Model focuses on Niland Collection
On the occasion of the 60 th anniversary of The Niland Collection, The Model proudly presents a major exhibition that considers art collections as living repositories of thoughts and ideas.
The Keeper is an ambitious show that features over 150 artworks by 65 Irish and international artists, working across more than 100 years of history reflected in artistic practice.
The exhibition considers why we are drawn to collect, how collections can communicate the concerns of past cultures to contemporary minds, and what can be lost if a collection is dispersed.
The Keeper poses these questions through three distinct strands of inquiry, featuring works that ponder art historical narratives by four distinguished international contemporary artists - Ed Atkins, Susan Hiller, Taus Makhacheva and Elizabeth Price.
Another central element of The Keeper will take the form of an ‘exhibition within an exhibition’ of the idiosyncratic private collection of curator and collector Jobst Graeve.
The Graeve Collection can be viewed through the lens of the Folkwang principle that originated with Karl Ernst Osthaus in early twentieth century Germany, which advocated an approach to the arts as a unified whole, rather than divided into separate disciplines.
Graeve’s collection includes the work of a host of Irish and international artists, designers, makers and performers, many of whom he has had a longstanding relationship with since their early careers.
The final strand of The Keeper will see The Model present a new largescale exhibition of The Niland Collection featuring over 100 works in an experimental ‘salon-hang’, which will represent the biggest showcase of The Niland Collection to date and will be on view throughout 2019 and beyond.
The Keeper opens with a celebratory reception on Sat. 9 Feb. Further details and associated events will be announced in early 2019.
Building on a partnership with The Museum De Buitenplaats, The Goethe Institut Irland, and Cairde Sligo Arts Festival, The Model will also present exhibitions from Torsten Lauschmann, Maria Loboda, and Richard Bolhuis, as well as the open submission show Cairde Visual.
In April, The Model in partnership with the Museum De Buitenplaats and with the support of the Mondriaan Funds, will present a solo exhibition by visual artist, musician and composer Richard Bolhuis.
This unique artist will create original pieces for The Model through an immersive, interdisciplinary ‘ total installations’.
Composed of paintings, drawings, soundscapes and film-loops, this installation will spread over The Model’s windows, walls, floors and outdoor spaces to create a transformed and immersive audience experience.
Summer will see the presentation of the third year of a partnership with the Cairde Sligo Arts Festival on their annual open submission exhibition.
In August, The Model will present Glasgow-based German artist, Torsten Lauschmann’s first Irish solo exhibition. Lauschmann’s work, notable for its innovative approach, includes photography, sound, video, online projects, performance, and installation. Made using a range of materials, found objects, and technological processes, his works cannot be categorized and deliberately avoid the notion of a signature style or appearance.
Instead, Lauschmann is interested in delving into the fundamentals of life and human nature – resulting in artworks that range from the melancholic, poetic and romantic; to the theoretical and the absurd.
German-born Lauschmann, who now lives and works in Glasgow has received many accolades and awards for his work.
In 2003 he was selected for Zenomap, the Scottish Participation at the Venice Biennale and he received a BAFTA nomination for his video work ‘Remember things before they happen’.
In the final exhibition of 2019, The Model welcomes back Polish-born artist Maria Loboda, an outstanding contemporary practitioner with a strong international reputation, who previously participated in The Model’s seminal group exhibition, Psychic Lighthouse, at The Model in 2015.
With delicious anarchy, the work of Maria Loboda investigates the trafficking between the object and the spirit, rationality, and magic.
Loboda sees reality and the material world as a universe of connected signs and meanings.
She investigates the connections between material things, the spiritual realm, rationality, and mysticism. Her solo exhibition at The Model will further pursue her ongoing artistic explorations into the archaic concepts of diverse belief systems, the transcendental ideas of the human soul and the wholeness of their manifestations in arcane objects, archaeology, architecture, religion, and art.