Aisling makes welcome return to curate TULCA
This year’s TULCA Festival of Visual Art, which takes place in Galway City from November 7 to 23, will be curated by former Galway resident and a co-founder of the Galway Film Centre, Aisling Prior.
Over the past 20 years, Aisling has curated international and national group shows such as See Through Art at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Ireland and Europe at the Iveagh Gardens, Art in The Life World in the Old Swimming Pool in Ballymun and Something Else at the 2009 Kilkenny Arts Festival when she was the event’s Visual Art Curator.
Recent work includes curating commissions by emerging and established artists, including Atsushi Kaga, Joy Gerrard, Beth O’Halloran, Oisin Byrne, Katharine Lamb and Nick Miller in various public contexts. Aisling, who he has an MA in Visual Arts Practices, also works as an advisor to the Arts Council, to several local authorities and to arts organisations.
Aisling moved to Paris after graduating from UCD with an Arts degree, and while in the French capital, co-organised a retrospective of Irish cinema at the Centre Georges Pompidou. In 1988, along with Barra de Bhaldraithe, she founded the Galway Film Centre. From its original premises on the docks, the Centre provided regular professional, affordable workshops in all aspects of 16mm film-making and video production. In addition, the quarterly Film West magazine was published and regular film screenings were held in Nuns Island Arts Centre.
In 1990 Aisling moved back to Dublin and was Director of the Sculptors’ Society of Ireland, now known as the VAI from 1991 to 1997. Since then, she has worked on over 40 arts projects, several of them community based.
TULCA producer Kate Howard welcomed Aisling back to Galway and said TULCA was looking forward to building on its 12-year history.
“As always we plan to develop the festival in close dialogue with emerging and established artists who reflect the complexity of artistic practice today and to foster a lively exchange between the artists, local community, venues and audiences”.
For updates on the 2014 Festival go to www.tulcafestival.com