A series of talks in response to the IMMA Exhibition 'As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics' (13 April - 27 August 2017)

One of IMMA's most ambitious and compelling shows, As Above, So Below explores how the spiritual endures in our everyday lives. In particular it considers the role played by certain spiritualist and alternative doctrines, such as the occult or mysticism, in the creation of abstract painting from its origins to the present digital age.

Find out more about the exhibition on http://www.imma.ie/en/page_237202.htm

As Above, So Below

Co-curators of the exhibition, As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics ( 13 April - 27 August 2017); Sam Thorne, Director, Nottingham Contemporary, UK, Racheal Thomas, Senior Curator, IMMA come together in conversation to introduce this major group show originating at IMMA.  

In running order of presenting, selected exhibition artists include, Liliane Lijn, Nora Berman, Eoghan Ryan, Matt Copson and Stephan Doitschinoff, this discussion will draw on the history of art and spirituality, spanning the last 100years. 

Further Information

Sam Thorne is director of Nottingham Contemporary. From 2014–16 he was artistic director of Tate St Ives. Prior to that, he was associate editor of frieze magazine, where he is currently a contributing editor and columnist. He is a co-founder of Open School East, a free-to-attend study programme in London / Margate, and his book School will be published by Sternberg Press this summer.

Rachael Thomas is Senior Curator: Head of Exhibitions at IMMA. Thomas is a Leonardo fellow at Trinity University and contributor to MA/ Art in the contemporary world at NCAD. Thomas has curated various exhibitions including solo surveys of Hélio Oiticica, Haroon Mirza, and Tino Sehgal, the American Fluxus and feminist artist Eleanor Antin, Thomas Ruff, Karen Kilimnik, Margherita Manzelli, Willie Doherty, Sophie Calle and Mark Manders. Thomas curated and initiated the Welsh pavilion for Venice Biennale 2001, When the Dragon Wakes with Cerith Wyn Evans, and in 2008 curated Gerard Byrne at the Lyon Biennale. Thomas was awarded a Millennium Fellowship to produce papers on global frameworks of contemporary art practice at Tate Britain, London.

This discussion took place on 13 April 2017 at IMMA.

Image Credits: Hilma af Klint, Altarpiece, No 1, Group X, Series Altarpieces, 1915 , Oil and metal leaf on canvas, Photo: Albin Dahlström / Moderna Museet

Curators' Introduction & Artists Discussion / As Above, So Below

Francis McKee, Irish writer and Director, Centre of Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK explores mediumistic techniques that inform his new book Even the Dead Rise Up. Tracing global manifestations of mysticism, the occult and political dissent, Mckee’s shares his personnel journey of becoming a spiritual medium, the people and practices he encountered and the ways this inspires creative, critical and intuitive methods of writing and thinking. Guests participants include Christine Danielle Vierling (Tarot/astrology reader)and Gavin Everall (Editor, Book Works)

Further Information

Even the Dead Rise Up – book launch played with multiple forms of a short talk, a tarot card reading, screening and closing discussion on ideas of politics, spiritualism, writing, the tarot and psyche. 

Running order of Speaking: Even the Dead Rise Up - Francis Mckee; How to Read Tarot (excerpt)- Christine Danielle Vierling & Audience Volunteer; Chaired Discussion with Gavin Everall & Francis Mckee.

About Participants 

Francis McKee is an Irish writer, medical historian, and curator working in Glasgow since 2006, where he is Director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow and research fellow of Glasgow School of Art, His research interests include the exploration of open source theory as a potential economic model within the arts, the role of the archive in contemporary art, and modes of curatorial practice.  Early studies of open source models were presented in an exhibition in Scotland Europa’s office in Scotland House, Brussels. The exhibition, Agile Process: A New Economy for Digital Arts in Scotland, was accompanied by a creative industries symposium and focused on future models for the creative economy in Scotland. In 2006 when McKee became director of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, he restructured the organisation and the use of the building, experimenting with the use of open source as both a management tool and a curatorial approach to sharing usage of the buildings resources. This has proven successful within the context of the CCA and it is being studied by other organisations seeking an alternative economic model in a climate of recession.

