Something new for Malahide Castle as six contemporary artists join together in an exhibition within the environs of the medieval castle.
This exhibition reckons with how contemporary Ireland views monuments as sites of memory, histories and past lives.
The art of six contemporary Fingal artists can be found through the halls of Malahide Castle this autumn. Sculptures on vacant surfaces, installations in ante rooms, audio pieces in empty turrets and graphic illustrations invoking messages in forgotten corners. Their work interrogates the transition of Malahide Castle from a private family home to a public attraction fifty years ago.
The show, curated by Eamonn Maxwell, responds to the space and reflects on the veil as a permeable threshold between past and present, interior and exterior, monument and fragment. Each artist engages with Malahide Castle as a site of layered histories, colonial entanglements, domestic memory, botanical transformation, and embodied inheritance. The works move across domestic rooms, transitional spaces, a sound-led chamber, and a ruined church creating a sequence that moves from the atmospheric to the political, textual, devotional, temporal and sculptural. The works deal with the visible and obscured, the incidental and the deliberate, the sacred and profane.
An exhibition of artworks by six contemporary Fingal artists on display throughout Malahide Castle. To view the exhibition please join us on a guided tour of the castle or book here for one of the free events scheduled throughout the exhibition.
This exhibition is funded by Fingal County Council, Culture Ireland and the Department of Culture, Communication and Sport to celebrate Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union and to mark fifty years of Malahide Castle being open to the public.
Artists:
- Susan Buttner
- Ann Ensor
- Elaine Grainger
- Michelle Hall
- Deborah Hewson
- Laura Skehan
Curated by
Eamonn Maxwell
Event details
Free Late-Night Events & Special Programs
Join us on selected Tuesdays (and Culture Night) for a series of exclusive late-night performances, artist talks, and guided tours.
Please note: Admission to late-night events is free, but advance digital booking is required due to limited room capacity.
Location: Malahide Castle & Gardens
Date: From 29th August to 22nd November 2026
Age Suitability: 14+
Accessibility: Please be advised that one artwork in this show contains rapid flashing images. Please speak to a member of staff if you require further information. Large Text format leaflets are available from the Castle Reception Desk.
Booking Required: [email protected]
| Date | Event Description | Presenter / Artist |
| Tue, 8th Sep | Performance Art Feature | Elaine Grainger |
| Fri, 18th Sep | Culture Night Guided Exhibition Tour | Cathal Dowd Smith |
| Tue, 22nd Sep | Curator’s Tour & Artist Q&A | Eamonn Maxwell & Deborah Hewson |
| Tue, 13th Oct | Artist’s Talk & Exhibition Tour | Ann Ensor |
| Tue, 20th Oct | Artist’s Talk & Exhibition Tour | Laura Skehan |
| Tue, 3rd Nov | Artist’s Talk & Exhibition Tour | Michelle Hall |
| Tue, 17th Nov | Artist’s Talk & Exhibition Tour | Susan Buttner |
| Sun, 22nd Nov | Exclusive Live Performance | Tadhg Kinsella |
| Mon, 23rd Nov | Closing Night Exhibition Tour | Cathal Dowd Smith |
8 Sep – Elaine Grainger – Performance 6pm
Saving Face | Performance by Elaine Grainger
Presented as part of Thinning the Veil, Saving Face is a 20-minute site-responsive performance that collapses linear time to explore historical and contemporary restriction. Taking place inside the Drawing Room of Malahide Castle, the piece stages a fictional dialogue by weaving together literary fragments from Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (1928) and Claire-Louise Bennett’s Checkout 19 (2021). By overlapping these texts, the performance folds nearly a century of feminist literature onto itself. Woolf’s exploration of the heavily encumbered, historically policed body collides directly with Bennett’s modern critique of constant self-curation, revealing that the societal pressures on women to maintain an unblemished public facade remain unchanged across generations.
In addition to attending the Performance, attendees will have the opportunity to visit the full exhibition ‘Thinning the Veil’ after.
