Animation is usually experienced as TV cartoons and popular cinema. In the Project Spaces, IMMA presents a series of artworks by contemporary artists working with animated drawings and materials, as well as exploring ideas and images of change and transformation. The animated works are accompanied by a season of workshops and events for children and young people.

Through November, a short film Horsepower by John O’Connell will be on display. O’Connell is best known for his film animations, many of which depart from his drawings, paintings, and miniature set designs. He also composes and plays piano for the animations’ melodic and soothing soundtracks. Straddling the line between real and fictional, process-based and result-oriented, these animated works operate and acquire meaning within the private and make-believe universe that he has created. It is a surreal dimension, inspired by the world of dreams and the supernatural, where bizarre and fragmentary narratives develop according to an unfamiliar logic.

John O’Connell will lead an animation workshop for older teens during the school midterm holidays on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 November. This event is now booked out.

Work by Aideen Barry will follow in December, again accompanied by a workshop. Barry is currently participating in IMMA’s Residency Programme.

Please note, separate to this programme on Saturday 5 November, a performance Cheek By Jowl, written and directed by Naomi Sex, will take place in the Project Spaces (booking will be available shortly).

Exhibition Resources

John O’Connell’s film Horsepower was presented as part of The Poetry Project