Edith Karlson's solo show "Well, Well, Well" at The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art is delighted to present Well, Well, Well, the first solo exhibition in Ireland by acclaimed Estonian artist Edith Karlson, featuring an ambitious new body of work commissioned for Gallery 1. One of the most compelling sculptural voices working in Europe today, Karlson represented Estonia at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024, to widespread acclaim.

The exhibition will be open from 7 November 2026 to 14 February 2027, the opening night will be on Friday, 6 November from 6-8pm. The show is curated by Dr Georgina Jackson, Director of The Douglas Hyde Gallery.

Known for her emotionally resonant and technically accomplished large-scale installations, Karlson creates otherworldly environments populated by human-like figures, animals and hybrid beings. Moving between monumental and the intimate, her sculptures bring together humour, unease and vulnerability, unfolding through layered narratives that invite close attention.

Taking the well — an ancient spiritual site of pilgrimage — as its point of departure, Well, well, well in part responds to a mystical well located beneath the Gallery on the grounds of Trinity College. Featuring newly commissioned sculptures alongside existing works, the exhibition positions the well as a figurative, bottomless source of stories, beliefs, and meanings.

At the heart of Karlson’s practice is a deep curiosity about what it means to be human. Her installations frequently evoke a sense of otherworldliness while returning compulsively to themes of beginnings and endings, birth and death, ultimately questioning the possibility of redemption in a fragile and faltering world.

Edith Karlson is an Estonian artist based in Tallinn. Karlson represented Estonia at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with her solo exhibition Hora Lupi. She holds a BA (2006) and MA (2008) degree from the Installation and Sculpture Department at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include: Dawn till Dawn, at Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (2026), and recent solo exhibitions include: March!, Sapieha Palace, Vilnius (2025); Favourites, Viljandi Museum, Estonia (2022); and Return to Innocence, Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn (2021). Karlson was the 2021 recipient of the Grand Prize at the Estonian Cultural Endowment annual award in the field of fine and applied arts.

Edith Karlson graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, specialising in installation and sculpture. She received an artist’s salary in 2018–2020 and 2022–2024. In 2021, she was awarded the Grand Prize of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, followed by the National Culture Award in 2025. Karlson represented Estonia at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Since then, she has held solo exhibitions at Sapieha Palace in Vilnius (2025) and at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki (2026).

The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art was co-founded in a unique partnership between the Arts Council of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin. Throughout its history, The Douglas Hyde has presented pivotal exhibitions by Irish artists and brought artists of significant international renown to Ireland for the first time.

The Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art is a partner in the exhibition, which is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Henry Moore Foundation and the Embassy of Estonia in Dublin.

The exhibition will travel on to London, where it will open at Southwark Park Galleries in April 2027.