Taking its title from the poem Waiting for the Barbarians by Greek writer CP Cavafy, which depicts a declining civilisation and its rulers almost hoping for the imminent arrival of the 鈥渂arbarians鈥 who will offer a 鈥渒ind of solution鈥, this biennial event, curated on this occasion by Koyo Kouoh, takes place alongside the commemorations of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland against British rule. The anniversary offers an opportunity for national reflection, comparison and questioning about the postcolonial condition of Ireland.
The is a 12-week programme of exhibitions and events that engages with the people and city of Limerick every two years and aims to lead and champion the production, curation, commissioning and exhibiting of contemporary art in Ireland. Since being founded in 1977, EVA International has worked with 2,104 artists and 41 curators from across the world, bringing outstanding exhibitions to audiences in the west of Ireland.
Kouoh, who was born in Cameroon and is the founder of Dakar-based art centre RAW Material Company, draws on the anniversary of the Rising to explore her interest in the parallels between Ireland鈥檚 long and complex relationship with colonialism, and her own personal experience with the legacy of colonialism in Africa. She explains: 鈥淚reland is the first and foremost laboratory of the British colonial enterprise that was subsequently exported across the globe. Colonialism鈥檚 physicality of domination, in terms of the shaping of architecture, civic spaces and the wider landscape; is accompanied by a psychological domination through the imposition of language, social structures, religion and prejudice.鈥 She makes clear however that this is not an exhibition that is embedded in the past. Instead, as in Cavafy鈥檚 poem, the theme of the exhibition is that the past is always present, while the future never really arrives.
A total of 57 artists are participating in the Limerick exhibition, alongside a programme of related workshops and events across Ireland. The selected artists come from around the world, with a notable representation of Irish and African artists among them, and they include Criodhna Costello, Jonathan Cummins, Tom Flanagan and Megs Morley, Carsten H枚ller, Alfredo Jaar, Journal Rapp茅, Abdoulaye Konat茅, Alice Maher, P谩draic E. Moore, Otobong Nkanga, Alan Phelan, Tracey Rose and John Waid.
Still (the) Barbarians,聽聽until聽17 July, EVA International 鈥 Ireland鈥檚 Biennial, Limerick City Gallery of Art and other locations in Limerick.
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Credits
1. Liam Gillick, Intermodal Elevation, 2015, powder coated aluminium, plexiglas, 200 x 235.5 x 105.5 cm, courtesy the artist and the Kerlin Gallery.
