Arriving in Ireland:Dingle and Annascaul:

After only visiting larger cities since we had arrived on European soil, I must admit that my homesickness for vast open spaces in the country and the wilderness were well missed (not to mention my lovesickness as well). To arrive in yet another crowded foreign place packed to the gills with people made me feel exhausted and crowded.

It only took one night in a Dublin hostel to decide to begin the tour somewhere in the country for a few days before returning to Dublin a little more refreshed and prepared. Judging only by the road map in the bus station, I looked for any random coastal town or village that perhaps I could have landed to if I were to sail to Ireland form Halifax. The bus took the McCleave Gallery and I across the country, through about eight hours of winding roads and farmlands, and about 900,000 roundabouts (weeeeeee!), before we were dropped off on the side of the winding road about 60 km east of Dingle outside of a place called Annascaul.

The sun was setting at this point, and besides the company of endless flocks of sheep that roamed the mountainsides, the McCleave Gallery and I found ourselves alone and immediately I knew that this had been probably the best thing we could have done. Leaving the city and throwing caution to the wind for a while had indeed done us nothing but good.

Annascaul is a quiet village still in touch with a traditional Irish farming lifestyle that kept everything at a slower pace which was very refreshing after so much urban traveling. Even though there were only a few visitors to the McCleave Gallery, there were enthusiastic responses and surprised reactions to the mobile venue, often questioning what the heck we were doing in Annascaul. This was a treat just as much for me to experience showing the gallery in a more rural setting, further emphasizing the portability and advantages that a portable venue can have in terms of outreach to communities that are often sheltered from pubic intervention art practices.

After a few days in Annascaul, we hitched a ride with some very friendly folks from the US to Dingle who were also in Ireland to ‘find their roots’. They kindly dropped us off right at the doorstep of a hostel called ‘The Grapevine Hostel’, where I was greeted by the lovely Serpil, who set us up with accommodation for the next few nights. It was a simple and very cozy hostel with a fireplace and a kitchen, and was located right in downtown Dingel. While strolling around town I noticed only a few galleries, all of which were commercially based and filled mostly with tourist related materials and ‘saleeable’ artwork. The hostel was full which provided many opportunities for spontaneous openings to audiences from France, Spain, the US, Australia and Germany. There was one night where I was recognized at the local pub and asked ‘where is your suitcase?’, so while swallowing my hesitations to bring it to a pub, I went back to the hostel and brought it out on the request of the folks at the pub. I figured it would be rather mean of me to bring the gallery this far and not expose it to Irish pub culture that seemed to dominate every corner of the island.

So after a week in the country, I felt refreshed and ready to return to Dublin to find some more galleries, and perhaps amongst the masses of buildings, cars and people, stumble upon a few surprise viewings.