Madam, - I write in response to the comments by Alice Hanratty concerning the Irish Museum of Modern Art as described by Paul Cullen in his report on the annual assembly of Aosdána (The Irish Times, May 4th).
Ms Hanratty is reported as saying that IMMA is little used. In fact, in 2004 the museum staged no fewer than 16 exhibitions at Kilmainham and a further 15 displays around the country. It also took the work of 23 Irish artists to Beijing and Shanghai and hosted a symposium on curating contemporary art which attracted more than 300 participants. Visitor numbers for 2004 exceeded 350,000 - the highest in the museum's history. Already this year IMMA has presented six new exhibitions, which have attracted 166,350 visitors to date.
As for the museum being "a shrine to certain very laudable but limited areas of artistic expression", this year alone IMMA is presenting a series of exhibitions by Irish and international artists, including Jasper Johns, Laurie Anderson, Dorothy Cross and Tony O'Malley; special shows to celebrate the work of the White Stag Group and the Contemporary Irish Art Society; a number of exhibitions by highly regarded younger artists, many being shown for the first time in Ireland, and an exhibition from one of the largest private collections of Latin-American art in Europe.
In addition, the museum will also be launching the first major publication on its collection and continuing its wide range of activities under its ground-breaking education and community programme. - Yours, etc,
PHILOMENA BYRNE, Head of Public Affairs, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin 8.