OTP 2020 Hub Programme - National Gallery Of Ireland, Dublin - Day 2
Due to the temporary closure of all cultural institutions in Ireland in response to current events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the OTP Dublin event has been postponed until further notice. Further information about rescheduling will be available in due course.
The National Gallery of Ireland, National Museum of Ireland and Kilmainham Gaol Museum are delighted to present OUTing the Past Dublin 2020: The International Festival of LGBTI+ History on 20th – 22nd March 2020 bringing LGBTI+ history to a wider audience in an exciting, inspiring and thought-provoking programme of events.
Following the festival’s hugely successful Dublin debut in 2019 at the National Gallery of Ireland, this year sees three of the capital’s most popular cultural institutions host events across the city.
From a drag story time tour at the National Gallery, to events exploring clothing as a means of expressing self-identity at the National Museum, Collins Barracks, and a keynote lecture at Kilmainham Gaol, OUTing the Past aims to provide a platform for fresh perspectives on and new insights into past attitudes and behaviours related to sexuality and gender.
All events on the 21st March are free of charge and no booking is required.
21st March 2020
National Gallery of Ireland
11.00-11.05
Opening Remarks
Sinéad Rice, Head of Education, National Gallery of Ireland
Lecture Theatre
11.05-11.30
Presentations by LGBTQIA+ Young People and their Allies
Lecture Theatre
11.30-12.00
Talk - Hip Hop Feminism: Queers of Colour and Strategies for Resistance
Clare Geraghty
Lecture Theatre
With the theme for the 2020 OUTing the Past Festival as ‘Poetry, Plays and Prose’, Clare’s talk seeks to broaden understandings of these art forms. She will examine hip-hop as an expressive medium that is closely connected to poetry and was born out of underground transnational networks. This talk focuses on the work of queer feminist hip-hop collective, Krudxs Cubensi. Migrants and queer people are rarely given the space to be the protagonists of their own stories. As Irish society today struggles to effectively address persistent issues of homophobia and racism, we have much to learn from these ‘artivists’ and the queer history that continues to inform their work.
Clare Geraghty is a PhD candidate in the department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at University College Cork. Her recently completed Masters dissertation focused on Cuban-born feminist hip-hop collective, Krudxs Cubensi, and was entitled: ‘Emotions and the Body in the work of Krudxs Cubensi: Ser feliz es un acto revolucionario [Being happy is a revolutionary act]’. This research examined the ways in which minority groups interact with mainstream society, including how different groups occupy public space. Her research interests lie at the intersection of queer and feminist theory with Caribbean and migration studies.
12.00-12.30
Pop Up Talk - The Faithful Underground: A Cross-border fairy picnic, 1990
Dr Richard O'Leary
Room 20
The Gay Christians in Ireland in the 1980s were like fairies. Like the fairies most people in Ireland didn't believe that they existed. They were rarely seen in public and like the fairies the Gay Christians existed mainly underground. Their existence was even ignored by historians, until now. Dr Richard O'Leary draws on documents from the Irish Queer Archive, personal oral testimony and never before seen photographic evidence to revisit a recorded sighting of the faithful underground. The sighting was in Carlingford, County Louth in 1990. In this performance lecture Dr O'Leary presents both an objective and a subjective view. Expect leather, knickers, Christianity, social tolerance, homosexuality, a picnic, stilton, bread and wine, Luke 10:25-37, fairies. Dr O'Leary will be accompanied by the artist Mary Gilfillan.
Dr Richard O'Leary has just (January 2020) taken up a new post as Coordinator of the Northern Ireland LGBT Heritage Project, a project funded by the UK Lottery Heritage Fund. He is also visiting Research Fellow in the School of History at Queen's University Belfast, specialising in LGBT History. Among his previous employments are: Lecturer in sociology at Queen's University (2000-10), Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford (1997-2000) and Researcher at the Economic and Social Research Institute (1992-94). Critically acclaimed for his one-man show “There's a Bishop in my Bedroom” at the MAC theatre Belfast (2017) he was artist in residence at the 2019 Outburst Queer Arts festival
12.00-1.00
Drag Story Time Tour
Meeting Point: Courtyard
We are recruiting budding artistes of all ages for a story time adventure in the National Gallery of Ireland through the magical medium of drag. Come be a part of the art and enjoy storytelling like you've never seen it before. Your personal drag guides Ben Panthera and Avoca Reaction are hard at work creating original stories and games based on queer pieces of art in the gallery.
