Update: Cancellation of Saturday performance by Saoirse Amira Anis

We regret to announce that rebreach of a fraying body, the performance by Saoirse Amira Anis planned for Saturday 15 November, has been cancelled due to illness.

The installation element of the project remains open at Galway Arts Centre, and visitors are warmly encouraged to experience the work in the gallery.

Thanks for your understanding and continued support of the artists and programme.

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
Strange lands still bear common ground
Curated by Beulah Ezeugo
7-23 November 2025
Galway, Ireland

Photo: Saoirse Amira Anis, Art Night Dundee. Credit: Erika Stevenson, 2023

Tiugainn: thàlaidh na sheinneas sinn sibh

Join us for the first live performance of Gam Thàladh, a poetic songscape created by artist Susannah Bolton, presented in Galway for TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and the Arts in Action programme. Gam Thàladh is a choral performance which touches on support structures, communing and floating.

Gam Thàladh began as a series of short texts moving between Scottish Gaelic and English tongues, written in, of, and with North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. These lyrical chapters emerged from meditative and deep listening experiences within lochs and from afar, contemplating shifting parallel worlds, and the hold of social bonds and friendships.

Working in correspondence, Susannah’s words were arranged into the current composition by Ellen MacDonald, who will perform the piece alongside Ceitlin Lilidh and Eilidh Cormack.

Come along: our words can hold you.

Susannah Bolton
Susannah Bolton is an artist living in North Uist, Scotland, who works across textiles, drawing, and writing. They engage with layered experience, acts of support, and language and are currently thinking about time as vibration, slacklining, knots and archival bundles.

Recent projects include the ATLAS Arts and Tobar an Dualchais research residency; participation in the Des Borda II research residency in Quehui, Chile; and exhibiting as part of Baggage Claim at Staffordshire Street, London, curated by Rosalind Wilson and Georgia Stephenson.

Gam Thàladh will be performed by Ellen MacDonald [Sian; Dàimh], Ceitlin Lilidh [Sian], and Eilidh Cormack [Sian; Valtos]. Working together with multi-instrumentalist Innes White, their performances and arrangements as the band Sian match deep feeling for tradition with stunning, boldly imaginative harmony work.

With thanks to Creative Scotland for supporting the development of Gam Thàladh. Thanks also to Andrea Gobbi and Charlie Stewart for their work recording and mixing, and scoring, respectively.

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
Strange lands still bear common ground
Curated by Beulah Ezeugo
7-23 November 2025
Galway, Ireland

Video documentation: Jonathan Sammon

Stuart Whipps

Birmingham-based artist Stuart Whipps’ new performance and installation, The Leviathan of Parsonstown, shares its title with the name given to the historic telescope that sits in the ornate grounds of Birr Castle in Offaly. Built in 1845, it remained the largest telescope in the world for seventy-two years, drawing visitors to see the previously unknown spirals of faraway galaxies. Its creation was driven by intense curiosity and the tremendous personal wealth of the wife of its patron, William Parsons. Whipps points out the materials that made one of Ireland’s greatest scientific wonders possible: ‘Parsons saw the potential in using speculum metal, an alloy made from copper and tin, as the material for the reflective mirror – in order to learn about the stars above our heads, we must first extract metals from the rocks and mud that sit beneath our feet.’

Continued research for Whipps has led to the James Mitchell Geology Museum, founded in 1852 at the University of Galway with thousands of rock, mineral, and fossil specimens, along with the remains of a larger natural history museum once on campus. Still appearing as a nineteenth- century room with few modern updates, it is referred to by many as a ‘museum of a museum’. Given full access to the collection throughout 2024, Whipps has worked closely with the site, artefacts and the generosity, endless knowledge and enthusiasm of curator John Murray, teasing out a new performance artwork and a subtle rearrangement of objects and labelling in the museum.

Video documentation: Jonathan Sammon
Image: Installation view of The Leviathan of Parsonstown exhibition, James Mitchell Geology Museum, University of Galway, 2024. Photo: Stuart Whipps

Léann Herlihy

Beyond Survival School Bus (2024) is a free 90-minute bus tour with a pedagogical discourse that spans from eighteenth-century hedge schools to twenty-first-century school tours.

