You are invited to the opening of IMMA’s first Eco Art Festival

Friday 21 October  18.45 — 21.00

‘Earth Rising is a vibrant new Eco Art Festival celebrating people, place and planet, taking place across the IMMA Campus this October. Presenting over 70 contributors, artist commissions, talks and workshops, Seed STUDIO, and showcasing a stunning built-to-disappear eco pavilion, alongside an eclectic live music line-up and food stalls, this promises to be an engaging and enjoyable free day out for everyone.’    Fri 21, Sat 22 & Sun 23 October 2022

Admission Free 

And best wishes to all past Haumea Ecoversity Learners

participating in the inaugural Irish Museum of Modern Art 3-day #EarthRising Event

Navine G. Dossos, Lisa Fingleton, Silke Michels, Paola Catizone, Thomas Duffy, Mary Hoy, all in the Breaking Cover Collective, Shannon Carroll, Sophie von Maltzan, Eileen Hutton, Sinead Curran, Eidin Griffin

and to the many others involved whose work, I know of and admire:  Friends of Ardee Bog, Hi-Vis Witches, MonkeyShine Kareen Pennefeather & James Jobson, Nigel Wood – The Metamorphic Symbiocene Party & Ear to the Globe: Music from the Ecological Front-line, Deirdre Lane – Shamrock Spring, Roisin Markham – Donut Economics, Megan Best & staff of Native Events, Re-Peat, Hometree.ie, Rennie Buenting,  Katerina Gribkoff.

Fri 20 Oct Opening Night Details – Free but you need to book Info below from IMMA ‘Earth Rising is a vibrant new Eco Art Festival celebrating people, place and planet taking place across the IMMA Campus on 21, 22 and 23 October. IMMA invites you to the opening evening on Friday 21 October from 6.45pm The festival will be opened by Anja Murray, ecologist, environmental policy analyst, and broadcaster who is familiar to many as an expert presenter on ‘Eco Eye’ on RTÉ 1, and through her award winning weekly ‘Nature File’ on RTÉ Lyric FM.   The evening will present performances, workshops and installations. These include The Accidental Rapper who uses rap to interrogate the damaging aspects of society; an interactive performance Blaze composed during the 2021 Glasgow Climate Submit; a demonstration of the process of soil chromatography; a plastic waste mural workshop; rediscover furniture demo on how to butcher a chair; and join the Hi-Vis Witches to cast a spell to create Corp Criadach Seed Bombs to enliven the IMMA grounds. Explore outdoor art installations and visit an exhibition of over 20 artists in the Garden Galleries. This is just a taster of what’s happening on the opening evening.  A specially created Built to Disappear eco pavilion titled Éirigh, will be showcased in the heart of the IMMA Courtyard, this unique gathering space highlights the relationship between the environment, art, architecture and construction.  Live music includes the pioneering music of Emileo and the indie-folk artist Jamie D’Arcy. There will be a variety of sustainable food stalls including The Salt Project and The Salty Buoy.  Join us to celebrate the opening of IMMA’s first Eco Art Festival. To attend the opening please book a ticket for the Friday option at the link above.  Can’t make Friday, a full daily programme is available on the IMMA website, we hope to see you over the weekend!

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I’m also delighted to be moderating a conversation for one of the keynote talks: with special guest Lucy Jones, author and journalist of Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild (2020) and resident IMMA artist and Seed STUDIO Director, Dr Clodagh Emoe, in the Pavilion tent at IMMA’s entrance, Sunday 23 Oct, 2pm.

IMMA Talks brings together the festival’s thought leadership platform, exploring the big issues and challenges of the day. Keynote talks will be given by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, author, consultant and entrepreneur who is building the Low Carbon Design Institute and Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden, Why Our Minds Need the Wild (moderated by Cathy Fitzgerald)

Seed STUDIO will open its doors over the three days to showcase research, practices and projects which have formed Seed STUDIO activities over the last six months. A schedule of activities will include screenings of Emoe’s latest project  Classroom in the Sun, a Seed STUDIO Reading with Niall Mac Coitir and an open Studio for those curious to find out more about Seed STUDIO.

More info:

On Sunday 23 October at 2pm – A keynote talk by Lucy Jones, author of LOSING EDEN, Why Our Minds Need the Wild presents on new scientific research that shows why forging a bond with nature is critical for our health and wellness, while also raising awareness about the alarming effects of its absence. Jones asks – could finding asylum in the soil and joy in the trees help us to save the living planet, as well as ourselves? Today many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world as never before. And yet the living world remains deeply ingrained in our language, culture and consciousness. So what happens, asks journalist and author Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world – do we also be losing part of ourselves? What kind of ecological connections and relationships – in this great forgetting – are we missing out on? How do we reimagine what it means to be respectful co-tenants on earth?

Travelling from forest schools in East London to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault via primeval woodlands, Californian laboratories and ecotherapists’ couches, Jones has studied the cutting edge of human biology, neuroscience and psychology, and suggests new ways of understanding our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with the earth.

To follow Jones’ keynote talk a panel discussion with artist Clodagh Emoe will be moderated by Cathy Fitzgerald, that explores the connection between Jone’s work and some of the ideas motivating Emoe’s recent projects that includes The Classroom in the Sun,(2021-22) and SEED Studio(2022) an ecological studio space for artistic practice and research that and addresses an overwhelming need to explore new ways of deepening and celebrating our connection with the natural world.

Also check out Navine G. Dossos collaborative, co-creative work that has transformed and energised the centre of IMMA, in her colourful murals. I was so honoured to mentor Navine over the summer about ecological concepts and be a collaborator for one of the final images for her work that transmits many people’s’ efforts to make sure Kind Words Will Never Die for a better world (If you haven’t heard Navine’s interview when the work was opened listen here)

‘Artist commissions include Kind Words Can Never Die, a visually stunning new site-specific installation created by artist Navine G. Dossos for the IMMA Courtyard; an immersive sonic installation by Em’kal Eyongakpa in the Formal Gardens; and the idiosyncratic seating structures found across the site, titled Y O U N G F O S S I L, created by Forerunner.

Please Note:
– Earth Rising is an outdoor event so please wear appropriate clothing.
– We encourage visitors to make their way to IMMA via bicycle, walking or public transport, please visit Getting to IMMA for further details.
– All events work on a first come basis and there is also a large number of drop-in events throughout each day.
– There will be a variety of food stalls including The Flying Dog, The Salt Project and The Salty Buoy. 

Earth Rising is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and is presented in partnership with Lioncor.‘

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