The Rural. Reviewed by Michelle Horrigan

Doireann O’Malley, Prototypes I, installation view, National Sculpture Factory, 2019; photograph by Jedrzej Niezgoda, © NSF 2019

Material and the Immaterial

VALERIE BYRNE AND DOBZ O’BRIEN OUTLINE THE NATIONAL SCULPTURE FACTORY AS A SITE FOR KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, ART-MAKING AND THINKING.

THE NATIONAL SCULPTURE Factory (NSF), now in its 31st year, was established in 1989 by four graduates of CIT Crawford College of Art & Design – Maud Cotter, Vivienne Roche, Eilis O’Connell and Danny McCarthy – and found it’s home in a nineteenth-century former Tram Depot warehouse in the heart of Cork Docklands. The NSF has since developed an international reputation for programming and producing site-specific artworks and working in collaboration with other organisations, individuals and festivals on a wide variety of interdisciplinary events and projects.

The purpose of the NSF, which is exemplified in our artistic policy and remit, is to support and nurture the production of art and the role of art in society. Board and staff work together to form a leading institution for identifying, nurturing and activating talent; for ambitious and fearless commissioning; promoting discourse on contemporary visual culture through our public engagement activities; and engaging diverse audiences. NSF focuses on cultural enterprise, art production, public engagement and discourse. We provide space, time, training and practical support for artists to explore new ways of working, expertise and processes to organisations wishing to commission public art. NSF also offers a platform and programme of events for the public which helps generate debate, awareness and perceptions of contemporary sculptural practice. We welcome and value experimentation and exploration of sculpture within the expanded field.

To deliver the NSF’s vision of identifying, nurturing and activating talent, we have established that supporting artists very early on in their professional development is critical. NSF has a proven track record of supporting graduates to meet their ambitions of further study, commissions, residencies, projects and exhibitions. We assist emerging artists to make the transition to professional artists; create new connections and networks and avail of professional development opportunities; build confidence as well as the physical freedom and space to take supported risks to realise their creative goals. We currently award four graduate residencies to three art colleges annually and we are looking at ways to extend our support to graduates nationally.