Kaleidoscope: Contemporary Art from EU Member States
is an exhibition of a selection of contemporary art works from the 27 Member States of the European Union. This exhibition has been organised by the Office of Public Works in collaboration with the Embassies and various cultural organisations throughout Europe. The exhibition forms part of Culture Connects, a culture programme to celebrate Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Culture Connects is an initiative of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, through Culture Ireland a division of the Department, in partnership with the Arts Council.Minister Hayes welcomed the esteemed guests to Farmleigh "I am very pleased to host this wonderful exhibition of contemporary art gathered from each corner of the European Union to the Farmleigh Gallery. We are delighted to have had such tremendous support from the EU member states, both for this exhibition but also the myriad cultural events that have been organised around our Presidency. It was a mammoth task to coordinate this exhibition and my congratulation go to my own staff in the OPW Art Management office and also my thanks to each of the contributors, be they an individual or an institution. "
Speaking at the opening Minister Deenihan said "The motto of the European Union ‘united in diversity’ was the inspiration for the theme of this exhibition. Each Member State was invited to select one artist or one work for inclusion in the exhibition, and every EU Member State is represented. What we have as a result is truly a 'Kaleidoscope of European Art' It is a wonderful celebration of the partnership approach which has been developed among artists from all of Europe as they connect and develop opportunities to present their works in Ireland and also throughout Europe."
The works in this exhibition reflect the current art practice of contemporary artists of many European nationalities, across a variety of media – video, drawing, sculpture, print and painting. The unique vision of each artist reflects the diversity of new work being created throughout Europe.
The exhibition is funded through Culture Connects, a culture programme to celebrate Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Culture Connects is an initiative of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and is a wide and varied programme which involves the engagement of Irish artists in Europe and European artists in Ireland. For many centuries, Ireland has had strong historic cultural connections to Europe and our Presidency offers an opportunity to celebrate and build on these connections.
Chairman of the Office of Public Works, Clare McGrath, stated that she was "delighted that every Member State agreed to participate in this exciting cultural project, with such an interesting array of works on view to the public – many by artists whose work has never been exhibited in Ireland."
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For further information or if you wish to interview Minister Hayes please contact Colette Davis, OPW Press Officer at 046 942 6128, 087 947 5552 or colette.davis@opw.ie
Note to Editors:
The exhibition will be open to the public from Wednesday May 1st to Sunday, June 30th 2013.
The Kaleidoscope exhibition is one of the three cultural initiatives undertaken by OPW for the EU Presidency. The other two are 40/40/40 in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – an exhibition which is travelling to Madrid, Warsaw and Rome – featuring work of 40 artists under 40 and the second is Prelude Speaker: Contemporary Castletown undertaken by OPW in partnership with the Crawford Gallery Cork.
An exhibition catalogue is available from the OPW Art Management Office (01-6476078) or email
artmanagement@opw.ieand onwww.farmleigh.ie