Christine Danielle Vierling, studied an  M.A. in International Communications & Conflict Resolution, certified Polarity Therapy (integrated intuitive energy healer), SynergyYoga/Dance teacher, Intuitive Development Expert and Guide, as well as public presenter and facilitator of events, including blessing ceremonies and sacred rituals. In her practice as an intuitive Tarot/astrology reader and teacher, she has been featured on RTE television, Dublin City Fm (103.2) Radio (several times) and in several national publications including Women's Way, IMAGE magazine, the Evening Herald and for Network Ireland Magazine. Christine Danielle is based in Dublin, Ireland serving clients and students worldwide.  

Gavin Everall is Editing and Marketing Manager at Book Works. Everall has years of experience working closely with artists, academics, writers and designers to deliver publications, publishing projects and events at all scales  that involves methods of  writing, designing, researching and archives. He is co-editor of Again, a Time Machine: From Distribution to Archive (2012) which specifically looks at circuits of distribution and practice that have materialised in the form of books, writing, magazines, language, spoken word, performative research and archival practice.

About Book

Even the Dead Rise Up - Francis McKee
Published by Book Works / ISBN 978 1 906012 59 
Guest edited by Nina Power 
Even the Dead Rise Up

This talk took place on 23.05.17 at IMMA.

Image Credits: Soft cover; Design: Erik Hartin and Moa Pårup

Even the Dead Rise Up / Francis McKee / Talk & Book Launch

Benedictine monk and writer Mark Patrick Hederman address the role artists can play in the future. Hederman draws on his scholarship of art and psychology and living a monastic life in the 21 century, Hederman discusses his proposition that art is its own kind of religion and therefore is prophetic. 

Further Information

Mark Patrick Hederman, OSB, former Abbot of Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick, Ireland, is a Benedictine monk and writer. His doctorate degree, from the National University of Ireland, is in the philosophy of education. He taught for many years at Glenstal Abbey where he was for a time headmaster of the school. He comes from Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, second son in a family of four. He helped found the cultural journal, The Crane Bag, with Richard Kearney.  They edited this journal from 1976 to 1985. Publications include: Kissing the Dark ; Manikon Eros; Anchoring the altar; Symbolism; The Boy in the Bubble  [published by Veritas House from 2002 to 2012]; The Haunted Inkwell; Tarot: Talisman or Taboo?; Walkabout: Life as Holy Spirit; Underground Cathedrals; and Dancing with Dinosaurs; [all  published by Columba Press from 2001 to 2012]. His latest book, The Opal and the Pearl, was published by Columba Press in April 2017.

Programmed as part of the IMMA: As Above, So Below - Talk Series (13 April – 27 August 2017), exploring the role of spirituality and transcendence in our contemporary lives.

This talk took place on Tuesday, 20 June 2017 at IMMA.
Image Credits: Hilma af Klint, Altarpiece, No 1, Group X, Series Altarpieces, 1915 , Oil and metal leaf on canvas, Photo: Albin Dahlström / Moderna Museet

IMMA: As Above, So Below

Mark Patrick Hederman / Art as a Compass Towards the Future

Michael Harding, author, playwright and Irish Times columnist, talks with great honesty and wit about life, love, the sublime and pursuits of spiritual transformation. Ruminating over his life to date, Harding shares his struggles with self-doubt, faith, psychotherapy, and finding meaning in the chaos of everyday life. The talk offers reflection on Harding’s bestselling memoirs Staring at Lakes, Hanging with the Elephant and Talking to Strangers. 

Further Information

Programmed as part of the IMMA: As Above, So Below - Talk Series (13 April – 27 August 2017), exploring the role of spirituality and transcendence in our contemporary lives.

