Welcome to the Neighbourhood 2010
12–24 July, Askeaton

Anita Di Bianco recorded vocal performances of a dramatic text by the French Surrealist photographer and writer Claude Cahun dating from 1925, which revisits mythological and biblical tales edged with modernist wit, and considers stories of resistance and revenge. Playing the irreverent roles of Judith, Salome, Sappho, and Sophie were Susan Holland, Patrick Keaveney, Joanna Hopkins and Annette Moloney. The audio work was both recorded and presented on the stage of Askeaton’s Community Hall, with viewers asked to stand between drawn stage curtains to listen to the 20 minute compilation of voices.

Van Dingenen investigated the long lost tradition of seaweed cutting along the Shannon Estuary, picked and cooked mussels, shot a video that referenced the TidyTown competition which Askeaton partakes in each year, made a poster for the annual Hellfire Club Party, and worked closely with local tour guide Anthony Sheehy to produce a freely-distributed print based on the geography of the River Deel. His many activities were reflected in a display at the local Tourist Office, featuring found and new material about historical residues of the everyday life of Askeaton.

McNulty created a concrete sculpture, which was composed of a number of individually cast hexagonal modules. It was installed in a yard at one end of the town and visible to the public through the surrounding fence. In the past, the yard has been used as a sales outlet for concrete products. These hexagonal modules were stacked alongside each other to create the final form which referenced a proposed design for a building by Irish architect Noel Moffet. McNulty was introduced to Moffett and his work in 2009 by architectural historian Ellen Rowley. Moffett’s initial proposal for ‘High density housing at Bethnal Green for the GLC’ (1970) overtly referenced the hexagonal forms of the Giant’s Causeway. The building was completed in the early ’70s, but the final form is much more conventional. McNulty’s sculpture also references the hexagonal bricks he found embedded in earth in a grassy area in front of the building when he visited it in September 2009. These bricks mark the location of a playground which has been destroyed since the building's construction in the early ’70s.

Onos is a sculptural work that brings to a small retail unit in Askeaton, a low-tech ‘hippy’ production of a high-end designer bed. Fulcher’s sculpture brings together two design references from the late 1960s; Drop City, a notorious hippy commune who used scrapyard materials to construct their homes, and Superstudio, the progressive design and architecture collective who produced the original moulded fibre-glass Onos bed.

Hagerman’s work frequently focuses on the relationship between plant life and the built environment. He photographed a variety of sites around Limerick where ivy has grown over buildings. Along with producing a video work and a series of sculptures out hanging baskets for flowers, he made a series of in-situ drawings on windows and walls around Askeaton that resembled the growth of lichen on surfaces of the area.