About the Gallery
The Douglas Hyde is a unique space to see and learn about contemporary art, we place artists at the centre of what we do. We support artists who push the boundaries of form and convention, and we aim to provoke new ideas.
Opening times
“The Douglas Hyde is a unique space in many ways. Architecturally, it has been one of the most exciting spaces I’ve worked in, the team is dedicated and intelligent, and the programme offers a rich engagement in both aesthetics and politics; for both local and international audiences.”
Jumana Manna, artist
The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art was co-founded in a unique partnership between the Arts Council of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin. It opened to the public in March 1978 as the first publicly funded space dedicated to contemporary art and the first university gallery in Ireland. The Gallery is named after the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde (1860-1949), who was a leading figure in the Gaelic revival and Trinity graduate.
Throughout its history, The Douglas Hyde has presented pivotal exhibitions by Irish artists and brought artists of significant international renown to Ireland for the first time.
We believe that art plays a central role in shaping the world we live in, and that galleries are an essential public space in a progressive society. As an institution we value excellence, enquiry, experimentation and diversity. Art deepens our understanding of ourselves and gives us new ways of thinking and of seeing the world.
We speak across vocabularies and foster conversation and collaboration locally, nationally and internationally with recent partnerships including: Department of Botany, TCD, Trinity Access Programme, Void Gallery, Derry, Science Gallery Dublin, Pavee Point, Irish Folklore Archive, Poetry Ireland, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, Oakville Galleries, Canada, Grazer Kunstverein, Austria and 80WSE Gallery at New York University.
We stand at the meeting point between the city of Dublin and the leading research university in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin.
Niamh Darling | Assistant Curator
As Assistant Curator, Niamh works closely on new commissions, exhibitions, engagement events and Ireland at Venice, 2026, for The Douglas Hyde. In her previous role as the 2024 Provost’s Fellow in Curating at the gallery, Niamh curated Living Conditions, an event examining the systemic crisis embedded into the built environment, featuring new works by Avril Corroon and Evan Kelly, screenings by Corroon and Eva Richardson McCrea, and a panel discussion including Clodagh Emoe which Niamh chaired. She also initiated and leads a monthly reading group on ‘Property’ and was editor of Worlding, a commissioned publication featuring new work and text by the Student Forum 2024. Niamh holds a BA(Hons) in Art History and English from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Arts and Culture: Art History from Leiden University. Her writing has been published by Paper Visual Art and The Visual Artist’s New Sheet.
Isadora Epstein | Gallery Assistant
Isadora Epstein is a writer and performer based in Dublin whose work hosts a conversation between visual art and performance. Her work was selected for 2017 Pallas Periodical Review #7. She received the Judge’s Choice Award for her Dublin Fringe 2016 production, very rich hours, at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and her production flemish proverbs received the Best Design Award in 2015, also for Dublin Fringe. She has had recent performances at IMMA, the NCAD gallery and Kuva exhibition lab, Helsinki.
Rachael Gunning | Provost’s Curatorial Fellow
Rachael Gunning is the 2026 Provost’s Curatorial Fellow at the Douglas Hyde, working with the team across exhibitions and the learning and engagement programme. Holding a BA in History of Art and Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin, she recently received a First-Class Honours MSc in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the University of Edinburgh, where she was awarded the Baldwin Brown Prize for her dissertation. Rachael has worked in the Talbot Rice Gallery assisting with curatorial projects and has also acted as an exhibition co-ordinator for the exhibiting societies at the Royal Scottish Academy. She has delivered research papers at Munster Technological University, and her writing has been featured in the Visual Artists Newssheet. Rachael’s curatorial research centres on the infrastructural conditions shaping contemporary artistic production.