Michael Harding was born 1953. He is author of 3 novels Priest, The Trouble with Sarah Gullion, and Bird in the Snow and a series of three related memoirs. In his weekly column in the Irish Times he has chronicled the ordinary stories of midland Ireland for over a decade. His theatre work includes Strawboys, Una Pooka, Misogynist, Hubert Murray’s Widow, Sour Grapes, and Amazing Grace, all produced by the Abbey Theatre,  and over ten further plays for other companies. He has been awarded the Stewart Parker Award for Theatre, The Bank of Ireland RTÉ award for excellence in the arts and The Hennessy Award for short stories. He has been Writer in Association with The National Theatre in 1993 and he was short listed Short listed for the Irish Times Aer Lingus Literature Award in 1989. In 2000 he was Writer Fellow at Trinity College and he was nominated for the Jane Snow Award for Theatre writing in 2003. He has also explored connections between theatre and performance art. He was nominated for Best Male Performer, at the Dublin Theatre Fringe Festival, 2002, and he was the overall winner of Best Male Performer Award at Dublin Fringe Festival 2003 and played The Bull McCabe in the acclaimed 50th anniversary production of The Field by JB Keane at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin in 2015.

This talk took place on 04 July, 2017 at IMMA.

The Lure of Lakes – A Talk by Michael Harding

Brazilian artist Stephan Doitschinoff, is one of the artists exhibiting at IMMA as part of As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics, and returns to IMMA to create a unique outdoor performance as part of Wilder Beings Command on 29 July, 2017.  Hear the artist speak about how motifs in religion and the military are used throughout his various configurations of the temple, altar, procession and anthropomorphic characters. 

Further Information 
Promoting reflection and critique through many different mediums from painting, installation and public art to video, music and performance - Doitschinoff discusses how he employs divinities, uniforms,  medals, and  street parades to activate collaborative and participatory works with volunteering performers. This talk begins with a short artist’s presentation in IMMA’s Lecture Room, followed by a conversation with the artists on his new work, Interventu (2017), currently presented in IMMA’s courtyard, inspired by the Brazilian ritual and tradition that offers gifts to the saints.  

Programmed as part of the IMMA: As Above, So Below - Talk Series (13 April – 27 August 2017), exploring the role of spirituality and transcendence in our contemporary lives. In July 2017, Stephan Doitschinoff, present the CVLTO DO FVTVRV procession, a parade conceived in partnership with philosophical society CVLTO DO FVTVRV. The parade will be part of the exciting outdoor evening of performances at IMMA on the evening of Wilder Beings Command!

About Artist
Awarded “Most Promising Artist” by the APCA (Sao Paulo Art Critics Association), Stephan Doitschinoff has presented his main actions and exhibitions in institutional spaces like San Diego Contemporary Art Museum / USA, the Fondation Cartier / France, MASP (Museum of Sao Paulo), MAM (Museum of Modern Art Sao Paulo), the Afro Museum and the Curitiba Biennale. He is currently represented by Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York and LJ Gallery in Paris, and is part of The Isabel and Agustin Coppel collection, in Mexico. Doitschinoff has published two books with German Publishers Gestalten; CALMA

This talk took place on 20 July 2017, at IMMA.

Image credit : Doitschinoff beside his artwork, Interventu 2017, presented in the IMMA courtyard from 13 April – 27 August 2017.

As Above , So Below

Artist's Talk: Stephan Doitschinoff / As Above, So Below

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. IMMA TALKS is an activated live programme of talks and events that opens up conversations around the core themes of our exhibition programme, and permanent IMMA Collection, bringing you deeper into the thinking and making of contemporary art.

For further information on IMMA TALKS please contact Sophie Byrne, Assistant Curator, Talks & Public Programmes, IMMA. Email sophie.byrne@imma.ie

Even the Dead Rise Up / Francis McKee / Talk & Book Launch

IMMA Ireland