TULCA, GALWAY’S visual arts festival, will be officially launched tomorrow at No 1 Merchants Road, the former Instore/McDonagh building.
The event will be opened by Sean Kissane, curator of exhibitions in IMMA, Dublin. Guests will be treated to the first viewing of Tulca’s major exhibition, which comprises work by 15 Irish and international artists.
Included in this will be Vietnamese based artist Jun Nguyen – Hatshushiba, whose video piece Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex – For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards’ will be shown in a purpose built gallery space in the building.
On Saturday there will be talks with Siobhan Tattan, Fergal Gaynor, and Dobs O’Brien at 11am in The House Hotel. A bus will then leave the hotel at 1.30pm to begin its tour to the two county venues in Tulca this year - the OPW run Mill in Tuam and the beautifully restored Athenry Castle.
Audiences will then be invited back to No 1 Merchants Road for the final talk of the evening, presented by writer and critic Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith and artist Mark Cullen.
The festival offers a range of exhibitions in various venues - Shuffle at No 1 Merchants Road; North West Visual Arts Archives and Arduous Intent at the Galway Arts Centre; Chiaroscuro at No 9 Henry Street; Garrett Phelan at NUI, Galway; Mark Cullen at G126; and Expanded Draught at GMIT on Friday November 14; Live @ No8 at Bar 8, Dock road, on Wednesday November 19.
Full details of the programme are available on www.tulca.ie and copies of the brochure are also available throughout the libraries in the city and county as well as at No 1 Merchants Road at the opening.
