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Events at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre 24 July to 1 August |
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Anseo / Elsewhere
Cork County and City Artists Summer Showcase
Exhibition. 2 July to 19 September 2026
Anseo / Elsewhere is a group exhibition exploring experiences of dislocation and divided presence. Artists from Cork city and county were invited to explore ideas around the experience of being physically present in one place while mentally or emotionally elsewhere. https://westcorkartscentre.com/event/cork-county-and-city-artists-summer-showcase-2026/
Siobhán McGibbon
Love beyond the species and the sexual
25 July to 19 September 2026
This major solo exhibition by Siobhán McGibbon presents a chapter of McGibbon’s ongoing speculative world, Xenophon, a long-term project that imagines more-than-human futures through fiction, science and sculpture. Told across three acts, it moves from the artist’s unkempt garden into the ecologies, histories and more-than-human communities of Myross Woods, Leap, Co. Cork. https://westcorkartscentre.com/event/siobhan-mcgibbon-2/
Saturday 25 July at 2:00pm
Exhibition opening with guest speaker Dr. Sarah Kelleher, writer and curator.
Monday 27 July 1:30pm
Gallery Talk with scent artist Frank Bloem
Friday 31 July 1:30pm
Siobhán McGibbon in conversation with bio-artist artist Catherine Euale
Mon 27, Tues 28 and Wed 29 at 12noon
Gallery Tours with Sylwia Migdal
All events free, no booking required
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DUO
New compositions, improvisations and baroque masterpieces with Maya Homburger, baroque violin and Barry Guy, bass
Tuesday 28 July at 7.30pm
Tickets €15 booking on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/duo-new-compositions-improvisations-and-baroque-masterpieces-tickets-1991468990359?aff=oddtdtcreator
Double bassist and composer Barry Guy, one of the most virtuosic and inventive voices in improvised music, joins forces with baroque violinist Maya Homburger, whose distinctive approach to early music is deeply informed by the freedom and creativity of improvisation.
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Play and Movement with Danae Wollen
Friday 24 July, 10.30 am to 12 noon
€10/7 per child, aged 1 to 4 years, with their adult
Booking on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1991475397523
Come in comfortable clothes to explore and move with your toddler. We’ll be sliding, bopping, bouncing and crawling, touching in elements of animal flow, acro yoga and contact improvisation with you and your little one.
Film Play for teenagers with Catherine Hol
Monday 27 July, 10am to 4pm
Resonate at Skibbereen Arts Festival
Free, 12 participants, 14 to 19 year olds
Booking through Resonate here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-play-tickets-1992000929403?msockid=395cda21f9306c61143fcd46f8546d9b
An active fun-filled workshop for teenagers interested in acting, storytelling and filmmaking. Learn the basics of camera work, sound recording and editing.
Singing Garden with BEAG
Friday 31 July, 11:30am to 12:30pm
€15/€10 per child with their adult (0 - 18 months)
Booking on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1991469596171
Singing Garden is an immersive, multi-sensory experience created especially for babies (0–18 months) and their adults. Led by Graffiti:BEAG artists, in collaboration with The African Queens - a Cork-based South African all-female a cappella ensemble - this gentle and engaging experience invites participants to explore lullabies, music and sound, alongside colours, textures and elements of nature.
BreakDance workshop for Children
with Esmeé O’Brien
Saturday 1 August from 11:00am to 12:15pm
For ages 8 to 12, Fee €5/8
Booking on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/1991470900071
This workshop will provide basic techniques for breakdancing for beginners and intermediate participants. Beginning with warmup, conditioning, and free movement children will then progress into techniques such as handstands, freezes along with core hip hop footwork and party steps.
| | Resonate at Skibbereen Arts Festival @ Uillinn | | |
Anua Film Screening
Thursday 30 July at 6.30pm
Free Event, Booking Essential https://www.skibbereenartsfestival.com/anua
Anua is an experimental film and sonic journey exploring our relationship to land, language, sound, mythology and the Otherworld. It is narrated and inspired by the work of the late Manchán Magan and in particular his work around dinnseanchas (lore of place), placenames, the Irish language and the power of resonance.
