New Bushy Park statue to be unveiled on Thursday

To mark International Sculpture Day on Saturday, April 30, Sculpture Dublin is planning a series of events, tours, launches and lectures to encourage people to engage with the many new and existing sculptures throughout Dublin.

Central to these events will be the unveiling of the fourth in Sculpture Dublin’s series of new commissions that has been underway since last September.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Allison Gilliland will formally unveil a new sculpture, ‘Bushy’ by Corban Walker in Bushy Park, Terenure, at 11am on Thursday, April 28.

Sculpture Dublin will be running a programme of talks with commissioned artists Corban Walker and Iván Argote, and public sculpture tours.

The tours will take place in St. Stephens Green, Parnell Square, O’Connell Street, Dame Street, Merrion Square and Trinity College with art historians Tony Suttle and Aoife Convery.

Paris-based, Columbian artist, Iván Argote will be in Dublin to discuss his response to the unique ‘land art’ commissioning opportunity in St. Anne’s Park.

He will give a lecture in the Hugh Lane on Friday 29^th and will be in the Winter Garden (Red Stables), St. Anne’s Park on Saturday 30 to present visualisations and plans for the work.

A programme of sculpture-focused events is also taking place in arts organisations across the city on the day.

These include  the National Gallery of Ireland, National College of Art and Design, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Hugh Lane Gallery, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Kerlin Gallery, TU Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Solomon Gallery, and Pallas Projects/ Studios.

Speaking about the programme of events that is taking place, the Programme Director of Sculpture Dublin, Karen Downey said: “Sculpture Dublin is encouraging a city-wide focus on sculpture on this day.

“We are running a programme of events, along with arts organisations across the city, and building upon almost two years of intensive creative engagement with the city’s neighbourhoods.

“We hope to attract, and deepen, interest in the new sculpture on the O’Connell Plinth and in Smithfield and Kildonan Park in Finglas, particularly from local people.

“We will be launching a new sculpture in Bushy Park and presenting plans for the land art commission in St. Anne’s Park.

“By attending a talk or taking part in a tour, we hope that on International Sculpture Day, people take the opportunity to see, touch, think about sculpture, and to explore and experience their city from a new perspective.”