Friday
March 6th
Thinking Better Together: Unseen Senses
Neuroscience has replaced traditional understanding of five senses, sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch with an estimate of up to 20 human senses. These include proprioception (body position), balance (vestibular sense) internal ones like pain, temperature, and immune input. As understanding of sensory systems grows so does awareness of the blurring between belonging, inclusivity, acceptance, health and wellbeing.
With the gallery’s commitment to “Radical Hospitality” as a starting point GBHI and IMMA invites audiences to assemble and explore the rich complexities of Thinking, Better, Together as an art form.
All events are free to attend but capacity is limited so please book early to secure your place.
Please note that this is an IN PERSON ATTENDANCE ONLY event which will be held in the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).
Click here to book your tickets.
10.00am-11.00am
Welcome and Discussion
Welcome by Annie Fletcher Director of IMMA
Followed by a discussion on Visual Learning, Radical Hospitality and the multiple benefits of 3rd Spaces. Featuring Sheena Barrett.
Reflection Dominic Campbell and Alejandro López Valdés.
Contributors
Sheena joined the Senior Management Team at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2023 as Head of Research and Learning. An experienced Curator, producer and collaborator, she joined Dublin City Council in 2006 as Assistant Arts Officer and Curator to lead the development of the LAB Gallery as a critical platform for emerging arts practice in Ireland. Having previously held roles at Breaking Ground Public Art Commissioning Programme, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, the National Gallery of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland, she has extensive curatorial experience, supporting artists and audiences through ambitious public programmes and commissioning. She has curated solo presentations by over 130 artists including Michelle Malone, Tsui Kuang-Yu, Bassam Al Sabbah, Sarah Browne, Barbara Knežević and Patricia Cronin.
Sheena developed a strong curatorial practice with socially engaged arts practice, research collaborations and ambitious commissions supporting innovative ways to connect ideas and audiences through exhibition making, events, performance, seminars and publications. Collaborating with Liz Coman, she developed innovative research in the field of Visual Thinking Strategies in an Irish and European context.
She is a graduate of Arts Administration and Cultural Policy with a BA in History of Art and French from University College Dublin and recently completely a postgraduate diploma in Executive Coaching. She was part of the curatorial team for Living Canvas, Europe’s largest digital screen for cultural use developed by IPUT in partnership with Dublin City Council. She has a long term commitment to placemaking and was a founding member of MONTO Arts and Dublin Placemaking Network.
Websites:
Autumn Brown is a research fellow at Dublin City University and an associate researcher at the University of Cambridge. She has published across numerous fields including science education, science and society, and equitable access to education. Her research interests include decolonial science learning, histories of scientific knowledge, STEAM pedagogies, and cold war art-science innovations. She holds a masters degree in Science Communication and Public Engagement from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Science Education from Trinity College Dublin.
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-brown-558884139/
https://twitter.com/fairytalesci
https://twitter.com/ArtPlusSciSalon
www.Instagram.com/dr.fairytalescience
Annie Fletcher is the Director of IMMA. A noted International Curator, Annie joined IMMA from the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands where she was Chief Curator.
Annie Fletcher has extensive leadership experience in the contemporary arts. In addition to her role as Chief Curator at Van Abbemuseum she is a tutor at de Appel, Amsterdam, the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) and the Design Academy Eindhoven, and regularly worked with art institutions around the world including the SALT Istanbul, New Museum, New York, and L’Internationale network and De Appel Art Centre, Amsterdam. In 2012 she was Curator of Ireland’s Contemporary Art biennale EVA International and is regularly called upon to sit on major International juries, including the Turner Prize in 2014 and the selection committee for the Irish Pavilion at Venice in 2016.
Born in Ireland Fletcher studied in Trinity College Dublin and started her career in the Douglas Hyde Gallery in 1994. She was Acting Head of Exhibitions in IMMA in 2001-2002 where she produced, among other projects, the seminal performance art weekend Marking the Territory. Curated by Marina Abramovic this three day event attracted capacity audiences to the museum. She partnered with IMMA, and then Director Sarah Glennie, on several exhibitions over the past five years, including solo presentations of Duncan Campbell and Sheela Gowda and most recently co-curated the 2016 IMMA group exhibition El Lissitzky: the Artist and the State with work from Rosella Biscotti, Nuria Guell, Alice Milligan, Sarah Pierce and Hito Steyerl, and is very much looking forward to returning to IMMA to lead the museum into its next phase. As a curator she is particular interested in how an encounter with art can generate a shared civic space and how, in today’s world, contemporary art can address complex ideas of time, space and participation in order to achieve resonance with the public.
Website:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-fletcher-95234221a
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
Bluesky: @creativebrainweek.bsky.social
11.30am-1.00pm
Only An Hour to Save The World? Curiosities, Case Studies, Conundrums
Using creative practices to facilitate everyone in the room exploring how creativity, brains, health and belonging together: Think. Better. Together.
Does creative activism nurture cultures of compassion? Are creative led projects the seed for better health care provision?
