The Geneva Window: A Centenary Celebration at the Bass — October 9
The Bass marks 100 years since the commission of Harry Clarke's provocative stained-glass Geneva Window with an evening of scholarship and dance — a free talk by Clarke scholar Róisín Kennedy followed by Pioneer Winter Collective's new performance responding to the work.
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Part of our ongoing curation of what it means to live, love, and play in the Magic City.
On Friday, October 9, the Bass celebrates the centenary of one of the most controversial commissions in Irish art history. The Geneva Window: A Centenary Celebration marks 100 years since Harry Clarke was commissioned to create his monumental stained-glass work — and the evening unfolds in two acts: a scholarly talk and a new dance performance, both in direct conversation with the window itself. The event runs 6:30–9:30 PM.
The evening opens with a free talk by Clarke scholar Róisín Kennedy of University College Dublin, who will trace the window's creation and its charged reception. Clarke completed the work in 1930 for the Irish government, intended to hang in the International Labour Organization building in Geneva as a cultural gift. The window depicted scenes from Irish literature — Synge, Yeats, O'Casey, Joyce — rendered in Clarke's signature jewel-toned, Art Nouveau style. The government rejected it as too sexually provocative and it never reached Geneva. It has been held at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin ever since. Kennedy's talk is supported by the Consulate General of Ireland in Miami.
Following the talk, Pioneer Winter Collective presents this beauty that will pass, a new performance moving through the Bass galleries in direct response to the window's literary scenes and its interplay of beauty, desire, censorship, and impermanence. The performance is ticketed: $20 general admission, $10 for members, and free for Director's Circle.
The Bass is located at 2100 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139. Tickets for the Pioneer Winter Collective performance are available at thebass.org.
The PGM Edit
Harry Clarke's Geneva Window is one of the great suppressed works of the 20th century. Commissioned by the Irish government in 1926 to hang in the International Labour Organization building in Geneva, it depicted scenes from Irish literature — Synge, Yeats, O'Casey, Joyce — in Clarke's signature jewel-toned, Art Nouveau-inflected style. The government rejected it as too sexually provocative and it never made it to Geneva. It ended up at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, where it has been ever since. The Bass has it on loan. Seeing it in Miami, a century after its commission, with a performance built around it — that's a rare evening.
Premier Guide Miami
The Live · Love · Play Dial
On Friday, October 9, the Bass marks a century since the commission of Harry Clarke's Geneva Window with an evening that is equal parts scholarship and performance. Clarke scholar Róisín Kennedy (University College Dublin) opens with a free talk tracing the window's creation and its famously controversial reception — the Irish government rejected it as too provocative for the League of Nations in Geneva. Then Pioneer Winter Collective moves through the galleries with "this beauty that will pass," a new performance responding to the window's literary scenes and its charged interplay of beauty, desire, censorship, and impermanence. 6:30–9:30 PM.
Explore Live Miami →Harry Clarke's Geneva Window is one of the great suppressed works of the 20th century. Commissioned by the Irish government in 1926 to hang in the International Labour Organization building in Geneva, it depicted scenes from Irish literature — Synge, Yeats, O'Casey, Joyce — in Clarke's signature jewel-toned, Art Nouveau-inflected style. The government rejected it as too sexually provocative and it never made it to Geneva. It ended up at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, where it has been ever since. The Bass has it on loan. Seeing it in Miami, a century after its commission, with a performance built around it — that's a rare evening.
Explore Love Miami →Friday, October 9. 6:30–9:30 PM. The Bass, 2100 Collins Ave, Miami Beach. Talk by Róisín Kennedy (UCD) — free, supported by the Consulate General of Ireland in Miami. Performance: "this beauty that will pass" by Pioneer Winter Collective — $20 general, $10 members, free for Director's Circle. Tickets at thebass.org.
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