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Student Forum Group 2018|2019

The Student Forum is a group of students and recent graduates who engage with The Douglas Hyde Gallery and its programming in different ways over a period of twelve months. These engagements include leading tours of our exhibitions, participating in reading and discussion groups, and group trips to exhibitions and events. Through these engagements, Student Forum members bring their own research and artistic practices into reflections on the artworks they see, as well as into an ongoing interrogation of the purpose and possibilities of the gallery space.

Laurence Counihan

Laurence Counihan is a writer and critic. He holds an MA in Creative Media from the Institute of Technology, Tralee, and is currently completing an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism at University College Cork. His research is located at the intersection between art and technology, focusing primarily on concepts relating to: systems theory and cybernetics, posthumanism, accelerationism and digital material

Sara Dowling

Sara Dowling is an emerging Curator based in Limerick, Ireland. She received a BA in Sculpture & Combined Media from Limerick School of Art & Design and is a former LSAD Student Union President. She was awarded an MA scholarship for Research in Fine Art Curatorial Studies by Practice with EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art, supported by LSAD & LIT. As EVA’s Curatorial Scholar, Sara has held project management roles as well as provided curatorial assistance towards the 38th EVA International Biennial. Additionally, she is Emerging Curator on behalf of the Creative Europe project, Magic Carpets, as well as a member of the International Selection Committee for Athena Standards Residencies, Athens. She has also maintained her own practice, most recently exhibiting at Agios Ioannis Cultural centre for Mudhouse, Crete June 2017 & Halcyon Days, glór Gallery Ennis for Halcyon Days Oct 2017–Jan 2018, and 126 Members Exhibition, Galway, 22 June–1 July 2018. She continues to be involved in local opportunities and events for emerging artists and graduate students.

Emma Durack

Emma Durack is a final-year Irish Studies student at Trinity College Dublin. The creative world as a whole is one which Emma is continually drawn to. Previously, she has worked on small-scale projects with various Irish photographers, film-makers and creatives, in the Samuel Becket Theatre as part of the Debut Festival, and on the Trinity Ball Art Installations team. She is an invigilator for Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and a volunteer for the Trinity College Student Art Hire Scheme. Most recently, Emma has completed a summer internship at London-based jewellery and design brand, Rachel Balfour.

Isadora Epstein

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.

Siobhán Kane

Siobhán Kane is an academic and lecturer at University College Dublin, and her present research project is on John McGahern. She has an interest in interdisciplinary studies, and also works as a music and arts journalist and broadcaster for publications and broadcasters such as The Irish Times, WIRE, The Quietus and RTÉ. She also runs the arts collective Young Hearts Run Free, putting events on in unusual spaces, raising money for the Simon Community with each one. www.youngheartsrunfree.ie

Theo Hynan-Ratcliffe

Theo Hynan-Ratcliffe is a second year Sculpture & Combined Media student in Limerick School of Art & Design, working across the borders of curating, writing, directing, acting and sculpting to feed her studio practice. Within her praxis, Theo works within the symbiosis of perceptual language read through phenomenology and academic texts, looking at the expansion of the gallery language into the sensorial. Theo was invited to exhibit in this method for A Feminist Space at Leeds: Looking Back to Think Forward, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Griselda Pollock’s involvement with Leeds University. Theo is currently exploring the phenomenological translations of a space through a residency in connection with the Garravagh Project residency space and Road Books artist book press.

Aisling Ní Aodha

Aisling Ní Aodha is a third year Paint and Visual Culture student in NCAD. She is a multidisciplinary, research-driven artist, mainly focused on the aesthetics of environmental perception. Recent exhibitions were a result of her research into the construction of the Poulaphouca Dam and its effect on the landscape. Recent works include A Remarkable Cataract (2018), a painting show held at the National College of Art & Design, and The Ghost Hole Memory Bank (2018), a performance and installation as part of the International Literature Festival. Her written work can be found on her WordPress account, The Nameless the Void, where she posts essays, reviews in both Irish and English, and transcripts of talks and performances.

Eimear Regan

Eimear Regan is a 2018 graduate of Visual Culture in NCAD. She is a practicing curator, poet and spoken word performer. Through her work she investigates the human condition. Her most recent exhibition Interstices of Light at The Complex, a combination of photography and poetry, was an investigation into states of mental health.

Claire Tobin Dunne

As a fine art graduate, Claire Tobin Dunne developed an interest in the social relations between people and art objects. As an MA student of critical and cultural studies, her research focuses on the use of objects by the Shaman and the performance artist. In particular, Claire’s work looks at the agency of the objects used in a ritual function and the transformations undertaken by these objects during the ritual process. Her artistic practice focuses on the role of sculptural objects and Shamanism.