You, and speakers from across Creative Brain Week, in enthusiastic exploration with:
- Bairbre Ann Harkin of IMMA
- Gráinne McGettrick of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland
- Brina Casey, Education Officer Community, Access & Health, National Gallery of Ireland
- Rachel Fitzpatrick, artist
- Sarah Fitzgibbon theatre maker, programme designer for young audiences and disability rights activist
Contributors
Brina Casey holds the position of Education Manager: Special Projects at the National Gallery of Ireland, and is an accredited psychotherapist with the Irish Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists, in private practice. Having worked over two decades in a range of cultural and heritage organizations, Brina has a focus on championing research-led practice and collaborative projects across the Gallery, working to build positive links with local and national communities. Brina initiated and manages the Gallery’s ground-breaking programme of museum-based art psychotherapy, building a synthesis between the benefits of psychodynamic psychotherapy in a group setting, with the personal therapeutic integration of cultural spaces and collections.
Brina holds a Bachelor’s degree from Trinity College Dublin, graduate qualifications in art history and business management from University College Dublin, trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist with the Tivoli Institute, Dublin, and holds an MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from TCD.
Website:
https://www.nationalgallery.ie/
Sarah FitzGibbon is a drama facilitator and participatory theatre maker for nearly 30 years. Since 2020, she lectures on the Drama Facilitation strand of the BA in Drama Performance at T.U. Dublin Conservatoire and on the Arts and Creativity Modules in the Early Childhood Education BA, in TU Dublin School of Social Science, Law and Education. Her Masters in Socially Engaged Practice ( NCAD 2019) focuses on the role of the facilitator in Integrated theatre practices. Throughout the early 2000’s, Sarah and Joanna Parkes developed Step by Step Educational Drama (2006) and Step by Step Together (2009) for Irish Primary School teachers from the Dublin City Council’s Educational DRama programme. After which, she went on to collaborate with The Abbey Theatre on a variety of programmes including Priming the Canon and Theatre Making and Citizenship, in addition to a variety of roles including Creative Associate, Theatre maker and Cultural Programmer with Dublin City Council Culture Company, As a freelancer theatre artist, she collaborated with companies such as Little Big Top, Puca Puppets, Acting Up, Graffiti and Replay theatre companies on work for very young audiences with a specific focus on non-verbal communicators and children requiring high support. A founding member of Mother Artist Makers; a special needs parent; a youth theatre supporter; a disability activist, she engages regularly in social political activism on issues of inclusion, healthcare, community building and housing.
Social Media:
Her practice is deeply informed by the landscapes of Ireland and focuses on the experimental transformation of industrial textiles into fluid biomorphic forms that sit between art, design and creative health. She is currently completing a PhD at Ulster University, Crafting Creative Health, an ethnographic study examining how craft collections in the Ulster Museum support neuroplasticity, identity reconstruction and social connection for people living with acquired brain injury.
Alongside her research, Rachel is Children’s Artist in Residence at the MAC, Belfast, developing inclusive, play-based engagement frameworks. She is also a visiting lecturer at Ulster University on the Textile Art, Design and Fashion course delivering a programme focused on professional development and career employability. Her artistic practice has been exhibited internationally, including commissioned installations for Peugeot and Bergdorf Goodman. Her research interests sit at the intersection of material culture, contemporary craft and health humanities.
Websites:
www.rachelfitzpatrickdesign.
Social Media:
Bairbre-Ann Harkin is an art-educator with a particular interest in accessible programming, who facilitates art-looking tours, trainings and workshops for organisations nationally and internationally. Currently IMMA’s Art & Ageing Curator, Harkin formerly completed an internship at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), worked as Access Officer at Dublin Contemporary 2011 and spent six years as Butler Gallery’s Education Curator, where she established one of Ireland’s first dementia-inclusive art-looking programmes and developed and delivered arts education programmes for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. During this time, she became a founding partner of the European Project, ‘Museums, Art & Alzheimer’s’ and the national Azure Network, alongside the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Age & Opportunity and IMMA.
Websites:
https://imma.ie/learn-engage/families-community/dementia-inclusive/
Social Media:
X: @IMMAIreland
Gráinne is the Director of Policy and Research with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland where she leads the strategic development of the organisation’s policy and research agenda. With a background at the intersection of policy, research, and advocacy in the Irish NGO sector, Gráinne is dedicated to addressing health inequalities and championing the human rights of those facing exclusion due to ageing, dementia and disability. She has played a key role in leading successful national policy advocacy campaigns, forming alliances and coalitions, engaging stakeholders, and fostering collaborations at national, European and international levels. Gráinne is an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Centre for Policy and Health Management, Trinity College.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/grainne-mcgettrick
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gráinne-mcgettrick-77129121/
https://instagram.com/
https://facebook.com/
2.00pm-4.00pm
Experiential sessions with IMMA Horizon programmes
Once the morning sessions are complete, you can sign up at the venue for one of the following workshops in the afternoon:
- Slow Art – encourages you to slow down and delve deeper by looking closely at one artwork
- Azure – take part in an dementia friendly gallery tour
- In The Moment – experience art and mindfulness by connecting with your senses to create
- Dwell Here – Open Studio visit to Samir Mahmood, physician turned artist currently resident at IMMA
- VR, XR, Health and Hope – join Irish and international innovators at the curious edge of technology, storytelling, health and wellbeing in conversation. Mike Hanrahan, Aisling Murray of Beta Festival
Contributors
Bairbre-Ann Harkin is an art-educator with a particular interest in accessible programming, who facilitates art-looking tours, trainings and workshops for organisations nationally and internationally. Currently IMMA’s Art & Ageing Curator, Harkin formerly completed an internship at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), worked as Access Officer at Dublin Contemporary 2011 and spent six years as Butler Gallery’s Education Curator, where she established one of Ireland’s first dementia-inclusive art-looking programmes and developed and delivered arts education programmes for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. During this time, she became a founding partner of the European Project, ‘Museums, Art & Alzheimer’s’ and the national Azure Network, alongside the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Age & Opportunity and IMMA.
