The 26th annual EV+A exhibition of contemporary art opened yesterday at venues around Limerick. The curator of the exhibitions, which will continue until June 9th, is Thailand's Mr Apinan Poshyananda, who has invited more than 20 artists from around the world to participate. They will join 52 Irish and British artists in exhibiting work around the city.
At 11 a.m. today, Mr Poshyananda will give a lecture in the Limerick City Gallery of Art on "Heroes and Holies", which will explore the post-September 11th mood of dislocation and disruption.
Artists from countries including China, Japan, India and from the South-East Asia region will have their works exhibited. Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang will carry out a performance, "Against the Current", at King John's Castle on the River Shannon in May. Lines of gunpowder fuses will be laid on the river surface and will be ignited downstream. The fire will travel against the current under the arches of the Thomond Bridge.
Ms Mairin Murray, one of the organisers, said there would be exhibitions at gallery spaces around the city, including the Bourn Vincent Gallery at the University of Limerick and the gallery at the Limerick School of Art and Design.
Billboards, shop fronts and the city's two cathedrals will also display works. At the Church of Ireland St Mary's Cathedral, Italy's Paolo Canevari has chosen to exhibit a Lambretta scooter as a comment on society's adulation of consumer objects. Thailand's Araya Rasdjarmreansook will have a video project at the same venue.
The EV+A open section of the exhibition will incorporate the works of Irish artists, including Limerick photographer Deirdre Power.
The exhibition was begun in 1977 by a group of Limerick-based artists who wished to find a new way of bringing their work to viewers.