International Sculpture Day 2021

Saturday 24 April 2021 was International Sculpture Day and Sculpture Dublin proposed a range of activities designed to encourage Dublin residents to rediscover the city through public sculpture.

Sculpture Dublin was set up to promote awareness of Dublin’s sculptural heritage and to commission six news works in parks and public spaces city-wide. For International Sculpture Day, we programmed a series of talks with contemporary Irish artists to reflect on meaning and making in sculpture today.

We created an interactive sculpture map to encourage people out into the city – to walk about, look at sculpture (old and new) and to question what it says about Dublin, past and present. Why not create your own trail? We've suggested some thematic groupings below.

While on your sculptural odyssey, look out for our International Sculpture Day posters on sites and screens across the city, designed to catch your eye, draw you into the detail and provide a new perspective on sculpture in Dublin through a series of surprising ‘did you knows?’.

Despite the constraints of COVID on arts programming, we were delighted that a number of cultural institutions across the city put a spotlight on sculpture for International Sculpture Day. Associated Activities included special events, promotional videos and collections or exhibition programme highlights.

We hope the programme was of interest and that the wealth of sculpture in Dublin becomes more visible, known and loved by more people! We hope you can watch the recording of one or more of our artists’ talks and that you have the opportunity to get out on a sculpture hunt full of chance encounters and new revelations. Enjoy!