A big occasion for leading Mayo arts centre

A leading Mayo arts centre is looking forward to a visit to the facility by the Arts Council.

Ben Mulligan, the collection manager at the national organisation, is attending the launch of Guides, an exhibition from the Arts Council’s permanent collection which is being officially launched at the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, this evening (Friday) at 7 p.m.

Interim director of the Linenhall, Fiona Neary commented: "This event is exciting for both the Arts Council and the Linenhall Arts Centre.

“The exhibition is taking over our building, including the tourist office, studios, green room and foyer.

“Community groups have worked for months with curator Séamus Nolan to select the works. This is a very unique display of the works and we are delighted that Ben Mulligan will be on site for the launch and the performances on Friday.”

Artworks from the Arts Council collection and artworks from local photographers and artists will be exhibited in every single space in the Linenhall building as part of Guides.

It focuses on a diverse range of subject matters and there is a plethora of groups, from all walks of life involved in the project, from the Mayo Traveller Support Group, to the LBGT community, Birdwatchers Mayo, Hearth Achill and the Mayo Rollers among others, which is exactly the aim of Séamus Nolan and Guides - the creation of a space where difference is not left at the door but where it is celebrated, challenged, explored, and shared.

The Linenhall staff are looking forward to an exciting and busy launch event.

There will be two captivating and visually impressive premieres for visitors to enjoy.

'BirdBecomeBird' (6 p.m.): The first ever live performance art piece in the arts council's collection, takes place at the swimming pool in Castlebar. The site is home to the artwork ‘Amphitheatre for introverts (and others)’, a permanent public artwork by Alice Lyons and also the site of 24 swifts nesting boxes built into the walls of the new leisure centre since 2019.

A vocal performance work by artist Suzanne Lynch, it has both compositional and improvisational elements, invoking the sounds of birds/the nonhuman which begins in conventional singing cycles, and gradually grows to being discordant/animalistic, and eventually returns to musicality again.

The performance has been commissioned for the swifts who nest there and a video documentation of the event will become part of the exhibition and eventually the Arts Council's Collection.

'What Colour is The Soil': A collaboration between Mayo artist and musician Breda Mayock, with Owodunni Ola Mustapha, Christina Mkwada, Nono Ndlovu and Celesta Khosa is an artwork exploring ideas of place based belonging, through song.

The project was born while the group organised Mayo Africa Day 2022, stemming from conversations about the different relationships to land in some of the groups country of origin, and the process of becoming familiar with the colours and smells of the landscape of Mayo. It will be exhibited in the main gallery and the launch aspect takes place after the above.

Guides visual arts exhibition and events programme is curated by Séamus Nolan, curator-in-residence at the Linenhall Arts Centre.

Devised in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Arts Council Collection. Art works of national significance have been selected to tell the stories of communities across County Mayo. Guides is proudly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.