Directed by Aoise Tutty Jackson and Produced by Maggie Ryan with an original score by Kevin McNally, Kevin O'Shanahan and featuring Gamelan Spréacha Geala.
This special screening is in honour of Manchán Magan. Passages from his work will be read by Karen Minihan and there will be a short song sharing session with Eithne O’ Mahony agus a chairde from the Abair Amhrán singing project after the screening
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Find Your Flow Open Door with Rebecca Keyser
Friday 31 July 11.00am - 12.00pm
Free Event, no booking necessary
Designed to encourage individuals to explore and develop their own creative path. With a wide variety of materials available, the focus is on discovery and experimentation, rather than producing a ‘finished’ artwork. Support is offered as needed, including introductions to techniques and helpful ways to get started. Music plays softly in the background, creating a relaxed and welcoming environment where participants can immerse themselves in the creative process—or simply enjoy chatting and exchanging ideas with others.
Find Your Flow is supported as part of the Wellbeing Network, 49 North Street and Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre
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Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh
6 July to 5 August 2026
Studio open to the public on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
https://westcorkartscentre.com/event/maitiu-mac-carthaigh-2026/
This residency will support Maitiú in resolving work for two upcoming exhibitions in September 2026. Working across installation, publication, expanded print media, sculpture, video and sound, their interdisciplinary practice explores the sexual politics of rural Ireland and the complexities of Queer identity within predominantly cis-heteronormative culture.
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Julielou Bacon
Almanac 2026 ce
Uillinn/Crespo Artist in Residence
5 June to 4 August 2026
Studio open to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday
https://westcorkartscentre.com/event/julielou-bacon-2026/
Taking its name from the centuries-old almanac publication, this residency draws inspiration from traditional collections of seasonal knowledge and forecasts relating to farming, astronomy, the sea and weather. Almanac 2026 ce reflects on how we navigate time and climate today, while foregrounding the many different ways they are measured, experienced and understood.
Climate and Time Storytelling Workshop
Tuesday 28 July, 11am to 12noon
Free, no booking necessary but places are limited.
Suited to all from 12 years+ (0ver 12s accompanied by their adult)
Do you have stories about the seasons, or memories of ways of life on land and sea, in town or rurally, in West Cork?
Join Julielou Bacon for an informal workshop sharing experiences of climate and time, as part of her Almanac 2026 ce project at Uillinn.
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Lara Quinn
Cork County Council/Uillinn Artist in Residence Award
29 July to 29 August 2026
Studio open to the public on Tuesday and Wednesday
https://westcorkartscentre.com/event/lara-quinn-2026/
Lara Quinn is a Cork-based visual artist and studio holder at Sample Studios. She is the recipient of the Cork county Council / Uillinn Artist in Residence Award 2026. Working across painting, performance, film and sculpture, her practice draws on autobiographical narratives, mythology, folklore and art-historical symbolism to create reimagined representations of lived experience. Influenced by magic realism, her work explores themes of identity and heritage through figurative imagery and embodied performance.
Live Painting Demonstration and Discussion
Thursday 30 July, 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Free, no booking required
Lara will introduce her work and welcome people for a discussion around her practice.
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Nuala Clarke
Irish Moss of a Dead Man’s Skull
Tuesday 28 July at 1.30pm
Free, no booking required
Artist Nuala Clarke discusses her recent book
This book is not a book, not even an art book. It is a work of art - Catherine Marshall, Art Historian.
During a residency at Uillinn in September 2023 I conducted a series of “Experiments in Listening”. I was in the process of researching and writing a book on my experience as an abstract painter, examining how creating coincides with transformations to states of wellbeing. The book explores three bodies of work and four Roberts—Irwin, Brown, Chender, and Boyle—examining how each Robert, and in particular Robert Boyle (natural philosopher 1627-1691) influences the process, purpose, and reasons for my work.
