A selection from the Arts Council’s Collection celebrating 60 years.

The opening event with Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon takes place on Thursday 24 November at 2pm. All welcome.

This exhibition presents a selection of work by seventeen artists, who are based in or connected with Cork, from the Collection going back over 60 years, celebrating the breadth and depth of the Collection as an archive of arts practice and resource across six decades.

The exhibition includes painting, print, installation, photography, sculpture and video by Katherine Boucher Beug, John Burke, Pat Connor, Maud Cotter, Dorothy Cross, Sarah Dwyer, Sarah Iremonger, Jesse Jones, Hina Khan, Rosanne Lynch, Kevin Mooney, Leanne McDonagh, Eilis O’Connell, Linda Quinlan, Vivienne Roche, Patrick Scott and Pádraig Spillane.

Since 1962, the Arts Council has been buying art from working artists. The Collection that evolved tells the story of modern and contemporary Irish visual art in a unique and fascinating way. Today the Collection continues to grow, comprising more than 1,300 artworks including sculpture, painting, performance, print, video, installation, photography and other works, many of which are on display in public spaces all over Ireland for people to experience and enjoy first hand.

The Collection has always been unique in that works have only been acquired from artists during their lives, either directly from their studio or from the galleries they work with. Acting as ‘a museum without walls’ works from the Collection are loaned to exhibitions, events, festivals and biennales in Ireland and internationally, as well as on display in long-term loans in healthcare settings, schools, libraries, universities and other public buildings. Artworks in the Collection can be viewed on the Arts Council’s website.

Artworks are added to the Collection each year by artists who live and work in communities across Ireland and internationally, continuing a proud history of the Arts Council purchasing excellent and ambitious art. The Collection reflects the immense quality of visual arts practice today. This year celebrates sixty years of the Arts Council’s Collection as well as marking the 70th anniversary of the Arts Council’s very first meeting on 25 January 1952.