Friday 30th April will see the official opening of the Festival in the Highlanes Gallery. The Marienbad Palace, a visual art exhibition curated by Jacqui McIntosh is divided between two venues in the town, the Droichead Arts Centre and the Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery. 'The Marienbad Palace' brings together works by Laura Buckley, Diana Copperwhite, Jorge De La Garza, Alicja Kwade, Haroon Mirza and Ian Monroe. The exhibition, which includes collage, painting, sculpture, installation and video, takes its title from JG Ballard's 1989 short story 'The Enormous Space' and Alain Resnais' seminal 1961 film 'Last Year in Marienbad'. The exhibition explores ideas of reality in a world where virtual reality is always competing with accepted notions of time and space. ‘The Marienbad Palace’ has been commissioned exclusively for Drogheda Arts Festival.
Over the past few years, Louth Contemporary Music Society has brought world renowned composers to Louth, including Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Valentyn Silvestrov. This year they are delighted to welcome Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina to the town as part of the Drogheda Arts Festival. One of the world’s greatest composers, Sofia Gubaidulina will visit Ireland for the first time to attend a concert celebrating her work. Entitled The Fire and the Rose: the Music of Sofia Gubaidulina, the concert which will take place in St Peter’s Church, Drogheda on May 1st, and will be preceded earlier in the day by the showing of a film on her life and work in the Droichead Arts Centre
Also Saturday 1st May West Street running through the heart of the town will become ‘West Street Wonderland’ for one day only! The Festival aims to revitalize for this day some of the empty spaces on the street, transforming Drogheda’s main artery with music, outdoor performances, and workshops. The emphasis will be on participation and fun, with opportunities for all ages to engage with artists and theatre practitioners.
The other side of the river on Saturday and Sunday will see the Drogheda Spring Food Festival, located on the Waterfront, Scotch Hall. Experience this two-day mini-festival of food offering the tastes and delights of the local food connoisseurs, a farmers market, craft butchers, restaurant tastings, 'grow your own' demonstrations and wine seminars.
Theatre and performance also feature strongly in this year’s programme.
