In the heart of Dublin Docklands, the International Centre for the Image hosts a groundbreaking exhibition that redefines the possibilities of contemporary photography. AS IF, presented by PhotoIreland, brings together Eamonn Doyle, Niall Sweeney and David Donohoe in a collaborative exploration of image, sound and installation. The work spans silver gelatin prints, film projections, montages, sound, painting, drawing and text, creating an immersive environment that blurs the boundaries between disciplines. Shot across Ireland and Japan, the project oscillates between urban streets, constructed sets, and the intimacy of the photographic darkroom. Thousands of images and meticulously composed soundscapes converge into a structure that folds the external world with the internal psyche. Audiences move through spaces where light, shadow and movement interact, producing an experience that is physical, intellectual and emotional.
This ambitious exhibition exemplifies the enduring vision of PhotoIreland, which has fostered photography and visual arts in Ireland since 2010. Its programmes emphasise dialogue, experimentation and international exchange, establishing a platform for Irish artists to reach global audiences. Beyond the acclaimed annual PhotoIreland Festival, the organisation runs print and book fairs, artist residencies and publishes the critically regarded OVER Journal. The Temple Bar-based art bookshop has become a hub for contemporary photography, connecting local audiences with international discourse. With AS IF, PhotoIreland demonstrates its continued commitment to ambitious projects. The exhibition reinforces how local creative networks can engage with a wider cultural and intellectual conversation.
The unveiling of the International Centre for the Image marks a milestone in Dublin’s cultural landscape, providing a dedicated space for creation, research, exhibition, and conservation. Conceptually and architecturally, the Centre is arranged around four interlocking areas, reflecting a commitment to both artistic production and preservation. Its presence resonates with internationally celebrated institutions such as FOAM in Amsterdam, the new Netherlands Photomuseum in Rotterdam, London’s Photographers’ Gallery, Paris’s Jeu de Paume, and New York’s International Center of Photography. Each of these galleries foregrounds experimental approaches to photography, prioritising interdisciplinary collaboration and conceptual innovation. The Centre establishes Dublin as a nexus for contemporary visual arts, bridging the local and global. Here, AS IF finds its natural home, a work of international scope rooted in Irish practice.
AS IF unfolds as a meticulously orchestrated investigation of perception, temporality, and urban experience. Eamonn Doyle’s photographic practice has evolved from acute street observation to multi-disciplinary projects integrating sound, performance, and text. His images, often rhythmic and musical in sequencing, now inhabit immersive spaces where movement, light, and shadow evoke psychological states. Doyle’s work captures the pulse of the city yet transcends documentation to articulate inner and outer worlds simultaneously. The exhibition’s structure invites audiences to navigate layered narratives. The cumulative effect is a hypnotic, almost symphonic portrait of contemporary life and memory.
Niall Sweeney contributes a structural and design sensibility that shapes the exhibition’s physical and conceptual spaces. A long-term collaborator of Doyle, Sweeney brings expertise in installation, drawing, text, and performance. His interventions balance intimacy and spectacle, creating environments that oscillate between theatre, gallery, and domestic space. Through meticulous construction and manipulation of sets and maquettes, Sweeney emphasises the interplay of order and instability, materiality and imagination. The artist’s approach complements Doyle’s photographic sequences, amplifying the emotional resonance of the work and highlighting the generative potential of interdisciplinary practice.
David Donohoe’s role in AS IF is equally vital, shaping the auditory dimension of the exhibition. His practice spans composition, field recording, electroacoustic presentation, and improvisation, blending instrumental and synthetic textures. Within the installation, sound acts as both guide and counterpart to visual material, accentuating spatial dynamics and temporal rhythms. The carefully crafted audio environment enriches the psychological depth of the work, fostering immersion and engagement. Donohoe’s interventions translate visual motifs into sonic experience, reinforcing the sense of simultaneity and flux. The combination of image, space, and sound demonstrates the collaborative ambition of the project.
The exhibition is threaded with an array of cultural, historical, and aesthetic references that deepen its resonance. Influences range from Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project to Esprit Jouffret’s early explorations of four-dimensional geometry. References to Goya’s Black Paintings, visionary science fiction cinema, and childhood media by David McKee merge with ephemeral personal experiences, such as a Tokyo nightclub in 1994. These varied threads converge to explore urban life, memory, and perception in nuanced ways. The work examines the fragility both material and psychic worlds, weaving together architecture, image, sound and narrative. Its layered intertextuality rewards close attention and repeated engagement.
Every component of the exhibition interacts with and amplifies the others, forming a coherent, immersive whole. Silver gelatin prints and film projections interact with constructed sets, while sound punctuates and extends visual motifs. The oscillation between stillness and motion, light and shadow, silence and resonance cultivates a rhythm that mirrors the city and the mind. The work navigates the tension between control and chance, permanence and ephemerality, material and psychic space. Audiences are invited to inhabit the constructed environments, experiencing the interplay of sensory and conceptual dimensions. The result is a deeply layered, multidimensional exploration of contemporary life and creative practice.
AS IF situates Dublin within a wider network of international photography, aligning with institutions such as FOAM, the Netherlands Photomuseum, and London’s Photographers’ Gallery. These galleries foreground experimental, interdisciplinary approaches that challenge traditional hierarchies of photographic practice. By presenting a work of such scale and ambition, PhotoIreland and the International Centre for the Image demonstrate that the city is capable of hosting projects with global relevance. The exhibition also reflects the evolving potential of photography as a medium encompassing sound, installation, performance, and collaborative authorship. In this context, AS IF exemplifies how local initiatives can enter international discourse while retaining distinct cultural specificity. Dublin emerges as a site of critical engagement and creative experimentation, extending the reach of Irish contemporary arts.
Through their collaboration, Doyle, Sweeney and Donohoe offer a vision of photography as expansive and hybrid. Their work embodies the interdependence of image, space, and sound, emphasising immersion, perception, and memory. The exhibition interrogates the tensions between everyday experience and imaginative worlds, capturing fleeting instants of psychological and physical intensity. The project disrupts conventional notions of individual authorship while demonstrating the potential of interdisciplinary practice. AS IF challenges audiences to reconsider the possibilities of photography and installation, offering a model for contemporary art that is rigorous, experimental and profoundly human.
AS IF is at International Center for the Image, Dublin from 6 February – 5 April: image.museum
Words: Simon Cartwright
Image Credits:
All images: AS IF, 2026, Eamonn Doyle, Niall Sweeney, David Donohoe.
