Dublin Art Life
Dublin Art Life is an online platform showcasing the happenings in Dublin’s art galleries and museums. They amplify the Dublin art scene by visiting, promoting and discussing the city’s current exhibitions.
Dublin Art Life is curated by two Dublin-based art enthusiasts who have worked and studied in the creative fields in the capital city. They’re aiming to create a platform that catalogues the Dublin gallery scene and ultimately highlights Dublin as a city that champions contemporary art.
“There's a constantly renewed source of expressive projects and work to be found here. Dublin Art Life aspires to document this sweeping art-scene, to promote the galleries that support it, and broadcast events and artworks to our followers that they may find intriguing. Crucially, we want to make it accessible to everyone, to encourage newcomers and budding gallery-hoppers not to be shy – especially in the smaller galleries.
For instance, I remember getting a message from someone who said they loved art but were too nervous to go visit a show because they were nervous that they wouldn’t “fit in”! – my content made her eager to visit a smaller show and she absolutely loved it. Those kind of messages makes me happy as I feel like I’m doing something right.”
Back when the guys were students, they were mad to find out about the latest shows but had to seek out the information across multiple websites.
“We started this Instagram to fulfil a demand that we ourselves coveted. We often missed exhibitions, particularly those with limited run-times as it wasn’t promoted in anywhere!
We knew we had a vibrant art scene in our city, but it felt like nobody was noticing it – I would mention about the incredible shows I visited to my college peers in art college and more than half of my class wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about – and they were art students!”
They realised that by creating Dublin Art Life, there was an opportunity to showcase these shows in an all-encompassing online space that brought together the exhibitions and gallery information of the Dublin art scene.
“At any time, our followers can see the shows that are available, and for how long. We're happy to have a faithful base of followers across our various social media platforms. We've worked hard to contribute to the Dublin art scene's online presence. It's always a priceless feeling to receive feedback from our followers, who attend exhibitions that they might have otherwise missed.”
It’s evident these guys have a passion for the Dublin art scene. They resolutely believe this city is a great platform for contemporary art.
“There is always high-quality artwork happening a stone's throw from the city centre, and also in suburban galleries like Tallaght's Rua Red or the DLR Lexicon in Dun Laoghaire. Whether it's blue-chip artists like Banksy in Gormley's Fine Art Gallery, or the promising new works that abound at graduate shows, there's something for everyone. Also, the smaller galleries in Dublin tend to be close to each other so you can do a gallery-hop! Great fun when you have spare time in the city centre.”
Gallery-hopping has obviously been on pause during the lockdown. Dublin Art Life miss it more than most, but we asked them if they had any suggestions for other ways to explore the art world as we start to slowly come to a new normal.
“Many Dublin galleries are offering online content. The National Gallery of Ireland has virtual tours and online activities, The Hugh Lane has exhibition archives and one of my favourite places, the Kerlin Gallery, are continually opening online viewing rooms on their website! We've been continually highlighting on our insta-stories what other galleries have been doing too. It’s great to know that there’s still an interest in art during this time.
If you’re bored at home, we suggest that if you happen to have some sculptures or public art within 5km of your house, why not take a closer look?”
Dublin Art Life have already created a serious online following and significantly contributed to the rapid growth of the creative culture in the city.
“We're going to continue to broadcast and document Dublin's art scene, but we also intend to release a website coming this Summer 2020: www.dublinartlife.com
The website is basically an extension of what we’re already doing but it’ll be an online space where you’ll see a list of exhibitions from galleries and museums on show in Dublin.
We'll be announcing this when the time comes, for now you can sign up to our mailing list so you can know when we’re live!”
No doubt their website will be as sharp and polished as rest of the work these guys have put in so far. We’ll be joining their community as they continue to curate Dublin’s prospering gallery and exhibition scene.
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