A series of video interviews screened in RHA’s Atrium and Online.
Although Irish LGBTQ+ practice has been examined in recent exhibitions such as I Am What I Am (Ballina Arts Centre, 2020), The Queeratorial (Pallas Projects, 2019) and Queer Embodiment, as part of The Narrow Gate of the Here and Now (IMMA, 2021), still its history in Ireland and Northern Ireland remain under-examined.
Focusing on OutArt (1996-2001), this project explores the series of exhibitions that were organised by members of the LGBTQ+ community to build solidarity and explore queer practice.
Featuring a wide range of work and approaches, OutArt showcased work by gay and lesbian artists at a crucial moment in LGBTQ+ history: in the Republic, homosexuality had only recently been decriminalised, and across the island of Ireland the gay rights movement was rapidly growing in influence and attitudes to sexuality were rapidly shifting.
Working with the RHA, this program of talks, interviews and accompanying online publication will document the experience of those involved and will republish reproductions of little-known work to consider the legacies of OutArt. The program comprises conversations between Pluck Projects and artists involved in organising and contributing to OutArt Mick Wilson, Louise Walsh and Alan Phelan, as well as interviews conducted by artist Padraig Spillane with participating artists Prof. Catherine Harper, Andrew Kearney and Niall Sweeney
Pluck Projects is a curatorial collaboration founded by art historians Sarah Kelleher and Rachel Warriner that champions innovative work and seeks to reassess the histories of contemporary Irish art.
View all interviews here, available with subtitles:
Pluck Projects interview with Mick Wilson
Pluck Projects interview with Catherine Harper
Pluck Projects interview with Louise Walsh
Pluck Projects interview with Andrew Kearney
Pluck Projects interview with Alan Phelan
