VISUAL will launch their new Spring season on February 4th at 3pm. The show will be launched by the CEO and Artistic Director of VISUAL, Emma Lucy O’Brien.

This season will feature four different exhibitions including We Turn Towards an Ending and Pay Attention by Fiona Hallinan in the Main Gallery, Shadow the Solar Trail by Richard Proffitt in the Studio Gallery, The Town That I Loved So Well by Margaret Walker in the Link Gallery and KING | SHRINE by Emma Martin in the Digital Gallery. They will run from February 4th until May 14th, 2023 and will feature a number of events and workshops to coincide with the exhibitions.

Fiona Hallinan is an artist, researcher and, alongside curator Kate Strain, co-founder of the Department of Ultimology, based between Brussels, Belgium and Cork, Ireland. Her doctoral research at LUCA School of Arts, KU Leuven explores the coming-into-being of Ultimology, the study of that which is dead or dying (death here encompassing both the end of life and the passing into irrelevance, redundancy, or extinction of material and immaterial entities), as a tool for transformative discourse. This project involves instigating gatherings around ‘ruptures’ as case studies; the closure of a canteen, the demolition of a church, the extinction of a plant. This research is informed by gathering knowledge related to rituals of mourning, supported by a monthly reading group ‘On Death’. She is interested in themes of hospitality, traces, thresholds, care and critical pedagogy and often works with food as part of her practice, cooking and organising meals.

Richard Proffitt, born 1985, Liverpool, UK. Lives and works in Dublin. Richard Proffitt's work in painting, sculpture, sound, and video is inspired by a stream of consciousness recollection of histories, memories, dreams, fact, and fiction, and driven by an interest in found material that consists of thematically sourced objects, paper ephemera, junk, and sound recordings. The works often combine to create immersive, otherworldly, site-responsive installation works that evoke places of worship one may imagine existing in an intermingling cosmic universe of esoteric folk religions, the bedroom of a teenage loner, a spaghetti western and the remote habitat of a psychedelic death cult.

Margaret Walker joined the KCAT Studio in Callan, Co. Kilkenny in 2003. She likes to experiment with mixed media and techniques and enjoys working in paint. Margaret’s work has always been influenced by Irish folklore and rural life and the rural landscape. The most recent work uses traditional fabric skills and is inspired by rag trees and old Irish sayings. Margaret has travelled extensively, including Sweden, America and Germany, and uses this experience in developing ideas for her work.

Emma Martin started out a ballet dancer. As a choreographer her work spans dance, theatre opera and film. She creates multidisciplinary work often combining dance with live music, theatre ,creating distinct visual universes with each piece, always with a raw style of dance as its heart. She’s interested in the friction between rawness and refinement, high art and popular culture, past and future, order and chaos, homage and intent.

VISUAL opens Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5.30pm and Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free.