EVA International

EVA International (previously known as Limerick Exhibition of Visual Art and e v + a) is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years in the city of Limerick, Republic of Ireland. It is known as Ireland's biennial,[1] and is held in even-numbered years.

For Electronic Visualisation and the Arts conferences, see EVA Conferences.
EVA International
GenreBiennial of contemporary art
FrequencyBiennial, every two years
Location(s)Limerick, Republic of Ireland
Inaugurated1977
Next event2020
Websitewww.eva.ie

History
Luc Deleu, 'Construction X' on display in Arthur's Quay Park, Limerick for EV+A 1994. Large-scale outdoor installation made from shipping containers.

The first incarnation of EVA International was The 77 Exhibition of Visual Art, created by the original committee with the mission statement of providing the public ‘with an opportunity to visit and experience an exhibition not normally available in the region and, at the same time, to stimulate an awareness of the visual arts here’.[2] Between then and 2017, there have been 37 editions of the citywide exhibition.[3]

Each edition is now curated by a different international curator of note, a practice that began with Sandy Nairne in 1979, the only exception to the international rule being Paul O’Reilly, Irish curator of the 1998 edition.[4] The exhibit now has an international focus to its programming, aiming to bring international art to Limerick whilst increasing Ireland's standing in the international art world through invited curators.[5] EVA exhibits have taken place in a number of venues across the city, notably at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, The Hunt Museum, and King John's Castle.[6] For each edition, artists are selected through an open call for submissions, beginning with the first exhibition in 1977. Between 1994 and 2010, the exhibit also included an ‘invited’ selection of artists in addition to those who responded to the open call for artists’ proposals.[5]

Curator Matt Packer was named Director of EVA in March 2017. Packer was previously the Director of CCA Centre For Contemporary Art Derry ~ Londonderry.[7]

Changes in name

The name of the Limerick event has gone through several incarnations, with the original edition being known as the ‘77 Exhibition of Visual Art, Limerick’, the exhibit has variously been known as Exhibition of Visual Art, EVA, and e v + a.[8] Following incorporation as a company limited by guarantee in 2012, the organisation has operated under the business name ‘EVA International’.[9]

Young EVA

Young EVA is the organisation's flagship education programme. Beginning in 1984, this has taken a variety of forms, frequently involving artist-led workshops with school-age groups, often resulting in an exhibition of young participants’ work.[10]

Platform Commissions

Platform Commissions is a programme initiative started in 2018 by EVA International that focuses on the commission of works and projects by artists based in Ireland.[11]

