Review: Maeve Mulrennan reports on "Welcome to the Neighbourhood"

Practicing a System of Values

The 18th July began with a trip to Limerick city. Upon arrival I was greeted with lots of familiar faces and some new, mostly from Dublin and Cork. We were all assembled to attend the 4th edition of Welcome to the Neighbourhood, a festival presented by Askeaton Contemporary Arts. Curated by Irish artist Michele Horrigan, the festival occurs in the small town of Askeaton, West County Limerick. This was my second year attending. The objective is for artists, a mix of Irish and international, to live and work in Askeaton for two weeks. On the last day the artists install their work in different locations around the town.

I have always gotten the feeling that as a visitor I am only seeing a very small part of what is a very intense process. By the end of the two weeks the artists are all friends, feel at home in the town and know a lot of the people who live there. The festival places importance on the process of making work in the public realm. The value of the festival is not only the artists’ experience but their interactions with Askeaton: the people they meet, the places they go, where their work is installed.

A bus brought us ‘outsiders’ to Askeaton and from there we were taken on a tour of the artists works. We viewed the work together, with the artist who gave a brief informal talk on the process, usually in conversation with artist Sean Lynch. These talks hinted at the more personal processes involved in being a stranger to a place, and we got an idea of not only how the artist came to make this work but what had happened in the two weeks to shape the intention of the work.

Joe Duggan, an Irish artist based in London, presented a model for Askeaton’s first skyscraper, complete with a miniature public art maquette. It was here that I was able to look at the work and also at the audience – a mix of young and old, local and visitor. Local children stood beside Arts Council staff. What I found most interesting about the local audience was that they have been an audience for two weeks now, and have been active participants in the shaping of the work, in one way or another.

We then made our way to the Community Hall where Louise Manifold’s work was installed. I am familiar with Louise’s work, having worked with her on two group shows. We are also in the process of working towards a solo exhibition. Entering the hall reminded me of childhood fears of haunted churches. Louise’s video projection was expertly installed behind the drawn stage curtains – the audience had to walk onstage and squeeze in behind it into a pitch black space, perfect for video. Louise’s practice is a research based investigation into the slippage between fact and fiction. Narrative plays an important part – the silences are as important and the voices. Again the audience watched the piece together, with the locals having a prior knowledge and vested interest in a piece some of them helped to create through the sharing of old stories about ghost carriages haunting families on lonely country roads.

We then went to the Civic Trust building to see Magdelena Jitrik’s painting work, which was accompanied by a video of the making of the painting, played to a soundtrack of music composed by the artist. Magdalena, who is from Argentina, explained that she composes her paintings in the same way as she composes her music. Her time was spent in the studio, making and simultaneously documenting.  I found Magdalena’s work an important element of the festival as her practice is different from the others. The festival places value on different practices and ways of making, so it is possible to respond to place by just being yourself and being in the studio. Andrew Dodds’ work was also showcased in the Civic Trust building. For the residency, Dodds set up ‘ASK FM’ a locally transmitted radio station. He spent a lot of his time in Askeaton meeting people and recording their stories, discussions, debates and music to be broadcast on the final weekend.

We were then driven out to the edge of the town (while listening to ASK FM on the car radio) to see Dutch artist Smilde’s work. Smilde has initially looked up Askeaton in Google street maps and was directed to Askeaton, USA. The final piece, a near life size photo of a barn in Askeaton USA was installed on the way in to the town. The artist hopes that when Google come to photograph the original town, this image will be picked up, and the building will simultaneously exist in both original and new Askeaton.  

The overall impression of Welcome to the Neighbourhood is the importance of placing value. Value is placed on the town as a suitable host for the development of contemporary art practice. Value is placed on the artists – they are charged with the responsibility of being citizens of the place for a certain amount of time. This seems to be the objective, the art work being evidence of this temporary citizenship. Manifold’s work draws attention to the importance of local knowledge of place, while Smilde and Duggan’s works draw attention to the potential of future knowledge. Dodds’ work highlights the community and the everyday, and also the potential of taking ownership of the airwaves – it reveals what might be hidden. Magdalena’s work highlights the importance of investing in the development of the artist – her work was made as a result of being given time, space and resources to concentrate on her painting.

I tried to be conscious of the public on my visit. The showcase day attracts a lot of people from other places, people from the art community eager to see new work and meet new people. I was interested in how it feels to live in a place where artists come to live for two weeks – does it have any affect on day to day life? The works made are not necessarily ‘public art’ (a loaded term). However it is the process that is public. I see Welcome to the Neighbourhood as something that is contrary to the current trend of arts practitioners parachuting into a ‘site’, making work and disappearing again. Curator Michele Horrigan invites artist to come and just ‘be’. Sure there is an end product – but the real art is in placing value on an artist’s time and contribution to a place, which is reciprocated by having a community bear witness to what are all exciting and engaging practices.