The Invisible Museum

CURATOR BRENDAN FOX OUTLINES RECENT AND FORTHCOMING PROJECTS FROM THE MUSEUM OF EVERYONE.

THE MUSEUM OF Everyone (MOE) had no expansive white walls to hang artworks, nor did it have doors to throw open at its digital launch on Culture Night in September 2020. However, over the past two years, we have collaborated with over 200 artists, facilitated almost 300 workshops, and presented numerous exhibitions, talks, and events in some of Ireland’s most prestigious art spaces. MOE developed from a series of workshops and interactions between artists and groups that took place in 2020, when it felt like the world was going to end.

I initiated the workshop series, Games for Artists & Non-Artists (GFANA), during my MA in NCAD and platformed it at IMMA in early 2020. The workshops are based on the practice of Brazilian dramatic practitioner and activist Augusto Boal (1931-2009) and are an intrinsic part of my ongoing research and my horizontal curatorial approach. GFANA received the Arts Council’s Participation Bursary Award in 2020, which saw the project evolve into a series of collaborative arts initiatives.

MOE is defined by its artists, curators, researchers, and most importantly, its users – many of whom often exist outside of the art world sphere. Our projects are developed through identifying core issues that arise from our interactions with groups that may feel marginalised, underrepresented, or paralysed by institutional or governmental policies.

Workshopping is foundational to MOE. Over the last two years we have worked with numerous community groups, planted over 10,000 trees with artist Steven Doody, devised fundraising projects with the Irish Refugee Council to aid young people who have been through the direct provision system to access third-level education, and presented exhibitions exploring everything from Black Hair Culture with African Diaspora (led by artist Breda Mayock) to historical homophobia and the Dublin Castle Scandal (with artist Alan Phelan). We have hosted workshops – led by our inaugural writer-in-residence Felispeaks, as well as activists and artists Augustine O'Donoghue, Monica de Bath and Evelyn Broderick – and performances by renowned performance artist, Nigel Rolfe. Last year we also installed a 24-metre portrait of Zimbabwean Activist, Amanda Nyoni, by Joe Caslin at Tullamore train station.

In 2022, MOE & GFANA received the Incubation Space Award from Dublin City Council which allowed us to support new work by performance artists Day Magee and Léann Herlihy, curator Aoife Banks’s ongoing Queeratorial project, Basil Al-Rawi’s Virtual Reality work, House of Memory (2022) – derived from photographs and narratives contributed by Iraqi diaspora to the Iraq Photo Archive – and workshops with MOE’s Curator-in-Residence, Diana Bamimeke.

Since launching our nationwide queer touring programme, ‘Rewind<<Fastforward>>Record’ (RFR), devised by myself and Han Tiernan, at IMMA in 2022, we have held residencies all over the country, facilitated workshops with queer groups, and presented exhibitions and events exploring Irish queer histories at Void Gallery in Derry, Uillinn: West Art Cork Centre, The Dock in Leitrim, and Offaly County Council. Our residency at Galway Arts Centre saw us collaborating with 2021 Turner Prize winners, Array Collective.

This year, we will collaborate with the aforementioned Irish-Iraqi artist, Basil Al-Rawi, on his ongoing project, which invites Iraqis of all backgrounds and identities who have come to Ireland since 2003, to a series of gatherings in which participants will share

food, memories, and stories about Iraq and Ireland. March to September see us continuing our collaboration with Array Collective, this time at the Ulster Museum, kicking off with the Melt Gala celebrating International Women’s week.

In June, MOE will launch a two-year-long programme with Compagnia Dei Lepini, a cultural organisation just outside Rome. The project, titled ‘PAESAGGI AFFETTIVI’, opens with SLEEPERTOWN curated by Richard Carr and myself, using geo-fencing technology to situate soundscapes in historic sites in the Lazio region. Featured artists include Oscar-nominated composer John Powell and Michael Petry, with compositions by Dunk Murphy, Felispeaks, Younes Baba-Ali, and an opening performance by Paola Catizone.

‘Rewind<<Fastforward>>Record’ will also host a series of queer events this year, following our recent open call, with details to be announced in the coming weeks. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support of Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride, The Arts Council of Ireland, Seán Kissane at IMMA, Megs Morley at Galway Art Centre, Creative Ireland, Sally O’Leary at Offaly County Council, Queer Culture Ireland, and all of our participants to date.

MOE is an inclusive portable platform for artists and creatives that aims to amplify a diverse range of voices and perspectives through both artist and community-led initiatives.

@museumofeveryone museumofeveryone.com

Brendan Fox is an independent curator, writer and artist based between Dublin and Rome. brendanfoxart.com

‘Rewind<<Fastforward>>Record’, installation view, IMMA, 2022; photograph by Ros Kavanagh, courtesy of The Museum of Everyone.

Breda Mayock and Phina Echeruwe, ‘Crowned’ series, 2022; photograph by Martha Faye, courtesy of the artists and The Museum of Everyone.