Bill Harris | Gallery Assistant
Bill Harris is an artist, DJ and organiser concerned with both the sonic and the visual. Their practice generally begins with a sound; studying the arc of a particular noise, it can be heard as a cacophony of politics, actions and people, each contributing to the environment and atmospheres that allow for this particular sound to exist. Most recently they have been awarded the George Fitzmaurice Award by Dublin Fringe Festival 2024, for their interdisciplinary and site-specific work, ACCESSOR, which engaged both public and private spaces in the city. In November of 2023 curate Foil Curtains & Fog Machines, an evening of performance and sound in The Douglas Hyde Gallery. They graduated with a first in BA Fine Art Sculpture + Visual Culture in NCAD in 2023. They are a co-founder of Tender, a queer, nomadic (by necessity), DIY party which creates intentional space for the community, and a resident for Dublin Digital Radio with a monthly show called Ó Chroí.
Aphra Hill | Gallery Assistant
Aphra Hill is an art writer and essayist whose work uses different language forms to move between systems of signification. She ran an art-philosophy reading group called Print + Protein based in Void Art Centre, Derry in 2023 and her work has recently been published in an anthology of writing by Frustrated Writers’ Group. She is a co-producer with the exhibition club Dirty Solutions who had their inaugural live art event Dry Run at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios in 2024. She is a recent first class honours BA graduate in Visual Culture at the National College of Art and Design where she investigated a contemporary visual sensibility predicated by the operation of algorithms within a digital media ontology. She was nominated by the Visual Culture Department for the Staff Prize in 2023 and is pursuing an MA in Art in the Contemporary World at NCAD.
Georgina Jackson | Director
Georgina Jackson is the Director of The Douglas Hyde. She is responsible for the vision of the organisation and works closely with the team and board to realise this. She has commissioned groundbreaking new work by artists including Abbas Akhavan, Bassam Issa Al-Sabah, Gabriel Kuri, Jumana Manna and Deirdre O’Mahony. Prior to this she was Director of Exhibitions & Programmes at Mercer Union, Toronto, and has held curatorial roles at The Hugh Lane, IMMA and Pittsburgh’s The Mattress Factory Art Museum. She has collaborated on exhibitions with Tate Liverpool, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Form Foundation. She completed her PhD through GRADCAM, Dublin, has taught at the University of Toronto, IADT and NCAD, and was a member of the Steering Committee of the National Campaign for the Arts from 2018-2022.
Day Magee | Gallery Assistant
Day Magee is an artist, performer, and writer based in Dublin. Exploring the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the intersections of queerness, illness , and religiosity, their work engages phenomenology as an enactive creative material via performance-centred multimedia and workshops. Their work has been commissioned by and appeared in TULCA Festival (2019); Arts & Disability Ireland (2021); Pallas Projects/Studios (2022); Limerick City Gallery of Art (2022); 126 Gallery (2023); Rua Red (2023); the Hugh Lane Gallery (2023) and Mirror Lamp Press (2024). Their transdisciplinary practice is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
Rachel McIntyre | Gallery Manager
As Gallery Manager, Rachel McIntyre works alongside the Director on the overall management of the gallery; exhibitions, operations, and legal and financial resources of the organisation. Previously she curated the Gallery’s Learning and Engagement Programme, planning a programme of talks, screenings, tours and other events that open up discussion around the exhibitions. Before joining the Gallery, Rachel worked in the Library and Archives Department of the National Gallery of Ireland, where she also delivered guided tours of the collection and exhibitions. Her background is in the history of art and she has written essays for exhibitions in the Gallery and independently
Emma Moore | Engagement and Projects Curator
Emma Moore is Engagement and Projects Curator at The Douglas Hyde, devising and delivering artist projects and a multidisciplinary programme of events that expand on ideas in artists’ work. Before returning home to Dublin in 2021, Emma worked in institutions across the UK, most recently as Curator: Engagement at Chisenhale Gallery, London. In this role, she worked closely with artists on new commissions and exhibitions, including artists Luke Willis Thompson and Imran Perretta. Emma also produced several short films as part of an innovative commissioning strand in partnership with Channel 4 and BBC Arts. In an independent capacity she has supported artists on new commissions, including artist Doireann O’Malley, through a Bursary Award.
