Launch of Kunstverein Aughrim

Ireland doesn’t have a Kunstverein, it never had, until now. In the village of Aughrim (population 1,500 inhabitants) in south County Wicklow, a new curatorial office and production agency is preparing to open its doors. Kunstverein Aughrim will officially launch at 12pm on Sunday, October 9, 2022.

The mission of Kunstverein Aughrim is to develop curatorial collaborations with artists to support the artistic process of creating new work, and to bring audiences as close to the creative process as possible. Designed to bridge the gap between artistic practice and public presentation in contemporary visual art in Ireland, Kunstverein Aughrim prioritises proximity to artistic practices, by working closely with artists, building long-term relationships to support, commission, strategically plan, produce and present ambitious projects that celebrate and reflect distinctive artistic methodologies. Simultaneously local and international, domestic and institutional, personal and professional, Kunstverein Aughrim embraces these idiosyncrasies and multiplicities. 

The vision behind the project is that of founding director Kate Strain, drawing on her experience as artistic director of Grazer Kunstverein (2016–2021). Returning to Ireland from Austria, Strain recognised the potential for the economic model of a members-based Kunstverein within the Irish arts landscape. That coupled with a rethinking of how art is produced, experienced and encountered post-pandemic, led to the conception of Kunstverein Aughrim. The idea evolved with critical creative input from artists Forerunner, Isadora Epstein, Rich Gilligan, Fiona Hallinan, Yurika Higashikawa, Jennie Moran, and designer Alex Synge, through a series of artist-led workshops and meetings, supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Kunstverein Aughrim’s inaugural commission, Granite Leap, is a site-specific, permanent installation by the collaborative art practice Forerunner. Founded by Tanad Aaron, Andreas Kindler von Knobloch, and Tom Watt, Forerunner’s approach is a celebration of risk and trust. Working at an architectural scale, Forerunner solve, interrupt, support and transform space, producing materially legible environments to be met, navigated and inhabited. Their process is one of care and integrity, core values that are absorbed and embodied in the work they produce.

Granite Leap constitutes the entire physical site of Kunstverein Aughrim, spanning the 50 square metre ground floor space. As an artwork, it determines how the space will be used, from the pared back architectural shell to an internal infrastructure designed to reveal, conceal, display and protect. This mobile system revolves around a large local granite boulder (pictured), transported from a nearby mountainside and installed in the centre of the room. Aughrim (known locally as “Granite City”) is widely celebrated for the quality of its igneous rock, sitting as it does on a 300-million-year-old batholith. Given this geological context, Forerunner’s decision to anchor the Kunstverein with a massive stone centrepiece makes perfect sense. The boulder becomes a relational prompt in the middle of the space, a problem to be constantly negotiated, worked around, surmounted, ignored, leaned upon, jumped from, or incorporated into how the space is occupied. Granite Leap connects Kunstverein Aughrim to the local geographic context, serving as both the foundation stone of its presence in the community, and a springboard for the future projects Kunstverein Aughrim will develop elsewhere. 

All compelling artworks require an anchor, a concrete base from which wild ideas can leap and soar. That vital jumping off point, supporting the production of new artistic work, is what Kunstverein Aughrim hopes to become.

Granite Leap will be unveiled amid a public programme of new artistic commissions by artists Isadora Epstein, Rich Gilligan, and Yurika Higashikawa. More information on these projects and the launch event can be found on the website. Joining the mailing list will ensure updates on Kunstverein Aughrim’s future activities.

Kunstverein Aughrim is part of the franchise established by Kunstverein in Amsterdam, with sisters in Milan, New York and Toronto. Kunstverein Aughrim is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and Wicklow County Council.