Small Night is a studio divided between the DIY ideology of zine culture and the state-funded dependency of institutional project culture. Small Night Zine was its first iteration, launched by artist and art critic James Merrigan at Pallas Projects Dublin in 2019. Two years later in 2021, Merrigan invited Laura Fitzgerald, Alan Phelan and later Christopher Steenson as editors under the niche editorial of text-based art, which became “Small Night Projects”.
Small Night IRL is a studio, in a garage, in the south east of Ireland (incidentally also IRL). For the last seven years Small Night has screen-printed artists’ ideas and images for dissemination through zine and exhibition. We continue to explore how artist self-organisation through screen-printed publications might function in an increasingly volatile cultural landscape, particularly as rising costs and rents make independent cultural activity more fragile, and commodified online platforms dematerialise art and meaningful discourse. Small Night is one small attempt to build supportive micro-constellations within that reality.
Small Night ZINE/Projects (est. 2019)
smallnightzine.org | smallnightzine@gmail.com
Forthcoming (April/October 2026)
Small Night Projects featured in “Print Out” (curated by Paul McAree) at Carthage Hall Lismore as part of the Lismore Castle Arts Programme, 25 April – 14 June, where we will present a set of 8 A2 screen-printed artist posters featuring work by Maria Balfe, Fiona Banner, Husk Bennett, Noel Hensey, Mark Leckey, Asha Murray, David Sherry and Philipp Timischl. The limited edition posters (40 print run) are for sale at €15 each. All proceeds from sales go back to artists.
Small Night Zine collaborates with Damien Flood on the occasion of his solo exhibition at Green on Red Gallery in an ancillary project-exhibition during Dublin Gallery Weekend, October 2026. Presented in the gallery’s Concrete basement space, it operates as both a legacy project and a speculative prompt to question the contemporary condition of painting: What does painting and the painter resist today in terms of how a painting is made? How it is talked or written about? How it is circulated and distributed online and offline?
Text Art-Based Publications
TNTNTNT Box Set (TONE, TOLD, TEXT & TALK), 2024. Edition of 10. Created for Librairie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France.
TALK, 2023. Featured Artists: Cem A., Darren Bader, John Giorno, John Latham (courtesy of Flat Time House and John Latham Estate), Naomi Sex, Susan MacWilliam. Edition of 130, pp. 52. Specially-commissioned by curator Pádraic E. Moore for I’ll Be Your Mirror event series, as part of the Andy Warhol retrospective Three Times Out, Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (6 October 2023 – 28 January 2024).
TEXT, 2023. Featured Artists: Orla Barry, Tony Cokes, Erik Van Lieshout, Adrian Piper, Paul Roy, Cesar Van Pinsett. Edition of 130, pp. 52.
TOLD, 2022. Featured Artists: Fiona Banner, Eide Einarsson, Claire Fontaine, Jaki Irvine, Darran McGylnn, Walker & Walker. Edition of 130, pp. 52.
TONE, 2022. Featured Artists: Laura Fitzgerald, Alan Phelan, Jack Pierson, Laure Prouvost, Mark Verabioff, Isobel Wohl. Edition of 130, pp. 52.
Other Art Publications
Christopher Steenson, fifth site, 2025, 16-page, A5
Laura Fitzgerald, the gecker ones, 2025, 16-page, A5
Alan Phelan, THIS IS A DEMONSTRATION, 2025, 16-page, A5
creATuRe Zine, featuring artists: Ciara Roche, Marcel Vidal, Olivia Normile, Uma Breakdown, Patrick Redmond, Martin Maloney, Tamara Gagnus, Corrine Yonce. periphery space, Gorey School of Art. Edition of 50, pp. 68.
Brian Teeling, c-space, 2023, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 32
Patrick Redmond, Golden Arches, 2023, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 32
Gregory Battcock, It’s stopped snowing, 2021, artist publication, selected by Vincent Passerat, curator of CAS#5. Presented at New York Queer Zine Fair, 2022. Edition of 100, pp. 12
WEAREFETISHISTS, artist publication accompanying exhibition of the same name, featuring: Ursula Burke, Marian Balfe, Kian Benson Bailes, Austin Hearne, Locky Morris, Fiona Reilly, Emma Roche, Celine Sheridan, Brian Teeling, 2022. Edition of 50, pp. 52.
Marian Balfe, In Remembrance, 2022, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Celine Sheridan, A Wonderful Love & Horrible, 2022, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Locky Morris, Block Basics, 2022, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Shot in Silk, featuring selection of artists presented at Pallas Projects/Studios exhibition, ARRANGEMENTS, 2020. Edition of 30, pp.32.
Emma Roche, Grey Wall, 2020, artist, publication. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Lily Cahill & David Fagan, Operation Boomtown, 2019. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Jessica Conway & Catherine Barragry, Visceral Romance, 2019, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 32.
Laura Fitzgerald & Katharine Barrington, Lost Person Behaviour, 2019, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 48.
Silvia Maglioni & Graeme Thomson aka Terminal Beach (invited by Katherine Waugh), Zine Records, 2019, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 48.
Alan Phelan & Philipp Gufler, Stripes Etc., 2019, artist publication. Edition of 50, pp. 24.
Exhibitions & Events
PARIS ASS BOOK FAIR, 16-18 MAY 2025, Palais de Tokyo, 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris
TNTNTNT Box Set Launch, Librairie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France. 19 March 2024.
Dublin Art Book Fair: Polyphonic, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, 7–17 December 2023.
I’ll Be Your MIrror (Part II) – TALK Publication Launch, Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. 2 December 2023. Curated by Pádraic E. Moore, as part of Andy Warhol, Three Times Out, Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (6 October 2023 – 28 January 2024).
Lined Out, Emma Roche with Small Night Projects, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Ireland. 20 January — 11 March 2023
TEXT Publication Launch, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. 3 May 2023.
Dublin Art Book Fair: A Caring Matter, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, 24 November – 4 December 2022
TOLD Publication Launch, RHA Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. 5 October 2022.
TONE Publication Launch, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, Ireland. 8 July 2022
WEAREFETISHISTS, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, Ireland. 6 August – 24 September 2022
ARRANGEMENTS, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin, Ireland. 21 – 29 November 2019. Curated by Small Night Projects (James Merrigan). Featuring 35 artists and 6 collaborative zines.
Awards & Funding
Culture Ireland, 2024
Project Award, Arts Council, 2022
Dublin City Council Arts Grant, 2022
Project Award, Arts Council, 2019
Small Night Projects – Personnel
James Merrigan (founder, est. 2019)
Artist, Critic, Printmaker
Alan Phelan, artist (Joined 2021)
Co-Editor
Laura Fitzgerald, artist (Joined 2021)
Co-Editor
Christopher Steenson, artist (Joined 2024)
Co-Editor