Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD today, (26 March), launched Ireland’s Representation at the 58th Venice Art Biennale in 2019 at a gathering which included a strong representation of Ireland’s visual arts sector.
Artist Eva Rothschild and curator Mary Cremin were selected to represent Ireland on the basis of an open call. Ireland at Venice is an initiative of Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council. The Venice Art Biennale is the foremost global forum for visual arts globally. It attracts over 260,000 visitors during the six month long event, professional curators, gallerists and artists as well as widespread international media coverage.
Minister Madigan said: “It is a great achievement to win the honour to represent Ireland at the world’s most significant visual arts exhibition and I congratulate and wish every success to Eva Rothschild and Mary Cremin. Eva is one of the leading sculptors of her generation and she has an exceptional ability to create connectivity between disparate sculptural elements and present them to the public.”
The Shrinking Universe is an ambitious project that will have a significant resonance both nationally and internationally bringing a much greater awareness and understanding of the scale and diversity of Irish contemporary artistic practice.
The Minister added that “Ireland at Venice is an important project in the context of the Government’s Global Ireland initiative which aims to increase Ireland’s global footprint. The investment in Ireland’s presentation by Culture Ireland in my Department is testament to the commitment to support this presentation and Ireland’s global reach.”
As has been the practice, Ireland’s Exhibition at the Venice Biennale will subsequently be presented in Ireland to a national audience in 2020. The details of The Shrinking Universe exhibition in Ireland will be announced in early 2020.
Eva Rothschild said “I am delighted and privileged to be representing Ireland at the Venice Biennale. My exhibition will showcase the breadth of my sculptural practice creating an environment that communicates directly with the viewer through embodiment and materiality. “
Mary Cremin said “It has been a great experience to develop and work with artist Eva Rothschild on such a significant international project. The Shrinking Universe will be an immersive exhibition of sculptural works that builds on Rothschild’s interest in social sculpture and creating environments but it is also a response to our current political crisis and the precarious nature of our current existence. “
The Irish Pavilion will be one of 91 national pavilions presenting at the 2019 Exhibition which will open on 8 May and run until 24 November 2019.
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