Ormston House

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Ormston House is a meeting place for the arts in the heart of Limerick City. For further information: www.ormstonhouse.com

Our programme is co-designed with artists and citizens, resulting in community partnerships, multi-annual projects and cultural events that are responsive to the city and its context. We have developed a participatory model to connect curatorial practice with local knowledge and activism. Ormston House is part of the Irish Network Against Racism and the Public Participation Network. International

connectivity is also key to our work, and we are active members of three European networks: Artists’ Initiatives Meetings, River Cities Platform, and Trans Europe Halles. We are based at 9-10 Patrick Street, where we have a long-term lease from Limerick City & County Council. For further information, you can contact us at [email protected].

04/06/2026

Cóilín O’Connell studied at NCAD, Dublin and the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam. As Brass Neck Press he edits, designs, and distributes artists’ publications and zines. Collecting and editing found objects, images and texts are central strategies in his work. The found photographs presented in ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ take archaeology as subject matter, focusing specifically on Neolithic stone monuments as contested symbols.

Entitled ‘Index of Vandalised Stones’ this series of found photographs depicts defaced and or damaged monuments. Many of the images also bear artifacts of digital degradation, resulting from reproduction and enlargement in print. Some of the vandalism inflicted upon these monuments is the unintended outcome of hedonistic gatherings while other examples are clearly the deliberate result of some underlying rage.

‘Index of Vandalised Stones’ explores conflicts and overlaps between megaliths and their image as vectors of symbolic meaning for the individual, the collective and the state. In the context of this exhibition these images also serve to evoke the way that ancient sites have been adopted as locations for countercultural gatherings.

Images by Jed Niezgoda.

Image descriptions:
1. Four photographs are presented in a grid format on an off-white wall. The images depict vandaisled stone monuments and marks left from fire pits on the ground.
2. Several multi-media artworks are depicted in a room with off-white walls and grey floors. An orange tent with a TV screen inside it is in the centre foreground of the image. O’Connell’s ‘Index of Vandalised Stones’ are in the far right and left of the background. A sun shaped marble sculpture is in the centre background.

02/06/2026

On Saturday, 13 June from 12-2pm, Ormston House will collaborate with Limerick Printmakers on a free printmaking workshop as part of our exhibition 'Memory of a Free Festival'.

This workshop explores the grassroots, DIY ethos of protest art. Participants will engage with silkscreen printmaking, while also incorporating tactile techniques such as collage and hand stamped block lettering.

Tickets are free with very limited capacity. Tickets can be booked on Limerick Printmakers eventbrite, available via the Linktree in our bio.

Image by Jed Niezgoda.

Image description:
Three archival posters are hung on an off-white wall in white frames. The archival posters refer to the Carnsore Point anti-nuclear festivals.

31/05/2026

Alanna O’Kelly attended NCAD, Dublin and the Slade School of Art, London. Her practice incorporates sculpture, performance, slide installation and film. Influenced by feminist politics, O’Kelly explores ideas of the psychic conflicts of our shared history and the continuity of tradition.

The work by O’Kelly presented in all iterations of the ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ is ‘Breath’ (1983/2026). This enlarged reproduction of two 35mm slides shows two individuals who could either be singing or screaming into each other’s mouths. These images document a time in which she was beginning to explore the power of the human voice.

This interest in the human voice led O’Kelly to produce 'Chant Down Greenham' (1984), a multilayered work presented via several live events that accompany ‘Memory of a Free Festival’. 'Chant Down Greenham' was O’Kelly’s first use of keening, a lament traditionally performed by women at Irish funerals. The work grew out of her visit to the peace camp at the nuclear missile base at Greenham Common in Berkshire, England.

Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Images by Jed Niezgoda.

Image descriptions:
1. Two iterations of ‘Breath’ are in the foreground and background of the image depicting a dark silhouette of two people's mouths. The background is a yellow-orange. A TV screen can be seen in the mid-ground of the image. An ornate pillar is to the right of the image.
3. A large wall based vinyl artwork ‘Breath’ depicting a dark silhouette of two people's mouths. The background is a yellow-orange. The artwork is presented on an off-white wall, and the floor is grey. A large window is to the right.

29/05/2026

On Wednesday, 3 June we will be closed to host a private workshop with Limerick Printmakers and Limerick Youth Service.

'Memory of a Free Festival' will reopen on Thursday-Saturday, 12-6pm next week. The exhibition will continue until Saturday, 20 June.

Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Image by Jed Niezgoda.

Image description:
An installation view of 'Memory of a Free Festival' in Ormston House. Several multi-media artworks are displayed in an off-white room with a grey floor. There is an ornate pillar to the left of the room. A person in a green coat and grey jeans stands in the centre of the room.