Holly Pickering | Gallery Assistant
Holly Pickering is an artist from Waterford based in Dublin. Her research-based practice moves between the mediums of moving-image, sculpture and writing. Her practice employs language as a medium to explore its own fallibility, using it as a tool to consider feelings of desire and defeat which arise in our attempts to express the weight of subjective or social reality. She is a member of Ormond Art Studios. Recent engagements include, SÍM Residency, Reykjavík (2024), Screen Service, The Collision Project (2024), forefinger; pointer;guiding principle, Muine Bheag Arts, Carlow (2023), and solo show Amanuensis at Ormond Art Studios, Dublin (2022). Recent awards include the Arts Council Agility Award (2024, 2023 and 2022), Waterford Artlinks Bursary (2024), the Ormond Art Studios Recent Graduate Award (2022) and the Garter Lane Film Artist Residency Award (2022).
Board
Patrick Prendergast (Chair) | Appointed June 2021
Patrick is currently Research Professor at Trinity College Dublin, where he served as President & Provost from 2011 to 2021. His experience includes development of global partnerships, research, innovation, and university advancement where he led Trinity’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign ‘Inspiring Generations’ to exceed its €400m target. He served on the Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology for eight years, is a former chair of the Board of Science Gallery International, a network of nine galleries on four continents. Since 2022 he is Chairperson of the Governing Body of South East Technological University.
Quentin Crowley | Appointed December 2019
Quentin is Associate Professor in the School of Natural Sciences and Director of the Centre for the Environment at Trinity College Dublin. He is a Funded Investigator in the iCRAG SFI Research Centre, and Trinity College’s academic lead for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate-KIC. Dr Crowley’s main research expertise is in geochemistry applied to environmental change though time. His work on the contemporary environment has links with environmental contaminants, human health and human perceptions of environmental risk. Dr Crowley is a keen advocate of creative thinking and innovation applied to a range of environmental topics, in order to address societal challenges.
Sarah Glennie | Appointed July 2025
Professor Sarah Glennie is Director of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. She is a distinguished leader in the arts in Ireland and internationally, working professionally in the cultural realm for twenty years, with extensive experience of directing and working in a number of public cultural institutions in both Ireland and Britain. Prior to NCAD she was Director of The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2012-2015) and previously as Director of the Irish Film Institute (IFI) (2008-2012), where she oversaw a major redevelopment programme. At both organisations she developed new programmatic and organisational strategies that led to significant audience growth and greater financial sustainability. Among other roles, she was also Artistic Director of the Model Arts and Niland Gallery in Sligo (2005-2008), Commissioner of Ireland’s participation in the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005 and Curator with the Henry Moore Foundation Contemporary Project.
Emma Goltz | Appointed February 2024
Emma Goltz is a non-executive director of several boards in the education and arts sectors. She was formerly a management consultant with Bain & Company in San Francisco and prior to that she worked for several years in banking in Dublin and London. She holds a BA (Mod) degree in Economics and Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau. For the past twenty years, she has been actively involved in a wide range of non-profit organisations where she has developed extensive experience in fundraising and governance in the sector. She is currently the Chair of Studio Voltaire in London and a board member of the Contemporary Art Society, UK. She is also the Vice Chair of INSEAD Business School. She has been a lifelong collector of art, with a particular interest in sculpture.
Bassam Issa Al-Sabah | Appointed July 2025
Bassam Issa Al-Sabah is an artist working with digital animation, painting, sculpture and textiles. his installations interrogate the intersection of fantasy and trauma, employing speculative worlds as a lens through which to explore the mechanisms of memory and identity formation. Frequently drawing on the visual lexicon of video games, anime, and popular culture, constructing alternative realities that function as both a means of escape and critical commentary. These Surrealistic spaces are often juxtaposed with stark depictions of violence and destruction, their landscapes and fragmented narratives mirroring the dissonant nature of recollection and the complex processes of self-reconstruction.
