Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art

In a unique partnership, The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art was co-founded by the Arts Council and Trinity College Dublin. It opened to the public in March 1978 as the first publicly-funded space dedicated to contemporary art and the first university gallery in Ireland.

Throughout its history, the Gallery has brought artists of significant international standing to Ireland for the first time, including Marlene Dumas, Gabriel Kuri and Alice Neel, and presented pivotal exhibitions by Irish artists including Sam Keogh, Kathy Prendergast and Eva Rothschild.

The Douglas Hyde is a space for challenging and ambitious contemporary art. A key focus is the production and commissioning of contemporary art; supporting international and Irish artists to make bold new work and presenting pivotal solo exhibitions by significant artists of the present and the future. By supporting artists who push at the boundaries of form and convention, the Douglas Hyde aims to provoke new ideas. Through risk-taking and experimentation, audiences are both challenged and profoundly engaged through exhibitions, artist projects, artist talks, events, screenings and publications.

Art plays a central role in shaping the world we live in and galleries are an essential public space in a progressive society. Standing at the meeting point between the city of Dublin and the leading research university in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art values excellence, enquiry, experimentation and diversity; knowing that art deepens our understanding of ourselves and gives us new ways of thinking and of seeing the world.