: An online, one-day event seeing a number of participants from the arts and beyond, selected and programmed by author and academic Emma Dabiri.
• Shasha Movies: the independent streaming service for South-West Asian and North African cinema presents a programme of contemporary underground film and video works from Tunisia, with Q&A by founder Róisín Tapponi.
• Professional Weekend: The highly successful and fruitful developmental strand of the festival provides direct networking opportunities for local artists and national and international arts professionals, portfolio reviews, presentations, and other events.
• Tsundoku Art Book Fair: First launched in July 2011, this edition sees the return of Ireland’s first art book fair now renamed Tsundoku. The fair returns with an expanded programme to present publications by a range of Irish and international publishers and individuals seeking to represent practices from all continents. Visitors had the opportunity to engage directly with the visiting publishers, be inspired by the rich variety of publications available, and attend publishing workshops and talks.
  Full details at tsundoku.ie

Overview

PhotoIreland Festival Archive

2023  2022  2021  2020  2019  2018  2017  2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2011  2010