Oisin McClenaghan | Appointed October 2018
Oisin is a partner and heads the Investment Funds team at Ogier, the international law firm, in Dublin. Oisin practices financial services law and advises many of the globally leading financial institutions, asset managers and investment banks on the structuring, establishment, marketing and sale of Irish domiciled investment vehicles. Prior to joining Ogier, Oisin was a partner in a leading asset management legal practice in Dublin and has more than 18 years’ experience assisting managers bringing funds to market and assisting with their ongoing legal and regulatory compliance and servicing requirements. Oisin is a member and prior chair of various Irish Funds working groups. He regularly contributes to industry publications and consultations and is a frequent guest lecturer in investment funds law.
Jennifer McElwain | Appointed July 2025
Jennifer McElwain is Professor of Botany in the School of Natural Sciences in the Discipline of Botany at Trinity College Dublin. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Professor McElwain leads an active research team interested in understanding how Earth’s atmosphere and plant life have changed and interacted over millions of years. This research serves as a baseline to inform current understanding of the science of climate change and biodiversity loss. She established and Co-Directs the Environmental Science and Engineering Programme (TR064) at Trinity which integrates teaching in the natural sciences and engineering. She is also the Director of Trinity College Botanic Garden, an historic college garden established in 1687. Professor McElwain is an award winning scientist, author and educator and regularly collaborates with artists.
Daniel McFarlane | Appointed April 2020
Daniel is a Trinity Access, Schools & Community Outreach Team Member. He primarily works as a Transition Year and Arts & Culture Coordinator. His work within Trinity Access tends to be with external bodies such as publishers, artists, theatre-makers, cultural programmers and European languages Institutes in Dublin. His recent projects have been with European partners such as Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe-Institut and other local Irish partners as the Abbey Theatre, the Lab Gallery, Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Irish Times. Daniel’s work is informed by his background whilst being inclusion-lead with a focus on working with low-income and under-represented social groups.
Eva Rothschild | Appointed July 2025
Eva Rothschild was born in Dublin, Ireland, 1971 and currently lives and works in London. Rothschild studied BA Hons Fine Art at the University of Ulster, Belfast (1990–93), and has an MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London (1997–99). Since 2014, Rothschild is an elected RA, Royal Academy of Arts, London and was made Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy schools in 2024. Rothschild’s work has been the subject of institutional solo exhibitions including representing Ireland at the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy. Eva Rothschild’s works are held by major public collections including MoMA, New York, Arts Council of England, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Tate, and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Aidan Walsh | Appointed October 2018
Aidan is a partner for over 10 years in EY, the accountancy firm. He is a Solicitor and Associate of the Institute of Taxation in Ireland. He is a member of EY’s EMEIA Governance council and is a director of a number of Irish regulated and other companies. Aidan is co-author of a number of books and articles on technical matters.
All members of the Board are also members of the Company. At present there are no other Company members.
The Douglas Hyde is committed to the implementation of the Code of Governance and the Principles of Good Fundraising.
Please download the Gallery’s Fundraising Principles and Donor Charter here. The Complaints & Feedback Procedures is available here.
Accounts
Download a copy of the Gallery’s most recent audited accounts
Download senior staff remuneration packages
Articles and Memorandum of Association
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Articles & Memorandum of Association here
Strategic Plan
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027
Policies
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Child Safeguarding Statement
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Privacy Policy
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Artist Pay policy
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and Action Plan 2026
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Climate Action Policy and Action Plan
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Conflict of Interest Policy
Download The Douglas Hyde’s Code of Conduct
The Douglas Hyde Gallery is proudly supported by the Arts Council, An Chomhairle Ealaíon, and Trinity College, Dublin. Registered Charity No. CHY 6700
The Douglas Hyde Gallery is hugely grateful to the following individuals for their generous support:
Director’s Circle
Emma Goltz, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Adrian and Jennifer O’Carroll, K. Smith and A. Walsh.
