Tapped on the Shoulder by Buddha – pic: James Connolly

Medium Religion opened last Saturday in Sligo at the Model Satellite on Castle Street and a great evening was had by all. We began proceedings with a curators talk from Boris Groys which was really well attended and extremely well received. The talk was chaired by Dr. Tony Partridge of Sligo IT and we hope to make a recording available in the coming weeks for anyone that missed it.

The talk was held in a converted Church, the Canis Major, at The Clarion Hotel which provided an excellent setting for the discussion. After the talk we all made our way to the exhibition space on Castle Street, the Model Satellite, for the official opening. It was a glorious (and rare!) sunny evening in Sligo and we were delighted to welcome so many of you to the show. We were privileged to have a number of the artists from the exhibition in Sligo for the occasion, all for their first Sligo, and indeed Irish, visit. These included Co-curator Boris Groys and artists Nira Pereg (Israel), Barbad Golshiri (Iran) and Susanna Pilar Delahante Matienzo from Cuba. The Cuban Ambassador to Ireland, Noel Carillio, also made a surprise visit with his family to welcome Susanna to Ireland.

We were also delighted to have so many of the ZKM team in Ireland to see the show. Medium Religionoriginated in ZKM in Karlesruhe and is being brought to Ireland by The Model so this was an opportunity for them to see it in a new space for the first time. The Goethe Institut Irland have been instrumental in supporting the mounting of this exhbition in Ireland and we were joined by Barbara Ebert for the opening.

For the last opening we tried some excellent cheeses, all bought locally on Castle Street, and they were so popular we had to go for the same again! Kate’s Kitchen were especially generous so a big thank you to them. The artists had a wonderful evening, as did everyone at The Model, and there was a great reaction to the show.

There are more great pics from the opening -taken by James Connolly- on our flikr page, and Medium Religion is now open on Castle Street in Sligo until Sunday August 16th. The exhibition is free of charge and is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon, closing at 6pm Tue – Sat but with late opening on Thursday until 8pm. On Sunday it closes at 4pm.

There will by a symposium; Religious Challenges, Challenging Religions, chaired by Anna Nolan, on June 20th which is also free of charge. more info here>