THE SHED at the Galway harbour is a major new space for art in the city and for the rest of this year it will be host to a series of exhibitions, including a Galway Arts Festival show.
Facilitated by the support of the Galway Harbour Company, The Shed is a large 4,000sq ft warehouse space located on the middle pier of the Galway Docks.
This week saw the start of The shed’s opening event, The Forge Workshop – Open workspace. Forge artists plan to use The Shed space to create a series of experimental large-scale sculptural works. The space will be open to the public throughout for those who wish to see the work develop. The workspace runs until April 9. See www.theforgegalway.blogspot.com The space will be used throughout 2012 for a wide variety of projects and exhibitions, all instigated by local artists affiliated with Adapt Galway, a coalition of local visual arts organisations. Adapt hopes to provide a platform for local artists to showcase their talents at a local and national level.
Adapts’ philosophy behind this initiative is a belief that empty properties spoil town centres, destroy economic and social value, and waste valuable resources.
“By working collaboratively with local business, developers, and local authorities we hope to create vibrant interim uses for these spaces led by local communities which will benefit existing businesses, as well as the wider town centre,” a spokesperson for Adapt said.
The group also hopes to develop a temporary centre for contemporary art in the docklands in the next two years, with the aim of creating a permanent centre in the same area; to make the Connacht Laundry buildings a working arts facility; the creation of a festival of independent practice.
Upcoming exhibitions include new work by Waterford artists (April 13 to 30 ); ArtSpace Studios – Open workspace and exhibition (May 1 to 22 ); Kitchen Table Collective artists (May 23 to June 14 ); 126 Artists in association with the Galway Arts Festival (July 15 to August 7 ); Unrequited Hatred group exhibition (August 8 to 25 ); The Space Between art, craft, and design exhibition (August 26 to September 16 ); Engage Art Studios (September 17 to October 7 ); Tulca 2012 (November ).
The Shed Project will be officially launched with reception on Friday April 6 at 7pm. For more information email [email protected] or see www.adaptgalway.com, theshedgalway.blogspot.com, or Facebook.
