Various Sites in Birr Town Centre, Birr, County Offaly,

The 53rd Annual Birr Vintage Arts Week,

From the 14th-20th of August 2021

“Empty Columns” Panel Discussion Tuesday 17th August at 7.30pm, Birr Theatre & Arts Centre

I am absolutely thrilled to be taking part in The Empty Columns are a Place to Dream Project as part of The 53rd Annual Birr Vintage Arts Week this August. This project curated by Ric Kasini Kadour will feature the work of 20 international collage artists, responding to an empty column which sits at the centre of Parsons Square, Birr, County Offaly. Through this project we explore monuments at large as focal points for communities, ideas and intentions; and their sometimes oppressive, often contentious, and potentially constructive roles as we move forward into the future.

Ric writes: “Monuments are a particular type of public art that plays an important role in the psyche of a community. A stitch that binds geography to history, monuments express community values. They say, ‘This is who we are. This is what we want the future to remember.’ They commemorate the dead and recall the past. But unlike headstones, monuments are communal by design, collective expressions of grief and remembrance.”

For more on the project from Ric Kasini Kadour visit here.

For more on Birr Vintage Arts Week visit here.