We are delighted to announce that ARTzheimer’s Spring 2017 Exhibition will take place at the Civic next March.
Find out a bit more about this wonderful organisation here:
Who are we?
ARTzheimer’s is a international social enterprise based in Ireland and is fast becoming a fresh and innovative voice in the crowd for Alzheimer’s related issues. We use the medium of art and human stories to connect people.
At ARTzheimer’s we want to give people permission to talk about the topic of Alzheimer’s. We want to provoke bold, brave and honest conversations that will ultimately lead to change within the care system.
The current story:
When families are met with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, they’re confused and scared. They have to navigate their way through a complex care system. They also have to deal with the huge stigma around this illness. We want to be a supportive voice for people living with Alzheimer’s, their carers and the wider community. We also want to shake up the current system and fix some of the broken elements.
We work in two ways:
• We curate art exhibitions (we’re working towards our sixth), to give people permission to speak openly about their experience of this illness. We want to humanise dementia. Since our inception in 2014, we have collaborated with over two hundred artists from Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Korea. We feel like we’re just getting started.
• We’re developing a schools programme so that we can educate from the ground-up. These kids will be the next generation of decision makers. We’ve already worked with primary and secondary schools from Dublin and the response was fantasitc.
Achievements:
We are the first group here in Ireland that has successfully brought the topic of Alzheimer’s into a classroom setting. We are extremely proud of this. The impact of both of these initiatives is a ripple effect. The conversations move out from the galleries and schools and have a powerful impact within the homes and communities. Intergenerational learning is key to what we do.
Why art?
We’re using a visual medium to engage with people. We know that an honest and open conversation can change a person. And it can motivate a group to work together to put pressure on our government and institutions. Art connects in an emotional and physical way that data and statistics can never do!
ARTzheimer’s is not just art for the sake of being art. The common thread between each piece of work is to inform, highlight and enlighten on the complex issues of Alzheimer’s disease. We have orchestrated the exhibitions with intention to provoke and inspire an audience.
Our biggest exhibition ever:
In March 2017, we will be unveiling our largest and most thought-provoking exhibition to date. In partnership with The Civic, we’re commissiong at least twenty artists for this exhibition, all of whom will be paid a fee for their work. For the first time, our artists will be interpreting specific briefs that highlight some of the broken elements in the system. This will not be a bleak exhibition but it will be hard-hitting.
As always, we intend to balance both light and dark elements of the illness.
Our partners:
Supported by South Dublin County Council, Tesco and Dublin Bus, we advertised nationally for artists to apply to this upcoming exhibition and received a total of ninety-two applications. Our panel of judges spent five months shortlisting and meeting with the artists. In October, we decided on the final twenty artists that we’d like to take forward. These are our most diverse group of artists to date and we’re excited to see how they bring the specific briefs to life.
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CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ARTZHEIMERS WEBSITE
