The Flag

A figure stands in a gallery filled with paintings, arms outstretched through two metal rings.
Emily Aoibheann's The Flag, featuring Anja Nicholson. Photo: Steve O'Connor

The Flag is an immersive, cyclical performance by award-winning Irish artist Emily Aoibheann, premiering in the Shaw Room at the National Gallery of Ireland in January 2026. 

Blending contemporary dance, live brass, sculptural sound and archival research, the work unfolds as a promenade experience that audiences are free to enter, exit, and linger with.

Emerging from Emily Aoibheann’s research at the National Gallery of Ireland and from parallel explorations undertaken through her Markievicz Award, The Flag reflects on national identity as something felt through resonance and tension, exploring how history inhabits bodies, objects, and sound. Performed without fixed seating, the piece invites viewers to move through cycles of playful horn calls, resonant tuba solos, layered field recordings, and intricate ribbon choreography. Set within one of the Gallery’s most atmospheric spaces, The Flag transforms the room into a living sculpture, where movement and music unfold as a mesmeric process.

See The Flag in our Shaw Room on the following dates and times; admission free:

  • Monday 26 January - 1pm
  • Tuesday 27 January - 1pm
  • Wednesday 28 January - 1pm
  • Thursday 29 January - 1pm and 6pm
  • Friday 30 January - 1pm
  • Saturday 31 January - 1pm

Emily Aoibheann is an award-winning Irish artist based in Dublin. She creates performances and media that combine movement, sound and physical objects, working across dance, visual art, music and design. Her work is collaborative and sensorial, shaped by her background in circus and music. Much of her recent work has developed through research undertaken as a visiting artist at the National Gallery of Ireland. To get in touch visit www.emilyaoibheann.com. 

Credits:
Artist, Director, Choreographer: Emily Aoibheann
Musician: Adam Buttimer    
Dancer & Musician:  Anja Nicholson    
Dancer: Annique van Niekerk
Dancer: Amberlee Toumanguelov
Producer: Mags Keohane    
Horn-Mounted Speaker Concept, Direction: Emily Aoibheann
Horn-Mounted Speaker Technical Design & Construction: Ed Devane
Graphic Design: Richard Weld-Moore Blackbird Design
Photography: Steve O’Connor

Music: Marc Behrens, Sleppet 4: Glacier, and J. S. Bach, Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 2.

Acknowledgements: 
The Flag is funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and supported by Dance Ireland.  

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