ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Sarah Pierce's Retrospective at IMMA Challenges Art Viewing Conventions Through Participatory Works

exhibition · 2026-04-20

The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin is currently hosting Sarah Pierce's retrospective exhibition titled 'Scene of the Myth,' which will be on display until 3 September. This showcase highlights twenty years of her artistic journey, intertwining installation, performance, archives, and workshops. Among the featured pieces is 'Towards a Newer Laocoön' (2012), which includes a plaster replica of 'Laocoön and His Sons' alongside protest materials. In 'Future Exhibitions' (2013), performers interacted with the audience by chanting slogans from Ireland's 'Repeal the Eighth' campaign. Additional works presented are 'The Square' (2017) and 'An Artwork in the Third Person' (2009). Pierce draws inspiration from thinkers like Hannah Arendt and C. Wright Mills, promoting a participatory 'community of the exhibition.'

Key facts

  • Sarah Pierce's retrospective 'Scene of the Myth' runs at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin through 3 September
  • The exhibition features 20 years of Pierce's work including installation, performance, archives, and workshops
  • Performers physically engaged viewers during 'Future Exhibitions' (2013), pushing them into gallery centers
  • Installation 'Towards a Newer Laocoön' (2012) includes a plaster replica of 'Laocoön and His Sons' gifted to Dublin's National College of Art and Design in 1790
  • Performers referenced Ireland's 'Repeal the Eighth' movement that led to abortion legalization in 2018
  • The exhibition references artists Kazimir Malevich and Bruce Nauman alongside themes of radical pedagogy and Irish nationalism
  • 'The Square' (2017) was hand-painted by workshop participants as starting point for a Brecht-inspired 'play without a script'
  • Pierce's pedagogical approach draws from sociologist C. Wright Mills' 'The Sociological Imagination' (1959)

Entities

Artists

  • Sarah Pierce
  • Kazimir Malevich
  • Bruce Nauman
  • Kevin Atherton
  • Bertolt Brecht
  • Hannah Arendt
  • C. Wright Mills
  • David La Touche

Institutions

  • Irish Museum of Modern Art
  • National College of Art and Design
  • ArtReview

Locations

  • Dublin
  • Ireland
  • New York

Sources