Latest News
X-PO Deirdre O'Mahony: Newsletter MAR 08 read more >>
Imagining Silvermines; a psychogeography;
North Tipperary project journal. read more >>
Ground Up Artists' Collective news
Post-conference material >>
Includes Sustainable Visions, Film Screening and Discussion Event, Local Local exhibition in Glor, and Rural Vernacular a programme of temporary public artworks in rural Co. Clare
Conference Brochure available as PDF file click here>>
Shifting Ground Conference
New Perceptions of Art and Rural Culture - Giór, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
The capacity of art to engage with contexts and issues is well recognised, but tends to be applied primarily in urban situations. Rural contexts and audiences have not been considered significant in the development of the contemporary cultural discourse.
Increasingly it is becoming clear that the rural is a contested zone, where some of the most pressing issues of our time are being played out – issues of environmental sustainability, issues of global economics versus local economies, issues of food production and genetic modification, issues of community breakdown, issues of cultural commodification – and so on.
These are cultural issues as much as social and economic ones, and need to be addressed as such. A new cultural discourse is required, one which places the rural at the center of a debate about arts practice, social engagement and sustainability.
More information
Current Projects
Development of Rural Arts Module
Ground Up - Contemporary Art in a Rural Context
Clare is predominantly a rural county. The majority of artists living in Clare reside in a rural set
ting, yet the arts, for the most part, take place in urban locations. The Arts Office of Clare County Council initiated Ground Up to foster a new type of engagement between Public Art and rural contexts.
As well as a desire to generate debate and discussion amongst practitioners and the rural ‘constituency’, Ground Up set out to fulfill a number of other objectives;
- To create opportunities for artists to make interesting, challenging artworks where they live, independent of the gallery system.
- To create opportunities for artists to inspire one another, and to interact with national/ international practitioners.
