PALIMPSEST

The North Inner City of Dublin has been defined by the precarity of those who have made this area their home. And over the years, many of its distinctive landmarks or monuments from times gone by, have been displaced to allow for development. A quick glance at an ordnance survey map identifies numerous objects of cultural significance, which have been moved out of their original context. In this way, the area; particularly the Docklands, can sometimes feel bereft of landmarks that might connect it to its rich heritage. Typically, the area has been economically disadvantaged and over the years some of its neighbourhoods were synonymous with peripheral, or criminalised ways of life.

Artworks in by Laragh Pittman, Rebecca Kehoe and Katherine Sankey might lead us to reckon with the topography of the area, the tensions between natural and manmade, the persistent repurposing of the land towards industry and economy. Works might lead us to consider the natural flow of people through the area depending on its development and the internalised colonialism enacted on vulnerable communities. We might think about obliterated architecture and near forgotten monuments. Throughout the Five Lamps Festival, an opportunity exists for us to engage with the rich history of the area and the contemporary expression of its current conditions through the presentation of artworks in PALIMPSEST