Ruth Clinton

Here's where you'll find us over the next while 🦇🦇🦇🦇 Mystery ?*!^+ gigs will be updated as they are announced :) @mountshannonarts @erinartscentre @broadsidehacks @enthusiastic_eunuch @itbagency

The SORRIEST One hundred years of public apologies By Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty You Talkin' to Me? is the Mirror Lamp Press x Culture File audio issue featuring new work by Ruth Clinton & Niamh Moriarty, Marian Balfe, Lisa Freeman, Basil Al-Rawi, and Jay Bernard. This one-hour radio show explores voice, performance, and the politics of being heard, using the line “You talkin’ to me?” from Taxi Driver as a starting point. ‘The SORRIEST’ by Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty will be broadcast as part of ‘You Talkin’ to Me?’ on RTÉ lyric FM on Sunday, 8th of February at 6 pm 'The SORRIEST' is a collage of high-profile public apologies from the last hundred years, drawn from speeches and letters by industrialist Henry Ford; U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush; Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III of England; Pope John Paul II; British prime ministers Tony Blair, David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson; Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who issued at least ten official and personal apologies. The assembled text echoes the defensive cadence of Tony Blair’s 2016 Iraq War Inquiry statement. The work examines the political apology as a staged act of atonement, often delivered long after the harm has been done, from centuries-late apologies for the Crusades to modern state crimes. In an era of shrinking civil liberties and weakened human rights law, it asks whether apology can ever equal justice, or whether power simply relies on asking forgiveness after the fact. Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty are collaborative artists based in the West of Ireland. Working together for over a decade, they use performance, video, sound installation and storytelling to make artworks that are concerned with power and complicity, ecology and loss. Their recent work tests the possibility of creating a new narrative identity for Ireland and the Irish diaspora that will acknowledge our struggles, admit our complicities and build our capacity for solidarity. Voiced by Uisca Hammond Radio jingle by Aoife Hammond @profesh_moriarty @ruth_a_clinton @culturefile @rtelyricfm

#tbt 10 years ago this month @ruth_a_clinton , @profesh_moriarty and I published an artists’ book ‘Wound with a Tear’, also pronounced ‘Wound with a Tear’. 📄🪨🦠📚 The publication was a follow up to Niamh and Ruth’s 2014 off-site project at @dhg_dublin , for which they created a trail of scattered Interdepartmental Memoranda throughout the @trinitycollegedublin campus that investigated the ongoing deterioration and renewal of the institution’s archives, its buildings and their inhabitants. The messages between the Old Library and Department of Geological Science were unauthoured and it was ambiguous if the memos were coming directly from the buildings themselves rather than the staff within. The conversation drifts between concerns about archiving, dust accumulation and slow geological time, acting out a Wildean romance that questions resistance to change, holding knowledge and maintaining the imperial order of the institution. The artists’ photographs of the campus highlight the overgrowth, decay, patterning, chaos, dust, and mould embedded and accumulated within this historical setting over centuries. Ruth, Niamh and I screen printed the covers and hand-stitched the binding between @A4soundsstudios and their Project Studio at @templebargalleryandstudios . @she.lives hand drew the title-page/ex-libris. We made 100 copies that were soon dispersed into the world, appropriately finding themselves on bookshelves, in archive boxes, and in damp homes around Ireland knowing that they may never see the light of day again. @tcdlibrary @tcdgeomuseum @100yrsagotoday #ruthclinton #niamhmoriarty #woundwithatear #trinitycollege

