The Model is a dynamic and innovative centre for the contemporary arts, situated on Europe's northwest periphery. We offer global perspectives on art, ideas, culture and identity, through programming that is urgent, experimental and relevant to people's lives. We are a museum at the centre of the community, committed to our belief that art has the power to change lives. Our unique curatorial ethos actively utilises our collection as a tool to weave the traditional with the contemporary, to create cohesive and illuminating artistic presentations that resonate both locally & inter/nationally.
The Model is known for experimental, urgent programming that critically tackles pressing contemporary issues such as climate action (The Sea Around Us, 2020), the refugee crisis (Turbulence, 2018), and representation (Portrait Lab, 2022). Other thematic exhibitions reflect on the way in which contemporary artists address philosophical questions that are pertinent to the lived experience. The Model develops projects in collaboration with artists, and is a site of artistic production, with new commissions, eight purpose-built studios and an artists’ residency programme.
The Model has a vibrant music programme which includes an eclectic mix of the contemporary and classical, and regularly commissions new music projects that respond to other strands of our programme. We also work in partnership with outstanding local music curators such as Binder, Con Brio and The Sligo Baroque Orchestra.
The Model’s weekly series of Irish and international independent film is programmed in partnership with Sligo Film Society, one of Ireland’s most long established film clubs. At the same time, we present screening programmes alongside exhibitions, and projects curated either in-house or by invited artists.
Integral to all aspects of the Model’s programme is an extensive offering of educational opportunities for children and adults, including, in recent years, ground-breaking socially-engaged initiatives such as The Sunset Belongs to You, Sligo Global Kitchen, Pop-Up Niland Collection, and Bart Lodewijks’ Unforgettable Neighbourhoods.