The Irish Museum of Modern Art also known as IMMA, is Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

's leading national institution exhibiting and collecting modern

Modern art

Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...

 and contemporary art

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

. The museum opened in May 1991 and is located in Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a 17th-century building near Heuston Station

Dublin Heuston railway station

Dublin Heuston , commonly called Heuston Station , is one of Ireland's main railway stations, serving the south, southwest and west. It is operated by Iarnród Éireann , the national railway operator...

 to the west of Dublin's city centre. The current director is Enrique Juncosa, he was previously Deputy Director of the Reina Sofia National Museum Arts Centre

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the official name of Spain's national museum of 20th century art . The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain...

 (MNCARS) in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

. Juncosa is only the second director of the IMMA, the first was Declan McGonagle

Declan McGonagle

Declan McGonagle is an Irish art curator and professor of art at University of Ulster.In 1987, McGonagle became the only curator to be shortlisted for the Turner Prize thanks to his work at the Orchard Gallery in Derry...

.

Overview

The Museum concentrates on acquiring contemporary art by living artist and buys only from primary markets: studios and galleries. It also accepts donations of art dating from 1940 onwards and through some generous gifts has made progress towards a representative collection of art of that period. Given its youth the museum has a reasonable collection and it mounts selective exhibitions of its own collection. It concentrates on hosting exhibitions and has a very active exhibition programme as demonstrated by the example of the exhibition programme for 2003 given below. It is hoped that in the future the museum will be provided with more space, allowing its current activity to be complimented by an encyclopedic permanent display of contemporary art, something Ireland lacks.

The Royal Hospital is a striking location for displaying modern art. Modelled on Les Invalides

Les Invalides

Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, it is arranged around a courtyard and the interior has long corridors running along series of modest interlocking rooms. This has made for some interesting and visually exciting exhibits, but the museum is limited it its ability to house large works of art. Another disadvantage is that it is difficult to move art works around. However, in its favour, the layout allows several exhibitions to run concurrently and the setting is very fine: the courtyard, the noble facades, a restored baroque formal garden and a lovely old dining room and chapel. The dining room generates income as a venue for weddings and conference dinners, as does the cafe and bookshop in the vaults; the museum itself is free.

The original stables of the Royal Hospital have been restored, extended and converted into artists' studios and the museum runs an artist in residence programme. The museum also has community and education programmes and a national programme whereby it exhibits works from its collection in other venues.

Exhibitions in 2003

• Langlands and Bell: The House of Osama bin Laden
• Louise Bourgeois: Stitches in Time
• Private and Public Narratives: Selected works from the IMMA Collection
• Living in Motion: Design and Architecture for Flexible Dwelling
• Knut Åsdam
  Knut Åsdam
  Knut Åsdam is a Norwegian artist who currently lives and works in Oslo. For more than fifteen years he has actively contributed to the international art scene with exhibitions, publications and broadcasts...
  
  
• Paul Seawright: Hidden
• Paul Morrison: haematoxylon
• Cristina Iglesias
• COBRA: Copenhagen Brussels Amsterdam
• The Tail that Wags the Dog: Outsider Art in the Expressionist Tradition
• Weltkunst Collection: Glad that things don't talk
• Rose Finn-Kelcey: Bureau de Change
• Gary Hume
• Recent Acquisitions to the IMMA Collection
• Lorna Simpson: Photoworks and Films 1986–2002
• John the Painter

External links

• IMMA website