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douglas hyde gallery logo
douglas hyde gallery logo

Douglas Hyde Gallery

Founded  1978
Location Nassau Street, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Website thedouglashyde.ie

The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art was co-founded in a unique partnership between the Arts Council of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin. It opened to the public in March 1978 as the first publicly funded space dedicated to contemporary art and the first university gallery in Ireland. Throughout its history, the Douglas Hyde has presented pivotal exhibitions by Irish artists and brought artists of significant international standing. 1

History

In a truly unique partnership the Arts Council of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin co-founded the Douglas Hyde Gallery. It opened to the public on the 1st March 1978 as the first university gallery and first publicly funded contemporary art exhibition space in Ireland, with an exhibition of the painter Jo Baer. As Taoiseach at the time Mr Jack Lynch said in his opening remarks, “I would hope that out of this ferment of activity in the visual arts, we will see developing in the future a fuller dimension in our lives, a dimension which has not been markedly present in the past.”  The name of the gallery takes one of Trinity’s graduates who contributed much to the development of national awareness and was the first President of Ireland. In his opening speech Dawson, argued “I hope that it will make a national contribution, worthy of the name it bears. I believe that it will be worthy to the extent that it serves the artists of this country well.”

Like the nearby Berkeley Library, it was designed by Paul Koralek of ABK architects. The space is an interesting example of late 1970s Brutalist architecture, juxtaposing heavy, angular concrete structures with massive voids.

In the main exhibition space, Gallery 1, the high walls and large, open floor area create a dramatic and memorable space for the display of artworks. In contrast, the award-winning Gallery 2, designed by McCullough Mulvin architects and opened in 2001, provides a more intimate and meditative environment. 2