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Allison Maria Rodriguez
Stories of Stone: exploring intimacy, deep time and the megaliths of Ireland
Thursday 30 July at 1.30pm
Free, no booking required
In this talk, Rodriguez will give a brief overview of her artistic practice followed by a more in-depth discussion on her current/ongoing research into sacred landscapes and the megalithic structures of Ireland. Her work explores how these neolithic sites speak about climate change in relation to time, astronomy, divinity, geology, human history, and our role as ancestors of future generations.
Presented in collaboration with SWERVE.
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Dinnseanchas is an evolving art project rooted in rural upland communities in the West of Ireland and inspired by the word ‘dinnseanchas’ meaning the stories a place is telling. Through art and participatory creative practice, Dinnseanchas creates space to envisage future possibilities for places by holding difficult conversations about climate change, biodiversity loss, and the social and economic pressures currently shaping rural life.
Dinnseanchas is a project by Hometree, the nature-restoration charity based in the West of Ireland, working to establish and restore resilient habitats, focusing on native temperate rainforests.
During 2026 with the support of an Arts Council touring grant, Dinnseanchas will tour various sites in Ireland. The first leg is a four day residency as part of Skibbereen Arts Festival, supported by Creative Places West Cork Islands and Uillinn West Cork Art Centre.
At the heart of the residency is An Scioból in the Courtyard Gallery @ Uillinn, where Dinnseanchas will present an interactive exhibition of images, film and artefacts collected over a year-long programme that took place in upland locations from Gartan in Donegal to Borlin and the Coomhla Valley in West Cork.
Scheduled events @ An Scioból
All events are free, no booking required, all welcome
Wed 29 | 11.30am - Artist talk – with Sherkin Island artist Mona O'Driscoll
Join artist Mona O’ Driscoll for an evocative talk on her three-year, socially engaged project redefining the island landscape. Moving beyond standard map grids, Mona’s collaborative practice focuses on the community itself. She has worked alongside local islanders to collate over 160 landmarks and record hours of oral histories, capturing the true emotional and cultural fabric of our home.
Wed 29 | 3pm - Through the Eye of an Cailleach by artist/anthropologist Jennifer Ahern
The Cailleach, our deepest lore of place and most mysterious deity, requires that we listen closer to the stories shaping our world and choices. This talk looks at why transformation to a more regenerative society is not just about planting more trees but also requires a shift in perspective, mindset and belief.
Thur 30 | 11.30am – Artist talk with Uillinn Artist in Residence, Julielou Bacon.
Julielou Bacon is an artist, writer, musician and curator from South Shields, a former shipbuilding, coal mining and fishing town by the North Sea in England. Julie will share her work on the Almanac project, which she began in 2024. Through her studio and field work, she explores how knowledge and understanding of climate and time are woven through people and places in stories and observations about life on land and at sea. Her Crespo Residency at Uillinn (5th June-4th August 2026 ce) continues this work and focuses on West Cork.
Thur 30 | 3pm – Utterly Butterly - a workshop with artists Zoë Rush and Jennifer Ahern
This creative and participatory workshop using a Systems Thinking framework will explore complexity, farming and sustainable food systems through butter!
Fri 31 | 11.30am - Lecture performance with Uillinn Artist in Residence Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh
Maitiú Mac Cárthaigh, in residence at Uillinn until 5 August, presents a lecture performance thirty 6-inch top down all purpose as an attempt to explore what they fondly call the Back-Ass of Nowhere. Comprising sound, sculpture and spoken word, this work examines the interconnectedness of oat lattes, artificial insemination and rustic sodomy in a rapidly yassifying rural Ireland. (Not for younger audiences)
Sat 1st Aug | 11.30am – The Arts and Environment-Discussions on Meaningful Project Making hosted by Roisin Foley.
An Scioból welcomes artists for a discussion on art and climate/environment
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ADMISSION
Visiting Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre is FREE, although we do have a voluntary donation box if you would like to support us and our programmes. Charges apply to special events and performances and can be purchased online, by phone or in person.
OPENING HOURS
Monday to Saturday, 10.00am to 4.30pm
Closed Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays.
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