The Clifden Arts Festival 2025 (17-28th September ) unveils a bold and diverse Visual Art Programme that brings together Irish and international artists across disciplines and locations. From painting and performance to photography and film, this year’s theme Journey is explored through deeply personal, political, and poetic lenses.
Anchoring the programme is the headline exhibition from Stoney Road Press, opening Tuesday September 16 in the Station House Museum. One of Ireland’s most distinguished fine art print studios, Stoney Road Press presents a survey of collaborations spanning over 20 years, featuring work by artists such as Louis le Brocquy, Diana Copperwhite, Alice Maher, Donald Teskey, and Anne Madden. This exhibition highlights the expressive potential of print and celebrates a legacy of Irish visual art practice rarely seen in one place.
A major highlight of the festival is a compelling video art installation featuring works by Vardit Goldner, Etaoin Melville, and Marco Balbi Dipalma.
In Swimming Lesson, Israeli artist Vardit Goldner constructs a surreal yet deeply political mockumentary: a group of Bedouin girls are being taught to swim—inside a pool with no water. The image is absurd, even comical at first glance, but quickly reveals the stark reality of systemic exclusion. In Israel, over 200,000 Arab-Bedouins live in the Negev region, yet they have access to just one public swimming pool, and are generally barred from Jewish-operated facilities. Through her lens, Goldner reveals how something as basic as learning to swim becomes a metaphor for broader marginalisation. The film also gestures toward a dystopian future of global water scarcity—blurring present-day injustice with looming environmental crisis.
West Cork-based artist Etaoin Melville’s Silent Voices is a lyrical meditation on womanhood, ancestry, and the passing of time, set against the rhythm of the Atlantic tide. Italian performer Marco Balbi Dipalma offers Trasfigurazione, a ritual self-portrait that explores transformation through Catholic iconography and existential ritual.
Elsewhere, the powerful site-specific performance IN RITUAL – Anointing by Kari Cahill invites audiences into a fire-centred ceremonial experience, exploring the alchemy of land, body, and belief. Synaptic Space (Olivia Hassett and Rachel Macmanus ) present Push Pull – The Dance of Control, a visceral, humorous, and defiant performance examining the complexities of ageing and embodiment.
Multi-award-winning photographer Peter Gordon contributes a new body of work capturing the fleeting beauty of Irish landscapes with his signature emotional resonance and technical mastery..
These highlights are joined by over 40 exhibitions throughout Clifden and its surrounding areas—featuring work by Eoin O’Malley, Leah Beggs, Adele Walsh, and many more. From etchings and tapestries to experimental sculpture and contemporary glass, this year’s programme invites audiences to pause, reflect, and journey through an extraordinary range of perspectives.
“I wanted to create space for as many diverse artistic voices as Clifden could hold,” says Clare Henderson, Visual Arts Curator for the 2025 Festival. “Every artist brings a unique story—and I’m deeply grateful to the local community who helped make space for those stories to be seen and heard.”
Clifden Arts Festival continues to champion artistic excellence and inclusivity—celebrating work that moves, questions, and connects.
For tickets visit: www.clifdenartsfestival.ie
