‘Displacement and Belonging’ – Home

Each year Rua Red holds an annual open-call exhibition of fine and applied arts. Work is invited from artists in any discipline and at all career stages. The Open serves as a platform to support and encourage emerging and established artists. It is an opportunity to see the breadth and vibrancy of the work being created today and to find new and unexpected connections.

In Displacement and Belonging – Home, the selected artists are exploring the idea of ‘Home’; What is home? Where is home? Is this my home? Thematics emerge such as migration, dislocation, and relocation; from the most personal sense of being connected to a place, and to each other, to the wider context of the prevailing disconnection and uncertainties in society today.

The use of the term ‘Hospitality’ in the arts, humanities, and social sciences reflects a shared concern with issues of belonging, identity, and placement that arises out of the experience of globalised social life. French philosopher Derrida was interested in the etymology of the word hospitality being derived from two proto-Indo-European words which mean stranger, guest, and power. Derrida observed therefore that there is always some hostility in hospitality, which he referred to as ‘hostipitality,’ a reference to the pre-conditions that are in place when welcoming a stranger into your environment, country, workplace, institution, or home. This idea of ‘Hospitality’ and the need to engage more with the obstacles that create social and cultural disconnection, and a sense of belonging, is the focus of Rua Red’s artistic programme.

The Spring Open is Rua Red’s annual open exhibition of fine and applied arts. This open submission is an opportunity for graduates, emerging and established Artists living in Ireland (including the North of Ireland) to exhibit their work in Gallery 1. The overall winner of the Rua Red Art Prize will be awarded a solo show in Gallery 2 at some point during the ensuing 12-month period.

Rua Red has a policy of supporting artists at all stages of their careers. One of the new ways that Rua Red will implement this policy will be to select and purchase works from the Winter Open and Café Wall exhibition to form a collection for the organisation. The works will go on show within the building on a rotational basis in the Conference and Meeting Room areas.

The selection panel for this year’s Spring Open is Maria McKinney (Artist, Rua Red Studio), Maolíosa Boyle (Rua Red), Hugh McCarthy (Rua Red, and Órla McGovern (Rua Red)

Image: Winner of the Rua Red Art Prize 2020, Tooth face by Paul McGrane, Rua Red Winter Open – Hindsight is 2020. Photo by David Reilly