27/05/2026

For the third year in a row, Ormston House offers an opportunity for recent graduates to join our Artist Affiliate Scheme for twelve months.

Artists who have graduated, or are about to graduate, from Limerick School of Art and Design (TUS) from 2023 to 2026 are eligible to apply. Formerly known as the Artist-in-Residence Scheme, the Artist Affiliate Scheme is intended for artists based in the Limerick region (Clare, Limerick, Tipperary) who intend to pursue a career in the visual arts. Applicants must be signed up to our free Membership Scheme.

What we offer:
- Curatorial support and mentorship
- Guidance on professional development (application and proposal writing, documentation, and building networks)
- €1,000 seed fund to go towards a professional opportunity identified by the artist

The deadline is 25 June at 5pm. Full information on the Artist Affiliate Scheme and how to apply is available via the Linktree in our bio.

Image description: Black Ormston House logo on a green background.

22/05/2026

Orla Barry is an artist and shepherd who writes, makes video and sound installations, and devises performances. Barry lives and works on her farm near Carnsore, Co. Wexford where a nuclear power station was to be built.

Over the past five years Barry has conducted interviews with participants, organisers, and attendees of the anti-nuclear festivals that took place at Carnsore Point in opposition to the power station. This research informs ‘Kodak Moon’ (2026) a new work commissioned for this touring exhibition. Blending text, music, and animation ‘Kodak Moon’ is described by the artist as ‘a sketch populated with composite characters, an auto-fiction in which memory, symbol, fact, and fiction all merge’.

An essential catalyst in the development of ‘Kodak Moon’ was the contribution of musician Paul Bradley, who created the soundtrack. This new work also features animations by Thomas de Brabanter, archival footage by Ken Lynam and a custom built display structure designed and constructed by Tanad Aaron.

Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Images by Jed Niezgoda.

Image description:
1. Two screens are displayed on a metal structure. On the left screen black writing on a white background reads 'PURPLE LUNAR HALO' text repeats and swirls to the centre. On the right screen orange writing on a white background reads ‘KODAK MOON’ text repeats and swirls to the centre.
2. Two screens are displayed on a metal structure. On the left screen black writing on a grey background reads ‘THEY STAND IN THE SAFETY OF THE LOBSTER POT CARPARK, STARING.’ On the right screen black writing on a grey background reads ‘WE DON’T GIVE A F**K’, the writing melts downwards.
3. Two screens are displayed on a metal structure. On the left screen black writing on a white background reads ‘IN THE MORNING, THE LOCALS COME TO INSPECT US:’. On the right screen black writing on a white background reads ‘THE WEIRDOS’, ‘THE PROTESTERS’, ‘THE HIPPIES’, ‘THE PUNKS’, and ‘FILING ALONG THE ROAD’. The text is presented in various fonts.

16/05/2026

Reminder!

On Saturday, 23 May from 2-5pm we will host ‘A Spontaneous Cairn’ at the Record Room, Limerick. Join us for an informal afternoon event of moving image artworks and performative lectures.

This event is part of ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ touring exhibition and event programme taking place between March 2026 to March 2027.

Including contributions from Chloe Brenan, Mary Sue Connolly, Yvanna Greene, David Lawless, Martina O'Brien, Marie Phelan, and Deirdre Southey.

The event will include screenings of films exploring themes such as; structures of power, environmentalism, mythology, human and more-than-human worlds, and music as activism.

There will be two performative lectures that respond to ideas of urgent ecological issues.

Admission is free and booking is not necessary. Further information is available via the Linktree in our bio.

Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Image by David Lawless, ‘Compounding postcard of Night’s Candles Are Burnt Out by Seán Keating with Poolbeg Nuclear Power’, 2026.

Image description:
The image depicts a polaroid of Poolbeg nuclear power plant stapled to an image of ‘Night’s Candles Are Burnt Out’ by Seán Keating, which depicts several workmen involved in the building of the Shannon hydroelectric scheme at Ardnacrusha.

13/05/2026

Brian Duggan works in sculpture, video and installation. For some time Duggan has been examining the echoes of the anti-nuclear movement. He has focused on the impact that a nuclear power station would have had upon Ireland’s physical and psychic landscape.

‘Get to the point’, (2026) is an installation consisting of a vintage A-frame canvas tent with a video presented inside. The video weaves together contemporary footage from the site in Carnsore where a nuclear power station was to be built, with excerpts from debates and re-edits of the music of that time.

Duggan’s red glass sculpture ‘Handscape’, (2025) refers to a logo created by William Finnie and the Irish anti-nuclear movement in the late 1970s. Stencils of these logos were sprayed in various locations across the nation and have now become synonymous with the anti-nuclear festivals that took place at Carnsore Point in Wexford.

