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39th EVA International: Phase 2 Announcement

39th EVA International

We are delighted to announce the Phase 2 programme of the 39th EVA International.  Opening from 2 July through to 22 August 2021, Phase 2 features 14 presentations by Irish and international artists and collaborating curators, across venues in Limerick, remotely and online.  Taking its reference from the “Golden Vein,” a 19th-century descriptor for the agricultural bounty of the Limerick region, the 39th EVA International programme seeks to address ideas of land and its contested values in the context of Ireland today.

Phase 2 Artists and Archival Research Presentations include: Diego Bruno, Barış Doğrusöz, Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan, Melanie Jackson & Esther Leslie, Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho, Áine McBride, Hana Miletić, Deirdre O’Mahony, Richard Proffitt, Mario Rizzi, Aykan Safoğlu and Eimear Walshe.  The Reconciliation of the Blood Feuds Campaign, led by Erëmirë Krasniqi (Oral History Initiative) and the Betsy Damon Archive: Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa), led by Asia Art Archive.

Programme highlights include:

Guest Programme: Little did they know
Curated by internationally acclaimed curator Merve Elveren, phase 2 of the 39th EVA International’s Guest Programme, Little did they know, will extend across two venues in Limerick city (Park Point and Sailor’s Home) and on a dedicated online platform. Functioning as an “exercising ground” for interpreting current social and political conditions in various geographical contexts, the exhibition centers around two archival research projects; Asia Art Archives’ Betsy Damon Archive: Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa) and Kosovo Oral History Initiative’s Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign 1990-1991.

Works by Diego Bruno, Barış Doğrusöz, Melanie Jackson & Esther Leslie, Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho, Hana Miletić, Deirdre O’Mahony, Richard Proffitt, Mario Rizzi and Aykan Safoğlu surround these presentations, allowing for broader dialogues between notions of home and uprooting, remembrance and forgetting, care and action. The Little did they know online platform is available to view here.

Platform Commissions and Partnership Projects 
New video work will be presented by Eimear Walshe that considers relationships between sex, sexuality, and Ireland’s housing crisis which will be shared with viewers through a postal subscription; and the ongoing presentation of Áine McBride’s sculptural work that augments the 19th century architecture of Limerick’s Sailor’s Home. Anca Benera & Arnold Estefan present works at spacecraft Studios as part of EVA International’s Partnership Projects initiative, developed through EVA’s participation in the Magic Carpets network. Their recent work investigates man-made landscapes around the world, where the modification of the landscape goes hand-in-hand with heightened state violence and the over-exploitation of resources.

Other Initiatives 
Additional project activities include Better Words, an initiative empowering new forms of access and engagement with contemporary art through creative language projects. Phase 2 will include free exhibition resources for visiting children, including activity postcards and publication copies of Better Words: A Field Guide to Contemporary Art and Culture. A limited edition print portfolio of posters by Ciara Phillips will also be available to purchase, following the It’s not for you we did it online programme developed in collaboration with Sara Greavu and other contributors. For further information and advance purchase enquiries, please email info@eva.ie

Venues and Visitor Information 
The 39th EVA International Phase 2 venues are Park Point, Sailor’s Home and spacecraft Studios.  All indoor venues are subject to capacity restrictions and public health protocols. Please see www.eva.ie for further information. For international visitors intending to travel to Ireland, please refer to the latest government advice.

39th EVA International Phased Approach
Originally scheduled as a concentrated 10 week programme, the 39th EVA International is being delivered across three phases, taking place at various venues in Limerick city between 2020 and 2021. This approach has been developed as a practical response to the consequences of COVID-19, ensuring that EVA International upholds its commitments to artists and audiences in a way that is sensitive to ongoing public health concerns.