Tulca, Galway 2012

Various venues, Galway Until Nov 23 tulca.ie

Put together annually on an impossibly tight budget, the Tulca festival of visual arts has become an impressive event that usually achieves its lofty ambitions. Tulca draws on the generosity and commitment of the local arts community and, partly because of its wintry timing, has a gritty authenticity to it. Warm attire is advised if you are going to take in its several venues, some far-flung.

Greg McCartney’s long-running Abridged has been one of the most interesting curatorial projects undertaken in Ireland. Put McCartney and Tulca together and the result is What became of the people we used to be?. McCartney takes landscape as a general theme but not at all in a restricted, generic sense.

With major locations at the Arts Centre and the Fairgreen Gallery, Tulca includes work by many more artists than it is possible to list, but it’s a good list.

Can’t See That? Catch This

Thread Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin Until Dec 1 01-8788242