Patrons
Michele McGuirk
Champions
Denis Byrne Architects, Dónall Curtin & Anne O’Donoghue, John Feeney, Maire & Maurice Foley, Marie Heaney, Peter & Paula Ledbetter, Florence Loric, mother’s tankstation, Sorcha Richardson, Ikumi Ryan.
Benefactors
Tom Gallagher, Gordon McMillan, Pádraic E. Moore, Steve Wilson.
Friends
Leila Anglade, Eleanor Costello, Gerry Costello, Anne Hendrick, Sheila Hough, Bernadette Madden, Liam Moylan, Anna Spearman, Kate Strain, Liz Ward.
Support us
There are many ways you can support the Douglas Hyde Gallery; from making a one-off donation to joining as a supporter, or helping to fund an artist’s commission, a programme or organisational initiative.
The Douglas Hyde Gallery was co-founded by the Arts Council and Trinity College in 1978 as Ireland’s first publicly funded gallery for contemporary art and first university gallery.
In a truly unique partnership the Arts Council of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin co-founded the Douglas Hyde Gallery. It opened to the public on the 1st March 1978 as the first university gallery and first publicly funded contemporary art exhibition space in Ireland, with an exhibition of the painter Jo Baer. As Taoiseach at the time Mr Jack Lynch said in his opening remarks, “I would hope that out of this ferment of activity in the visual arts, we will see developing in the future a fuller dimension in our lives, a dimension which has not been markedly present in the past.”
The name of the gallery takes one of Trinity’s graduates who contributed much to the development of national awareness and was the first President of Ireland. In his opening speech Dawson, argued “I hope that it will make a national contribution, worthy of the name it bears. I believe that it will be worthy to the extent that it serves the artists of this country well.”
Throughout the past 43 years, there are many incredible highlights, from Edward Kienholz’s pioneering exhibition in 1981 to Alice Neel’s exhibition in 2011. The DHG has presented pivotal solo exhibitions by Irish artists including Gerard Byrne, Kathy Prendergast and Eva Rothschild, bringing their work to wider national and international attention, while introducing artists of huge international standing, such as Marlene Dumas, Anselm Kiefer, and Jumana Manna, to Ireland for the first time.
We have a unique track record of developing, producing and presenting innovative exhibitions by Irish and international artists in formative and established stages of their careers resonating strongly with audiences in Dublin, Ireland and beyond.
The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art is housed in the Arts Building of Trinity College Dublin.
Like the nearby Boland Library, it was designed by Paul Koralek of ABK architects. The space is an interesting example of late 1970s Brutalist architecture, juxtaposing heavy, angular concrete structures with massive voids.
In the main exhibition space, Gallery 1, the high walls and large, open floor area create a dramatic and memorable space for the display of artworks. In contrast, the award-winning Gallery 2, designed by McCullough Mulvin architects and opened in 2001, provides a more intimate and meditative environment.
The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, centrally located on the campus of Trinity College Dublin, is a much sought after venue for hire.
Find out more by downloading our Venue Hire Guide.
A building of unique architectural significance, it is adaptable to ambitious projects, high concept events, and intimate gatherings.
Visitors enter into a foyer leading to a balcony which provides a birds-eye view of Gallery 1, a dramatic double-height space, with adjustable lighting. Gallery 2 is a more intimate setting, which can be self-contained or act as an extension to the main space.
For further information and to enquire about availability and rates, please complete our Gallery Rental Enquiry Form and send it to Rachel McIntyre, Gallery Manager. Please provide as much detail as possible to allow us to answer your query.
How to Support Us
The Douglas Hyde has gained worldwide recognition in platforming new and diverse perspectives in contemporary art. In supporting us you are enabling artists to make their most ambitious work to date and helping to bring that work to new audiences.
