TULCA has announced Iarlaith Ni Fheorais as the curator of the 21st edition of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts in 2023.
Iarlaith is a curator and writer based between Ireland and the UK. She is an independent producer with field:arts and works closely with artists Bridget O’Gorman and Ebun Sodipo.
She recently curated Speech Sounds and was Curator-in-Residence at VISUAL Carlow as part of Carlow Arts Festival, and collaborated with Emma Wolf-Haugh on a new film commission for Ulysses 2.2.
In previous roles Iarlaith worked at Tate Modern and Britain as assistant curator of Young People’s Programmes and was the co-director of Basic Space from 2016-18.
She has written on the work of Jesse Darling, Manuel Solano and Lorenza Böttner for Frieze, Burlington Contemporary, Viscose Journal and has an art and access column with Visual Arts News Sheet.
Committed to improving access in the arts, Iarlaith is currently developing an Arts Council England funded access toolkit for curators and producers.
She is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design and is currently studying at the Dutch Art Institute.
“I’m delighted to be spending more time at home in Galway this year as the curator of the 21st edition of TULCA,” she said.
“Growing up in Galway, TULCA was an early formative experience of art and I am honoured to have been invited to be part of this festival, especially following on from last year’s powerful programme by Clare Gormely.”
Every year TULCA commissions an Irish curator to develop a concept for the festival. Through a process of open call and invitation the curator selects national and international artists to respond to the theme.
The 2023 festival programme is titled honey, milk and salt in a seashell before sunrise with a theme that reflects on the West of Ireland as a landscape of medical infrastructure and control, inviting artists to consider their own regional relationship to medicine.
Taking its title from the description of an Irish folk cure, year’s festival gestures towards evolving notions of cure and care and their relationship to land.
“I look forward to learning and reflecting together with artists on how our lives have been shaped by medical and carceral histories in the West of Ireland and elsewhere, and I am excited to create a more accessible experience for artists and visitors,” said Iarlaith.
TULCA 2023: honey, milk and salt in a seashell before sunrise will run from 3 to 19 November 2023 across multiple venues in Galway city and county.
TULCA is now accepting submissions for its Open Call. The deadline for applications is 19 March 2023.
For information on how to apply, and to read a full curatorial statement from Iarlaith, visit www.tulca.ie
