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ing to terms with the breadth of Irish design mod
ernism available. Some of the things I post are from my own collection, some have been sent by kind followers, and others have been found in old newspapers, magazines. Also, I’ve been lucky to have invites to collaborate with significant archives, for example the National Irish Visual Arts Library, who allowed me to have a rummage through their collection and share my finds. MATTHEW RETALLICK THE MODERNIST MODERNIST.IE – What’s your career background Matt? I am a modern and contemporary art curator, and I also write about the theme. In my career, I’ve worked in a wide range of cultural institutions, a mixture of large commercial, and public art galleries. Although I am from Cornwall, I am an Irish citizen, and my mum’s side of the family are from Terenure. Therefore, Ireland, but in particular Dublin, is very close to my heart, and I have a deep-rooted interest and passion for Irish visual culture. – How long have you been doing modernist. ie? What was the motivation for it? Well, modernist.ie, like so many things in life, started with a conversation in a pub. When I said I was interested in unearthing the hidden gems of Irish modernism, by which I mean design, architecture, infrastructure, nobody believed me that Ireland had a significant modernist design legacy. I think that’s because if you say Irish modernism, people immediately think of literature, maybe art, but rarely design. I currently work for the Modernist Society across the UK. Their democratic approach to modernism has been a real inspiration, as is their devotion to the unassuming modernism of our everyday lives. Modernism doesn’t have to be about grand architectural gesture, although that often features on my Instagram, but instead a beermat, a book cover, or even a tea towel. – I love how your curated, considered, content gives your audience a sense of our rich visual history and culture. Where do you find these gems, do you seek them all out or do people now send you on pieces of interest? I get asked this question more than any other, and I think that’s symptomatic of people com– Your top three posted pieces so far? Why are they of particular interest to you? It’s such a hard question, especially as I have posted nearly 500 examples of Irish design modernism. It is of constant fascination to me which posts receive the most interest. My three most popular posts to date are: a 1958 edition of the Learners English/Irish dictionary, the optical, geometric design is remarkable for the time period, and seems to pre-empt the 1960s op-art of artists like Bridget Riley. The second is a cover for a 1934 edition of Ulysses by James Joyce, designed by Ernst Reichl, quite simply flawless in its art deco simplicity. Finally, a poster for Guinness designed by Abram Games in 1956 – it is utterly timeless, you could paste it to the billboards of Ireland today, and it would still seem as fresh and as relevant as it did in the ‘50s. – Three future classics of the last few years in creativity, design, art, music or culture… what work being now will you be featuring in 20 years’ time? I’m not sure I have three off the top of my head, but what I will say is that I am really interested the DIY approach to design. I am fascinated by the idea of Retro Futurism, a term often siloed to music, but is becoming more relevant to contemporary design – this looking back to go forward is a key motivation of my project. I mention this a lot, but Soft Boy Records merchandise is a good case in point. The designs sit somewhere between the 1990s and the present day, there is something tantalising about design that can’t quite be pinned down to a specific time period. I think it’s this contemporary bootlegging culture, for example the merchandise produced by Three Castles Burning or DBLNR in Ireland, or Sports Banger in the UK, which will be looked upon as a significant trend in 20 years’ time, and encapsulate a time where we had to do things for ourselves. It’s like a more polite and tidy form of punk. 15