News

THE LATEST FROM THE ARTS SECTOR

King Ping Pong The tenth edition of the King Ping Pong tournament will take place on Monday 7 November at The Complex, Dublin. All are welcome, but participation in the tournament is only open to visual arts workers.

King Ping Pong started in Monster Truck in 2012 and was such a success, that Davey Moor and Monster Truck director Peter Prendergast decided to run it as a fun annual event for the sector. Over the years, many arts organisations in Dublin and beyond have fielded players. KPP does not receive any kind of funding or corporate sponsorship and depends on the generosity of the host organisations (which changes every two years). This year, Paul McGrane, Visual Art Co-ordinator at The Complex, joined as a co-organiser.

Since 2016, a ‘krazy table’ has been commissioned to augment the visual experience. The first of these was by Prendergast & Moor, the curatorial duo that founded KPP. From 2017 onward, the hosts began inviting artists to make tables, which have amused and frustrated participants and spectators alike. Table makers to date: Ella Bertilsson (2022), Liliane Puthod (2022), Conor O’Sullivan (2021), Dáire McEvoy (2019), Tanad Aaron (2018), David Lunney (2017), Prendergast & Moor (2016).

An exhibition of the seven krazy tables will be presented in the theatre space of The Complex on 6 and 7 November, ahead of this year’s tournament, which takes place on 7 November.

Paul McKinley and Vanessa Donoso López, King Ping Pong 2015 tournament at TBG+S; image courtesy the artists and Davey Moor.

Basic Income for the Arts In early September, 2,000 Artists and Creative Arts Workers were granted Basic Income for the Arts. The historic, threeyear pilot scheme will give €325 per week to those selected for the experiment. A further 1,000 people were chosen to be part of the control group who will be offered remuneration for their participation.

Over 9,000 applications were made under the scheme with over 8,200 assessed as eligible and included in a randomised anonymous selection process. Those selected include 707 visual artists, 584 musicians, 204 artists working in film, 184 writers, 173 actors and artists working in theatre, 32 dancers and choreographers, 13 circus artists and 10 architects. 3%, or 54 of those selected, work through the Irish language.

Eligibility for the scheme was based on the definition of the arts as contained in the Arts Act 2003; “arts means any creative or interpretative expression (whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and includes, in particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus and architecture, and includes any medium when used for those purposes.”

84% of those selected identified as practising artists, 9% identified as Creative Arts Workers and 7% as Recently Trained Applicants.

In October, a further 27 artists were selected, through another lottery of non-accepted applicants, to replace declined offers.

VAI welcomed this significant event and recognised the widespread disappointment amongst those artists who did not receive positive news. With 2,000 artists, 707 visual artists are to benefit directly from the scheme, with an unknown number of visual artists not in receipt of the payment being asked to participate as paid members of the

control group. The figure of 707 artists represents approximately 20% of the visual artist population, and we look forward to the results as they are published, either during or after the pilot scheme, and the time when a permanent scheme is put in place to the benefit of all visual artists. We continue to be in dialogue with the Department.

The Arts Council Budget 2023 The Arts Council welcomed the September announcement of €130M funding as part of Budget 2023. This funding enables the Arts Council to continue and deepen its investment in the arts. The Arts Council recognised that Covid-19 continues to have an impact on audience engagement and that the sector faces further challenges with issues relating to cost of living. The funding announcement ensures that the Arts Council can provide meaningful support to the sector in the coming year.

Arts Council Chair, Prof Kevin Rafter said, “The decision to keep funding at €130M for a third consecutive year is welcome, and this money will allow the Council to continue to help the arts sector recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and to deal with significant cost of living increases. The Council will continue to make the case – as it has done over the last two years – for an annual budget of €150M to further develop the arts sector across the country.”

Arts Council Director, Maureen Kennelly said, “The Arts Council is delighted to welcome today’s budget announcement. The work of the Arts Council invests in thousands of artists and hundreds of arts organisations across the country while providing long-term sector development. Today’s funding announcement ensures it can continue this vital work.”