Editions
Year Title Curator(s) Notes
1977 The 77 Exhibition Brian King, Barrie Cooke, John Kelly The 1977 Exhibition of Visual Art took place across the Municipal Art Gallery (now the Limerick City Gallery of Art), the Cummins Gallery (no longer in operation), and The National Institute for Higher Education, Castletroy (now University of Limerick).
1978 The 78 Exhibition Adrian Hall, Charles Harper, Theo Mcnab, Cóilín Murray
1979 EVA 79 Sandy Nairne EVA 79 marked the first time that the exhibit was presided over by an invited international curator and adjudicator. Nairne set no specific theme for the exhibition, and wrote ‘I have selected for the exhibition work that I consider to be the highest quality’ from amongst 400 submissions.
1980 EVA 80 Brian O’Doherty
1981 EVA 81 Pierre Rastany
1982 EVA 82 Liesbeth Brandt Corstius
1983 New Work of Past Winners For the 1983 edition of EVA, the committee held a reflective event, inviting the winning artists of the EVA prizes awarded at the five exhibits that had been held to date, to submit new or recent work to comprise the year's exhibition. As such, no curator was appointed. An essay by Aidan Dunne reflecting on the success of EVA from its inception was included in the exhibit's accompanying catalogue.
1984 EVA 84 Peter Fuller Peter Fuller's curatorship was notable for his exclusion of photography on the grounds that it ‘is not art’, and his refusal to award the sculpture prize to any of the selected sculptural works. During the 1984 exhibit, there was an incident in which a local resident attempted to deface David Lilburn's self-portrait, entitled Towards from the Forceps to the Chains of Office and winner of that year's graphics prize. Having been warned of the event, a photographer from the Limerick Leader arrived in time to take photographs of the resident smashing the glass on the print and prevent any further damage being done. The event was a subject of controversy, reported nationwide, and the photographs were later hung alongside the print in another exhibition.
1985 EVA 85 Rudi Fuchs
1986 EVA 86 Nabuo Nakamara
1987 EVA 87 Ida Panicelli
1988 Limerick Exhibition of Visual + Art 88 Florent Bex and Alexander Rozhin
1989 EV+A 89: New Work of Past Winners 1984-1988
1990 EV+A 90: Climates of Thought Saskia Bos
1991 EV+A 91 Germano Curant
1992 EV+A 92 Lars Nittve
1993 EV+A 93 Gloria Moure
1994 EV+A 94 Jan Hoet
1995 EV+A 95 María de Corral
1996 EV+A 96 Guy Tortosa
1997 EV+A 97 Paul M. O’Reilly
1998 EV+A 98: Circus ZZ Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
2000 e v + a 2000: friends + neighbours Rosa Martínez
2001 e v + a 2001: expanded Salah M. Hassan
2002 e v + a 2002: heroes + holies Apinan Poshyananda
2003 e v + a 2003: on the border of each other Virginia Pérez-Ratton
2004 e v + a 2004: imagine limerick Zdenka Badovinac
2005 OPEN e v + a 2005 Dan Cameron
2006 e v + a 2006: give (a)way Katerina Gregos
2007 OPEN e v + a 2007: a sense of place Klaus Ottmann
2008 e v + a 2008: too early for vacation Hou Hanru
2009 e v + a 2009: reading the city Angelika Nollert and Yilmaz Dziewior
2010 e v + a 2010: matters Elizabeth Hatz
2012 EVA International 2012: After the Future Annie Fletcher 2012's After the Future was EVA International's first edition as a biennial, and the first show under Woodrow Kernohan as director.
2014 EVA International 2014: Agitationism Bassam El Baroni Agitationism was a part of the 2014 Limerick National City of Culture programme.
2016 EVA International 2016: Still (the) Barbarians Koyo Kouoh
2018 38th EVA International Inti Guerrero 2018's 38th EVA International was the first edition under Director Matt Packer.
2020 Scheduled to open on July 3rd, it was delayed twice, opening September 18th due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13]

References
  1. "Here's the Artist List for the 2016 Ireland's Biennial". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  2. EVA International (1977), 77 Exhibition of Visual Art, Limerick: EVA International.
  3. "Eva curator's praise for Limerick as 37th exhibition is launched". Limerickleader.ie. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  4. Valerie Connor (2001) EV+A 2001 expanded, Third Text, 15:56, 86-92, DOI: 10.1080/09528820108576933, p. 86
  5. "EVA International". Eva.ie. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  6. EVA International (2016), Still (the) Barbarians, Limerick: EVA International
  7. Greenberger, Alex (2017-03-28). "Matt Packer Named Director of Ireland's EVA International Biennial". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  8. O'Reilly, Paul M. An EV+A compendium : being the catalogue for the invited EV&A exhibitions of 1994, 1996, 1998 and a remembrance of the 1997 EV+A colloquies on contemporary art and culture [editor: Paul M. O'Reilly]
  9. "EVA International". Eva.ie. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  10. EVA International, e v + a 2010: Matters: Catalogue, Limerick: EVA International
  11. "Platform Commissions - 39th EVA International 2020 - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  12. "The Major Biennales Going Ahead in 2020". Ocula.com. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  13. "39th EVA International 2020-2021 | Limerick.ie". www.limerick.ie. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
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