Dublin
Ireland
Celebrating contemporary art practice around four core photographic exhibitions.
PhotoIreland is pleased to announce the main elements of the programme 2026 for the International Centre for the Image with the support of the Arts Council of Ireland.
The year 2025 marked a defining chapter for photography in Ireland with the launch of the International Centre for the Image, PhotoIreland’s new landmark, and Ireland’s largest space dedicated to Photography. The museum launched with the ambitious first exhibition Foreword, featuring works by 17 diverse contemporary artists, and exploring the curatorial issues the museum is dedicated to addressing. It was followed by Solastalgia by acclaimed Irish artist David Farrell and Journey to the Center by internationally renowned photographer Cristina De Middel.
In 2026, PhotoIreland presents a stimulating selection of practices celebrating contemporary art practice around four core exhibitions.
Eamonn Doyle, Niall Sweeney, and David Donohoe: AS IF
February 6–April 5, 2026
PhotoIreland presents the premiere of AS IF, a new, extensive interdisciplinary work by internationally acclaimed photographer Eamonn Doyle, artist-designer Niall Sweeney, and composer David Donohoe, featuring hundreds of previously unseen works. Eamonn Doyle’s practice has evolved rapidly over the last decade, shifting from an acclaimed street photography approach to intricate interdisciplinary and collaborative projects, frequently working with Niall Sweeney and David Donohoe. Their latest project, AS IF, presents an ambitious body of work that builds into a visceral and psychological articulation of the physical world and the psyche. It comprises silver gelatin prints, filmworks, montages, sound, music, painting, drawing and text, and is the first solo exhibition at the International Centre for the Image. Enjoy the AS IF trailer.
New Irish Works
Austin Hearne, Billy Kenrick, Ciara Richardson, Debbie Castro, Dorje De Burgh, Emily O’Connell, Garry Loughlin, Kate Nolan, Mandy O’Neill, Miriam O’Connor
May 15–August 19, 2026
In this fifth edition of the triennial support programme New Irish Works, PhotoIreland presents an exhibition of recent projects, many of which are being exhibited for the first time, by 10 outstanding artists: Austin Hearne, Billy Kenrick, Ciara Richardson, Debbie Castro, Dorje De Burgh, Emily O’Connell, Garry Loughlin, Kate Nolan, Mandy O’Neill, and Miriam O’Connor. The selected works function as a statement to the growing diversity of contemporary photographic practices in Ireland.
Rhiannon Adam: Rhi-Entry
September 11–December 23, 2026
PhotoIreland presents the premiere of Rhi-Entry by Irish artist Rhiannon Adam, and her first exhibition in Ireland. In 2021, Irish artist Rhiannon Adam was selected for the dearMoon mission, the first civilian spaceflight to deep space. Adam was to become the first out queer woman to venture beyond the Kármán line, the edge of space. In 2024, it was abruptly cancelled by its billionaire funder. The work presented blurs fact and fiction through images, archive, and ephemera, reflecting on Adam’s psychological recalibration and her struggle to return to a “normal” life. It is often cited that reentry (or “Rhi-entry”) is the most dangerous part of spaceflight, and for Adam, this rings true, despite never having left our planet. This presentation stands as a shrine to lost dreams and an urgent call for alternative voices in the space industry.
Lewis Bush: An Infinitely Dark Legacy
September 11–December 23, 2026
PhotoIreland presents the Irish premiere of An Infinitely Dark Legacy by artist Lewis Bush, and his first exhibition in Ireland. The exhibition is based on Lewis Bush’s photographic project and book Depravity’s Rainbow (2018–2023), which examines the dark origins of modern rocketry during the Second World War and Holocaust, and charts the ways that this history continued to influence Cold War era space programs in the United States, projects on which much present day space exploration is in turn founded. Through this, it examines the moral vacuum at the heart of contemporary space travel.
Extended programme
Alongside these, the International Centre for the Image presents other exhibitions, including the sixth edition of Female in Focus, a project initiated and run by 1854 Media and the British Journal of Photography, celebrating the remarkable talent and creativity of women photographers from around the globe, and events such as the Tsundoku Art Book Fair, for which the call for participants is now open.
More details available at image.museum and photoireland.org
For any inquiries about PhotoIreland and the International Centre for the Image, please write to admin@photoireland.org.