Several of the sculptures presented in ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ are made partially from slate, a metamorphic rock of sedimentary origin, dating from approximately 550 million years ago. This is an allusion to geological time in relation to nuclear half-life, and the perpetual question of how to successfully dispose of nuclear waste.

'Memory of a Free Festival' continues until 20 June. Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Images by Jed Niezgoda.

Image descriptions:
1. An orange and green tent has a TV and black and orange picnic blanket on the inside. On the TV there is black and white archival footage, depicting information about ‘IRELAND’S 1st ANTI NUCLEAR POWER SHOW’.
2. An artwork made of red glass depicts a cutout of a hand and sun rays. The artwork sits on two metal brackets hung on an off-white wall.
3. At the top right of the image there is an artwork made of grey slate and green coloured glass depicting a nuclear power station, hung on an off-white wall. At the bottom left of the image there is a vitrine containing material from the Irish Anti-Nuclear Movement; a vinyl record, pamphlets, and an enlarged reproduction of a CIE rail ticket.

09/05/2026

Congratulations to artist Isabel Nolan on the opening of ‘Dreamshook’ at the Venice Biennale 2026.

‘Dreamshook’ will be on view at the Irish Pavilion in the Arsenale, during the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which runs from 9 May to 22 November 2026.

Following its presentation in Venice, ‘Dreamshook’ will travel to venues across Ireland, including Ormston House in 2027.

The word ‘Dreamshook’ describes the feeling of waking from a dream, when reality is destabilised and realms of possibility linger and dissipate. Nolan’s exhibition of hand-tufted tapestry, drawing, and sculpture, represents thresholds, dream states and narratives that strain the distinctions between the immaterial and the actual.

‘Dreamshook’ by Isabel Nolan is commissioned by Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council of Ireland, curated by Dr. Georgina Jackson with The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art and produced by Cian O’Brien.

Image credits:
1. Rich Gilligan.
2-5. Mark Blower. Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.

Image descriptions:
1. Isabel Nolan poses for the camera. She is wearing a blue blazer, and a pink shirt, she has light brown shoulder length hair. In the background there is a colourful painting hung on an off-white wall. In the foreground there are paintbrushes in glass jars on a table top.
2. Installation view of ‘Dreamshook’ by Isabel Nolan. A series of multi-media artworks are presented at the Pavilion of Ireland, La Biennale di Venezia, 2026.
3. Installation view of ‘Make Haste Slowly’, 2026, and ‘A Hole into the Future’, 2026, by Isabel Nolan. A series of multi-media artworks are presented at the Pavilion of Ireland, La Biennale di Venezia, 2026.
4. Installation view of ‘Oh!’, 2026, and ‘Bench (For Aldo)’, 2026. A series of multi-media artworks are presented at the Pavilion of Ireland, La Biennale di Venezia, 2026.
5. Installation view of ‘The Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (the Seraphim of the Canon)’, 2026, by Isabel Nolan. A colourful tapestry is hung on a off-white wall at the Pavilion of Ireland, La Biennale di Venezia, 2026.

08/05/2026

Join us on Saturday, 23 May from 2-5pm for ‘A Spontaneous Cairn’ at the Record Room, Limerick. For an informal afternoon event of moving image artworks and performative lectures. Admission is free and booking is not necessary.

These works were selected from an open call, originally issued in late 2025, inviting submissions for an artist to be included in the Limerick iteration of our touring exhibition, ‘Memory of a Free Festival’.

We sought work that resonated with the thematics of this group exhibition: countercultural, DIY, and grassroots movements, art as activism, the case for/against nuclear power, festivals as sites of alternative social order and music as catalyst for social and political change.

After much deliberation Cóilín O’Connell’s images of vandalised megaliths were selected. However, many of the other submissions were so compelling that we felt more should be shared with our audience, through this event.

The title is taken from a line in Orla Barry’s newly commissioned installation ‘Kodak Moon’; “we will lay these caring rocks in a spontaneous cairn”. This refers to a now legendary occurrence at the 1978 anti-nuclear festival in Carnsore Point, whereby attendees gathered stones to build a cairn.

This event will include contributions by Chloe Brenan, Mary Sue Connolly, Yvanna Greene, David Lawless, Martina O'Brien, Marie Phelan, and Deirdre Southey.

Organised by Ormston House with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland through the Touring of Work Scheme.

Image: Still from archival footage by Ken Lynam of the first anti-nuclear festival at Carnsore Point, 1978. Still from digitised reel-to-reel video.

Image description:
A black and white archival image of the 1978 Carnsore point anti-nuclear festival. Depicting a festival crowd surrounding and throwing stones onto a pile, forming a cairn.

Address

9-10 Patrick Street
Limerick
V94V089

Website

https://linktr.ee/ormstonhouse

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