Departing from the urban sphere and commencing its voyage deep into the mountains, the school’s curriculum explores the polemic effects of ‘self-perseverance’ through the social practice of survivalism; moving through examples such as an assimilated ‘outdoor’ swimming pool situated in a 15-story underground survival bunker designed for those who hoard economic wealth, to skimming the surface of open resources available from online prepping communities. Delving into the lack of depth within these social movements, Ranger Herlihy forewarns of the damaging effect of implicated de-prioritisation of collective scale action—that is, the point at which preparing for the potential risks brought about by environmental, economic and/or societal damage supersedes the more important task of advocating for structural and revolutionary change. Utilising the scripted nature of reality survival shows, Ranger Herlihy provides a participatory script to each scout and invites them to take up a single role spanning from Doomsday Prepper alumni, ‘Warrior’ Martin to ‘eco crusader,’ Al Gore.

Continuing in their journey beyond survival, the collective narrative moves towards building a future where both humans and nonhumans, deemed unproductive by utilitarian standards, are valued for their own nature. Yet, creating space to stray away from the ‘natural,’ as these un-natural positions, offer alternative views for imagining new, just, and sustainable ways of living beyond survival.

Beyond Survival School Bus was originally commissioned by Dublin Fringe Festival’s Make Space for Art Award in 2022 and adapted for TULCA Festival of Visual Arts. Beyond Survival School Bus (2024) was supported by the Arts Council and Galway County Council Community Support Scheme 2024.

Available to order:
Beyond Survival School Bus: AUDIO TOUR (2024)
Audio Cassette
52’ 51’’, 10.2 x 6.35 x 1.27 cm
€15.00

Documentation: Jonathan Sammon
Image: Léann Herlihy, Beyond Survival School Bus (2022). Photo: Niamh Barry

Harun Morrison: Nothing Special (English)

13 November 2021 - 14:00
Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway

We are pleased to be presenting a new iteration of Harun Morrison’s ongoing work Nothing Special at Nun’s Island Theatre as part of TULCA 2021. 

Nothing Special is an evolving text written by the artist, comprising 365 statements outlining everyday scenarios. This artwork unfolds as a live reading, spoken and adapted by a different guest with each iteration. 

Morrison has been working with Ionia Ní Chróinín, Máiréad Ní Chróinín (Moonfish Theatre), and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh to produce the first staging of the piece in Ireland. Kate Nic Chonaonaigh has made an Irish translation of the text, and two versions of the work will be read by Ionia Ní Chróinín (one in English and one in Irish) on 6 and 13 November.

About the artist:

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is the 2020 recipient of the Wheatley Fine Art Fellowship, hosted by Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects. His forthcoming novel, ‘The Escape Artist’ will be published by Bookworks in 2022. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is also a trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981).

Performance time:
14:00 - Saturday 13 November 2021

The readings will last around 40 minutes. Due to social distancing space is limited, so advance booking is essential. A vaccine certificate will be required for admission to this live event.

—

Safety information: The following measures will be in place at TULCA 2021 exhibitions and events

• Contact tracing

• 60% capacity in selected event venues where vaccine certs are presented

• Contactless ticketing

• Hand sanitiser dispensers at gallery entrances and exits

• Capacity monitoring on all exhibition and event venues

Harun Morrison: Nothing Special (Irish)

13 November 2021 - 12:00
Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway

We are pleased to be presenting a new iteration of Harun Morrison’s ongoing work Nothing Special at Nun’s Island Theatre as part of TULCA 2021. 

Nothing Special is an evolving text written by the artist, comprising 365 statements outlining everyday scenarios. This artwork unfolds as a live reading, spoken and adapted by a different guest with each iteration. 

Morrison has been working with Ionia Ní Chróinín, Máiréad Ní Chróinín (Moonfish Theatre), and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh to produce the first staging of the piece in Ireland. Kate Nic Chonaonaigh has made an Irish translation of the text, and two versions of the work will be read by Ionia Ní Chróinín (one in English and one in Irish) on 6 and 13 November.

About the artist:

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is the 2020 recipient of the Wheatley Fine Art Fellowship, hosted by Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects. His forthcoming novel, ‘The Escape Artist’ will be published by Bookworks in 2022. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is also a trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981).

Performance time:
12:00 - Saturday 13 November 2021

The readings will last around 40 minutes. Due to social distancing space is limited, so advance booking is essential. A vaccine certificate will be required for admission to this live event.

—

Safety information: The following measures will be in place at TULCA 2021 exhibitions and events

• Contact tracing

• 60% capacity in selected event venues where vaccine certs are presented

• Contactless ticketing

• Hand sanitiser dispensers at gallery entrances and exits

• Capacity monitoring on all exhibition and event venues

Harun Morrison: Nothing Special (English)

6 November 2021 - 14:00
Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway

We are pleased to be presenting a new iteration of Harun Morrison’s ongoing work Nothing Special at Nun’s Island Theatre as part of TULCA 2021. 

