Framed under the title Building the Museum from the Library: The book as an art object within Art collections, PhotoIreland has commissioned a series of essays by distinguished international contributors. The project examines the significance of the book as an art object, with particular attention to artist books, art books, and photobooks.

Contributors include established specialists in the fields of art and publishing, many of whom have previously collaborated with PhotoIreland and are familiar with the collection, as well as other professionals offering new perspectives and critical approaches intended to engage a broad audience. The commissioned essays will be published exclusively online in stages and subsequently compiled in a single volume, marking the culmination of the project.

This initiative is the first one presented in the new section on this website entitled TEXTS.

This commission has been realised with the generous 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 seminal Photobook Phenomenon exhibition at the CCCB, and most recently, the Photobook New Zealand biennial.

In July 2025, PhotoIreland launched 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, at the core of which is its extensive art and photobook library: the PhotoIreland Collection. As part of this milestone development, the collection has been relocated to its new custom-built home at the International Centre for the Image. The organisation aims to participate in the ambitious Museum Standards Programme for Ireland run by the Heritage Council as an official accreditation process, which will see the space become a museum. It is intended that the otherwise behind-the-scenes work will be acknowledged through reflections shared in the TEXT platform, 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 has 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 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.

For a full list of texts available to date, see the index on this page.