The O’Malley Award for Visual Art 2022 The New Jersey-based Irish American Cultural Institute announced that the 2022 O’Malley Award of €5,000 went to Vukašin Nedeljković for his ongoing project Asylum Archive.

The O’Malley Visual Arts Award was inaugurated in 1989 and is given in memory of Ernie O’Malley and Helen Hooker O’Malley. Previous winners include Tony O’Malley, James Coleman, Dorothy Cross,

and Alice Maher. The Award is given for outstanding work created during the period since the previous award.

The judging panel for the O’Malley Visual Arts Award 2022 was made up of Sean Lynch (artist, curator and writer), Johanne Mullan (curator, Irish Museum of Modern Art), and Helena Tobin (curator and director, South Tipperary Arts Centre). The award was given to Vukašin Nedeljković for his ongoing work documenting the experience of people living in detention centres and “the architecture of confinement, ghosts, traces, remnants – what is left after people have been transferred or deported.”

EVA International Biennial EVA International announced ‘Never Look Back’, a new initiative that revisits EVA’s 45+ year history of producing contemporary art exhibitions and events in Limerick.

Originally founded by artists in 1977, EVA remains one of the longest running visual arts organisations in Ireland, working with some of the world’s most acclaimed artists and curators.

‘Never Look Back’ explores EVA’s history in Limerick through the roster of temporary sites, spaces, and venues – from offices, shops, museums, ex-industrial units, and public spaces – used for the presentation of contemporary art in successive editions. Borrowing its title from Jakob Gautel and Jason Karaïndros’s street inscription – presented during EVA’s 20th edition, EV+A 96, curated by Guy Tortosa – ‘Never Look Back’ seeks to illuminate a rich history of contemporary art that intertwines with the urban evolutions of the city. Developed by EVA in partnership with a working group of architects and artists (Peter Carroll, Caelan Bristow and Fiona Woods) the initiative hopes to provide new access and understanding of Limerick’s unique story of contemporary art, while thinking critically about the ways that art takes place within the public realm, often through processes of regeneration and redevelopment.

The inaugural projects of ‘Never Look Back’ in 2022 include a website and digital resource designed by An Endless Supply which will go live in November, and the first of a series of curatorial commissions

that respond to EVA’s history in Limerick – by RGKSKSRG (Kate Strain & Rachael Gilbourne) and Michele Horrigan (Askeaton Contemporary Art).

EVA Director Matt Packer says, “In its 45+ years of existence, EVA offers a unique and invaluable story of contemporary art in a city that has, itself, undergone considerable change during this same period. The ‘Never Look Back’ initiative not only provides an opportunity to tell this story through the sites and spaces that art has temporarily inhabited, it also provides a platform of critical and creative responses to ideas of art’s relationship to architecture, to people, and to place.”

‘Never Look Back’ is supported through the Arts Council’s Engaging with Architecture Scheme and Limerick City and County Council.

RDS Visual Art Awards The winners of the RDS Visual Art Awards have been announced, at the launch of the annual exhibition that celebrates emerging Irish artists. The 2022 exhibition was curated by internationally acclaimed artist Aideen Barry and ran at the RDS Concert Hall from 21 to 29 October. This year’s awards were announced by Chair of the judging panel, Mary McCarthy (Director of the Crawford Gallery, Cork) and presented by the RDS President, Professor Owen Lewis.

Commenting on the talent this year, Mary McCarthy said: “We were enthralled by the work of the 13 shortlisted artists... We are also very impressed by the ability of this year’s RDS Taylor Art Award winner, Venus Patel to turn a transphobic attack into an incredibly beautiful artwork.”

• Venus Patel – RDS Taylor Art Award (€10,000)

• Sadhbh Mowlds – R.C. Lewis-Crosby Award (€5,000)

• Orla Comerford – RDS Members’ Art Fund Award (€5,000)

• Lucy Peters – RHA Graduate Studio Award (value €7,500)

• Myfanwy Frost-Jones – RDS Mason Hayes & Curran LLP Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency Award (value €6,000)