EXHIBITION
ROMANTIC IRELAND
29 August–26 October
Wednesday–Sunday: 11AM–5PM
Studio Saol,
8 Sarsfield St, Limerick
As part of 41st EVA International
LAUNCH EVENT
ROMANTIC IRELAND
National Tour launch
30 August, 2PM
Studio Saol & Pharmacia,
8/9 Sarsfield St, Limerick
PERFORMANCE
LANCERS/LOVERS
30 August, 8PM
St John’s Pavilion,
Mahon, Newtown, Limerick
ARTIST EVENT
ROMANTIC IRELAND
20 September, 2PM
The National Famine Museum,
Strokestown Park House, Roscommon
Book tickets here.
PERFORMANCE
ROMANTIC IRELAND – The Opera
21 November, 8PM
First Presbyterian Church Belfast,
41 Rosemary St, Belfast
22 November, 8PM
St Stephen’s Church, The Pepper Canister,
7 Mount St Cres, Dublin
Further information in Touring Schedule.
A National Tour in Fragments
Eimear Walshe
Coordinated and presented by EVA International
ROMANTIC IRELAND: A National Tour in Fragments will present a restaging of the acclaimed installation ROMANTIC IRELAND (2024) alongside a series of newly commissioned works and events in Limerick, Roscommon, Belfast, and Dublin between August and November 2025. The tour will officially launch on Saturday 30 August, as part of the opening weekend programme of the 41st EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Walshe’s work has long addressed the question of Ireland’s representation. Refusing estrangement from the nation’s history, culture and tradition, the work confronts us with stories of empire’s displacement and ruination, the criminalisation of the colonised, and intergenerational conflict and betrayal.
ROMANTIC IRELAND comprises a multi-channel video installation and an operatic soundtrack housed in an immersive sculpture. Filmed at Common Knowledge, Co Clare in the first week of October 2023, and set on the site of an unfinished earth build, the video stages soapy, dramatic encounters between character archetypes from the 19th–21st centuries. These figures occupy an abstracted ruin, a site under simultaneous construction and demolition. The soundtrack is a five-voice opera describing the scene of an eviction, composed by Amanda Feery with a libretto by Walshe.
ROMANTIC IRELAND: A National Tour in Fragments includes an exhibition of ROMANTIC IRELAND (2024), as part of the 41st EVA International in a unique adapted venue (29 August – 26 October 2025, Studio Saol, Limerick). EVA International will also premiere LANCERS/LOVERS (2025), a newly commissioned performance by Eimear Walshe (30 August, St. Johns Pavilion, Limerick). Walshe will present an in conversation event with the National Famine Museum in Strokestown (20 September, National Famine Museum, Co. Roscommon). Events in Dublin and Belfast will conclude the tour, with two concerts of music from the opera ROMANTIC IRELAND (2024) performed by 4 in a Bar, as well as performances by Walshe’s collaborators Amanda Feery, and Dylan Kerr (21 November, First Presbyterian Church, Belfast / 22 November, The Pepper Canister, Dublin).
The National Tour is supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon as part of its commitment to promote the visual arts to Irish audiences. Ireland at Venice is an initiative of Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
Eimear Walshe is an artist from Longford, Ireland. Through a practice that spans video, sculpture, publishing, sound, and performance, Eimear Walshe’s work traces the legacies of late 19th century land contestation in Ireland and its relation to private property, sexual conservatism, and the built environment.
@evainternational
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For press enquires contact Eimear Redmond:
eimear@eva.ie