Exhibitions

  • Selected exhibitions

  • 2021, From Here To There, David Lunney, Áine McBride & Katie Watchorn, (Gallery 1&2)
  • 2020, the engine, Yuri Pattison (Gallery 1) The Artist’s Eye, Steve Bishop (Gallery 2)
  • 2019, Fatal Act, 3BC (Gallery 1 & 2)
  • 2019, The Mime, the Model and the Dupe, Valérie Blass(Gallery 1)
  • 2019, The Artist’s Eye, Sé Merry Doyle (Gallery 2)
  • 2018, Wild Relatives, Jumana Manna, (Gallery 1)
  • 2018, The Artist’s Eye, Paddy Bloomer (Gallery 2)
  • 2018, Seamus Harahan and Thomas McCarthy,  ‘my comfort and my joy’: Songs from the Irish Other (Gallery 1)
  • 2018, Liliane Lijn, The Artist’s Eye (Gallery 2)
  • 2018, Tamara Henderson, Seasons End: More Than Suitcases (Gallery 1)
  • 2018, Juan Downey — The Artist’s Eye (Gallery 2)
  • 2018, Sven Anderson & Gerard ByrneA Visibility Matrix (Gallery 1)
  • 2017, Mona Hatoum — The Artist’s Eye (Gallery 2)
  • 2017, Abbas Akhavan — variations on a garden (Gallery 1)
  • 2017, Isabel Nolan — Calling on Gravity (Gallery 1)
  • 2017, Niamh O’Malley (Gallery 2)
  • 2017, Dennis Dinneen (Gallery 1)
  • 2017, Sean Lynch,  A Walk Through Time / What Is An Apparatus? (Gallery 1)
  • 2016, Josef Sudek (Gallery 1)
  • 2016, Samuel Laurence Cunnane (Gallery 1)
  • 2016, Hypnagogia,Alec Soth (Gallery 1)
  • 2016, season and evening and weather and history, Caoimhe Kilfeather (Gallery 1)
  • 2015, Luigi Ghirri (Gallery 1)
  • 2015, Four Fold, Sam Keogh  (Gallery 1)
  • 2014, Niamh O’Malley (Gallery 1)
  • 2014, Irish Silent Films (1910-1915) (Gallery 2)
  • 2014, Dukkha – Works by Aleana Egan, Fergus Feehily, Jaki Irvine, Sam Keogh, Paul Mosse (Gallery 1)
  • 2013, Simone Kappeler – Darkened Days (Gallery 2)
  • 2013, Ah, Liberty! Ben Rivers (Gallery 1)
  • 2012, a shimmer of possibility, Paul Graham, (Gallery 1 and 2)
  • 2012, Aleana Egan, day wears (Gallery 1)
  • 2012, Last (Stephen Brandes, Peter Burns, Elaine Byrne, Oliver Comerford, Kevin Cosgrove, Gary Coyle, Paul Doran, Damien Flood, Cliona Harmey, Wendy Judge, Nevan Lahart, Stephen Loughman, Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh, Paul Nugent, Mark O’Kelly, David Sherry, Sonia Shiel, George Warren) (Gallery 1)
  • 2011, Mike Disfarmer (Gallery 1)
  • 2011, Mark Manders, Two Interconnected Houses (Gallery 2)
  • 2011, Alexander Sokurov, Spiritual Voices (From the war diaries) (Gallery 2)
  • 2011, Mirosław Bałka (Between Honey and Ashes – Part 2) (Gallery 2)
  • 2011, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Between Honey and Ashes – Part 1) (Gallery 1)
  • 2010, Holding Together (An exhibition to celebrate 50 years of the Modern Art Collection of Trinity College with AE, David Beattie, Miriam De Burca, Patrick Collins, Aoife Desmond, Laura Fitzgerald, Judy Foley, Tracy Hanna, Aine Ivers, Mainie Jellett, Caoimhe Kilfeather, Cecil King, Paul McGonagle, Norah McGuinness, Sarah O’Brien, Liam O’Callaghan, Tony O’Malley, Daniel O’Neill, Nano Reid, Elaine Reynolds, William Scott, Jack B. Yeats) (Gallery 1 and 2)
  • 2010, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (Gallery 2)
  • 2010, Stephen Shore (Gallery 1)
  • 2010, Wolf Kahlen, Tibet’s Tibet & Mongolia’s Mongolia (Gallery 2)
  • 2010, Nepalese Shamanism – Ritual objects from Nepal, with photographs by Kevin Bubriski (Gallery 2)
  • 2009, Deep Fried Ephemera  – Jim White’s collection of Southern marginalia (Gallery 2)
  • 2009, High, Low & In Between, Matthew Day Jackson  (Gallery 1)
  • 2009, The Paradise (32) Joseph Grigely (Gallery 2)
  • 2008, Annelies Strba – My Life’s Dreams (Gallery 2)
  • 2008, Miroslav Tichy (Gallery 1)
  • 2008, Trisha Donnelly (Gallery 1)
  • 2008, Jandek
  • 2008, Paul Mosse
  • 2008, Willie DohertyThe Visitor (Gallery 1)
