NIVAL and the Glucksman: Toolkit Workshop and Walking Tour

Artist Books in NIVAL’s Reading Room. Image by Clare Lymer, National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL), NCAD, Dublin

Wednesday 17 June 2026 , 11am-3.30pm
The Glucksman
University College Cork
Ireland T12 V1WH

Free to attend – Booking required

Join NIVAL and the Glucksman for a special double event: a walking tour & afternoon workshop to talk through the steps of artists’ archiving

Click here to book.

PART I: Walking tour of an casadh (the turn)

Curator Katie O’Grady will lead a 45-minute morning tour of an casadh (the turn) by artist Laura Ní Fhlaibhín in the Elizabeth Fort. Commissioned by The Glucksman in partnership with Cork Midsummer Festival, an casadh is a bio-sculptural installation and live performance exploring ideas of kinship, ritual and nourishment.

Located at multiple spaces in Elizabeth Fort, artist Laura Ní Fhlaibhín will activate the exhibition over the course of the Cork Midsummer Festival through performances that consider the historical significance of the site as a women’s convict depot. an casadh has been developed with biologists at University College Cork’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, local community gardening initiatives through Cork City Council, intermittent land-use project Test Site and members of Cork Folklore Project. an casadh is funded by a project award from the Arts Council of Ireland, and created for the Cork Midsummer Festival. More information about performances during the festival can be found here.

PART II: Toolkit for Artists’ Archiving workshop with Ruth Hallinan (NIVAL) at the GLUCKSMAN

In the afternoon, Ruth Hallinan will lead a workshop in the River Room of the Glucksman to talk through NIVAL’s new Toolkit for Artists’ Archiving. The workshop will cover the steps of self-documentation as laid out in the toolkit’s chapters and how to best use the toolkit to build your own archive.

The session will be suitable for beginners and those who are interested in keeping track of their work or would like to know more about how to collect, choose, organise and preserve their documents. The workshop will not address how to archive artwork.

ACCESSIBILITY

The tour and workshop will take place in person at the Elizabeth Fort and the Glucksman in Cork city. The Elizabeth Fort has restricted accessibility and more information can be found here. The installation of an casadh will be viewed on a step-free level. The Glucksman is fully accessible and more information can be found here. Refreshments will not be provided.

PARTICIPANTS

Laura Ní Fhlaibhín is an artist from Wexford. She combines myth, personal recollection and oral histories through sculptural elements and writing. Her work often draws upon modes of care – of self and others, humans and animals, objects and materials.

Katie O’Grady is the Curator of Exhibitions + Projects and is responsible for the management of the Glucksman’s curatorial programmes and artist projects.

The National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL) collects, stores and makes accessible for research an unparalleled collection of material about Irish art in all media. An initiative of NCAD in partnership with the Arts Council of Ireland, since 1997 NIVAL has become the foremost centre for the documentation of contemporary art and design in Ireland. Assistant Manager, Ruth Hallinan, has presented at various festivals and conferences including the Irish Book Trade conference, International Publishers Association conference, Art Libraries Society (ARLIS) conference, Dublin Book Festival and Dublin Art Book Fair. She was named as one of the 150 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller in 2021 and 2022.