Official Documentation - TULCA 2019: TACTICAL MAGIC

As 2019 draws to a close, we release our final video documentation of TULCA 2019: TACTICAL MAGIC curated by Kerry Guinan.

Our annual programme of exhibitions and events are all superbly documented by the highly talented Jonathan Sammon who celebrates his 10th year on the TULCA Festival team. A massive thank you to Jonathan for bringing his beautiful documentation style to TULCA each year. 

Thank you to all the TULCA 2019 artists, writers, speakers and performers: Anri Sala, Barry Mulholland, Christian Fogarolli, Day Magee, Diana Copperwhite, Helen MacMahon, Jesse Jones, Katherine Sankey, Linda Pense, Mark Cullen, Martina O'Brien, Michelle Doyle, Michael Fortune, Paul Duane, Rajinder Singh, SUBSET, Una Quigley, From the Bogs of Augiska, Natalia Beylis, Branwen Kavanagh, Geels Lampa A Ela, Padraic E. Moore, Sinead Mercier, Andy Merrifield, Clodagh Emoe, Aaron Gach and Nikita Coulter. 

Thank you to all our festival funders, sponsors and partners for their continued support: Arts Council Ireland, Galway City Council, Galway City Arts Service, Galway County Council, Creative Ireland, An Post, Galway International Arts Festival, NUI Galway, GMIT (Official), Galway Arts Centre, 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Galway City Museum Ireland, Engage Art Studios, Róisín Dubh, Pálás Cinema, Electric Galway, Galway Civic Trust, Community Knowledge Initiative, The Black Gate, Curo, Galway Public Libraries, Eyre Square Hotel, Salthill Hotel, Citylink The City Bin Co., Kinlay Hostel Galway, Arts in Action NUI Galway.

Stay tuned for a number of exciting announcements in the new year as we reveal our curator for TULCA 2020 and publish a wonderful programme of exhibitions and events as part of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture! 

www.tulca.ie #tulca

Video: Jonathan Sammon

Arts groups ask Govt to give Galway Post plan the stamp of approval

Arts organisations in Galway are calling on the Government to sanction the handover of part of an An Post facility in the city centre for cultural use. They say a former sorting office should be permanently employed as a venue to showcase creativity. 

The building forms part of an extensive parcel of property owned by the semi-State company. It includes the main post office on Eglington Street and a number of linked buildings backing onto William Street. 

An Post has loaned a building close to the pedestrianised centre of the city to the Tulca Festival of Visual Arts this month. It is being used to house the event's main exhibition. 

The space was first used for artistic purposes during the summer, when it was repurposed by Galway International Arts Festival. Since then there has been a major effort to secure it as a dedicated cultural centre. The Ministers for Culture and Communications have both visited the property and local politicians have been lobbying for it to be handed over to the city. 

The absence of a dedicated gallery for large-scale exhibitions has been a source of frustration for cultural producers in Galway for some time.

It is felt that securing a multi-purpose venue, that can be used all year round should be one of the legacies of next year's European Capital of Culture events in the west. 

An Post says its continuing to look at various options to maximise the potential of its property portfolio, including the possible use of part of it for cultural purposes. In the meantime, artists from around the country are benefiting from the exposure provided by the building and the festivals it's served as a home for.

The curator of the Tulca Festival, Kerry Guinan, said the former sorting office was perfectly placed to bring the arts right into the heart of Galway. Her comments were echoed by Paul Fahy of the Galway International Arts Festival. He said the premises had huge potential for those involved in the creative sector. Mr Fahy said it would be a fitting recognition of the role the arts played in the life of the city, if the space could be given a new lease of life during the Galway 2020 Capital of Culture designation. 

By Pat McGrath
Western Correspondent

Delving into magic with TULCA

City's annual visual arts festival to feature 15 artists, 4 commissioned projects, and 12 associated events, across 14 venues.

Tomorrow evening, Friday, November 1, sees the launch of the 17th TULCA Festival of Visual Arts at the Festival Gallery in William Street, formerly An Post’s sorting office.

This year’s festival, which runs to November 17, is curated by Kerry Guinan, comprises 15 contemporary artists, four specifically commissioned projects, and 12 associated events, across 14 venues in Galway. These include a socially-engaged commission by artist and folklore collector Michael Fortune, in collaboration with the Skehana and District and Heritage Group; a large-format public art commission by Dublin collective SUBSET; and a new partnership and exhibition with Galway City Museum. Events range from an all-ages weather-reading workshop with Nikita Coulter in the Nuns Island Theatre to a black-metal-noise performance by the metal band Bogs of Aughiska in the Róisín Dubh.

