Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.
Image credits:
1. Derek Speirs, Carnsore Festival, 1978
2. Design by Bureau Bonanza. Hand symbol based on 1978 design by William Finnie
A black and white archival image depicts a festival crowd sitting and lying on the ground. The crowd is attending Carnsore Point anti-nuclear festival in Co.Wexford.
A yellow logo depicts a sun and landscape, with the sky in the shape of a hand. The logo is on a black background.
Reminder!
Join us this Friday, 17 April from 7-9pm for the exhibition preview of the Limerick iteration of ‘Memory of a Free Festival’. Admission is free and all are welcome.
‘Memory of a Free Festival’ is a touring exhibition and event programme presented by Ormston House.
Over the years we have presented: Jennifer Trouton, Laura Fitzgerald, Ciara Barker, Joy Gerrard, Ursula Burke, Vanessa Donoso López, Alan Butler, Anastasia Artemeva, Gimena Blanco, Paraic Leahy, Celeen Mahé, Eilish Murrihy, Isabella Oberländer, Alan Phelan, and Paul Quast.
An installation view of Laura Fitzgerald’s presentation for Supermarket Art Fair, 2022. Colourful drawings sit on grey walls on the left and right background. A multi-media installation sits on the floor in the foreground of the image.
An installation view of ‘People Who (…) Have No Dreams’ by Ciara Barker, at Supermarket Art Fair, 2021. Two young children look at a video playing on a screen. The walls are painted red and blue behind the screen. There are silver foil sheets to the left and right of the image.
Joy Gerrard stands in front of their presentation for Supermarket Art Fair, 2019. A large scale monochrome painting is in the background. Small monochrome drawings sit on black walls on the right and left of the image.
Members from the Ormston House team will be in Stockholm next week presenting Daniel Tuomey's work at Supermarket Art Fair.
This is our ninth time participating at Supermarket. Ormston House first attended Supermarket Art Fair in 2014 presenting ‘DARK MATTER or Optimism as a Strategy’.
Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.
Design by Bureau Bonanza. Hand symbol based on 1978 design by William Finnie.
Yellow text reads "MEMORY OF A FREE FESTIVAL", "ORMSTON HOUSE", and "18th April - 20th June". The yellow text is on a black background.
Yellow text on the top of the image reads "Featuring", "Orla Barry", "Brain Duggan", "Cóilín O'Connell", "Alanna O'Kelly", "and Special Guests". Yellow text on the bottom of the image reads "Photographs by", "Derek Spiers", "Archival footage by", "Ken Lynam". The yellow text is on a black background.
A yellow logo depicts a sun and landscape, with the sky in the shape of a hand. The logo is on a black background.
Save the date!
Ormston House warmly invites you to the exhibition preview of the Limerick iteration of ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ on Friday, 17 April from 7-9pm. Admission is free and all are welcome.
Featuring works by Orla Barry, Brian Duggan, Cóilín O’Connell, and Alanna O’Kelly
Four people sit in front of a large screen showing footage of a festival crowd. Frank Connolly, Susie Kennedy and Christy Moore are all being interviewed by Pádraic E. Moore.
Orla Barry speaks at a microphone. She has shoulder-length light brown hair and is wearing a dark green cardigan and dark grey jeans.
Brain Duggan speaks at a microphone. He has short light hair and is wearing a grey shirt and jeans, and a dark grey cardigan. Caimin Walsh sits behind a laptop on a table.
Alanna O’Kelly stands at a microphone. Her brown hair is tied back and she is wearing a multi-coloured sleeveless top, a purple scarf, a grey shirt and black jeans.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on Saturday, 21 March at the launch event for ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ at Project Arts Centre.
Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.
Images by Louis Haugh
Here at Ormston House we are preparing for our next exhibition ‘Memory of a Free Festival’. As we paint walls and floors we reflect upon the evolution of our premises. This is how Ormston House looked in April 2011.
#OrmstonHouseAt15
Images by Niamh Brown
This embedded research feeds into O.J.A.I.'s forthcoming exhibition ALT WEST / ALT THIAR at Ormston House in September, including a video portrait of Sarsfield House developed on site with German artist Julia Zinnbauer.
Images credits:
1. Julia Zinnbauer.
2. O.J.A.I.
Gary Farrelly, Julia Zinnbauer and Chris Dreier pose in front of a large grey building. Sarsfield House is written in blue lettering on the side of the building. There are trees and shrubbery to the left and right of the image.
The large grey building of Sarsfield House is situated on the bank of a river. The building is made of grey concrete and has uninterrupted horizontal windows. The river is in the foreground of the image and there are trees and grass to the left.
During March we welcomed the Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence (O.J.A.I.) to Ormston House for a residency. O.J.A.I., the collaborative practice of Chris Dreier and Gary Farrelly, operates between Brussels and Berlin.
Hand symbol based on 1978 design by William Finnie.
Hand symbol based on 1978 design by William Finnie.
Esti looks at the camera. She has dark brown curly hair tied up, and is wearing glasses and a grey jumper. She has gold earrings.
Aisling smiles at the camera. She has straight dark brown hair tied up and is wearing a light grey cardigan . She has a gold necklace and earrings.
Ormston House recently welcomed Esti Cadavid and Aisling Finlay to our team.
Esti and Aisling assist us in the day-to-day running of the organisation and the delivery of our 2026 programme.
Images by Shane Vaughan.
Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.
Image credit: William Matthews, Ireland’s 1st Anti-Nuclear Power Show, (1978), Screenprint. Image courtesy of the Laka Foundation, Amsterdam
Archival poster of Carnsore Point anti-nuclear festival in Co.Wexford, 1978. Depicting black and white images of festival crowds and music line up. Black and white text is on a multi-coloured background.
