In Brussels, Tender Sculpture Celebrates Ireland’s EU Presidency

A new site-specific installation from Irish artist and fashion designer Richard Malone has been unveiled today at the European Parliament in Brussels, marking Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) by honouring traditional skills and community spaces. 

The monumental fabric sculpture, called Cuimhne agus Séadchomhartha (Memory and Monument), contextualises shared material histories within European and Irish frameworks. It arrives as Ireland begins its six-month run at the helm of the EU, a role which rotates regularly between members states, and was last held by Ireland in 2013.

Focusing on places where communities come together for gathering and exchange—the square, the market, the theatre, the tent—Malone’s dramatically draped installation uses fabric as a way of carrying shared histories of migration, identity and labour. Quilts created especially for the installation are based on traditional patterns including the Irish Chain and Triple Chain, tying the work directly to the lives of previous generations who took these designs across the world.

Referencing this choice of materials, Malone recently told the Guardian: “What I’m asking is: why aren’t certain stitch samplers or certain quilts collected? Why are certain artists not on our curriculum?”

The artist told the paper that, while past EU commissions have included “a lot of polished sculptural works”, his own installation is “quite fragile and delicate”, placing it at odds with the corporate architecture of the EU Council’s Justus Lipsius and Europa buildings.

Malone was born in Wexford and their work considers ideas of queerness, class and place through sculpture, performance, textiles and installation. They were inspired to sew by their grandmother, and they use their artistic practice to question traditional gender-based assumptions about men’s and women’s work, and to explore why the art we often celebrate in galleries and museums does not regularly feature traditional crafts and skills.

In Cuimhne agus Séadchomhartha, the idea of creating a monumental installation collectively, using everyday practice and inherited skill, asks viewers to consider why knowledge and labour passed through generations is not always recognised—and in bringing quilting to the foreground, Malone is anchoring the practice within contemporary art.

Cuimhne agus Séadchomhartha also addresses gender stereotypes in its construction: market structures traditionally evoke “masculine” ideas of building, but the soft, fabric shrouds that cover Malone’s work disrupt this idea, reminding us that women’s labour also goes into the creation of shared spaces.

 In addition to the external sculptures, Malone has brought pieces by Irish makers and artists into the buildings’ presidency suites including furniture, upholstery, carpeting and work in wood. He will also curate a photography display in the Justus Lipsius building about Irish identity today.

Also marking the Irish presidency of the EU, the exhibition Súil Amach (An Outward Eye) at the European Parliament features 24 portraits by Irish photographer and filmmaker Conor Horban, of well-known Irish literary figures, including Colm Tóibín.