Nothing Special is an evolving text written by the artist, comprising 365 statements outlining everyday scenarios. This artwork unfolds as a live reading, spoken and adapted by a different guest with each iteration. 

Morrison has been working with Ionia Ní Chróinín, Máiréad Ní Chróinín (Moonfish Theatre), and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh to produce the first staging of the piece in Ireland. Kate Nic Chonaonaigh has made an Irish translation of the text, and two versions of the work will be read by Ionia Ní Chróinín (one in English and one in Irish) on 6 and 13 November.

About the artist:

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is the 2020 recipient of the Wheatley Fine Art Fellowship, hosted by Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects. His forthcoming novel, ‘The Escape Artist’ will be published by Bookworks in 2022. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is also a trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981).

Performance time:
14:00 - Saturday 6 November 2021

The readings will last around 40 minutes. Due to social distancing space is limited, so advance booking is essential. A vaccine certificate will be required for admission to this live event.

—

Safety information: The following measures will be in place at TULCA 2021 exhibitions and events

• Contact tracing

• 60% capacity in selected event venues where vaccine certs are presented

• Contactless ticketing

• Hand sanitiser dispensers at gallery entrances and exits

• Capacity monitoring on all exhibition and event venues

Harun Morrison: Nothing Special (Irish)

6 November 2021 - 12:00
Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway

We are pleased to be presenting a new iteration of Harun Morrison’s ongoing work Nothing Special at Nun’s Island Theatre as part of TULCA 2021. 

Nothing Special is an evolving text written by the artist, comprising 365 statements outlining everyday scenarios. This artwork unfolds as a live reading, spoken and adapted by a different guest with each iteration. 

Morrison has been working with Ionia Ní Chróinín, Máiréad Ní Chróinín (Moonfish Theatre), and Kate Nic Chonaonaigh to produce the first staging of the piece in Ireland. Kate Nic Chonaonaigh has made an Irish translation of the text, and two versions of the work will be read by Ionia Ní Chróinín (one in Irish and one in English) on 6 and 13 November.

About the artist:

Harun Morrison is an artist and writer based on the River Lea and Regent’s Canal. He is the 2020 recipient of the Wheatley Fine Art Fellowship, hosted by Birmingham School of Art, Birmingham City University and Eastside Projects. His forthcoming novel, ‘The Escape Artist’ will be published by Bookworks in 2022. Since 2006, Harun has collaborated with Helen Walker as part of the collective practice They Are Here. He is also a trustee of the Black Cultural Archive (est. 1981).

Performance time:
12:00 - Saturday 6 November 2021

The readings will last around 40 minutes. Due to social distancing space is limited, so advance booking is essential. A vaccine certificate will be required for admission to this live event.

—

Safety information: The following measures will be in place at TULCA 2021 exhibitions and events

• Contact tracing

• 60% capacity in selected event venues where vaccine certs are presented

• Contactless ticketing

• Hand sanitiser dispensers at gallery entrances and exits

• Capacity monitoring on all exhibition and event venues

Grey Eminence – Performance / workshop by Caroline Campbell (Loitering Theatre)

Saturday 7 November 2020

12:00 – 13:30
Online via Zoom
Limited places: Booking essential

Protest Archive is an intergenerational feminist and activist project by Caroline Campbell (Loitering Theatre). This project has been developed with a loose affiliation of women across the island of Ireland who have been active in radical political protest from the 1960's to today. Significantly, this archive of bodily gestures extends through feminist practice into modes of anti-imperialism and actions of solidarity far beyond the island where its bodies are located. 

Grey Eminence is a zoom workshop and guided performance that will be Loitering Theatre's first activation of the Protest Archive. The workshop will include the first readings of texts from the Protest Archive. Contributors include poet and activist Sarah Clancy, and selected avatars. The workshop will be moderated by Megs Morley. 

The Grey Eminence workshop will also investigate the power of the body and the activist gesture in protest. In times where the movement of our bodies through public space have been restricted in order keep our community healthy and safe, the workshop will work creatively with the disembodied aesthetics of Zoom.

