| Duration | 1967-1988 |
|---|---|
| Location | Dublin, Ireland |
| Rosc | |
|---|---|
 |
Rosc was a series of international modern art exhibitions held in Dublin, Ireland approximately every 4 years between 1967 and 1988.
| Duration | 1967-1988 |
|---|---|
| Location | Dublin, Ireland |
| Rosc | |
|---|---|
| |
Rosc was a series of international modern art exhibitions held in Dublin, Ireland approximately every 4 years between 1967 and 1988.
The term rosc ( [ɾˠɔsˠk] ROSK) is from the Old Irish for a short poem, [1] but for the art exhibitions is interpreted as "the poetry of vision". Architect Michael Scott started the project, [2] and served as the chairman of the board until 1980. [3] It was also championed by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, who served as Honorary President and Vice-President of Rosc. [4] Rosc is considered "pivotal" and "seismic" in the history of Irish art and was the first type of exhibition to place art of international significance in Ireland, long before there was a museum of modern art on the island. [5] [6] Rosc drew crowds, however, the exhibitions, from beginning to end, were also known for their controversies. [6] [2]
The premiere edition was held in 1967. The Department of Education permitted all Irish schools to take time to visit the show; this innovative policy was continued through all the Rosc exhibitions. [6]
In 2017 the Irish Museum of Modern Art, with NIVAL, held a survey exhibition, titled Rosc 50, that presented numerous archival materials recounting the history and significance of Rosc. [7] [6]
Rosc '67 featured a juried exhibition of 150 works from 50 artists presented side-by-side Irish antiquities at the Royal Dublin Society and the National Museum. Jim Dine, Pablo Picasso, and Roy Lichtenstein were some of the contemporary artists exhibited, [8] although no Irish artists were included in Rosc '67 [6] . Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that "Rosc is one of the boldest and most illuminating international exhibitions of modern art ever held... the new and the old salute each other over the centuries... Dublin has provided the ideal setting for their astonishing encounter." [6]
The exhibition was held in the Royal Dublin Society and included Viking art alongside modern works of art. "The centrepiece of the main show [was] a steel sculpture by Alexander Calder from Philadelphia." [9]
The Hugh Lane Gallery exhibited recent works produced in the previous five years and the National Museum of Ireland exhibited historical works for Rosc '77. [9] German painter Gerhard Richter exhibited works.
Rosc '80 was held in the School of Architecture University College Dublin at Earlsfort Terrace, and National Gallery of Ireland. Artists included Marina Abramovic, Ulay, Nam June Paik, Barry Flannagan, Carl Andre, Robert Ballagh, Sol LeWitt, Patrick Scott, and numerous others. This edition featured the first ever performance of Rest Energy by Marina Abramović, "which involved Ulay holding a steel arrow pointed directly at Abramovic’s heart for four minutes." [10] A replica of the Martello Tower that James Joyce lived in was made with 5,000 loaves of bread by Argentinian conceptual artist Marta Minujín. [11]
The newly restored Guinness Hop Store housed the exhibition for the first time. [12] The location was lauded by art critic Aidan Dunne, who suggested it should be a permanent venue. [13] Ellsworth Kelly, George Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Gilbert and George, Joseph Beuys, Richard Serra, Anne Madden, Deborah Brown, Eilis O’Connell, and Julian Schnabel were notable among the exhibiting artists. [13] [12]
Rosc '88 was held again at the Guinness Hop Store, and at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (preceding the opening of Irish Museum of Modern Art in the same building by three years).[ citation needed ]
The absence of any Irish artists in Rosc '67 and Rosc '71 was criticised. [6] There was ongoing "agitation" to include Irish artists throughout Rosc's history, [2] as well as more broadly about representation of Irish art. [14]
The treatment and representation of women is considered a major shortcoming of the exhibitions. "Only four women were represented in ROSC 1967; five in ROSC 1971; none at all in 1977; and six in 1980. Irish women artists did not make it into ROSC until 1984." [2]
Eimear O'Conner in The Irish Times writes that "the exhibitions ran with an ongoing [financial] deficit from the outset" and that persistent problems with financing pitted local artists against the expenses involved of shipping work in from international artists. [2]
Ancient Irish monuments that were moved for the first Rosc caused some controversy. [6] In 2017 Irish artist Sean Lynch exhibited work at the Douglas Hyde Gallery about the relocation and presentation of the Tau Cross of Kilnaboy in Rosc '67. [5]
Camille Souter was a British-born Irish abstract and landscape artist. She lived and worked on Achill Island and was a Saoi of Aosdána.
Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Being active for over four decades, Abramović refers to herself as the "grandmother of performance art". She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body". In 2007, she founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a non-profit foundation for performance art.
Michael Scott was an Irish architect whose buildings included the Busáras building in Dublin, Cork Opera House, the Abbey Theatre and both Tullamore and Portlaoise Hospitals.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. It is located in Kilmainham, Dublin.
Mary Harriet "Mainie" Jellett was an Irish painter whose Decoration (1923) was among the first abstract paintings shown in Ireland when it was exhibited at the Society of Dublin Painters Group Show in 1923. She was a strong promoter and defender of modern art in her country, and her artworks are present in museums in Ireland. Her work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Norah Allison McGuinness was an Irish painter and illustrator.
Seán Keating was an Irish romantic-realist painter who painted some iconic images of the Irish War of Independence and of the early industrialization of Ireland. He spent two weeks or so each year during the late summer on the Aran Islands and his many portraits of island people depicted them as rugged heroic figures.
Brian Bourke is an Irish artist.
Frank Uwe Laysiepen, known professionally as Ulay, was a German artist based in Amsterdam and Ljubljana, who received international recognition for his Polaroid art and collaborative performance art with longtime companion Marina Abramović.
Kerlin Gallery is a commercial contemporary art gallery in Dublin, Ireland. Originally opened in 1988, it is located on Anne's Lane in Dublin city centre.
Nick Miller is an Irish contemporary artist who has become known for reinvigorating painting and drawing in the traditional genres of portraiture, landscape and still-life. He has developed an intense and individual approach to the practice of working directly from life, that has been described as a form of encounter painting.
Patrick Swift (1927–1983) was an Irish painter who worked in Dublin, London and the Algarve, Portugal.
Mary FitzGerald is an Irish artist. She lives and works in Dublin and County Waterford. After graduating from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1977, she moved to Japan where she lived and exhibited between 1979 and 1981. FitzGerald has held numerous solo exhibitions in Ireland, Europe and the United States and has participated in group exhibitions worldwide. She has represented Ireland at ROSC, L'Imaginaire Irlandais and the XVIII Bienal de Sao Paulo.
Rest Energy is a 1980 performance art piece created, enacted, and recorded by performance artist duo Marina Abramović and Ulay in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Four minutes in duration, Abramović has described it as one of the most difficult pieces she has ever done, saying
I was not in charge. In Rest Energy we actually held an arrow on the weight of our bodies, and the arrow is pointed right into my heart. We had two small microphones near our hearts, so we could hear our heartbeats. As our performance was progressing, heartbeats were becoming more and more intense, and though it lasted just four minutes and ten seconds, I’m telling you, for me it was forever. It was a performance about the complete and total trust.
Mary Swanzy HRHA was an Irish landscape and genre artist. Noted for her eclectic style, she painted in many styles including cubism, futurism, fauvism, and orphism, she was one of Ireland's first abstract painters.
NIVAL (National Irish Visual Arts Library) is a public research resource which is dedicated to the documentation of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Irish visual art and design. It collects, stores and makes available for research documentation of Irish art and design in all media. NIVAL's collection policy encompasses Irish art and design from the entire island, Irish art and design abroad, and non-Irish artists and designers working in Ireland. NIVAL is sustained by material contributions from artists, arts organisations and arts workers. Information is also acquired from galleries, cultural institutions, critics, the art and design industries, and national and local authorities responsible for the visual arts. NIVAL is housed on the campus of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin.
Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi is a Nigerian-Irish poet, writer, editor, and performer.
Cecil Noel Sheridan was an Irish painter, performance artist, installation artist and actor. He was a member of Aosdána, an elite Irish association of artists.
Niamh McCann is an Irish visual artist. Her "work includes sculpture, installation, video and painting."
Theodore "Theo" McNab (1940–2015) was an Irish painter, known for his minimalist landscapes. He was a member of Aosdána, an elite Irish association of artists.