The book as an art object within Art collections
Framed under the title The book as an art object within Art collections, PhotoIreland has commissioned a series of texts to international contributors reflecting on the importance of the book as an art object within Art collections, with a special focus on artist books, art books, and photobooks. The texts will be published online on the image.museum website from June 2025 onwards from March to December 2025, after which they will be gathered in a book as the culmination of the process. This commission was made possible thanks to the kind support of the Arts Council of Ireland.
The PhotoIreland Collection and the International Centre for the Image
The PhotoIreland Collection was founded in 2011, aiming to bring to Irish audiences a collection of publications around Photography, complementing those of the public and university libraries, and building the core of a public resource library. To date, it holds over 4000 items from more than 200 publishers worldwide. The collection is loaned for research and exhibition purposes to other organisations, such as for the Photobook Phenomenon exhibition and, most recently, the Photobook New Zealand biennial.
On July 2025, PhotoIreland launches the International Centre for the Image, a new space dedicated to Photography and the image in Dublin. The space brings together some of PhotoIreland’s key projects, perhaps those for which the organisation is known for, at the core of which is its extensive art and photobook library: the PhotoIreland Collection. As part of this milestone development, the collection relocates on to its new custom-built home at the International Centre for the Image, and will work to join the Museum Standards Programme accreditation process that will see in due time the space becoming an official museum. It is intended that these conversations will in addition acknowledge the otherwise behind-the-scenes work, inviting the public to experience this important process.
With the backdrop of the relocation and the book collection becoming the heart of the new museum, PhotoIreland seeks to engage invited international peers to discuss and tease out the importance of the printed matter and specifically artist books, art books, and photobooks in contemporary arts and curatorial practice, against the unavoidable digital transformation of our society.
The contributions would frame and contextualise the importance of collections such as the PhotoIreland Collection, as a resource for artists and researchers, reflecting on how publishing, distributing, collecting, and exhibiting affect and inform arts and curatorial practice. The conversations should guide the public through, amongst other key issues, current topics that affect how artists and organisations provide access to their work, how these materials are created and distributed, as well as speaking to the practicalities of collecting and preserving for future generations.
The contributors are individuals with expertise in the field of arts and publishing, many of whom have contributed to PhotoIreland’s projects in the past, and are aware of the extent of the collection, as much as other professionals with fresh perspectives and unique critical positions that will excite new audiences into the themes addressed.
These texts will be made available to the public first online, between March and December, and thereafter, on completion of the series, collected, published, and distributed in a book format.
