The Royal hospital in Kilmainham is a lovely building, but the difficulties of housing important art  in a building of that age were all too obvious. I was at a talk with the then director Enrique Juncosa, who talked of the problems associated with showing work in a space that did not have proper air conditioning, and also the lack of storage and other issues associated with the site. Hopefully most of those have been rectified, as the building has had a major make over in the past year, and is about to throw open its doors once more tomorrow (11-10-2013).

To celebrate the reopening, they’ve a major exhibition of the work of Eileen Gray, who is one of the most celebrated and influential designers and architects of the 20th-century. You can get tickets for the exhibition for €5 here.

They’ve a weekend of talks, workshops and even a tea dance this weekend, and you can get full information of the events here.

Here are some of the highlights:

Friday 11 October – 5.00 – 6.00pm – In Conversation: James Lingwood and Declan McGongale, The Chapel

Saturday 12 Oct –  – 1.00– 2.30pm, The Lecture Room – Artists’ Talks In the Line of Beauty –  Join nine young Irish artists who will talk about their work featured in the exhibition In the Line of Beauty. Reflecting on exhibition themes of objecthood, aesthetics and the spatial experience of the museum, informal presentations will be given by artists David Beattie, Oisín Byrne, Aleana Egan, Fiona Hallinan, Sam Keogh, Ciarán Murphy, Lisa Maria Murphy, Joseph Noonan-Ganley and Ciarán Walsh.

Sunday 13th Oct – 2.30 – 3.30pm, The Chapel – In Conversation: Cloé Pitiot & Jennifer Goff –

Curator of Eileen Gray Architect Designer Painter Cloé Pitiot (Curator, musée national d’art moderne/Centre Pompidou, Paris) and Jennifer Goff (Curator, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin) discuss their ideas for developing the exhibition and explore Gray’s most celebrated designs of modern furniture and architecture from the 1920s.

Booking is required. Free tickets are available, please click here to book

Tea Dance – 4.00– 6.00pm, The Great Hall

Join Brian McCarthy’s Big Sound Band and dancers from the Macushla Dance Club for an afternoon tea dance for all ages in the magnificent 17th-century Great Hall. Free entry and open to all ages, so bring the family and your dancing shoes along!