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Exhibition Profile
Visual Artists' News Sheet | September – October 2021
Installation view, ‘Double Estate’, Pearse Museum, 2021; image courtesy Davey Moor and the Office of Public Works.
THE OFFICE OF Public Works’ (OPW) Irish State Art Collection (ISAC),
Double Estate DAVEY MOOR OUTLINES THE OPW’S IRISH STATE ART COLLECTION AND THE ‘DOUBLE ESTATE’ EXHIBITION AT THE PEARSE MUSEUM.
where I work as one of a team of registrars, comprises 14,000 works across painting, print, photography, sculpture, ceramics, glass, installation, video, drawing and textiles. The ISAC is akin to a corporate collection in that the vast majority of artworks (around 90%) are on display rather than in storage. The artworks are located in government offices and other state-owned properties across the country. The ISAC is part of the greater OPW suite of collections, most of which are contained within many OPW-managed historic properties and national monument sites throughout the country. The OPW – or Board of Works, as it has also been known – was established in 1831 by an Act of Parliament: An Act for the Extension and Promotion of Public Works in Ireland. Since that time, its staff have been the custodians of a growing number of heritage assets, including many artworks. The Art Management Office (AMO) in the OPW was set up in the late 1990s to manage cataloguing the art collection and to take responsibility for the implementation of the OPW’s Percent for Art projects. Since its establishment, the AMO has concentrated on supporting Irish-based artists and the marketplace in which they exhibit. This is done by purchasing contemporary art from exhibitions as well as directly commissioning site-specific projects. The AMO is also involved in commissioning portraits (paintings and sculpture). In 1978, the OPW introduced the principles of Percent for Art to Ireland. This has developed over the decades into national policy extending to all government departments and local authorities and it has expanded in scope. Under Percent for Art, 1% of capital spending on building, infrastructure and renovation works is allocated to art projects within specific budget limits. Over the last two years, the AMO has been implementing a new collection management system. This system will eventually consolidate all of