  • 2008, Brendan Earley & Bea McMahon (The Curated Visual Arts Award – Part 2) (Gallery 1)
  • 2008, Claude Cahun (Gallery 2)
  • 2008, Lothar Hempel Casanova (Gallery 1)
  • 2007, Conor McFeely & Factotum (The Curated Visual Arts Award – Part 1) (Gallery 1)
  • 2007, Come Together (Nina Canell, Clodagh Emoe, Linda Quinlan) (Gallery 1)
  • 2006, Eva Vermandel (Gallery 2)
  • 2006, Robert Adams – Pine Valley (Gallery 1)
  • 2006, The Paradise [24] Mark McLoughlin (Gallery 2)
  • 2006, A Dream of Discipline (Kathy Prendergast, Dorothy Cross, William McKeown) (Gallery 1)
  • 2006, Seydou Keita (Gallery 2)
  • 2005, The Paradise (23) Bob Quinn – The Atlantean Quartet (Gallery 2)
  • 2005, The Paradise (22) Jaki Irvine (Gallery 2)
  • 2005, The Paradise (18) Clare Richardson (Gallery 2)
  • 2004, The Paradise (15) Vija Celmins (Gallery 2)
  • 2004, The Paradise (14) Robert Adams (Gallery 2)
  • 2004, Cathy Wilkes (Gallery 1)
  • 2003, Spiritus (Group exhibition) (Gallery 1 and 2)
  • 2003, The Paradise [12] Yang Fudong (Gallery 2)
  • 2002, Gerard ByrneHerald or Press (Gallery 1)
  • 2002, The Paradise [7] Abbas Kiarostami (Gallery 2)
  • 2002, Lois Weinberger (Gallery 1)
  • 2002, The Paradise [6] Chris Marker (Gallery 2)
  • 2001, HOME Don Brown, Fernanda Gomes, Jan Jedlicka, Simone Kappeler, Lucia Nogueria, Yoshihiro Suda, Richard Wentworth, Rachel Whiteread (Gallery 1)
  • 2001, The Paradise [1] Annelies Strba & Bernhard Schobinger (Gallery 2)
  • 2001, Francesca Woodman (Gallery 1)
  • 2001, Paul Seawright
  • 2000, Gregor Schneider – Dead House UR
  • 2000, Richard Billingham
  • 2000, Daphne Wright – Where do Broken Hearts Go
  • 1999, Felix Gonzales-Torres
  • 1999, Giuseppe Penone – To Breathe
  • 1999, Utopias (Group exhibition)
  • 1999, Mike Nelson –Tourist Hotel
  • 1999, Jaki Irvine – The Hottest Sun, The Darkest Hour, A Romance
  • 1998, Annelies Strba with Bernhard Schobinger – Shades of Time
  • 1998, Keith Edmier
  • 1998, Hungry Ghosts (Nobuyoshi Araki, John Currin, Philip-Lorca di Corcia, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Keith Edmier, Karen Kilimnik, Sarah Lucas, Hiroshi Sugimoto)
  • 1998, Pieter Laurens Mol – Winter Over Spring
  • 1998, Joseph Grigely
  • 1997, The Messenger, Bill Viola
  • 1997, Mark Manders
  • 1997, Scream & Scream Again, Film in Art (Group exhibition)
  • 1993, Work from the Power House, Dorothy Cross
  • 1993, Willie Doherty
  • 1992, Blue Funk (Group exhibition)
  • 1992, Sebastião Salgado
  • 1991, Bruce Nauman
  • 1991, Irish Art of the Eighties – ‘Modernism & Abstraction’, ‘Politics & Polemics’
  • 1990, Irish Art of the Eighties – ‘Nature & Culture’, ‘Sexuality & Gender’, ‘Myth & Mystification’
  • 1990, Northlands, New Art From Scandinavia
  • 1989, Bill Viola
  • 1988, Judith Barry
  • 1988, Ebb, Dorothy Cross
  • 1987, Directions Out: an investigation into a selection of artists whose work has been formed by the post-1969 situation in Northern Ireland
  • 1987, Comic Iconoclasm (Touring exhibition focused on the response of artists to comic iconography from Institute of Contemporary Arts, London)
  • 1986, Work from a Dark Room, Gene Lambert
  • 1985, Sources,  Three Belgian Artists: Jan Vercruyesse, Lili Dujourie, Mark Lutyen
  • 1984, David Hockney, Photographs
  • 1983, EVA, Limerick (Touring group exhibition)
  • 1983, Kevin Roche Architect
  • 1983, GPA Awards Exhibition
  • 1983, Exchange Between Artists: Poland – USA
  • 1983, David Nash
  • 1981, Mirrors and Windows, American Photography Since 1960
  • 1980, Images Des Hommes, 20th Century European Photography
  • 1980, Irish Exhibition of Living Art
  • 1979, Bauhaus
  1. “About ” DHG https://thedouglashyde.ie/about/#architecture
  2. “About ” DHG https://thedouglashyde.ie/about/#architecture