Announcement: Contributors to TULCA 2021

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is pleased to announce the contributors to its 2021 festival programme, titled there’s nothing here but flesh and bone, there’s nothing more, curated by Eoin Dara. 

Festival dates: 5 - 21 November 2021, pending government restrictions and public health advice.

Contributors to there’s nothing here but flesh and bone, there’s nothing more are artists, filmmakers, writers and poets:

Sophia Al-Maria, Claire Biddles, Renèe Helèna Browne, Miriam de Búrca, CAConrad, Mariah Garnett, Lauren Gault, Patrick Hough, Adrien Howard & K Patrick, Jasmine Johnson, Vishal Jugdeo & vqueeram, Stanya Kahn, Theodore Kerr, Sekai Machache, Mira Mattar, The Many Headed Hydra, Mícheál McCann, Tonya McMullan, Harun Morrison, Isobel Neviazsky, Laura Ní Fhlaibhín, Nisha Ramayya, Amanda Rice and Jay G Ying.

there’s nothing here but flesh and bone, there’s nothing more will unfold gently across different sites in the city in November including the An Post Gallery, Galway Arts Centre, Columban Hall, 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Nun’s Island Theatre, and Pálás Cinema.

This project is an aggregate of many unwieldy things including wet caresses, soft affection, immortal loves, necessary resistance, quiet rest, careful togetherness, boundless longing, abiding loss, honeyed scents, close correspondence, vocal exaltation, enduring solidarity, unexpected intimacies, ecstatic whispers and deep tenderness.

Everyone is warmly invited to this unfolding, to be touched by new artworks and ideas temporarily inhabiting Galway at the beginning of an unknowable winter. 

The names listed above have been drawn together through a process of direct invitation as well as through TULCA’s annual open call, which closed in April of this year. Of the 24 artistic presences within this year’s programme (which includes 3 collaborative practices), 14 were invited and 10 were selected through the open call. Further to this, several of these voices will speak through letters and written correspondence which will be gathered together to form this year’s TULCA publication as well as appear throughout Galway during the run of the festival.

“Working towards TULCA this year has been a profound experience for me so far, both professionally and personally — not least due to the ongoing uncertainty that occupies so much of our collective thinking as we continue to move through the pandemic. 

From corresponding with hundreds of artists through the open call process in spring, to then embarking on detailed conversations with this year’s contributors to shape the programme over the last six months, I have learned such a great deal and I’m honoured to have been able to develop these connections across a vast breadth of artistic practice in such peculiar circumstances.

I feel immense gratitude and affection towards everyone involved in this year’s festival for allowing me to draw together their work in this way, and I am so looking forward to sharing all of it in Galway this November.”

— Eoin Dara, Curator

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TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
there’s nothing here but flesh and bone,
there’s nothing more
Curated by Eoin Dara
5 - 21 November 2021
Galway, Ireland

www.tulca.ie

Image: Isobel Neviazsky, Two Figures 2021. Graphite on paper. Courtesy the artist.

TULCA 2021 Volunteer Programme - Applications Now Open

TULCA 2021 Volunteer Programme - Applications Now Open

Do you want to be part of the West of Ireland’s most exciting Visual Arts Festival?

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is now accepting applications for its 2020 Volunteer Programme. TULCA 2021: ; there’s nothing here but flesh and bone, there’s nothing more. is curated by Eoin Dara and runs from the 5th to 21st November 2021 across gallery spaces and venues in Galway City.

If you have a love of the arts and want to be part of an energising team then TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is the place for you! Volunteer shift hours are from 12pm-3pm or 3pm-6pm everyday during the duration of the Festival. We ask volunteers to commit to at least 2 shifts during the festival. If there is a particular area of interest you would like to work in, TULCA will do our best to accommodate.

Tasks Include: 

• Preparing spaces for installation

• Invigilation of the gallery spaces and venues

• Supporting education workshops

Gallery Assistant Gallery Duties: Gallery invigilation, assist with promotional activities, ensure audience are adhering to latest HSE guidelines for social distancing, mask wearing and other regulations pertaining to COVID-19 safety measures across venues.

Educational Duties: Represent TULCA, meet & greet, support/assist with gallery tours, usher groups between venues, support/assist workshop facilitators, supervision support, ensure groups are adhering to latest HSE guidelines pertaining to COVID-19 safety measures

Participating in TULCA Festival gives you hands-on experience of the time, energy, drive and ambition that goes into the production and running of a contemporary visual art festival. TULCA Festival values those that volunteer with us as most of the TULCA team started out as volunteers. We seek to provide an enriching, educational, and uplifting time for all of our volunteers.

COVID-19 Safety Measures: The safety of our volunteers and audience is our top priority. We plan to keep a safe environment by strictly adhering to HSE safety guidance as they pertain to venues and indoor gatherings. In addition, volunteers may help us in documenting contacts, taking temperatures, and general sanitization of the venue spaces. TULCA will provide PPE and sanitization materials to volunteers and staff. All audience members, volunteers, artists, and staff will be instructed to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and follow COVID-19 safety measures in all venues throughout the festival.

Join Our Volunteer Team!

