Art as Educational Tool

In 2008/9 eleven humanities modules were introduced to first year medical students in the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin. They became part of the core curriculum in 2010 and it is planned to run them again in the fourth year to ‘top up’ on humanistic ideas, issues and attitudes before qualification. This initiative is being scientifically analysed to see if it produces more humane and empathetic doctors.

See a recent article in the Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/1029/1224306682790.html
http://www.medicine.tcd.ie/bulletin/oct-nov-2010/medical-humanities.php

Special Awards for ‘Open Window’ Project – St. James Hospital Dublin

Open Window is an unique multi-media art intervention in the Stem Cell Transplantation Unit introduced by haematologist Prof. Shaun McCann about ten  years ago at a leading Dublin hospital. As probably the largest study of its kind to evaluate the effect on patients’ quality of life, it is currently in press with the Journal of Psycho-Oncology.

The artist/curator who developed the concept of a virtual window in patients’ rooms, Denis Roche, received an Arthur Guinness award and an  Allianz Business 2 Arts award for innovation from President Mary McAleese in September 2011.

Janet Mullarney

Italian based Irish artist Janet Mullarney at  Cobra Museum of Modern Art Amstelveen Studio Toscane: Karel Appel en Roberto Barni  October – November. Check www.janetmullarney.com for further information.

H-Block Rope Drawing

H-Block Rope Drawing # 92  (1989) by Patrick Ireland, was recreated in the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, as part of “Tears in Rain/Deora san Fheartainn: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art” , one of a series of  the archival exhibitions on the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland: www.goldenthreadgallery.co.uk. Curated  by Máirtín O’Muilleoir.

Casa Dipinta

Casa Dipinta (Painted House) belonged to artist Patrick Ireland (a.k.a. Brian O’Doherty) & his wife art historian Barbara Novak for almost 40 years.  Taken over by the Commue of Todi it opened to the public on Oct 11.^th O’Doherty,  author of the seminal Inside the White Cube  (1976) created this  unique ‘anti-white cube’ museum in a lived environment over decades. It will serve as a permanent record of Ireland’s art, and through the donation of their individual libraries, as a research resource for artists and students of 20^th century art.
www.todiguide.com

Falls Road, Belfast

Image: Brenda Moore-McCann

So far the only public artistic responses to peace in Northern  Ireland (1998) have been the Burial of Patrick Ireland (2008) by Brian O’Doherty at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and his recent public art commission on the Falls Road, Belfast (2011), Aisling an Phobail/The People’s Dream, a labyrinth marking peace attended by both sides of the community.

Hello Sam

Image : Renato Ghiazza

Image : Renato Ghiazza

Hello Sam by Brian O’Doherty at Dublin Contemporary Exhibition ; TCD special performance & recorded interview with artist Oct. 14^th by Brenda Moore-McCann & Christina Kennedy. Organised by Catherine Giltrap, curator of Trinity Art Collections.

Reviewed by Brenda Moore-McCann here

Photomonth, Krackow

See my review of “Alias”  in Circa, Ireland’s leading contemporary art magazine at www.recirca.com

Just back from most interesting show, “Alias” curated by artist/curator team Oliver Chanarin & Adam Broomberg. The theme embraces artists worldwide using a pseudonym/heteronym to explore issues of politics, gender and the social. The curators cite Patrick Ireland’s change of artist name as a political gesture (1972) in the context of the politics of Northern Ireland, and his subsequent burial (2008), as the touchstone for the exhibition as well as Portugese poet Fernando Pessoa’s copius use of pseudonyms. Irish photographer, Fionn McCann’s work was used for the catalogue cover and advertising posters.

http://www.fionnmccann.com

http://www.photomonth.com

Brian O'Doherty at Patrick Ireland 'Wake', Irish Museum of Modern Art, May 2008. Photo by Fionn McCann