On December 5th last year, 147 artists and supporters signed a petition objecting to the decision not to renew the contract of the visual arts director of the Project Arts Centre in Dublin and to axe the position. The petition reflected an unprecedented level of anger and concern for the status of the visual arts in the Republic. We have asked for an explanation; we have been given none. What is going on? Great damage is being done to an important centre for art.
The opening of the new building in East Essex Street drew hordes of people. The first exhibition of the new Project, Somewhere Near Vada, occupied the entire building. It marked a high point for contemporary art in Ireland. There was optimism, excitement and goodwill. Now, six months later, the exhibition spaces stand empty and the contract of Valerie Connor, the visual arts director, has expired. The post itself seems to have also gone and no new programme has been revealed.
The chief executive/artistic director, Kathy McArdle, and the board of Project have given no reason for this. Project has always been a melting-pot, laboratory and display case for new, old and experimental art. It was founded by visual artists. From 1967 to the present, it has housed shows by a cross-section of contemporary artists from Ireland and abroad. It is arguably the most important contemporary art space in this country.
In 1998, one of us (Dorothy Cross) was invited by former director Fiach Mac Conghail to make a work as part of the Offsite programme, when Project was without a building. It was a fantastic experience. We made a highly experimental work called Chiasm, in two wonderful handball alleys in Co Galway. Fiach Mac Conghail, Valerie Connor and the entire Project staff worked with passion to make Chiasm happen in 1999. This was an example of how Project thrived in an interim period between the old building and the new.
Over three years, works were realised by artists in underground car parks, in disused pubs, on billboards, in expensive apartments, in cyberspace, and on the rooftop of a hotel. There was a great expectation that, with the new building, the success would continue. Instead, Project is now in a deep crisis. Three years ago, Fiach Mac Conghail and the Project board recognised that a visual arts director was required to work on an increasingly challenging programme, and Valerie Connor was the perfect choice. Now her contract has expired, and the spaces which were built for art are lying redundant when artists are crying out for venues in which to show their work.
Both artists and viewers are now being deprived. Where does the responsibility lie for this predicament? Project, which is a publicly funded space, is not functioning. Who is accountable?
We were drawn to write this article because there are limited forums for discussion in the visual arts. We want answers.
We have asked for a response from the present director and board of Project, but have not received one. Silence is disrespectful, cowardly and irresponsible. To quote another group of artists: "Silence = Death".
The nature of Project is progress. At the present time, when Ireland is getting richer materially, we seem to be floundering in a mire of derivative culture. Project and its philosophy has to survive. Such venues are sacred. Whether Project has been irredeemably damaged remains to be seen. What is going on there?
Certainly not art.
Willie Doherty is an IMMA/Glen Dimplex Award-winning artist who has been on the Turner Prize shortlist. Dorothy Cross's Ghost Ship, a Nissan Art Project winner, was moored off Dun Laoghaire in early 1999.
The Project Arts Centre stated on Friday last that it is in negotiation with Valerie Connor about her position.
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