Sirius Arts Cobh Exhibitions and Events

 

Local Colour for SIRIUS: Selected Works from the Archives and Collection   SIRIUS is the custodian of the 1850s architectural drawings for the clubhouse of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the building it occupies, and miscellaneous documents related to its transition from that function into an art centre. In addition, since its foundation in the mid-1990s, it has taken in works through donations by artists who exhibited and/or were in residence, and more recently through inviting artists to respond to Cobh and/or County Cork’s context. This exhibition features a selection of works and materials from the SIRIUS archives and collection that were uncovered during research and cataloguing undertakings initiated in 2021. The artists presented in this exhibition engage with themes of migration, place and environment. Highlights include Doug Dubois, Patrick Ireland, Danny McCarthy, Maura Sheehan and Softday, who were in residence and created works inspired by Cobh’s landscape and social context. This exhibition is curated by Miguel Amado, director, with assistance by Sarah Long, 2023 critic in residence, and Andrea Spörri, 2022 curatorial trainee. This exhibition is realised with the support of the Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme (2024), Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.   Patrick Ireland, Study for the West Wall of the Old Yacht Club, 1995. Installation view, Brian O’Doherty: Reading, Time, SIRIUS, 2023. Photograph: Nic Flanagan. Courtesy of the Estate of Brian O’Doherty Patrick Ireland Study for the West Wall of the Old Yacht Club, 1995 Ink and graphite on paper 66 x 101.5 cm   This drawing was part of Patrick Ireland’s plans for the mural One, Here, Now (1996), a floor-to-ceiling piece painted directly on the walls of SIRIUS, exhibited at the time of its making and presented again in 2018 after restoration. It is now preserved behind a second ‘layer’ of wall. The drawing depicts abstract colour fields, symbols and imagery, for instance Ogham characters. Philosophically, they represent the essence of what is to be in the world in terms of a self (I/One), in space (Here) and time (Now). The work is a contemporary metaphor for the experience of reality through the use of archaic signs. Softday As I Roved Out One Morning, 2021 HD video, colour, sound, 4 minutes   As I Roved Out One Morning is a sea shanty written by Hannah Fahey (composition) and Softday (lyrics), performed by the Softday Deep Water Singers via long-distance communication. It takes as its subject a controversial plan for an incinerator in Ringaskiddy, Cork Harbour, put forward by the waste management company Indaver on various occasions since 2001. It brings together field recordings, conversations, transcripts from An Bord Pleanála oral hearings and reasoned arguments submitted to the High Court. It merges the tradition of folk songs that accompany rhythmical labour with the symbolism of political messages contesting the powers that be.   Softday, As I Roved Out One Morning (still), 2021. Commissioned by SIRIUS. Courtesy of the artists and SIRIUS Sirius Arts Centre The Old Yacht Club Westbourne Place Cobh, Co. Cork P24 F209 Ireland siriusartscentre.ie Opening hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12:00 - 17:00