The festival theme is 'tactical magic' and will explore magic as it manifests in art, politics, and the sciences. “The inspiration for the festival was the magic and mythology of the west of Ireland,” Guinan tells me. “The starting point is looking at the theme of magic. Magic is a belief in a cause and an effect so its practitioner believes by performing a certain act something particular will happen like making someone fall in love with them or whatever.

"This is why I have included the prefix ‘tactical’ because it amounts to doing magic in a tactical sense. I believe that art is magical in this way also; when we produce art we believe that it will have an effect on the world even though we can’t prove a relationship between art and its effect. The festival is about trying to explore and preserve that belief system and I think it is an important belief system.”

TULCA’s central theme not only embraces the ancient worlds of myth and folklore, but the modern realms of science and technology. “I am quite pleased with that aspect of the festival,” Guinan says. “When you go to see the exhibitions you may not see magic in the sense you have encountered it before; potions or symbols, or astrology. I was trying to find magic in places where you wouldn’t expect to find it, such as systems of science, technology and politics. So, for example, the introduction to weather reading workshop (Nuns Island, Sunday, November 3, 12 noon ) combines scientific and folk methods of reading the weather so it is really equalising these two types of approach.”

'The Bogs of Aughiska describe themselves as black metal noise alchemists and take a lot of inspiration from their homes in the Burren'

Art, Magic and Marxism is the intriguing title of a seminar at NUIG’s O’Donoghue Centre on Thursday, November 7, at 2pm. “They are three things that sound difficult to reconcile but this is precisely why I organized the festival,” Guinan declares. “There is quite a political undercurrent going through the festival. Magic is an inherently political word because it has always been defined by religious and political systems in order to ostracise practices.

"By naming something as magic you push it outside of reality, you are saying it’s not real. The seminar is about trying to reconcile Marxism which would be scientific and rational in its line of thought with the need to have a value system which appreciates things that are more symbolic and intuitive and can’t be rationalised by primarily economic analyses.”

'The Devil is an Irish Man' by From The Bogs Of Aughiska From The Album ' Mineral Bearing Veins ' Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings Credits: From The Bogs Of Aughiska is: Conchúir O' Drona, Bryan O' Sullivan, Ronan Hayes, Padraic Farrelly Filmed 22nd, 23 September & 14th October.

Another highlight is An Evening of Mythological Music with Natalia Beylis and From the Bogs of Aughiska at the Róisín Dubh, on Thursday, November 14 at 8pm. “I am very excited about that event,” Guinan enthuses. “It will be an evening of avant-garde music by musicians who have their homes in the west of Ireland and, in their music, respond intuitively and experimentally to the myths and landscapes around them. The Bogs of Aughiska describe themselves as black metal noise alchemists and take a lot of inspiration from their homes in the Burren. Natalia is based in Leitrim and she will be performing a set which responds to a trip that she took out there. The event is engaging with people who have a relationship to magic and myth in their practice.”

'I wanted to have a festival that included internationally acclaimed artists and also supported emerging artists based in Ireland'

The festival also features a number of notable commissions. “We have four commissions this year because I wanted to support artists by developing new work,” Guinan explains. SUBSET are doing a public art event at Spanish Arch. Belfast artist Barry Mulholland is doing a piece which re-enacts a peculiar incident from The Troubles in Northern Ireland where British military intelligence staged a threat in order to stir social chaos so that is quite significant given what’s happening now. We also commissioned renowned artist and folklore collector Michael Fortune to go out to east Galway and record interviews with people about their folk beliefs, especially in relation to plants and trees and magical powers they have, and that has resulted in his exhibition The Plants, Flowers and Trees of Our People at Tuam Library. Artist Diana Copperwhite, whose work has been exhibited internationally, has been commissioned to produce a new painting for the festival.”

WHAT TIME IS DEATH? 23-11-2018 - mumufication.com THE PEOPLE'S PYRAMID - https://www.mumufication.com/ Higher quality release of The KLF's "Justified and Ancient (Stand By The JAMs)".

