DisPatch
Click the image to view the full gallery.
| Artist Name(s) | Becks Butler, Astrid Newman & Ciara Roche |
| Artwork title | DisPatch |
| Context/Background | Wexford County Council under the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy Per Cent for Art Scheme invited submissions with the focus to socially engaged and/or co- authored artistic productions which involved professional artists producing work in collaboration with local communities of place of interest in Enniscorthy or Gorey Municipal Districts. |
| Description | A pop-up post office installed in an empty shop front in Castle Street Enniscorthy over a four-day period in May 2019. It coincided with the Enniscorthy Strawberry Fair (31 May to 3 June 2019) and was open from 11am to 6pm daily. The title of the project, DisPatch, is a play on the term ‘dispatch’, the sending of someone or something to a destination or for a purpose. It can be loosely interpreted as This Patch. DisPatch took the form of a pop-up post office, installed in an empty shop front. Inside the post office there was a selection of objects and postcards as well as a pop-up cafe. The objects had been chosen by and collected by the artists from a wide variety of community groups in Enniscorthy , whom the artists had collaborated with over the previous four months following an open call. Each group selected an abject they felt best represented them. These objects were then photographed by the artists and printed onto limited edition postcards (2,000 printed in total). These were displayed in the post office over the weekend and visitors (over 1,200 visitors were recorded over the three days) were invited to drop into pop up post office, enjoy the free café, select a postcard, write it and send it for free anywhere in the world. Over 1000 visitors, comprising of locals and visitors to the Festival visited the post office over the 3 days and over 700 postcards were sent. The story behind each object in the postcards was documented and compiled onto an audio installation, in the centre of the Post Office. In working with community groups to curate a selection of objects and stories of personal, social, environmental and historical significance the artists asked the groups to consider their own position and relationship to the community of Enniscorthy. By printing those objects onto postcards, the artists were inviting members of the community and visitors to the space to send a piece of their own locality far and wide. DisPatch took the idea of the commuter belt as its starting point, a nod to the new M11 and to contemporary life, where fast paced communication leaves little time to pause and take stock of what’s around us. The decision to develop a ‘pop-up post office’ was informed by an awareness of the important role post offices have played in rural life, often considered to be the beating heart of a community. DisPatch aimed to bring people together to take a moment to connect and to enjoy the simple act of writing and sending a postcard. From Enniscorthy, wish you were here! |
| Mediation | Artist and writer Suzanne Walsh was commissioned by the Arts office to write an essay in response to Dispatch. This will become part of publication documenting the three M11 Commissions to be published by Wexford Arts office in 2020. |
| Biographies | Becks Butler is a lens-based artist and curator. Her research explores subject, post human, human behaviours and origins. Becks exhibited her solo show at illuminations (2017) and has presented work in various group shows. Becks was recently Curator for Vera Ryklova’s ‘Aesthetic Distance’ at Triskel. Her collections have been purchased by the Royal Irish Academy and various private collectors. Astrid Newman is a Performance and Video Artist, based in Co.Wicklow. She has exhibited and performed in numerous spaces including Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo; Newlyn Gallery, Cornwall; Glebe House, Donegal and The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. She is currently a Curatorial Research Assistant at The LAB Gallery, Dublin and is co-founder of conch.fyi, an online platform publishing weekly artists’ interviews. Ciara Roche is a Painter based in rural County Wexford. She has shown extensively in group shows throughout Ireland and had a major solo show in Lismore with Lismore Castle Arts in 2016. Her work is in many public and private collections throughout Ireland, Britain, USA and China. |
| Commission Type | Local Authority,Government Department |
| Commissioner Name | Wexford County Council |
| Commissioning process | Open Competition curated and managed by Wexford Arts office and the Public Art Working group. |
| Project commission dates | January 1, 2019 - June 30, 2019 |
| Public Presentation dates | May 31, 2019 - June 3, 2019 |
| Artform | Visual Arts |
| Art Practice | Arts Participation |
| Funded By | Wexford County Council |
| Percent for art | Yes |
| Budget Range | 10000 - 30000 euro |
| Project commission start date | 01/01/2019 |
| Project commission end date | 30/06/2019 |
| Location | Enniscorthy Town and surrounds. |
| County | Wexford |
| Town | Enniscorthy |
| Street Address | Pop Up Post Office, Castle Street. |
| Website | www.wexfordcoco.ie/arts-and-culture/current-programmes-plans-and-events/public-art/per-cent-for-art-scheme |
| Content contributor(s) | Liz Burns |
| Relationship to project | Arts Officer, Wexford County Council. |
| Public engagement |
|
| Associated professionals / Specialists involved |
|