Pilot at The Lab Gallery – An Exhibition of New Work By TU Dublin 4th Year Fine Art Students

TU Dublin runs a groundbreaking Fine Art degree programme which is taught by award winning artists and sees consistent success for graduates year on year. Recent graduates have been shortlisted for the prestigious RHA Awards, had their works acquired by the OPW and gone on to commissions and residencies as well as to receive Arts Council awards.

Entitled ‘Pilot’, this new exhibition which takes place at The Lab Gallery presents work-in-progress of final year students graduating in 2026. The word pilot traces back to the Greek ‘pedon’, meaning ‘steering oar.’ Over time its meaning has evolved to include other definitions; a pilot light that keeps a flame alive, or a pilot episode that introduces a new story, or an aviator. Yet its most enduring definition remains: one who steers a vessel through uncertain waters, relying on situated knowledge, intuition, and sensitivity to shifting currents to ensure safe passage.

In this exhibition by TU Dublin 4th Year Fine Art students, the notion of the Pilot is both metaphor and method. It speaks to a process of artistic learning that embraces risk, care and transformation. Pilot is the artistic act of setting out without a fixed map, motivated by instinct and curiosity and navigating by using the tools of art practice.

Each of the artists in this exhibition work with their own distinct forms, charting a course by harnessing material, thought, memories, sites, images, gestures, sounds and surfaces.

Their work speaks to what can be gained by testing boundaries, and by occasionally veering off known paths to discover what uncharted routes might reveal.

Pilot may also refer to the process of art education itself. Educators can also act as pilots, responsible for steering and steadying, yet careful not to dictate the journey. The act of piloting here is shared. It is about trust, care, risk and responsibility, informed by the processes and knowledge gathered through the practice of art-making.

Artists included are: Niamh Cahill, Clive Casey, Kate Clancy, Seán Connolly, Daniela Jevdokimova, Sara-Jane Mooney, Rachel Cameron Byrne, Marta Ortiz González, Rebekah Reilly, Jane Singleton, Kenneth Kelly, Evan Lynam, Jools Reilly, Tansy Clarke, Sinéad Maher, and Niamh McKittrick.