What Time is Death?, at the Pálás Cinema, on Saturday November 9 at 6pm, is Paul Duane’s film about the return of the legendary KLF. “Paul has been given rare access to Bill Drummond, formerly of the KLF, who, in 1994, ago burned a million pounds and then took a vow of silence to never talk about it again,” Guinan reveals. “The film documents their return after 23 years in which they are building a new monument in Manchester which is a pyramid made of the ashes of people who are deceased. You can sign up to become part of this pyramid. It is a deep future project that will take 300 years to complete the scale of pyramid that they want.

"The film is a unique insight into the way they work and also how they have changed in the 23 years after their earlier high profile project. That whole weekend is death-themed; there is a Life and Death Curators Tour at noon that day, departing from Engage Art Studios, followed by a performance of Keening Garden Door by Day Magee, at the Festival Gallery, which reinterprets the practice of keening and applied to his own personal life.

'It is going to be a great collection of artists all together and I am really excited to be bringing them to Galway and to form a community around the festival'

“We also have a new partnership with Galway City Museum and as part of TULCA they will be putting on a display of magical artifacts from their collection which will be quite special. As part of the display I’ve also commissioned a group of people from the Traveller community with Galway connections to produce an artefact for that display which afterwards they will donate permanently to the museum as a gesture towards better inclusion.”

Guinan sums up the array of artists converging on Galway for TULCA; “There is a very broad range, I wanted to have a festival that included internationally acclaimed artists and also supported emerging artists based in Ireland. Christian Fogarolli is a well known international artist from Italy based between Sorrento and Prague so it is a delight to have his work in the festival. Also we have Anri Sala from Albania who represented France in the Venice Biennale. There are some amazing names on the list, it is going to be a great collection of artists all together and I am really excited to be bringing them to Galway and to form a community around the festival.”

BY CHARLIE MCBRIDE

TULCA 2019 Education Programme

TULCA 2019 Education Programme

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts announces its education programme designed to complement the 17th edition of the festival TACTICAL MAGIC, curated by Kerry Guinan. TULCA is a multi-venue, artist-centred Festival of Contemporary Visual Arts taking place in Galway city and county since 2002. It is the only festival in Ireland to specifically commission Irish curators who develop a theme unique to the event.

This year’s theme TACTICAL MAGIC invites audiences to reflect on the magical effects of art, probing the division between truth and reality. The exhibited works draw on intuition, historical beliefs and customs as well as challenging us to consider the historical in contemporary society. The variety of work exhibited offers audiences the opportunity to engage with a diverse range of media including video, performance, installation, printmaking and sculpture to name but a few. There really is something for everyone!

As always, the education programme welcomes inquiring viewers of all ages to think and talk about visual art together. Audiences are encouraged to follow our website and social media for details on events, venues, dates and times. We aim to encourage people to get out, feed their curiosity and visit venues across the city, some of which are temporarily transformed into exhibition spaces. All types of conversations are sparked through the shared experience of looking together!

The TULCA Ed programme offers educational tours of the Festival for Primary, Secondary and Third Level Institutions. Last year we welcomed over nine hundred students to the Festival through these tours. Will your school be joining us this year?

Education Programme Highlights

Make A Day of It Tuesdays
Make A Day of It Tuesdays, in partnership with Galway Public Libraries, returns for the sixth year running. Designed to offer a full-day cultural excursion for students from our county primary schools it combines a guided visit to the TULCA exhibition with a workshop at the city library. Animal Magic and Yoga workshops will be facilitated by artist and yoga teacher Ruby Wallis. This year the Irish language is at the forefront of the festival and Irish language schools will experience their gallery tours ‘as gaeilge’ with Dr. Eilís Ní Dhúill of NUIG. Another exciting workshop will be delivered through Irish at the city library where students will be guided through a Charm Making workshop facilitated by Lelia Ní Chathmhaoil and Aine Doherty.

Galway City Museum
As part of this years programme, TULCA Ed is excited to announce a new partnership with Galway City Museum. The museum will partner with us for the Make A Day of It Tuesday events and Damian Donnellan (Education & Exhibitions Assistant) will host Galway Folklore and Folktale tours for students to enjoy.  Our partnership with the Galway City Museum will also bring another new element to this years education programme. On Saturday 16th November there will be a very special workshop for children facilitated by acclaimed storyteller and writer Rab Fulton in collaboration with visual artist Aine Doherty. The Tall Tales workshop will focus on imaginative storytelling through drawing. Please check online for more information and booking details.

