Incoming Events

Press Release

Stories of Migration and Survival – Richard Mosse’s Incoming at Butler Gallery

This summer Butler Gallery, in partnership with the Kilkenny Arts Festival presents the Irish premiere of acclaimed video installations by the award-winning Kilkenny-born artist Richard Mosse.

Mosse’s work documents the tragedies of our times. His video installation Incoming was made in response to the ongoing migration crisis in the Mediterranean. To make Incoming, Mosse employed a highly specialized surveillance camera designed for military use that captures images by detecting thermal radiation, including the heat of a human body, from more than eighteen miles away, day or night. The black, white, and grey tones register temperature rather than colour and visible light, exposing the intimate stories of these refugees while providing a veil of privacy, isolating the plight of individuals while rendering them emblematic of humanity.

In conjunction with the installations Butler Gallery has programmed a series of events that aims to bring us closer to the stories of people who have been forced to migrate or seek refugee status in Ireland. Migrants and refugees are often purely seen as a statistic in newspapers or on TV, however, behind each number is a person with a very personal set of circumstances. It is important that these people’s experiences are known and understood in order to raise awareness and compassion within wider Irish society.

Programme highlights include:

• A pre-recorded video with artist Richard Mosse in conversation with

Sean O Hagan of the Guardian in which Mosse describes the making of his immersive video installations Incoming and Grid (Moria). Available to view at www.butlergallery.ie

• An online panel discussion with Butler Gallery Director Anna O’Sullivan, artist Hina Khan and Sophie Henderson, Director of the UK Migration Museum who analyse how migration as a topic is displayed and interpreted within cultural organisations, especially museums and galleries.

Wednesday 7 July, 1-2pm.

• Fiona Loughnane, lecturer at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) leads an online ‘in-conversation’ event with Tom Felle, Head of Journalism and Communication at NUI Galway and Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council on how media reporting of the migration crisis could move away from a cold and inhuman preoccupation with statistics and figures and ‘fake news’ to develop more humane approaches that recognise the people at the heart of every story.
• Butler Gallery in collaboration with the Fr. McGrath Family Resource Centre and Kilkenny & Carlow Education Training Board present a co-curated project in which people who have migrated or had to seek refugee status in Ireland tell their stories through personal objects. Results of the initiative will be displayed in the gallery’s Learning Centre during July and August and on the gallery website.

Wednesday 21 July, 1-2pm.

To view the full listing of events and to book check out the Butler Gallery website www.butlergallery.ie

Media enquiries to Alan Kirwan, Butler Gallery Learning and Public Engagement Curator

Email: [email protected]