EVA International 2020

July 2–August 22, 2021

39th EVA International
Phase 2

EVA International is delighted to announce the Phase 2 programme of the 39th EVA International, featuring 14 presentations by Irish and international artists and collaborating curators, across venues in Limerick, remotely and online. Taking its reference from the “Golden Vein,” a 19th-century descriptor for the agricultural bounty of the Limerick region, the 39th EVA International programme seeks to address ideas of land and its contested values in the context of Ireland today.

Guest programme: “Little did they know”
Curated by Merve Elveren, the 2nd phase of the 39th EVA International’s Guest Programme, Little did they know, will extend across two venues in Limerick city (Park Point and Sailor’s Home) and via a dedicated online platform. The programme continues to function as what Elveren describes as an “exercising ground” for interpreting current social and political conditions in various geographical contexts. The exhibition centers around two research projects; Asia Art Archives’ Betsy Damon Archive: Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa) and Kosovo Oral History Initiative’s Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign 1990-1991. Works by Diego Bruno, Barış Doğrusöz, Melanie Jackson & Esther Leslie, Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho, Hana Miletić, Deirdre O’Mahony, Richard Proffitt, Mario Rizzi, and Aykan Safoğlu surround these archival-research presentations, allowing for broader dialogues between notions of home and uprooting, remembrance and forgetting, care and action.

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September 18–November 15, 2020

39th EVA International
Phase 1

Originally scheduled as a 10 week programme opening in September 2020, the 39th EVA International will now be delivered in three phases as a response to the consequences of the COVID-19 public health crisis. The first phase will take place from September 18 through to November 15, 2020, followed by two further phases in 2021.

Taking its reference from the "Golden Vein," a 19th-century descriptor for the agricultural bounty of the Limerick region, the 39th EVA International programme seeks to address ideas of land and its contested values in the context of Ireland today. Featuring venue- and non venue-based presentations, each phase will include elements of the Guest Programme curated by Merve Elveren (Little did they know) alongside artist commissions developed through EVA's Platform Commissions and Partnership Project initiatives.

Programme highlights and participating artists include:

Guest Programme / Little did they know:
Curated by Merve Elveren, Little did they know will feature artworks by artists Benji Boyadjian, Diego Bruno, Oisín Byrne, Yane Calovski, Jasmina Cibic, Barış Doğrusöz, Eirene Efstathiou, Minna Henriksson, Michele Horrigan, Melanie Jackson and Esther Leslie, Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho, Hana Miletić, Deirdre O’Mahony, Zeyno Pekünlü, Richard Proffitt, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Mario Rizzi, Aykan Safoğlu, Krista Belle Stewart, Driant Zeneli, and Women Artists Action Group (Archive of Pauline Cummins). The presentation of artworks will be compassed by four research projects: Betsy Damon Archive: Keepers of the Waters (Chengdu and Lhasa), led by Asia Art Archive; Derry Film and Video Workshop led by curator Sara Greavu in collaboration with Ciara Phillips; Sexuality of A Nation: Lionel Soukaz and Liberation Politics led by writer, curator and lecturer Paul Clinton; and The Reconciliation of the Blood Feuds Campaign, 1990-1991, led by curator and researcher Erëmirë Krasniqi (Oral History Initiative).

Describing the curatorial approach to the Guest Programme, Merve Elveren says: “From belonging to displacement, desire to memory, uncertainty to disaster, Little did they know traces the changing connotations of land in recent history. It aims to bring together the forgotten or overlooked moments and attempts of collectivity from periods that continue to resonate in the present.”

A dedicated website for Little did they know will launch in September 2020, featuring additional research contributions and artists' responses.

Platform Commissions:
Selected by Anne Tallentire and Merve Elveren for the 39th EVA International, artists Laura Fitzgerald, Áine McBride, Emily McFarland, and Eimear Walshe will present major new works that variously address ideas of environmentalism, land use, and housing activism. Platform Commissions is an initiative to support the production of new works by artists based in Ireland. Click here for further information.

Partnership Projects:
The 39th EVA International will also include new commissions developed in collaborative partnership with Irish and international organisations, including artists Em’kal Eyongakpa (in collaboration with IMMA); Orla Barry (in collaboration with Mu.ZEE); Bora Baboci; and Anca Benera and Arnold Estefan; and Inês Neto dos Santos (in collaboration with Magic Carpets Creative Europe Programme).

Phase 1 of the 39th EVA International (September 18-November 15, 2020) will feature presentations by Bora Baboci, Yane Calovski, Eirene Efstathiou, Laura Fitzgerald, Michele Horrigan, Melanie Jackson and Esther Leslie, Áine McBride, Emily McFarland, Eimear Walshe, Driant Zeneli, Women Artists Action Group and others, at venues across Limerick city including Limerick City Gallery of Art, The Hunt Museum, the Sailor’s Home, online and offsite.

Full programme details of the Phase 1 will be released in August 2020 with Phase 2 and 3 programmes following in early 2021.