Biography
Caroline Campbell is an artist, writer and filmmaker working under the name Loitering Theatre (both as a solo artist and with other collaborators). Loitering Theatre work across video, text, mixed message, false flags, meme magic, artificial intellect, viral interference and future archaeologies of time. Loitering Theatre has recently presented work at Hugh Lane Gallery, as part of Digital Self Defence, curated by Kennedy Browne; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris and Solstice Gallery (all 2019); Carlow Arts Festival and TULCA Festival of Visual Arts (both 2016). Caroline is a practice-based PhD researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London in the Department of Visual Cultures.

Accessibility information
Zoom talks will be live-captioned with Otter ai.
If you have access needs you would like to discuss in advance, please contact info@tulca.ie

Recording and participation information
Participants are requested to display their actual name while in the Zoom meeting.
Discussions will be moderated and participants may be asked to turn their camera on / off or to mute their audio when the presenter is speaking. The workshop will be recorded and may be published or re-used by Loitering Theatre. This will be discussed with participants to confirm consent.

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
The Law is a White Dog curated by Sarah Browne
6 - 22 November 2020
Galway, Ireland 

www.tulca.ie

In the interests of safety, due to the severe national weather warnings in place in Galway tomorrow, Saturday 29 February, we are disappointed to announce the cancellation of the UnSelfing/Arrivals performance event which was scheduled to take place in Ceannt Station, Galway at 14:30. We hope to reschedule the event at a later date and will announce details of this in due course.

#tulca #galway2020

—

Official Launch of UnSelfing
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts’ Programme for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture
29 February 2020

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture present: UnSelfing; a programme of exhibitions, performances and encounters with visual art taking place in Galway and across the country. It takes as its theme Iris Murdoch’s concept of UnSelfing; the idea that in order to find inner truth, it is necessary to seek outside of one’s self; to be curious about the people, places and ideas that surround us. The first event of the UnSelfing programme, Arrivals is a dynamic launch event taking place on a moving train, featuring artist Isadora Epstein and a cast of performers interpreting the ideas of Iris Murdoch.

UnSelfing/Arrivals

Date: Saturday 29 February 2020
Time: 14:30 (meeting at 14:00)
Venue: Ceannt Train Station, Galway city (map)
Tickets: €10.00 (booking essential)

BUY TICKETS

UnSelfing/Arrivals is a dynamic launch event featuring a newly commissioned performance entitled Weather Gods. This performance is by Isadora Epstein and it will take place on the Galway to Gort train as it travels between the two locations, highlighting UnSelfing’s theme of interior and exterior journeys. UnSelfing/Arrivals will begin with a gathering at Ceannt train station in Galway. Attendees will board the 1.45pm train and be treated to Weather Gods, a new show by Isadora Epstein which combines a mythological weather report with a train trip out West on the Great Western Railway. Epstein's performance will be accompanied by musicians Davy Kehoe, Daniel McAuley and Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh. On arrival in Gort, guests will be treated to a reception and official launch of TULCA’s 2020 UnSelfing programme at Gort Library, with readings from Iris Murdoch and speeches followed by transport by bus back to Galway city at 5pm.

Artist Biographies

Isadora Epstein is an artist based in Dublin. She has had recent performances at: the RHA, IMMA, the Hugh Lane, NCAD Gallery, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Ormston House and KuVa Exhibition Lab, Helsinki. She is a recipient of the Art Council’s inaugural Constance de Markievicz Award 2019.

Davy Kehoe is a composer and sound recordist based in Dublin. He is best known for his collaborations with Brendan Jenkinson and Morgan Buckley and his releases on the Wah Wah Wino record label, Short Passing Game (2017) and The Pilot (2019). He has had recent performances at the Project Arts Centre, The Douglas Hyde, and Cafe Otto, Paris.

Daniel McAuley is a singer, composer with Dublin-based group Cloud Castle Lake. He's composed for film, theatre and ballet and performed in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, Other Voices and across the US.

Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh is a viola player who takes influence from improvised, traditional and early music styles. She has played with a variety of musicians and groups which include Woven Skull, Circuit des Yeux, Josephine Foster and Alasdair Roberts and Irish improvisers David Lacey, Aonghus McEvoy and David Donohoe. Her first solo recordings were released on Fort Evil Fruit under the title Oreing.

Official Launch of UnSelfing
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts’ Programme for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture

Date: Saturday 29 February 2020
Time: 16:00
Venue: Gort Library, Saint Colman's Church, Church St, Gort, Co. Galway (map)
Tickets: Free event

On arrival in Gort, guests will be treated to a reception and official launch of TULCA’s 2020 UnSelfing programme at Gort Library, with readings from Iris Murdoch by special guests followed by transport by bus back to Galway city at 17:30.

All welcome.