Please contact volunteer@tulca.ie for further information.

www.tulca.ie/volunteer

Rajinder Singh's works join the national collection at IMMA

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is delighted to share news of TULCA 2019 artist Rajinder Singh's work joining the national collection at IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art. IMMA is home to the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, with over 3,500 artworks by Irish and International artists. The Collection is firmly rooted in the present and important contemporary works are added each year.

Two works from Rajinder Singh's installation in TULCA 2019: TACTICAL MAGIC curated by Kerry Guinan, join the national collection.

Rajinder Singh, My Sister’s Coven, (2019)
Fabric, metal ribbon, ceramic plinth, wool, 200 x 70 x 70 cm
Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, Purchase, 2021.

Rajinder Singh, UNTITLED (prayer forms), (2019)
Fabric, copper tubbing, 110 x 80 x 30 cm
Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, Purchase, 2021.

More information can be found here: www.imma.ie/artists/rajinder-singh

Image: Rajinder Singh, UNTITLED (prayer forms), (2019). TULCA Festival of Visual Arts 2019, Engage Art Studios, Galway. Photo: Jonathan Sammon

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is supported by the Arts Council Ireland, Galway City Council and Galway County Council

The Arts Council of Ireland acquires four artists works from recent TULCA programmes

The Arts Council of Ireland acquires four artists works from recent TULCA programmes

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts is delighted to see four artists works from recent TULCA programmes join the Arts Council of Ireland’s permanent collection in 2021. The announcement by the Arts Council includes 30 new artworks by 15 artists to its collection to be shared with audiences across Ireland. The artworks newly added to the collection are by artists who live and work in communities both across Ireland and internationally. The acquisitions include video, installation, sculpture, painting, drawing and photography and bring the total number of artworks in the Collection to over 1,230. This continues a proud history of the Arts Council purchasing excellent and ambitious art reflecting the immense quality of visual arts practice today.

David Beattie - Propositional things (2017).
TULCA 2017: They Call Us The Screamers curated by Matt Packer.

Austin Ivers - The World at War (2020) and RUF0558, ADM3, HP85, HT600E, Plus, Switch, SX20, TM22U (2020).
THREADS curated by Sarah Searson in The Dock Arts Centre as part of TULCA's UnSelfing programme for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture.

Kevin Mooney - Beast (2020).
TULCA 2020: The Law is a White Dog curated by Sarah Browne.

Rajinder Singh - Border Tours (2020).
TULCA 2020: The Law is a White Dog curated by Sarah Browne.

More information on the new acquisitions here: www.artscouncil.ie/News/Arts-Council-purchased-new-works-for-its-collection

Image credits:
David Beattie, Propositional things (2017), TULCA Festival Gallery, Galway. Photo: Jonathan Sammon.
Austin Ivers, The World at War (2020), The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon. Photo: Paul McCarthy.
Kevin Mooney, Beast (2020). Galway Arts Centre, Galway. Photo: Ros Kavanagh.
Rajinder Singh, Border Tours (2020) Photo: Ros Kavanagh.

REVIEW: Chris Clarke | Art Monthly

Art Monthly - Chris Clarke review of The Law is a White Dog

"There is a tendency to think of the law as immutable, its legitimacy based on its consistency and equal application across all members of society. This is, to be sure, an idealistic view, whereby laws are agreed to be followed by consensus, by a shared willingness to concede certain of our individual rights to a greater common good. In this scenario, we adhere to the law because it works to the advantage of all; it is imperfect but essentially fair, reliable, equitable. In reality, though, when challenging established precedents, one encounters any number of biases and agendas, omissions and obstacles. The Law is a White Dog, a reader accompanying the 2020 TULCA arts festival in Galway, Ireland, curated by Sarah Browne, addresses such inadequacies as well as the capacity of individuals and movements to effect legislative change." Chris Clarke

Chris Clarke is a critic and senior curator at The Glucksman, Cork.

Art Monthly 445 is available to order here

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The Law is a White Dog

This limited edition book is published on the occasion of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, 2020, titled The Law is a White Dog. Curated and edited by Sarah Browne, the book features a richly-illustrated introductory essay which frames a wide range of newly commissioned writing, imagery and other original research by artists, poets, activists and lawyers.

Contributions include poetry by Julie Morrissy, photography by Rajinder Singh, and an illustrated essay by Eimear Walshe. The book also presents extracts from two intergenerational projects concerned with feminist activism: artist duo Soft Fiction Projects contribute a selection of censored periodicals from the 1970s they are using to develop a collaborative zine with a group of young people in Galway. Caroline Campbell (Loitering Theatre) presents ‘Protest Archive’, a feminist folklore enquiry made in collaboration with ageing activists. The book closes with new writing by Mairead Enright, a Reader in Feminist Legal Studies at Birmingham Law School whose research extends beyond traditional methods of law reform to consider illegality, protest and experimental legal drafting. Her essay explores how the imagery of dogs roams across testimonies of institutional abuse in Ireland, and how survivors insist on forms of repair, accountability and truth-telling that might one day redeem both the law and the state that underwrites it. Together, this creative and unruly collection speaks of a refusal to be restricted by categorisation, and the necessity (through law or art) to invent new languages and forms of expression in order to develop affinities with others.

Paperback with folded cover, full colour illustrated, 146 pages.

Publisher: TULCA Publishing, Galway
Publication date: 2020
ISBN: 9781838228408
Price: €15.00

Available to order here