DUBLIN Airport has agreed a new partnership with the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) aimed at bringing an enhanced public art programme to the airport.
The two-year Creative Journeys partnership will enable NCAD students, past and present, to showcase their ideas and work to an international audience, and will provide Dublin Airport passengers with a unique perspective into contemporary Irish art.
Supported by Business to Arts, this new partnership will deliver a full public art programme at Dublin Airport over the next two years.
Seven sites have been chosen across the airport campus to host works within Creative Journeys. The sites are located in landside and airside areas to allow both departing and arriving passengers to view the works of art.
This will enable members of the public who are at the airport but not travelling to view some of the installations.
The first art work within the Creative Journeys programme will be installed later this month and during the two-year programme each location will house several different works of art.
Dublin Airport managing director Vincent Harrison said providing a world-class passenger experience is a constant goal at the airport and the visual environment plays a key role in this.
“Dublin Airport provides the first welcome and last goodbye to the island of Ireland for tens of millions of people every year, and Creative Journeys will provide a wonderful showcase opportunity for the creative talents of talented NCAD artists and graduates based here and who are inspired by their surroundings on a daily basis,” said Mr Harrison.
“Creative Journeys is part of a wider programme to help Dublin Airport provide an experience that is engaging and memorable, but also one that also creates a unique sense of place.
“Dublin Airport is proud to partner with NCAD, which fosters and inspires Ireland’s future artists.”
Over the past year, Dublin Airport and Business to Arts worked together to design a process to enable arts organisations to bid to become involved in the project.
An open call process was held to identify potential partners for the public art programme. Interest was strong, with initial submissions from a number of agencies and organisations. NCAD was eventually selected for the project.
NCAD Director Sarah Glennie said they thrilled to be working in partnership with Dublin Airport.
“This project creates a fantastic opportunity for a wide public to experience some of the great work that is happening in NCAD and for NCAD students to gain invaluable experience of presenting their work in a highly public space,” said Ms Glennie.
“Ireland's creative sector represents an ambitious and internationally connected wealth of talent and NCAD is delighted to be able to give visitors to Dublin Airport an opportunity to experience at first hand work by our emerging creative practitioners.”