Galway Arts Centre

06/09/2026

'Borneo x Ireland Cultural Exchange' as part of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children 2026

04/09/2026

‘Deviations’

Weekend Opening Hours
Sat: 10am-5pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm

‘Glitch Coupling (”We Were Ghosts”)’
Parian porcelain
2025

In ‘Deviations’, John Rainey presents sculptures drawn from three bodies of work produced between 2021 and 2026: ‘Slip Tank’, ‘Errors’ and ‘Retrofits’. These works trace an evolving approach to deviation from historical source material through slips, misalignments and acts of reconstruction. Working in cast porcelain, metal and marble, Rainey reconfigures the visual language of classical statuary to propose alternative sculptural histories. Forms appear both familiar and strange, with shifting bodies, grafted fragments and surfaces that imitate other materials. Deviation operates as a creative tool, disrupting ideas of craft, coherence and the body, while suggesting more fluid identities. In ‘Retrofits’, Rainey draws on an archive of plaster-moulded forms to assemble composite, mythological figures through recombination, echoing hybrid characters from performance traditions. Presented as an evolving system of forms, ‘Deviations’ allows structures to drift from their origins, opening new possibilities for form, material and meaning.
Curated by Tom McLean

More info https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/deviations/
Runs until 27 Sept

Photos: Tom Flanagan

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Council Galway City Arts Office This Is Galway Galway's Westend

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03/09/2026

Culture Night 2026 at Galway Arts Centre!

John Rainey in conversation with Michael Waldron

📌 47 Dominick Street
📅 18 Sept
⏰ 7pm
🎟️ FREE, no booking required

For Culture Night ’26 we’re delighted to welcome Michael Waldron of Crawford Art Gallery and artist John Rainey to Galway Arts Centre for a conversation exploring classical sculpture and its continuing afterlives through reproduction, restoration and contemporary technologies of making.

The conversation will bring Rainey’s practice into dialogue with the Canova Casts at Crawford Art Gallery. Made in Rome in the early nineteenth century under the supervision of Antonio Canova and sent to Cork in 1818, the casts formed an important teaching collection for what was then the Cork School of Art. Reproducing celebrated works of Greek and Roman sculpture, they allowed artists in Ireland to study classical models at first hand and point to a longer history in which copying, casting and reproduction were fundamental to artistic education and the circulation of images. These histories have a particular resonance with Rainey’s current solo exhibition, ‘Deviations’, at Galway Arts Centre.

With Crawford Art Gallery having recently acquired Rainey’s ‘Dazzle Disco (legs)’ and ‘Restoration Error Disco’ for the National Collection, the discussion also traces a direct connection between its historic holdings and Rainey’s contemporary practice.

Rainey and Waldron will consider what happens to classical forms as they are copied, circulated, restored, distorted and remade; how technologies of reproduction shape our encounters with the past; and why artists continue to return to these inherited bodies and images.

More info https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/culture-night-john-rainey-in-conversation-with-michael-waldron/

Galleries remain open until 10pm

Image Credits:
1 / Jed Niezgoda - Canova Casts at Crawford Art Gallery
2 / Emma Jervis
3 / Courtesy of artist

Crawford Art Gallery Culture Night Galway County Culture Night The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Council Galway City Arts Office This Is Galway Galway's Westend

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02/09/2026

Oral History Project - Workshops

Our beautiful and historic theatre at Nuns Island is closing its doors for a little while, as we begin major renovations to transform and renew this special space.

We are currently compiling an archive for the theatre as it closes and moves into a new phase. We’re inviting you - our artists, audiences, neighbours, and friends - to help us gather the stories, memories, and moments that have shaped this space, through our oral history project.

As part of this project, Director Andrew Flynn and Writer Jarlath Tivnan are hosting two interactive workshops to help provoke and ignite memories for people. Both workshops are free and open to the public.

Workshop 1
Saturday 12 Sept 10am - 12pm
Galway Arts Centre | Nuns Island Theatre

Workshop 2
Sunday 20 Sept 11am - 1pm
Galway Arts Centre | Nuns Island Theatre

Book your place via link https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/oral-history-project-workshops/

For nearly five decades, Galway Arts Centre at Nuns Island has been more than just a building, it has been a home. A place of bold ideas, shared experiences, and creative risk. A space where generations of artists in Galway have made, experimented, gathered, and grown.

We are inviting everyone who has used, visited or been part of Nuns Island over the years to share their memories with us.

💭 This can be a memory of attending a show or event
✨ Or the memory of a workshop / class
🎭 Or the memory of performing there or rehearsing at this special little venue

Whether on stage, backstage, or sitting in the dark as the lights came up, your experiences are part of what makes Galway Arts Centre's Nuns Island Theatre so special. As we look ahead, we want to honour everything that has come before and all the scenes that stay with us.