Websites:
https://imma.ie/learn-engage/families-community/dementia-inclusive/
Social Media:
X: @IMMAIreland
It was 1977, Ennis and Doolin were alive with new music. He was in a room on the top floor of a house in Abbey Street creating a new sound with Maura O Connell. They were Tumbleweed. Stocktons Wing were creating a movement down the road on O’Connell Street. It was exciting. Maura went to Nashville, he jumped on The Wing Wave ……. It has been a rollercoaster.
As an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College he has been learning about dementia and ways he can contribute as an artist to promote equity and care for brain health.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/mike-hanrahan
Social Media:
IMMA connects audiences and art, providing an extraordinary space where contemporary life and contemporary art connect, challenge and inspire one another. We share, develop and conserve the Irish National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art for now and for the future.
Website:
Social Media:
Beta Festival is led by Aisling Murray (Festival Founder & Director) a curator and creative producer with 15 years’ experience across exhibitions, festivals, literature, spoken word, theatre and dance. She has worked as programme manager for Body & Soul and recently worked with the Goethe-Institut Irland in developing their Quantum Technology Art residency. She also curates the art and science stage Human Lab at Electric Picnic funded by Science Foundation Ireland. Prior to this she worked for Science Gallery Dublin where she produced national and international creative programmes converging art, science, technology and society. Aisling has extensive experience in public engagement and transdisciplinarity and has spoken on the subject internationally including MuseumNext (New York, 2019) on “Critical Thinking and Crucial Conversations with Audiences”, “Art & Science on Display: A Critical Perspective” at Medical Museion (Copenhagen, 2022) and was the keynote at the International Federation of Finance Museums Conference (Rome, 2022) speaking on “Art and Technology: A Transdisciplinary Approach”. This year she was the Irish representative and one of 20 people selected internationally by Institut Français Paris and supported by the French Embassy in Ireland for the Digital Art Focus Programme in Paris that coincided with the International Symposium on Electronic Art 2023.
Websites:
Social Media:
4.00pm-5.00pm
Reflections and closing session
Contributors
Autumn Brown is a research fellow at Dublin City University and an associate researcher at the University of Cambridge. She has published across numerous fields including science education, science and society, and equitable access to education. Her research interests include decolonial science learning, histories of scientific knowledge, STEAM pedagogies, and cold war art-science innovations. She holds a masters degree in Science Communication and Public Engagement from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Science Education from Trinity College Dublin.
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-brown-558884139/
https://twitter.com/fairytalesci
https://twitter.com/ArtPlusSciSalon
www.Instagram.com/dr.fairytalescience
Dominic Campbell is leading the Creative Brain Week initiative. As Bealtaine Festival Director he steered its celebration of creativity and aging’s development over eight years. Formerly an Artistic Director of Ireland’s national celebration he transformed St Patrick’s Festival’s three shows into ninety growing production, managerial teams, financial support, engagement and impact.
Dominic went on to design and produce national celebrations marking the expansion of European Union in 2004 and Centenary celebrations for James Joyce. For “The Day Of Welcomes” delivering 12 simultaneous festivals pairing EU expansion countries with Irish towns and cities engaging 2,500 artists from 32 countries.
He mentored “celebration of ageing” festivals in Wales (Gwanwynn), Scotland (Luminate), and developed projects with partners in Australia and The Netherlands. In 2012 he established the first global conference on Creativity In Older Age opened by Irish President Michael D Higgins, replicating it in San Francisco (2018) and Kentucky (2019).
Recognized as a key cultural influencer in Ireland by The Irish Times and by First Avenue as a Key Influencer in Aging in the US, in 2016 he became an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Equity and Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute a project between Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco an ambitious worldwide program seeking social and public health solutions to reduce the scale and adverse impact of dementia. Currently developing an arts programme for the Irish Hospice Foundation as response to the pandemic and the Ageing Voices programme with Sing Ireland.
Website:
www.creativeaginginternational.com
www.gbhi.org/profiles/dominic-campbell
Social:
Bluesky: @creativebrainweek.bsky.social