This weekend, the city centre will be filled with art lovers, the art curious and the simply 'arty' roaming from gallery to gallery as part of the Dublin Gallery Weekend.
A new initiative, the three-day event is a collaboration between 10 Dublin galleries and organised by Contemporary Art Gallery Association (CAGA) - which represents commercial art galleries in Ireland - it's a free celebration of Irish contemporary art.
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Here, curator and creative producer Rayne Booth, chats about why the time is right for such an ambitious event, and why Ireland's art scene is unique in its intimacy.
What inspired this new event?
The idea for the event came from similar Gallery Weekend events that happen in other cities such as Berlin, London, Barcelona, Brussels and many more. This is a way for the commercial gallery scene in a city to put themselves more into the public eye as more open and welcoming to visitors. It's a way to encourage Dubliners to become more curious about visual art and what happens in these gallery spaces. When the ten Dublin galleries came together last year to form the Contemporary Art Gallery Association, the idea of doing a gallery weekend for Dublin was a major goal.
Why hasn't there been something similar before?
In 2015 - 2019 there was in fact a Dublin Gallery Weekend that took place in the city (run by myself!) but it was coming more from the publicly funded sector. I felt at the time that it really needed to be driven by the commercial galleries, so it's great that they have taken this on. I think that the city was not ready for the event at the time, there is a different attitude towards visual art now, younger generations are much more open to visiting galleries and are more interested in a wider range of things.
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Featuring talks and tours with gallerists, late gallery openings and tours for families seems to be trying to make the contemporary art scene more accessible; was this a key focus for you?
Yes, the main goal of the weekend is to promote contemporary art to a wider audience and to share the work of contemporary artists in Ireland. We have an incredibly vibrant visual arts scene in this country and the association aims to find ways to show the amazing and inspiring work that Irish artists are creating.
What do you think unites Irish contemporary art currently, and separates it from that of other countries?
The scene in Dublin is vibrant but small. We only have 10 commercial galleries in our association and this can be seen as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. The fact is, the galleries are mostly run by one incredibly knowledgeable and passionate person - the gallerist - whose goal is to get people as excited about the artists they are promoting as they are. It's amazing that in Dublin, you can walk into a gallery and chat to the gallerist directly about the work on display. This is something that doesn't always happen in bigger cities. The size of the scene here also means that most people know each other and that artists are very encouraging and supportive of anyone who is trying to get their work out there!
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What event would you suggest for someone completely new to the art world but interested in learning more about Irish artists?
My advice would be to go and see as many exhibitions as you can, go to everything and figure out what you like and what you don't like as much, Visit museums, public and private galleries over time and get to know the tastes of the curators and gallerists in each different space. If there are particular artists or galleries that you enjoy, check if they are doing talks or events around the exhibitions. Often galleries will have a guided tour, in conversation or an artist's talk for each show, which is a great way to hear straight from the artist about what inspires them, how and why they make their work. And all of this of course is for free. You can get an amazing free education in the visual arts in Dublin by just doing this.
Find out more about Dublin Gallery Weekend and its participating galleries here.