County Schools Project
As part of our County Schools Project, two artists will deliver a ‘Magical Creatures’ project within two primary schools that draw on the theme of this year’s festival. The workshops will be facilitated by Noel Arrigan in Furbo National School and Jennifer Cunningham in Cregmore National School, Claregalway. Students will explore the concept of hybrids through drawing, printmaking, use of found objects and recycled materials to create their own modern-day magical creatures that could inform future myths and legends. The work created by students as part of this project will be exhibited at the Galway City Library.

Second Level Schools Tours and Workshops
Second Level Schools are invited to visit TULCA and join us on a specially devised gallery tour that meets a core element of the Leaving Certificate Art Curriculum - visit to an exhibition/gallery. Second Level Tours are not exclusively for L.C. students and TULCA welcomes and encourages visits from students in other years and all tours will be adapted accordingly. Upon completion of the guided tour, time is allowed for response and reflection and teachers are provided with a digital resource that can be used either on-site or back in the classroom. These tours focus on looking at and responding to contemporary art.  Students are encouraged to form and express their own opinions and interpretations through direct engagement. The guide will offer an insight into elements such as the theme of the festival and how the artists responded to this in a variety of ways.

A highlight of the programme for secondary schools is a series of philosophy and art workshops facilitated by CURO. The CURO team use world-renowned Philosophy for Children (P4C) techniques to lead a philosophical enquiry and develop a community of critical thinkers.  It’s really all about big questions! This year we have a group of Transition Year students from St. Mary’s College participating in the programme.

Speaking about this year’s programme, Education Coordinator Dee Deegan said “This year’s festival invites us all to embrace the wonderment of magic and allow it to ignite curiosity through looking. The artists offer us alternative views with a common thread, and we are challenged to consider their meaning. I invite you all to engage with our education programme, consider what assumptions you may have had about contemporary art and with an open mind be prepared to rethink them.”

Talks
A series of Artist and Curator talks will take place in various locations including the Centre for Creative Arts and Media (GMIT), Tartare Café and Wine Bar,  and O’Donoghue Centre (NUIG). The Festival runs in various locations around Galway from November 1st – November 17th. The education programme runs throughout the festival. All events are free unless otherwise stated. Bookings and further enquiries can be made by contacting Dee Deegan directly at education@tulca.ie or on 087 6730732.  Full details can be found online at www.tulca.ie

TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
TACTICAL MAGIC curated by Kerry Guinan
1-17 November 2019

www.tulca.ie

TULCA Curators Talks - NUIG and GMIT

TULCA Curators Talks - NUIG and GMIT

O’Donoghue Centre NUIG
13.00 - Wednesday 9 October

Yellow Room, CCAM, GMIT
14.00 - Thursday 10 October

Gain an exclusive insight into the curation of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts: TACTICAL MAGIC 2019. Curator Kerry Guinan will provide an overview of the festival theme and the curatorial principles that have guided her programme of unique artworks and events. 

Kerry Guinan is a visual artist, researcher, and curator based between Limerick and Dublin. As a whole her work investigates the social functions of art, with a particular interest in functions that oppose, undermine, or re-appropriate rationalist capitalism. Guinan is a Masters by Research candidate at the Limerick School of Art & Design, recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award 2018, and author of The Impact and Instrumentalisation of Art in the Dublin Property Market (2016), and has presented her research at the National University of Ireland Maynooth (2018), Trinity College Dublin (2017), University College Dublin (2017), and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2015, 2016). She is currently supported by Fingal County Council’s Artist Support Scheme 2019. 

‘TACTICAL MAGIC makes the claim that art is magic. Magic is here defined in a practical, or tactical sense, as a non-rational belief in a cause and its effect. Art can be considered magical because it strives to control, affect, or create realities in ways that are not quantifiable, but are nevertheless valuable. The programme for TACTICAL MAGIC showcases art practices that entail this magical belief in affecting reality. The festival also problematises rationalism’s opposition to magic, demonstrating, through artworks and events, the inconspicuous presence of magic in the histories of politics, science, and technology. 

Since 2002, TULCA Festival of Visual Arts has captivated Galway city and county with an eclectic display of Contemporary Art. TULCA is a multi-venue, artist-centered festival of contemporary art that works with Ireland-based curators to present innovative exhibitions that provoke and energise audiences into the world of the Visual Arts.

www.tulca.ie