Museum Stories: Collins Barracks and Natural History

international | arts and media | other press

Friday March 28, 2008 20:32

by C Murray

Art Gallery and Legislation (2003)

In this month's 'Irish Art Review', which is available online (it's a tenner a pop in the
Newsagents) the editor discusses the current exhibition in Collin's Barracks and asks
the question: 'Should not the Irish State give up to 50% of the pieces back, because
they are colonial plunder' ?

Its brief and I did not bring my copy, thus I cannot quote him verbatim..
The Natural History Museum remains closed since the staircase collapse last
year, with rumblings in the media that the Senate will be expanded in there and
kids are therefore limited in free access to their heritage, learning and study places.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76354

Cover Story

Currently Minister Brennan Has upped funding to Galleries to allow for non-traditional
opening hours, but this is set against the problems in OPW and the National Museum
in relation to archive and database issues.

http://www.savetara.com/articles/2008/032008_problems.html
http://www.museum.ie/events/details_events.asp?eventid=..._id=0

The Ann Madden Link is included because it makes mention of the exhibitions
and gallery work of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and other small groups who
brought modern art to Ireland against a backround of Cultural repression in the
De Valera era, where visual Propaganda in the creation of a nation was more
important than access and funding.

The current government partners legislated for the contentious Arts Act (2003)
which allowed the State an overweening control and say in what is funded
and actually is the first time that this level of interference in the independence
of artistic expression has been allowed since the De V era.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/76354

At the moment the Canadian Government is making similar moves
on writing expression and in broadcast (will add in link)

Irish Arts Review: http://www.irishartsreview.com/
Brian Maguire on poverty and alienation:- http://www.irishartsreview.com/html/Vol25-no1/Maguire/M...e.htm

The National Botanic Gardens are running an excellent free Spring Trail for Kids,
which is a treasure hunt involving Roman gods and naming plants, they get
a packet of saved seeds, lots of excerise and a lollipop at the end and must
tour the whole gardens to fill out their forms- they like to hear about Cook's legacy
in the National Botanic Gardens, where many of the plants were brought in as
a result of the colonial adventures currently causing controversy at Collins!