EMERGING CURATOR 2025 | Aisling Clark

This award provides a platform for emerging curators to explore and engage with contemporary visual arts, culminating in a month-long exhibition at GOMA Gallery, Waterford.

Aisling Clark is a curator based in Dublin. She was the Provost’s Fellow in Curating 2023 at The Douglas Hyde Gallery, where she developed Unearthing Empire, a public programme connecting Ireland’s colonial past and present, and assisted on exhibitions by Irish and international artists Liz Magor, Uri Aran, Amanda Coogan and Bassam Issa Al-Sabah.

In 2024, her research has focused on (de-)constructing nationalism: exploring modernist architect Michael Scott’s role in shaping Ireland’s arts and cultural landscape, with UCD’s School of Art History & Cultural Policy and the Irish Architectural Archive, and architect Herbert Simms’ social housing in the Irish Free State, which will appear in a forthcoming essay published by Mirror Lamp Press.

Her broader curatorial interests include commoning, labour particularly from a care/feminist standpoint, nature and climate, and digital/online spheres. She has previously worked on exhibitions with the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, Gay Health Network, Ireland, and the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, among others.

Aisling will collaborate with GOMA Waterford to present a month-long exhibition in March 2025.

About GOMA Waterford’s Emerging Curator Award

This annual award provides a platform for emerging curators to explore and engage with contemporary visual arts, culminating in a month-long exhibition at GOMA Gallery, Waterford. The paid opportunity is open to emerging curators that have knowledge and experience of contemporary visual arts in Ireland and beyond.

The successful candidate works with the team at GOMA to realise the exhibition, utilising GOMA’s existing networks and also establishing new relationships. The curator is supported by the team at GOMA who works closely with them to manage all aspects of the exhibition and events.

The curator must research and engage the artists to be a part of the exhibitions and organise the logistics for each exhibition including managing exhibition budgets, with assistance from the team; compiling the marketing material and communications; organising at least one group / public visit or workshop per exhibition, with an inclusive engagement approach towards diverse communities.

GOMA Waterford offers the successful candidate: 

• A €2,500 curatorial fee
• Separate exhibiting artist fees
• A month long exhibition slot 
• PR, marketing and administrative support
• Assistance with invite design and promo material
• Technical installation support and curatorial support from the team
• A public dialogue event specific to the exhibition