'ROMANTIC IRELAND' comprises a multi-channel video installation and an operatic soundtrack housed in an immersive sculpture. Set on the site of an unfinished earth build, the video stages soapy, dramatic encounters between character archetypes from the 19th–21st centuries. These figures occupy an abstracted ruin, a site under simultaneous construction and demolition. The pavilion soundtrack is a five-voice opera describing the scene of an eviction, composed by Amanda Feery with a libretto by W… more

Richard Mosse will represent Ireland with The Enclave, a major new multi-media installation at the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The Commissioner and Curator is Anna O'Sullivan, Director of the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland. Ireland at Venice is an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Mosse’s practice resides at the interface between documentary journalism and contemporary art. For centuries, the Cong… more

For Ireland's representation at the 2009 Venice Biennale, Browne commissioned a bespoke hand-knotted carpet from Donegal Carpets. This particular company was renowned for its prestigious tradition of producing hand-knotted rugs for Irish embassies abroad, as well as for other state institutions such as The White House and Buckingham Palace: far from its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement, the company now survives by machine production or by outsourcing labour to the Philippines. For this proj… more

La Biennale di Venezia Istituto Provinciale per lInfanzia Santa Maria della Pietà Calle della Pietà, Castello, 30122 Venice (located between San Marco and the Arsenale) www.irelandvenice.com IRELAND AT VENICE 2007 Artist: Gerard Byrne Commissioner: Mike Fitzpatrick Gerard Byrne, Irelands solo representative in the 52nd Venice Biennale, is increasingly well known for his ambitious video installations and photographic projects. His use of documentary materials re-enacts and recall… more