Workshops and archive project funded by Galway City Council and Creative Ireland

Photo: Tom Flanagan

Galway City Council CreativeIrl Galway Youth Theatre Galway and Roscommon ETB The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Arts Office This Is Galway Galway's Westend

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01/09/2026

Congrats to Baboró International Arts Festival for Children on another fantastic programme! 👏
So thrilled to be part of the 30th festival celebrations. Happy Birthday!!! 🎈

01/09/2026

‘Deviations’

Opening Hours This Week
Tue / Wed / Fri / Sat: 10am-5pm
Thu: 10am-9pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm

‘Double Herc (Connecting tubes)’
Parian porcelain
2026

In ‘Deviations’, John Rainey presents sculptures drawn from three bodies of work produced between 2021 and 2026: ‘Slip Tank’, ‘Errors’ and ‘Retrofits’. These works trace an evolving approach to deviation from historical source material through slips, misalignments and acts of reconstruction. Working in cast porcelain, metal and marble, Rainey reconfigures the visual language of classical statuary to propose alternative sculptural histories. Forms appear both familiar and strange, with shifting bodies, grafted fragments and surfaces that imitate other materials. Deviation operates as a creative tool, disrupting ideas of craft, coherence and the body, while suggesting more fluid identities. In ‘Retrofits’, Rainey draws on an archive of plaster-moulded forms to assemble composite, mythological figures through recombination, echoing hybrid characters from performance traditions. Presented as an evolving system of forms, ‘Deviations’ allows structures to drift from their origins, opening new possibilities for form, material and meaning.
Curated by Tom McLean

More info https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/deviations/
Runs until 27 Sept

Photos: Tom Flanagan

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Council Galway City Arts Office This Is Galway Galway's Westend

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31/08/2026

Irish-Language Workshop, led by artist and curator Ciara Corscadden Hennessy
03 Sep / 6pm

Join us for a special ‘Gallery Lates’ workshop exploring John Rainey’s exhibition ‘Deviations’ through the Irish language, led by Galway-based artist and curator Ciara Corscadden Hennessy.

Ciara’s practice examines the ongoing impact of colonial and technological legacies, and the systems of power they sustain. Through their work, they explore how identity, memory and embodiment are shaped by wider social and material structures.

Using conversation, close looking and Irish-language interpretation, the workshop will open up new ways of engaging with the themes, materials and artworks within ‘Deviations’. No previous knowledge of Irish is required and all levels are welcome.

No booking required
Complimentary refreshments provided

See links for more info on our current exhibition and the 'Gallery Lates' programme
https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/deviations/
https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/gallery-lates-every-thursday-evening-at-galway-arts-centre/

Photos:
1 / Joseph Padfield
2 / courtesy of artist

‘Gallery Lates’ is funded by Galway City Council and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport as part of the Galway City Night-Time Economy Action Plan.

Galway City Council Department of Culture, Communications and Sport This Is Galway Galway's Westend The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Arts Office

Instagram: .ieldrecording

30/08/2026

Now accepting new members

We are now accepting new members for our next term starting in October. For more information email [email protected]

28/08/2026

‘Deviations’

Weekend Opening Hours
Sat: 10am-5pm
Sun: 12pm-5pm

‘Disobedient Bike Rack’
Powder-coated steel, MDF and vinyl print
2021

‘Portals (Guards)’
Parian porcelain, powder-coated steel and vinyl print
2021 (Adapted 2026)

In ‘Deviations’, John Rainey presents sculptures drawn from three bodies of work produced between 2021 and 2026: ‘Slip Tank’, ‘Errors’ and ‘Retrofits’. These works trace an evolving approach to deviation from historical source material through slips, misalignments and acts of reconstruction. Working in cast porcelain, metal and marble, Rainey reconfigures the visual language of classical statuary to propose alternative sculptural histories. Forms appear both familiar and strange, with shifting bodies, grafted fragments and surfaces that imitate other materials. Deviation operates as a creative tool, disrupting ideas of craft, coherence and the body, while suggesting more fluid identities. In ‘Retrofits’, Rainey draws on an archive of plaster-moulded forms to assemble composite, mythological figures through recombination, echoing hybrid characters from performance traditions. Presented as an evolving system of forms, ‘Deviations’ allows structures to drift from their origins, opening new possibilities for form, material and meaning.
Curated by Tom McLean

More info https://www.galwayartscentre.ie/whats-on/deviations/
Runs until 27 Sept

Photos: Tom Flanagan

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Galway City Council Galway City Arts Office This Is Galway Galway's Westend

Instagram:

27/08/2026

Fab line up of late openings and events this evening for Gallery Lates, Museum Lates and Café Lates ✨