Limerick, Ireland
EV+A 1996 Catalogue Cover

EV+A 96

In 1996, EV+A’s twentieth year, three intertwining strands of contemporary art practice were presented: Open EV+A, Young EV+A and Invited EV+A. The second Invited EV+A took place in 1996 and was curated by the 1996 Adjudicator Guy Tortosa, Senior Visual Arts Officer at the Ministry of Education and Culture in France.

Tortosa invited 17 artists from France, 11 artists from other countries world-wide, and 11 artists from Ireland, to exhibit in Invited EV+A. He selected 28 Irish artists from the open submission for Open EV+A. Loosely based on themes of tourism and its effect on culture, the exhibition took place across the city in numerous outdoor and indoor venues.

Young EV+A was orchestrated by Gavin Hogg – EV+A artists over ten weekends in Limerick City Gallery of Art hosted workshops for second-level students with the outcomes presented at Belltable Arts Centre during EV+A ‘96.

In 1996, a country-wide celebration of Irish art and culture took place in France called L’lmaginaire lrlandais. Guy Tortosa curated an edition of EV+A that went to France which included postcard sized works by EV+A artists.