Askeaton Contemporary Arts
NOW:
Information on The Hellfire Club here
NEWS
MAY 2012
Have Your Say:
Public meeting to discuss the reintroduction of the wolf to Askeaton.
Askeaton Contemporary Arts are working with artist Andrew Dodds to develop his project
on reintroducing wolves to County Limerick. Please come and contribute suggestions
for the most suitable sites for re-introduction. We especially welcome those with everyday
knowledge of the landscape, including local dwellers, farmers, and those with an interest
in ecology. A detailed map will be available for consultation. Refreshments served.
Wednesday, May 16, 7.30pm, Civic Trust.
APRIL 2012
Elaine Byrne's photograph Hanni's Shirt, produced as part of Welcome to
the Neighbourhood in 2011 is featured in Last, a group exhibition at the
Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, from 4 April - 23 May 2012.
MARCH 2012
Andrew Dodds, preparatory images from Paradise Regained.
Kieran Hickey, author of Wolves in Ireland, and lecturer at NUI, Galway,
will give a talk on the history of wolves in Ireland. on 29 March, 7.30pm,
Askeaton Civic Trust.
From prehistory to the present day, the wolf has always loomed large in the
human imagination. An iconic symbol of the untamed and the wild, the wolf,
as Ireland’s last great predator, has always provoked fear, excitement and
wonder. Kieran Hickey examines a vast array of sources relating to wolves in
Ireland, and describes how the extermination of wolves took place, with
the last wolf being killed, most likely, in 1786. The causes of extermination,
the role of bounties and professional wolf hunters and deforestation will be
discussed, along with the controversial possibility of the wolf's re-introduction.
The talk is programmed as part of artist Andrew Dodds' project Paradise
Regained.
FEBRUARY 2012
A solo exhibition by Allan Hughes opens on February 16 at The Belltable,
Limerick City. The exhibition features Neutral States, a video, audio and
photographic artwork produced by Hughes in Askeaton in 2011. Set around
the legacy of Second World War battlement infrastructure along the Shannon
Estuary. Interviews with Askeaton men Michael Foley, John Guinane and
Michael D. Ryan, all members of the Local Security Force and Local Defense
Force in the 1940s all feature.
Download the exhibition invite here and accompanying essay here
DECEMBER 2011
Upon an island in the middle of Askeaton, the remains of a Hellfire Club can be seen. Set upin the mid 1700s by the Duke of Wharton throughout the UK and Ireland, most Hellfire Clubs
were soon outlawed and shut down. However, the Askeaton Club, founded in 1740 and the
most westerly branch of the organization, probably stayed in existence until the end of the
century, and received visitors from near and far. Known as a satirical gentleman’s club, those
who met there considered it as a way of shocking the outside world. The supposed president
was the Devil, although the members themselves did not apparently worship demons or the
Devil, but called themselves devils. Mock religious ceremonies took place, with dishes like
Holy Ghost Pie, Breast of Venus, and Devil's Loin served, washed down with Hellfire punch.
Lurid tales are often recounted in local folklore of other outrageous rituals enacted.
Askeaton Contemporary Arts have commissioned artists Diana Copperwhite, Tom Fitzgerald,
Stephen Brandes, Sean Lynch and Louise Manifold to produce new artworks around the
Hellfire Club legacy, all to be presented in Askeaton in March 2012. A publication on the project
with an essay by Padraic E. Moore will follow in summer 2012.
Askeaton Contemporary Arts features in The Irish Times, see here
NOVEMBER 2011
Oswaldo Ruiz, Askeaton Idle, 2011
New York-based BOMB magazine features an online article on some recent Irish art by
Askeaton Contemporary Arts curator Michele Horrigan. It can be read here at BOMBBLOG
SEPTEMBER 2011
Magdelena Jitrik's artwork Painting in Askeaton is included in the 12th Istanbul Biennial,
curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann. The exhibition runs from 17 September-13 November 2011,
and features a painting and video made by Magdelena during 2009's Welcome to the Neighbourhood.
Painting in Askeaton also features in the publication Vitamin P2 New Perspectives in Painting, an
overview of new contemporary painting from around the world published by Phaidon.
Askeaton Contemporary Arts reviewed in Paper Visual Art Journal
AUGUST 2011
Artist Andrew Dodds receives an Artist in the Community Award from the Arts Council and
CREATE, Ireland's national development agency for the collaborative arts. Beginning in 2012,
he will develop a long term project called Paradise Regained in collabration with the inhabitants
of Askeaton. To see more about Andrew's work, see www.andrewdodds.com
JULY 2011
APRIL 2011
Read more about Welcome to the Neighbourhood at Independent Curators International
MARCH 2011
Michele Horrigan reports on The Curatorial Intensive, a New York-based workshop organised
by Independent Curators International. READ HERE
