BIENNALS:EVA International 2018
EVA International is Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art. Every two years EVA International works with guest curators to create a 12-week program of exhibitions and events that engage with the people and city of Limerick. Artists’ projects are selected through an international open and invited call for proposals and exhibitions take place in both gallery and non-gallery spaces.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: EVA International 2018 Archive
The 38th edition of EVA International takes its starting point from the painting “Night Candles are Burnt Out” (1927) by Seán Keating. The painting presents an allegory of the Irish psyche at the advent of the construction of Ardnacrusha, a hydroelectric dam, built that same year on the border of County Limerick. Ardnacrusha was a symbol of early 20th Century engineering, which accelerated the Irish economy and radically shifted the society of the new state. Keating’s painting depicts a host of characters set against the backdrop of the construction site, whose lives are set to change by the dawning of a new era of technological progress. Alongside Keating’s paintings of Ardnacrusha, the biennial includes works by artists from across geographies, generations, and media, addressing narratives of modernisation (in which electrification played a crucial role) and metaphors of power. Rather than a monolithic thematic exhibition, this edition of EVA International proposes itself as a kaleidoscope of essayistic, retinal and bodily narratives of artistic presentation. The 38th EVA International has no title, breaking with a tradition of the biennial that dates back to 1990. This decision, taken by of Biennal’s Curator Inti Guerrero is designed to emphasize the word ‘International’ that is central to EVA’s identity. Guerrero explains, “In our current state of nationalisms, hard-borders, protectionism and a complete change of course in humanity, where the liberal belief of a ‘never again’ seems to be dismantling, the word ‘International’ suddenly carries an important weight worth embracing. Since its foundation in 1977 in Limerick, EVA has been a forerunner in understanding the world through art in a transnational, transcultural, international dialogue, presenting its contradictions, anxieties and possibilities”. A part of Eva Intternational is on presentation at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Among other works on presentation are: Locky Morris’s installation “Comm” (1992) which references the history of clandestine messaging between Republican prisoners during the conflict in Northern Ireland. The practice involved writing tiny messages on toilet or cigarette paper and wrapped in cling-film, typically exchanged through a kiss between prison visitors and inmates. “Comm” is an installation that uses similar materials, but enlarged (as though magnified) as a series of wall-mounted semi-figurative objects. Roy Dib’s “Mondial” 2010 is a discussion of institutional borders in modern day Middle East. It uses video as a device to transgress boundaries that are inflicted on people in spite of them. It is a travel film made in a location that doesn’t permit travel, starring two male lovers, in a setting where homosexuality is a punishable felony. Shot with a hand-held camcorder, “Mondial” borrows the aesthetics of a travel video log. It normalises the abnormal, and by doing so creates its own universe of possibility. Marlon T. Riggs’ film “Tongues Untied” (1989) that explores language in the African-American gay community. An edited sequence from this seminal film shows the appropriation of the ‘snap’ gesture as a codified language within the African-American gay community. This, and other works by Riggs have created an important cultural legacy which reinforces his campaign to allow a voice for African-Americans, and to re-identify what he describes as the “Brutalising matters of race and sexuality”.
Info: Curator: Inti Guerrero, EVA International 2018, Duration: 14/4-8/7/18, Venues: Limerick City Gallery of Art, Pery Square, Limerick, Days & Hours: Mon-Wed 10:00-17:30, Thu 10:00-18:30, Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 12:00-17:00. Cleeve’s Condensed Milk Factory, O’Callaghan Strand, Limerick, Days & Hours: Daily 12:00-18:00. The Limerick Clothing Factory, Lord Edward Street, Limerick, Days & Hours: 12:00-18:00, RHH 6 Pery Square, Limerick, Days & Hours: Daily 12:00-18:00. The Hunt Museum, Rutland Street, Limerick, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 14:00-17:00. Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Military Rd, Kilmainham, Dublin, Duration: 6/4-27/5/18, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 11:30-17:30, Sat 10:00-17:30, Sun 12:00-17:30, www.eva.ie
