TULCA Festival of Visual Arts opened its 24th edition, Veruca Salt, in Galway on Friday night. Curated by Sinéad Keogh, the programme runs from 6 to 22 November 2026; all five exhibition venues are open from 7 November.
Punk as a method, not nostalgia
Fifty years after punk emerged, the festival is not presenting a simple historical retrospective. Its official programme approaches punk as DIY culture, collective action and self-determination: a way to create space outside conventional institutional structures.
Women-led and countercultural perspectives run through exhibitions, film, performance, sound, writing, talks and workshops. As the programme is distributed rather than concentrated in one gallery, visitors should plan venue by venue using the official events calendar.
Opening, publication and live reading
The 6 November opening centred on An Post Gallery, where the new TULCA publication was also launched. Sara R Phillips read from Incident in Another Time, connecting memories of late-1970s Irish punk with a personal search for identity.
The evening continued at Electric Galway with DJ sets by Phil RetroSpector and Core Minimal. Those events have already taken place; this article does not present them as future recommendations.
What visitors can see from 7 November
TULCA offers exhibitions and related events in and around Galway until 22 November. Accessibility, opening hours and booking conditions vary by venue, so the specific programme page should be checked before travel.
The editorial value lies in presenting punk not only as a music style but as cultural infrastructure: a way for people outside conventional frameworks to organise, publish and create visibility.
Summary
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts' Veruca Salt edition runs in Galway from 6 to 22 November 2026. Five exhibition venues are open from 7 November.
Frequently asked questions
- When and where is TULCA 2026?
- 6–22 November 2026 across five exhibition venues and additional event locations in Galway.
- What is the theme of Veruca Salt?
- Punk's fifty-year legacy as DIY culture, collective action and self-determination.
- Who curated TULCA 2026?
- Sinéad Keogh.
