SMASHED UP/ to the STREET/
A collaboration research project with socially engaged artist Deirdre Power.
Limerick Ireland 2022/24
Andrew Kearney proposed a site-specific multifaceted installation in 2022 in collaboration with socially engaged artist Deirdre Power taking the Sailor’s Home in Limerick, Ireland as a starting point. The objective was to construct a journey of discovery responding to a particular space and its histories, to place and its inherent memories. The outcomes were imagined as an interactive installation conceived within the building and with the replanting of an abandoned garden, a space at the intersection of the community and the busy industrial port of Limerick.
On July 1st 2023, an arson attack engulfed the Sailor's Home, destroying the roof and interior. In the aftermath, discussions were held to consider ‘shifting’ the project into surrounding community spaces, to engage those affected directly by this event.
Kearney and Power met with residents of the community including Randal Hodkinson, who operates a business on Henry Street, J. Hodkinson & Sons, Ecclesiastical Decorators, established in 1852, and Lorna Moloney who is proactive in the community. Both parties were passionate about continuing the project in reimagining the place as a social space all the while addressing the undercurrents at play. The research strand aimed to respond to the loss of the building's structural makeup as a ‘thought-space’, recuperating and bringing to life memories, whether real or imagined, extending beyond, a symbiotic relationship between what was and what can be. The project had the potential to expand beyond the physical space to consider a broader inclusive discourse.
For Kearney and Power, the artistic process and inherent challenges became a tight ropewalk between the epistemological (theory of knowledge) and the ontological, (nature of being) becoming a laboratory for critical aesthetic and spatial practice. One of the outcomes was a gathering of the community in a local bakery called Les Petits Plaisirs on Henry Street, to discuss notions of community cohesion, and dialogue for a safer community space to play, work and develop upon creative interventions. Imaginative spaces, new soil and growth, spaces reignited, street life reawakened ensuring a legacy for the community and the memory of a home, once a haven for sailors.
Outcomes and Challenges from the Research Process:
Identified key themes: community identity, creative planning, role allocation, and trust-building within the group.
Recognizing the importance of engaging the community to share expectations and ideas, we had multiple talks with the bakery owner and his local customers, also other groups, signwriters, community allotments, architects, metalwork fabricators, sewing circle groups and organic farmers outside the city which sold their produce in the city market (exploring ideas around various farming practises).
Issues raised at the gathering related to concerns among the community of anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood. One interesting aspect of this gathering with the community was the arrival of a local politician, a resident of the area. As lead artists, we were challenged with the narrative being redirected to social issues affecting the community, and questions being directed to the political narrative demonstrated major trust issues. Questions arose; how, as artists, do we navigate this environment in re-building trust in a safe space and returning to the artist’s intentions?
However, spontaneous social interactions on the street fostered informal idea-sharing and strengthened community bonds.
Another wonderful outcome is the reopening of the pastry shop now under a new owner Laine Kavinska. And the continued relationships developed from this project.
The final stage of the research resulted in the gifting of a cast amber artwork by the artists based on the doorway of the Sailor’s Home, a work that aimed to pay homage to the loss of the building in the neighbourhood.
How do we present the steps for community cohesion and collective action through best practices in trust-building and engagement?
All images by Deirdre Power and Andrew Kearney.
Funded by: Create Ireland.
