Close Encounter / The Parted Veil / Beckett and the Wake

This season, the Glucksman presents exhibitions exploring contemporary architecture and photography, including the Irish premiere of Close Encounter commissioned for the Venice Architecture Biennale, images from the University College Cork archive of photographer John Minihan, as well as a new exhibition The Parted Veil that considers how contemporary Irish art practices have approached ideas of commemoration through photography. 

Close Encounter: Meetings with Remarkable Buildings was presented at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale as part of the FREESPACE exhibition in the Central Pavilion. Curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara (Grafton Architects) in collaboration with Hugh Campbell, sixteen Irish architectural practices were commissioned to respond to significant buildings of the curators’ choosing. The works are unique pieces that take a defined work of architecture as their starting point to explore the ways in which creative interpretation can allow for new forms to evolve. The experience of moving among these different forms allows for an understanding of the ingenuity and plurality of contemporary Irish architecture. The national tour of Close Encounter is supported by the Arts Council as part of its commitment to promote architecture to Irish audiences and produced by the Irish Architecture Foundation in partnership with the Glucksman and Visual Carlow. 

Architects: A2 Architects, Boyd Cody, Noreile Breen, Bucholz McEvoy Architects, Carr Cotter & Naessens Architects, Clancy Moore Architects, DePaor, Donaghy + Dimond Architects, Kevin Donovan & Ryan W. Kennihan Architects, GKMP Architects, Hassett Ducatez Architects, Heneghan Peng Architects, Mary Laheen & Aoibheann Ní Mhearáin, Steve Larkin Architects, Dominic Stevens / JFOC, and TAKA Architects.

The Glucksman is pleased to work in partnership with the Irish Architecture Foundation and the National Sculpture Factory to present a conference Curating Architecture on Saturday, April 6 to discuss, explore and imagine the potential of staging architecture in an exhibition context. Speakers include Pedro Gadanho, Manuel Henriques, Catherine Ince, Kieran Long, Léa-Catherine Szacka, and Veronica Valk.    

Beckett and the Wake: Photography by John Minihan presents works from the archive recently acquired by University College Cork Special Collections. Minihan’s friendship with Samuel Beckett began through a conversation about Minihan’s exhibition The Wake of Katy Tyrell which he shot in 1977, while visiting his hometown of Athy. Minihan photographed Beckett many times in Paris and London, capturing moments that have become iconic images of twentieth-century culture, and this exhibition includes photographs of the wake series as well as of the notoriously reclusive writer.

As a memento, a keepsake, or a document, photography has a close and significant relationship to commemoration. In capturing moments of personal value, the photographic image becomes a record of our shared past, a visual chronicle that is both private memory and public history. The Parted Veil: Commemoration in photographic practices is an exhibition of sixteen Irish artists who use the photographic image to consider ideas of remembrance and celebration, reflecting on how intimate experiences express the wider events shaping our contemporary world. A dedicated publication accompanies the exhibition with contextual essays as well as texts from poets Ailbhe Darcy, Vona Groarke, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Billy Ramsell, and Leanne O’Sullivan. The Parted Veil is supported by the Arts Council and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. 

Artists: Dervla Baker, Lian Bell, Lisa Butterly & Lisa McCormack, David Creedon, Adrian Duncan, Cáit Fahey, John Halpin, Roseanne Lynch, Tom Molloy, Vukasin Nedeljkovic, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Miriam O’Connor, James Parkin, Alan Phelan, Amelia Stein, and Mhairi Sutherland

Curated by Chris Clarke and Fiona Kearney

An extensive programme of curated events, talks, art courses and workshops takes place throughout the exhibition. The Glucksman is supported by University College Cork, The Arts Council Ireland, and private philanthropy through Cork University Foundation.