A LARGE Andy Warhol exhibition, the first to be seen in Ireland, is among the events scheduled by the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham for this year. Another highlight for the museum is the decision that work on the Deputy Master's House - a key building in the old Royal Hospital complex - is due to start this spring and will be completed by mid-1998.
This project, part of IMMA's overall development plan, has been made possible by funding from the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. It will add substantially to the museum's gallery space. The architect is Mr Shay Cleary, who was responsible for the transformation of the Royal Hospital into its present role.
The plans were announced by the IMMA director, Mr Declan McGonagle, at a press conference in the museum yesterday. Other features of the 1997 programme include a greatly enhanced presence for the museum's collection, a series of shows by young artists, Irish and non-Irish, and the launch of a comprehensive programme laying stress on centres outside Dublin. He forecast that this year would be "an exciting and innovative year at the museum
The Warhol exhibition will open in November and run into the following February. Other exhibitions will include one by Joseph Kosuth, a leading figure in conceptual art (March-June); the American sculptor Kiki Smith (October-January); "A Case for Painting", curated by the painter Stephen McKenna (June-November); the Glen Dimplex Award (May-July); and "New Artists" (July-October). The large-scale "Scream and Scream Again", which has already opened, deals with the interaction of art and the cinema.
IMMA's "Work in Focus" continues this month with a large-scale painting by the English artist Albert Irvin. The Artists' Work Programme, based on making available the studio spaces in converted coach-houses, will have 13 people participating this year, including the sculptor Janet Mullarney. Under this scheme, visitors can arrange to meet resident artists in their studios and discuss their work with them. (The painter Hughie O'Donoghue, who was resident in IMMA this winter, was particularly successful in this field.)
Other projects include an exhibition exploring violence against women, the realisation of the first £40,000 Nissan Art Project for art in the public domain, and a number of international exchanges under the Artists' Work Programme. The museum has negotiated new funding for three years, starting this year, from the international Paul Hamlyn Foundation "to research and establish a programme which disperses its assets skills and resources to centres outside Dublin."