Talks and Conferences

Conferences

July 2003
Outside the Box: Art and Public Domains
City Arts Centre, Dublin

This seminar was the first in a series called Raising the Issues organised by the Civil Arts Inquiry in association with the Sculptors' Society of Ireland. The Civil Arts Inquiry is a defined period of research into issues around cultural production, distribution, communication, participation and validation and is intended to contribute to the creation of a participatory, civil culture.

Outside the Box - Art and Public Domains brought together programmers and practitioners who are concerned with the relationship between art and social context and how that is manifested.

Panelists and speakers included:

Jon Bewley - Locus + ; Pauline Hadaway - Belfast Exposed; Mary McCarthy - Cork City of Culture 2005; Dont Rhine - Ultra Red; Ailbhe Murphy - Artist, Ballymun Regeneration Percent for Arts Scheme Breaking Ground; Kevin Atherton - National College of Art and Design; Richard West - Factotum; Mark Cullen + Brian Duggan - Pallas Studios; Rita Fagan - St Michaels' Resource Centre.

October 2001
Get that Balance
Panel Discussions

Held in collaboration with the NSF Cork to coincide with the performance art events 'Marking the Territory' and 'Get that Balance' curated by Marina Abramovic for IMMA, Dublin and Cork Opera House.

May-June 2001
SSI Lecture series at the Guinness Storehouse

A series of three lectures ranging across professional practice issues for artists. Featuring presentations by: Anna Pepperall Officer on Anthony Gormleys "Angel of the North" and Gatesheads Public Art Programme; 'Taxation for Artists' Accountant Richard Guiney, Revenue Commissioners Maire Nolan and Michael Howard; 'Public Art Commissioning Quality: An Agitation' Eoghan McTigue, Aisling Prior, Tarla McGowan, Bernard Seymour.

Oct-Dec 2000
Practioners Lecture Series

A series of six evening talks and discussions by Jenny Haughton, Ian Joyce, Corban Walker, Laura Gannon, Eilis O'Connell and Jim Buckley. Hosted by Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.

June 1999
The Role of Sculpture in Integrated Area Plans

Talk by Dick Gleeson assistant planner, Dublin Corporation at Mullingar Arts Centre on the role of sculpture within urban development and planning strategies for Dublin.

May 1998
The Future of Visual Arts Promotion

A seminar on copyright, digital archiving and the worldwide web held at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.

March 1997
SSI Conference: Planning for the Future
Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny

The 'Planning for the Future' conference was devised as a platform in order to present the research findings and recommendations of a strategic review of the Society by Farrell, Grant, Sparks management and corporate consultants. The review had been commissioned as a bold and innovative step in the strategic development of the Society, in order to strengthen the SSI's case for increased Arts Council funding that would include support for the purchase of purpose built premises. Key topics addressed through panel discussions and presentations over the two-day conference included issues of transparency, regionalism, definitions of sculptural practice and artists' resources.

March 1995
Art in the Public Environment Conference
RDS, Dublin

The 'SSI Art in the Public Environment Conference' brought 23 speakers together as a forum for debate and discussion on the future of art in the public environment in Ireland. The event was specially aimed at arts administrators, curators, local authority personnel, county councillors, and senior civil servants. Speakers included: (Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal) Liz McManus, Paula Murphy (UCD), Frank McDonald (Irish Times), Sally Medlyn (Cardiff Bay Arts trust), Dr Abdul Bulbulia (Waterford Regional Hospital Arts Committee).

November 1993
Random Access Conference on expanded definitions of sculptural practice
Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Established under the auspices of the Sculptors' Society of Ireland, the Random Access Committee was established with a view to instigating a series of events and projects to facilitate the practice and critical discussion of 'time-based' art practice. The Random Access Conference held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art provided a platform for a range of Irish and international curators and practioners associated with time-based practice to consider issues of showing and making work beyond the traditional boundaries. Speakers included; Cornelia Parker, Isabel Vasseur, Helen Chadwick, John Carson, Bobby Baker, Mona Hartoum, Michael Craig Martin, Nigel Rolfe, Declan McGonagle and Valerie Smith.

August 1988
International Sculpture Conference
Trinity College, Dublin

Organised as the key stone of the SSI's 1988 'year of sculpture' the International Conference on Sculpture provided a platform for papers by 47 artists, art writers, architects, administrators and academics. Key speakers included: Eduardo Chillida, Albert Elsen, John Carson, Malcolm Miles, Brian Maguire and Liam O'Kelly.