- 6pm – Arrival
- 6:30pm – Performance
- 7pm – Event Ends
18 Sep – Cathal Dowd Smith, exhibition Tour for Culture Night 3pm and 4pm
Join Malahide Castle’s Curator, Cathal Dowd Smith for this behind the scenes look at Thinning the Veil. This landmark contemporary art exhibition is installed throughout the rooms of Malahide Castle to mark fifty years of being open to the public. Featuring work by Susan Buttner, Ann Ensor, Elaine Grainger, Michelle Hall, Deborah Hewson and Laura Skehan and curated by Eamonn Maxwell. This exclusive tour offers a unique opportunity to see the exhibition and learn more.
22 Sep – Eamonn Maxwell, Curator’s Tour with Deborah Hewson artist. 5pm
Eamonn Maxwell, Curator of Thinning the Veil will be joined by artist Deborah Hewson. Together they will tour the exhibition and explore the inspiration behind Deborah’s work ‘Beyond the Visible’. Eamonn will bring attendees through the exhibition, installed throughout the rooms of Malahide Castle. This exclusive tour offers a unique opportunity to see the exhibition and learn more about the works on show by artists Susan Buttner, Ann Ensor, Elaine Grainger, Michelle Hall, Deborah Hewson and Laura Skehan.
13 October – Ann Ensor, artist’s talk and tour of Exhibition
Join Ann Ensor on 13 October to learn more about her work A Rhapsody in Illumination Nos. 1-12 . (2026) as part of Thinning the Veil at Malahide Castle. A Rhapsody in Illumination is an installation of ceramic candelabra exploring the themes of Transcendence and Transformation. This work suggests we can rise above our afflictions and change our situation for the better. Taking inspiration from carvings around Malahide Castle and from the new butterfly house in the castle’s gardens Ann’s work provides an intriguing interplay between old and new.
In addition to hearing from Ann about her work, attendees will have the opportunity to visit the full exhibition ‘Thinning the Veil’.
The tour beings at 5pm and is expected to last 1 hour.
20 October – Laura Skehan, artist’s talk and tour of Exhibition
Join us at Malahide Castle for this special evening in Thinning the Veil when invited poet and spoken-word artist Anna Doran will perform her specially commissioned piece in response to the exhibition. The performance will be followed by a conversation by Laura Skehan about her works Incorrigibly plural (2026), Mutual Taming (2023), and The fruit came first (2026).
03 November – Michelle Hall, artist’s talk and tour of Exhibition
Join Michelle Hall on 3 November to learn more about her work ‘An Seoladh’ (‘The Address’) as part of Thinning the Veil at Malahide Castle. ‘An Seoladh’ is an imagined film that draws from the castle’s lore and complex history. Michelle’s work draws inspiration from the ‘illuminated addresses’ presented by estate tenants to the Talbot family. Defying genres, logic and time, it also originates in an auto-fictional account of the castle as a 50-year-old woman, played here Shirley Valentine and presented in the style of a film poster.
17 November – Susan Buttner, artist’s talk and tour of Exhibition
Join Susan Buttner on 17 November to learn more about her works on display as part of Thinning the Veil at Malahide Castle. Made from marble dust plaster and foam, together with hand painting and bronze, Intimate Architectures: Threshold I (2026) and Intimate Architectures: Threshold II, (2026) respond to the histories of Maud Plunkett and Rose Maud Talbot. The sculptures were developed through engagement with castle’s architecture, in particular the Church ruin, Oak Room, and wider demesne. They reveal the interplay of memory, threshold, visibility, concealment and the presence of women within the site, inviting visitors to encounter these histories through sculpture and place. Quietly Holding, I, II, III (2026) develops further on the ideas of space and female narratives by their placement within the castle’s historic bathroom.
23 November – Cathal Dowd Smith, End of Exhibition Tour
Join Malahide Castle’s Curator, Cathal Dowd Smith for this behind the scenes look at Thinning the Veil. This landmark contemporary art exhibition is installed throughout the rooms of Malahide Castle to mark fifty years of being open to the public. Featuring work by Susan Buttner, Ann Ensor, Elaine Grainger, Michelle Hall, Deborah Hewson and Laura Skehan and curated by Eamonn Maxwell. This exclusive tour offers a unique opportunity to see the exhibition and learn more on the final night before the show closes.
The tour beings at 5pm and is expected to last 1 hour.
