Foreword

The inaugural exhibition of the International Centre for the Image.

Participating artists: Abigail O’Brien, Alan Butler, Alex Prager, Ana Zibelnik & Jakob Ganslmeier, Anna Ehrenstein, Anna Safiatou Touré, Basil Al-Rawi, Bassam Issa Al-Sabah & Jennifer Mehigan, Colin Martin, David Farrell, Dominic Hawgood, Eamonn Doyle, Jean Curran, Mishka Henner, and Penelope Umbrico. 

Co-curated by Ángel Luis González Fernández and Julia Gelezova (PhotoIreland)

Foreword presents works by 17 artists brought together in conversation to underline the curatorial concerns that the new International Centre for the Image will be dedicated to: the critical role of the still and moving image in arts discourse and for contemporary society. Foreword includes several new works exhibited for the first time.

The selection of works presents a conversation around the complex dynamics within technology and image making, the politics of representation, and arts practice. The exhibition offers a rich diversity of narratives and artistic approaches through installation, photography, and video works.

In Justice – Never Enough, Abigail O’Brien (IE) considers misogyny as presented on screen and media, taking the symbol of the Aston Martin in her series of works.

In 100 Years of Solitude, a series of wet plate collodions, Alan Butler (IE) documents landscapes from video games, contemplating Western culture’s inability to evolve past its own ideological fixtures.

Alex Prager’s (US) film Run explores, in exquisite Technicolor, the emotional distress of living through uncertain times.

Together, Ana Zibelnik (SL) and Jakob Ganslmeier (DE) explore patterns within social media to illustrate how mainstream visual language is co-opted by extremist factions to amplify their influence in the dynamic installation Bereitschaft.

In an ode to the Muslim femme cyborg, Anna Ehrenstein’s (AL/DE) work Melody For A Harem Girl By The Sea forms part of her ongoing research on networked images, and it contains autobiographical elements.

Revolving around inexpensive reproductions of traditional masks from Sub-Saharan Africa available as souvenirs, Anna Safiatou Touré’s (ML/FR) multimedia work Gamanké Museum explores the place of objects from Sub-Saharan Africa in European societies and their institutions.

House of Memory, by Basil Al-Rawi (IQ/IE), a virtual reality experience, reimagines the role of the archive, transforming photographs and narratives contributed by the Iraqi diaspora into an interactive, immersive space.

Bassam Issa Al-Sabah (IQ/IE) and Jennifer Mehigan (IE) present Uncensored Lilac, a collaborative piece questioning how we embody and are altered by climate collapse is presented in Ireland for the first time.

New works from the Unreal Apocalypse series, presented for the first time by Colin Martin (IE) reflect on the increasing indistinction between real and simulated worlds, and how they shape collective imagination.

David Farrell (IE), renowned for The Disappeared (1999-2015), presents in the ongoing project Lugo Lament new and very personal work reflecting on legacy and preservation, as his personal archive suffered substantial damage and loss in the Italian floods in 2023.

Dominic Hawgood (UK) presents Vestige Node, a new artwork extending his ongoing inquiry into ritual, shamanism, and digital environments, this time asking how generative AI can shape, mirror, and transform the materials we see—and, in turn, the way we feel and interpret imagery.

Providing a preview of a major new interdisciplinary work, AS IF, to be presented in a solo exhibition in 2026 at the International Centre for the Image, Eamonn Doyle (IE) builds on his ongoing exploration into the idea of a “threaded pulse” that runs throughout his photographic practice.

In his installation Words and Pictures, Mishka Henner (BE) explores how photography exists in the 21st century and how it has shaped our perceptions of art and its conventions.

Penelope Umbrico (US) utilises photo-sharing and consumer-to-consumer websites as an expansive archive to explore the production and consumption of images, presenting, for the first time in Ireland, her seminal work Sunset Portraits from Flickr Sunsets.

Jean Curran (IE) presents a new large-scale work titled Spring, utilising modes of assemblage and reconstruction to engage with the visual language and structure of painting, departing from her acclaimed previous works The Vertigo Project and Godard Bardot towards more personal and introspective preoccupations.

The exhibition runs at the International Centre for the Image from 18th July until 14th September 2025.

For any inquiries about PhotoIreland and the International Centre for the Image, please write to office@image.museum

Foreword

Launch: 7pm 17 July 2025 RSVP
Entry: RSVP essential for the launch.
Use the Grand Opening form on this page.

Run: 18 July–14 September
Entry: Free
Opening hours: Monday–Sunday 10am–6pm

International Centre for the Image
Cultural Unit, Block 2, Coopers Cross,
Mayor Street Upper, Dublin 1
Ireland