THE IRISH Museum of Modern Art (Imma) at Kilmainham in Dublin will close its historic main building from November 1st next year until January 2013 for a major upgrade of its lighting, security and fire safety systems.
A new hoist for moving large artworks, which Imma has described as “much-needed”, will be installed along with improved flooring and additional fire escapes in the 17th-century royal hospital building.
The climate-controlled new galleries separate from the main building, which housed recent exhibitions of artists Lucian Freud and Georgia O’Keeffe, will remain open and a “high-profile exhibition programme” is planned during the main building’s closure.
Negotiations are also under way to secure a city centre location for a number of exhibitions. The Office of Public Works, which will oversee the refurbishment, declined to comment on the likely cost of a city centre venue or the work on the new wiring, security and fire prevention systems.
The upgrade is subject to a tendering process and no budgetary details will be released, but it is thought the locations under consideration include sites previously looked at for the relocation of the Abbey Theatre, among them Scoil Ard Mhuire on Parnell Square.
The museum marks its 20th anniversary next year and, according to a spokeswoman, a “very big programme” of events is planned for the 10 months prior to the closure.
She declined to reveal details of the exhibitions, which are to be announced in January 2011 by the Minister for Culture. However, they include 11 exhibitions, five projects in the building’s courtyard, a symposium and a series of talks.
Artworks from the museum’s own collection will be part of international exhibitions in the UK, Portugal and Iceland during the closure.