Reminder!
Our touring exhibition ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ will launch this Saturday, 21 March at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, from 2 - 6pm.
This event is fully booked, to be added to the waitlist, please email box-office@projectartscentre.ie.
The tour launches with a one day event at Project Arts Centre on Saturday 21 March, 2026. This event is currently fully booked, to be added to the waitlist, please email box-office@projectartscentre.ie.
Image by El Reid-Buckley.
The image features a billboard depicting a red smiling sun surrounded by black text in a yellow circle, on a black background. The text reads CUMHACHT ADMACH? UAFÁS (NUCLEAR POWER? NO THANKS in English). The billboard is presented on a blue exterior wall.
As part of our touring exhibition ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ a reproduction of the Smiling Sun logo in Irish is being presented as a billboard on the exterior of Project Arts Centre.
The Smiling Sun logo was designed by 21-year-old Danish activist Anne Lund in 1975.
Ormston House is supported by the Arts Council and Limerick Arts Office. Flora Kerrigan’s films are presented in partnership with the Irish Film Institute.
Images by Julie McLoughlin.
Several people playing various instruments as part of the Synthesize_Her workshop.
An audience watches a screen showing a black and white film by Flora Kerrigan.
An audience watches Shirani Bolle perform. She is wearing a colourful costume.
An audience watches SÍODA perform.
Thank you to everyone who joined us last Saturday for The Crone, our International Women's Day celebration.
We would like to express our gratitude to: Synthesize_Her, Flora Kerrigan, Shirani Bolle, Vivienne Dick, Bea McMahon, SÍODA and Mobys.
Special thanks to Teresa and Ailbhe from STARLING.
Admission is free and all are welcome. Booking is not necessary and audiences can join at any point.
Design by Asia Domagalska.
Image description:
A silvery grey liquid forms the word "CRONE" on a pale grey background, it is rotated in the image. Additional text overlays the image.
A silvery grey liquid forms the word "CRONE" on a pale grey background, it is rotated in the image. Additional text overlays the image.
Reminder! ✨
Join us this Saturday from 2pm for The Crone, our International Women's Day event in collaboration with STARLING.
2-4pm: Synthesize_Her
4pm: Flora Kerrigan
5-6pm: Break
6pm: Shirani Bolle
6.30pm: Vivienne Dick
7.45-8.15pm: Intermission with Mobys
8.15pm: Bea McMahon
8.45pm: SÍODA
Bea McMahon is a visual artist living in Amsterdam. She uses sculpture, performance, song, dance, moving image and installation.
SÍODA is a digital multimedia artist from the west of Ireland. Her work focuses on creating interactions between music and video.
. Still from 'Beauty Becomes the Beast', 1979. Courtesy of Vivienne Dick. A Super 8 film scan depicts a person with short dark hair looking to their right. They are wearing a black top and necklace.
Image by Louis Haugh. Three people pose in white outfits. One stands in an inflatable boat, two hold up boat oars.
SÍODA sits in front of a black laptop. She has brown shoulder-length dark brown hair and is wearing a black top with white writing. Courtesy of SÍODA
Introducing the remaining contributors to The Crone, our International Women's Day programme in collaboration with STARLING.
Vivienne Dick makes multilayered, open-ended films which combine elements of documentary, performance and fiction.
Filmmaker Flora Kerrigan, was an active member of the Cork Cine Club in the late 1950s and 1960s, crafting remarkable animation and live-action shorts on 8mm film.
Image credits:
1. Image by John Beasley.
2. Courtesy of Synthesize_Her.
3. Still from 'Dream Maker', courtesy of the IFI.
Shirani Bolle holds a crocheted pink microphone. She has dark brown shoulder length hair and is wearing a multi-coloured outfit. There are two multi-media, colourful sculptures in the background.
Two hands play a synthesizer. Various instruments sit on a black and white woven rug.
A black and white film image depicts an open book on a person's lap. A hand clutches at a skirt revealing their leg.
In the lead up to our International Women's Day event, we are highlighting the contributors to the programme.
Shirani Bolle is an artist based in Limerick with Sri Lankan, Dutch-German, and British heritage.
Synthesize_Her [S_H] is a feminist sound technology organisation that promotes education.
Design by Asia Domagalska.
Image description:
A silvery grey liquid forms the word "CRONE" on a pale grey background. The text is rotated in the image.
A silvery grey liquid forms the word "CRONE" on a pale grey background. The text is rotated in the image.
On Saturday 7 March, Ormston House partners with STARLING to curate a programme of film, workshop, and live performance entitled The Crone, in celebration of International Women’s Day, 2026.
Admission is free and all are welcome. Booking is not necessary and audiences can join at any point.
Image credits:
1-2. Allie Glynn
3-4. Deirdre Power
An audience watches two women talk on two separate couches. To the left an interpreter signs the conversation.
An audience watches a sign language choir of six women dressed in black.
In the foreground there is a bed with a multi-colored quilt. In the mid-ground an audience watches a woman talking. In the background there are two paintings of women.
Four women dressed in black sing and play ukuleles.
As we prepare to announce our programme for International Women's Day, we look back on events hosted in previous years.
One of our highlights has been our partnership with Women's Collective Ireland - Limerick, who we've been working with consistently for the last decade.
#OrmstonHouseAt15
Images by Shane Vaughan.
Image description:
1. Susan MacWilliam and Jacqui McIntosh are in conversation.
2. An audience member asks a question.
3. An audience member asks a question.
4. In the foreground several audience members sit. In the mid-ground two women sit at a desk.