Physics lecturers and painters, furniture designers and illustrators, established "names" as well as students and graduates: the Dublin Institute of Technology is a third-level institution where science, technology and the visual arts rub up against one another, and in Spectrum, an exhibition opening next week, the fruits of this creative exchange will be presented to the public. As well as new work by painters and printmakers who are either DIT graduates or staff members: Patrick Graham, Anita Groener, Margaret Tuffy and Patricia Hurl - the show includes work by well known illustrators such as Nicola Emoe, John Short, Kathy Dineen and Ed Miliano.
"Many people are very surprised to discover that all this work is happening in DIT," says Kieran Corcoran, art history lecturer, and chairperson of the exhibition committee. "Since it was reformed in 1992 [as an independent institute] priority has been given to the cultural side of things. This show is intended as a showcase for all the talent that is here at the moment. We also have some very successful graduates in various areas." The organisers hope the exhibition will demonstrate the way that "digital technology combined with artistic inspiration has had a profound impact on fine art, design, illustration, film, video, photography and music, helping artists develop new forms of expression," as the president of DIT, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, puts it.
"The inter-disciplinary aspect of DIT is still developing," says Kieran Corcoran. "This will be represented in the basement of the RHA by a `Virtual Reality Pantheon'. The theme is contemporary obsessions in the late-20th century, and it takes the form of a simulated cathedral, where video installations and computer screens (with virtual reality helmets) illustrate the cross-over between different disciplines."
Spectrum opens at the RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, on Thursday, December 4th.