What would the living do
if they had not
the dead
to see to?
Dermot Healy
I always try to explain to my parents that there is no difference between passive resistance and passive collaboration – it's the same thing. W.G. Sebald
Our 2026 programme, entitled Ghosts, Ruins, Resistance, is led by artists whose artworks circumnavigate themes of trauma and loss, memory and mourning, war and its injustices, colonial tyranny and rebellion, resilience and survival. Our program resists nostalgic melancholy and rather encourages soldiering collectively onwards. Our world today is increasingly characterized by Machiavellian pragmatism, where fluid capital flexes its strategic self-interest, empowering transactional relationships that supersede moral or ethical norms, resulting in unspeakable injustices. We believe in art to stand up in solidarity against that tide and say, hey, humanity, you can do better than this. Ghosts and ruins can be made visible to honour the dead and produce forms of resistance in their name. Likewise, traces of historical resistances remain amongst us like indefatigable spectres, and instead of merely haunting us, enable us to embody their knowledge, establish resilience and pave a radiant outlook forward.
Ilya & Emilia Kabakov: The Ship of Tolerance
Gairloch Gardens
Ongoing to September 30, 2026
Placed lakeside beside our museum, its mast beckoning southwards, The Ship of Tolerance emanates humanitarianism, freedom and justice. This anti-war sculpture rejects deferences to hegemonic power and speaks of better, alternative futures, which we are free to produce. In 2025, our education team with the Kabakovs held workshops on tolerance and the future with 2,000 local children to create this project. Further workshops are again underway and the ship will be launched again this spring.
The Ship of Tolerance is presented in collaboration with the Ilya and Emilia Kabakov Foundation, as well as with The National Gallery of Canada. The National Gallery of Canada’s National Engagement initiative is generously supported by Michael Nesbitt, with additional funding from the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
Gairloch & Centennial Galleries
Feb 28–May 24, 2026
This exhibition curated by Karen Kraven brings together works by Abbas Akhavan, Lili Huston-Herterich, Sukaina Kubba, Jeremy Laing, Jenine Marsh, Diyar Mayil, Marisa Portolese, Swapnaa Tamhane & Aimée Zito Lemathat. While reflecting on loss, mourning and remembrance, this exhibition explores various presentations of flowers, gardens and performance in gestures of memorialization, materiality, embodiment and transformation.
Ali Cherri: To Fall, Patiently
Gairloch & Centennial Galleries, Gairloch Gardens
June 13–October 3, 2026
Influenced by the vibrant art scene of 1990s postwar Beirut, and exploring geographies of violence in the broader region, Ali Cherri’s practice spans across film, performance, sculpture, drawing, and installations. His work interrogates how political violence resonates through generations as well as physical and cultural landscapes. Ali Cherri will present films, sculptures and watercolour paintings in both our galleries and in Gairloch Gardens.
Aideen Barry: Silent Songs
Gairloch & Centennial Galleries
October 24–February 6, 2027
Aideen Barry’s recent work is a powerful exploration of banned and outlawed language, folklore, and song. This exhibition features the film debut of Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle (2025), the film installation The Song of the Bleeding Tree (2023) alongside her seminal work *ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᔪᓐᓃᖅᑐᑦ / Seachmalltacht /Oblivion" (2021), created in collaboration with Inuit throat singer Riit ᕇᑦ and Irish harpist Aisling Lyons, and inspired by once outlawed Irish harp music and Inuit throat singing.
Other Programming
Founded by Séamus Kealy in 2017 in Austria, Sunset Kino continues as Canada’s only outdoor, avant-garde cinema. Our international Artist Residency hosts artists Nina Canell (SE), Aimée Zito Lemathat (NL), Ail Cherri (FR/LN), Aideen Barry (IE), Sameen Agha (PK) as sponsored by the SAGA Foundation, and an artist awarded via Land Salzburg.