Our tour will finish with a self-portrait drawing session and is suitable for all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
1.00-3.00
Moonlight
Film Screening Sponsored by Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland
Lecture Theatre
The deserved winner of three Oscars, including Best Picture, Moonlight is a portrait of a young black man at three different stages of his life. The film follows Chiron as a young boy, to his teens and subsequent adulthood, depicting the moments, persons and places that shape his life. Deeply compassionate, brilliantly conceived, Moonlight is a vibrant portrait of masculinity, family, friendship and love. Director: Barry Jenkins. Cast: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson, Janelle Monáe.
1.00-1.30
Pop Up Talk - Asexual Representation
Aoife Convery
Shaw Room
The talk will explore the concept of the asexuality and its impact among artistic communities over time, examining the lives of artists who may have identified on the asexual spectrum and the ways in which their sexuality impacted their work. It will not focus solely on visual artists but also explore other members of the artistic community like writers and poets, and patrons of the arts, as well as the impact these figures had on the Irish art world. Aoife will re-examine well-known artists and cultural figures and aims to shed light on previously obscured aspects of themselves. Looking at Irish figures like the playwright George Bernard Shaw, as well as international figures such as the artist Salvador Dali and the writer Emily Bronte, all of whom were likely part of the asexual spectrum. The overall goal of the talk is to demonstrate the presence of asexuality within both queer and artistic communities in both an Irish and international context.
Aoife Convery is a freelance art historian and guide. After receiving an MA in Art History from UCD, she has worked with several artistic and historic institutions such as the National Gallery of Ireland, the Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane, and the Office of Public Works over the past several years. She has worked with the LGBTQ+ programme at the National Gallery for the past year.
1.30-3.30
Drag & Draw Drop-In Workshop
Grand Gallery
Run with an ethos of inclusivity and accessibility, Drag & Draw is a life drawing class with drag performers as models. We provide a unique arts space of connection and creativity. These classes are informal and are very suitable for drawing beginners. They also give experienced artists the opportunity to draw not your typical life drawing model - think more sass! There will be fast-paced drawing exercises, lip-syncs and interactive elements giving attendees the opportunity to learn more about drag culture. All drawing materials are provided at each session so no need to bring anything along with you. Drag & Draw is committed to accessibility and regularly work with Irish Sign Language interpreters in an attempt to break down possible barriers to engagement. Drag & Draw has a monthly residency in Street 66, Dublin 2 and has collaborated on events with numerous arts organisations around Ireland. Drag & Draw is run by Adrian Colwell. Follow us via @draganddraw on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
3.00-4.00
Gender.RIP Conspiracy Workshop
Alber Saborio
Friends Room
GENDER.RIP is happy to bring the gender ender’s Conspiracy Club to the National Gallery of Ireland. Come conspire about what a queer gallery looks like and how we can take over spaces. We will be teaching how to draw without the fear of being good. Join us to make your own queer gallery and take some time to make art.
4.00-4.30
Talk - Queering the Castle
Kris Reid
Lecture Theatre
Kris Reid is an Assistant Interpretation Officer at Historic Royal Palaces and PhD Candidate at Ulster University. His research focuses on museum-based activism within the context of LGBTQ+ heritage, exploring the pathways and barriers towards museum engagement with issues of social justice. In addition to this research he has also written and delivers the LGBTQ+ tour at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, an Irish Country House in Northern Ireland that is an official Royal residence, as well as home to the British Secretary of State for the region. Above all, he is passionate about using stories of the past to influence the lives of marginalised groups in the present.
In April 2019 Hillsborough Castle & Gardens opened to the public in its entirety for the first time in its history. As part of the visitor offer Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that looks after Hillsborough Castle, have developed a series of specialist tours, each exploring the nuanced social and political history of this Georgian mansion house. A new addition for a Northern Irish heritage site has been the inclusion of a LGBTQ+ tour that utilises the stories and collection at Hillsborough Castle to explore 300 years of queer history. As an official residence of the British Royal Family and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hillsborough Castle has, for almost a century, been a physical embodiment of the British establishment on the island of Ireland. This talk hopes to show that by queering the stories in places of 'power', we can challenge the status quo through the introduction of alternative perspectives and ultimately effect change in wider society. In the case of Hillsborough Castle, it is hoped this tour might advance the rights and future experience of LGBTQ+ people in Northern Ireland.