The Chinese are coming to Dublin, according to Declan McGonagle, director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. A building crew from Hong Kong will erect bamboo cane scaffolding around Dublin's old Carlton Cinema later this year.
The proposed erection is the winning submission to the Nissan Art Project for the Millennium competition. It is proposed by artist Dan Shipsides, a Lancashire lad from Preston, who has come down from Belfast for the announcement. Those who gather for the glamorous occasion at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham earlier this week - artists, art critics and museum friends - are treated to lunch in the Johnson Room. Marie Donnelly, the newly-appointed chairwoman of IMMA, is here, availing of the chance to introduce herself to board members. "I'm quite a bossy chair," she admits.
Noel Sheridan, director of the National College of Art and Design, is pleased to note that at least two NCAD graduates are among those short-listed in the competition. A number of art critics, such as Hilary Pyle, Dorothy Walker and Ciaran Bennett, are here to witness the occasion. According to Pyle, this is the biggest prize in the art world. Also enjoying the salmon lunch is Kevin Kavanagh, who runs the eponymous gallery in Dublin's Great Strand Street. He's excited about an exhibition there of work by Stephen Loughman, which will feature scenes from the National Wax Museum (now up for sale) and opens on Thursday, April 6th.