A Disentailing Deed, 2025 by Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty was presented at both One Opera Square and the Limerick City Museum as part of the 41st EVA International Guest Programme It Takes a Village, curated by Eszter Szakács in collaboration with the EVA team. indirect fire was a video installation that formed part of A Distentailing Deed, a body of work that traced a particular line of reference – from the land disputes and defunct barytes mines of the Dartry Mountains in Co. Sligo, to the historic use of mineral barium in photographic paper, medical imaging, and as a combustion agent in green fireworks. Through a playful layering of historical references and the adoption of Edward Said’s idea of a ‘third nature’— an alternative to nostalgic ethnonationalism— this experimental film and installation work sought to present dramatic shows of patriotism as a mirror image of the state violence they commemorate. Táimse im’ chodladh is ná dúistear mé was a newly composed ‘aisling’, or vision poem, that used narrative devices typical to this traditional genre of Irish poetry, to consider recurrent themes of private property and resistance in North Sligo. Central to the text was ‘an briathar saor’, an autonomous verb form used in the Irish language to avoid naming the subject of an action, intentionally or otherwise. This omission was employed to explore various registers: authoritative, subversive and ghostly, harnessing the inherent ambiguity that exists within the Irish language to simultaneously critique power and recognise protest. 41st EVA International 29 August - 26 October 2025. Photos courtesy of the artist and EVA International. @ruth_a_clinton @profesh_moriarty @esztr #41stEVAInternational #ContemporaryArt #Biennial #Limerick

Have you ever needed to do a guided meditation to calm tf down but couldn't handle the new ageiness of it all? Well @kynamagic and I have made a 20-minute daily mindfulness meditation featuring nothing but the Sligo sea, Kim's dulcet Tyrone tones, and some very simple sounds. The link to watch the video and download the audio is in my bio, or you can find it on YouTube (beware of ads, though) Please feel free to share with anyone who feels the same 👀

TheroMancers, this time last year at @spiltmilkfest in Sligo 🦢❤️ 🦢 @nataliabeylis Photo by @cianlookalive

👄👄👄 ♡ new t-shirts ♡ 🎂🎂🎂 You'll be all smiles tonight in this lovely cake t-shirt. Available now from our bandcamp (link in bio) ! Designed by us, expertly screen printed by @heckpress (c/o @_pulled_ ) on Earth Positive t-shirts. 👄🎂👄🎂👄🎂👄🎂👄🎂👄🎂👄🎂

❤️🌊⚰️RAFT NEWS⚰️🌊❤️ Arts + Rafts are delighted to welcome @_decy and @meabh.mckenna to the raft, Saturday 27th September 4pm. Decy, a renowned electronic musician [also of Síoraí Geimhreadh and Bodycam], played our very first raft, way back in 2019 ❤️ and has been working on something very special (and water-safe) for this gig. Méabh is a multi-instrumentalist and sound artist known for her magical harp playing, who performs with Aoife Nessa Frances, Géis and Throwing Shapes, among others. We can't wait!! Book your ticket via artsandrafts2023[at]gmail.com ❤️❤️❤️

I'm v excited to be doing a lil tour with @cormacdy and @johndermody102 this September. If anyone knows anyone in these places, please let em know! 🔮

Today in ▀▄▀▄▀▄ K7 dans la 4L ▄▀▄▀▄▀ join us online for a talk with artists Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty. 🏁 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 - 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵: 𝟱𝗽𝗺-𝟲𝗽𝗺 🏁 𝙽𝚒𝚊𝚖𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚜’ 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚘, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝙸𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍: “𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝. 𝙰𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚜, 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚛𝚜, 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚜, 𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚜. 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚊𝚟𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚜 (𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚁𝚞𝚝𝚑’𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚎) 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎’𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎.” @ruth_a_clinton @profesh_moriarty #tourdeforce

Next up at Arts and Rafts! ❤️⚰️ We'll be joined by the incredible Ailbhe nic Oireachtaigh, the best viola player you're likely to ever see on a raft in Sligo town. The new raft has been well tested now by the brave @brigidmaepower so we're excited to see what Ailbhe has planned. AND! the early start time will leave lots of time to head down the town after, where the mysterious Miss Foreign Affairs will be playing at the Yeats Building from 8pm. @magnata.musick Info & bookings: artsandrafts2023[at]gmail.com

Last chance to pick up one of these limited editions 🐈‍⬛💅 Link in the bio!