Electric Picnic announces fun new arty installations

Electric Picnic has revealed its fun art trail that will support not just established artists but students too.

This Friday, August 5, yet another announcement has dropped, as anticipation grows for the final music line-up ahead of the festival that is just four weeks away.

"Not just the home of die-hard music fans, there’s always been a place for daydreamers, deep thinkers and deviceful artists alike at Electric Picnic, which has earned its reputation not only as the country’s favourite music festival but also as a bastion of creativity with an incredible art programme running over the festival weekend, 2nd – 4th September. Prepare to have your senses uplifted and your perspectives changed by some of the leading lights of the art world, as the festival plays host to the aesthetically inclined and those who champion all things unique and undefined. 

The new Electric Picnic Art Trail will have everything from eye-catching sculptures to immersive interactive pieces, hundreds of installments stitched into the patchwork quilt of green fields and big top tents at Electric Picnic, just waiting to be found. The Art Trail presents the work of 30 artists, best experienced as you meander through the majestic tree trunks of Stradbally estate.

They have got together with art college students this year.

"Electric Picnic is delighted to support up-and-coming artists and will welcome a cohort of second year students from the Institute of Art, Design + Technology, Dún Laoghaire who, as part of their course, have designed and created a menagerie of fantastical wild animals and curious things that will sit alongside the forest section of the Art Trail. Constructed using recyclable and sustainable materials, the art will be lit up at night adding a particular kind of Electric Picnic magic. This year’s theme captures the concept of “reawakening” and “rediscovery” with participating artists taking inspiration from nature and contemporary culture to jolt you from your slumber and show you life in a new light!

The Place of the Picnic Art (POPA) returns this year with five artists selected to take residency on-site at Stradbally Estate during the festival build, spending their days painting large scale murals for display across the grounds over the weekend of Electric Picnic itself. The project has once again been curated by renowned local artist Clare Hartigan, who has been at the heart of Electric Picnic’s art scene for many years.

Clare has invited five artists to join her on POPA this year, following the theme of “Speak to Me” with an emphasis on positive body image and mental health. The artists selected are Debbie Chapman, a contemporary artist based in West Dublin, Myra O’Reilly, an Irish artist, living and working in Limerick city, Des McMahon, a printmaker also based in Limerick, contemporary abstract artist Adrienne M Finnerty, who has a background in hypno-psychotherapy, sound movement and colour therapy, and Michelle Pando-Kelly, an artist and educator from Lima, Peru.

Take a wrong turn down the forest path and you may find yourself at a place called ArtLot. Once upon a time on a little corner of Dublin city, ArtLot held its own as an open-air public exhibition space inspiring and amusing passers-by with its monthly programme of visual art and performance. When the hotel developers moved in, ArtLot was rescued by Electric Picnic and the artists were given a permanent home deep in the woods of Stradbally Estate as the festival’s alternative arts and music stage.

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This year, Dublin mural painter Kevin Bohan will be presenting a large-scale solo exhibition of his new series of “Rat” paintings. Master printmaker Terrie O’Neill of Tonink Studios will be presenting an exhibition of her work and providing visitors with the opportunity to create their own limited-edition prints. The Art Doctors will be giving festival patrons a free consultation and prescribing them an art class to soothe their festival ailments. Illuminating the area, you’ll spot hanging mobile installations by Limerick based textile artist Rachel Molone, while graffiti artists will be painting throughout the weekend, accompanied by pop-up performances - think madmen dressed like grannies, freaks and funky fire eaters.

ArtLot will be programmed over the weekend by Fluttertone. Dedicated to supporting diverse and emerging artists, ArtLot is the place to see spoken word performers, bongo drummers, independent singer-song writers, queer electric pop performers and the stuff you won’t hear on the radio. After dark, ArtLot’s resident DJ Donal Sharpson will be banging out the tunes from Tomango Nightclub classics to contemporary techno. ArtLot is curated by John Kenny and Alan Mulhall of Dublin based arts collective The Glow Depot, proudly supported by Electric Picnic.

Electric Picnic makes its long-awaited return to Stradbally Hall, Co Laois on 2nd – 4th September 2022, with Dermot Kennedy, Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, Megan Thee Stallion, Picture This, Snow Patrol and much more performing over the sold-out weekend for 70,000 fans.