Welcome to the Neighbourhood 2009
6–18 July, Askeaton

Smilde, in his initial research on Askeaton, looked up Askeaton in Google Street View and was directed to Askeaton, Wisconsin, USA. He then transposed the first building he saw in the American Askeaton to Ireland, with a life size photo of a barn installed on the way into the town. The artist hoped that when Google came to photograph the original town of Askeaton, this image would be picked up, and the building would simultaneously exist in both Askeatons. In the end, Smilde's sculpture was captured and today still appears on Google Street View. See more in Michael Holly’s Only in Askeaton video here.

Duggan made two new artworks in Askeaton, entitled Skyscraper and Gold Boulder. Much speculative discussion revolved around these artworks as a model for a future building development incorporating a plaza with public sculpture, located somewhere in Askeaton.

Dodds operated ASK FM, a pirate radio station broadcasting from a secret venue in the town. It featured recordings and interviews with local musicians and individuals who are involved in community structures such as Askeaton Civic Trust and the Credit Union. The artwork broadcast the potential talents, ambitions and micro-politics of the town, allowing participants not just a platform but also a form of gentle subjectivity and subtle validation for their activities.

Jitrik spent time making a small painting that, according to curator Adriano Pedrosa, ‘is a splendid abstract geometric composition, one can see the same mosaic of multicoloured slanted rectangles forming a larger, again not so orthogonal square, which in turn is intersected by a trapezoid figure, offering a feast for the formal connoisseur.’ With such praise, Jitrik’s work could be considered akin to a Mondrian or a work of Russian Constructivism. Yet, she subtly shifts these expectations of her work away to another discursive platform, as a video details the painting’s growth and development from a blank canvas to a completed artwork, accompanied by a soundtrack by Jitrik’s band, Orquestra Roja (Red Orchestra). In another moment, the painting appears in the ruins of a local Franciscan Abbey, almost as an apparition amongst gravestones and mediaeval stone carvings, urgently captured in photographs and video excerpts. The painting later featured in 2011’s Istanbul Biennial, and the accompanying video piece can be viewed here.

Manifold produced a video based around stories, myths and recollections around Askeaton of ghost horses and carriages haunting families on lonely country roads. See the video here.