Echoing the role artists and the European Arts and Crafts movement played in creating and articulating a new vision for Ireland pre-1916, IMMA and Grizedale Arts(UK) have collaborated to create an extraordinary new project in 2016 that examines the function of art. Re-thinking the Royal Hospital of Kilmainham cobblestoned quadrant as a model village, the project takes shape as a visual and working installation in IMMA’s iconic courtyard this August.

Entitled ‘A Fair Land’ the project aims to develop a system for living using basic and simple resources used in a creative way. We live in a professionalised culture that has moved to distance us from our inherent everyday creativity. instead promoting systematised living, convenience and  globalisation – all fundamentally based on the exploitation of ‘labour capital’ (other people’s labour). Envisaged, enabled and operated by a collective creative vision ‘A Fair Land’ looks at how self determination and dignity can be delivered through the inherent human function of creativity, and how its use in the everyday is a means to enable change and empowerment.

This project aims to develop a system for living derived from basic and simple resources used in a creative way. To this end a project village has been created to offer its visitors opportunities to eat, make, think or trade – and through that process to learn, copy, assimilate and teach. With a focus on creating objects that are useful, desirable and achievable, A Fair Land will present an active and tangible representation of the place of creativity in society, creating a space for families, friends and strangers to gather, get involved, and experience alternative perspectives on living.

A Fair Land has been developed by a wide range of people, including artists and creative practitioners, with the aim of making a new vision for a functioning future society.

Artists and collaborators include: Eavan Atkin / Samuel Bishop / Kat Black / Bluebell Youth Projects / Tania Bruguera / Rhona Byrne / Marcus Coates / Common Ground / Emily Cropton / CREATE / Coniston village building team / Michelle Darmody / Drew and Middori / Firestation / Motoko Fujita / Ryan Gander / Liz Gillis / Nicola Goode /Irish Architecture Foundation / Brenda Kearney / Suzanne Lacy / Renzo Martens/Jonathan Meese / Meg Narongchai / Deirdre O’Mahony / Seodín O’Sullivan / Debbie Paul / Rialto Youth Projects / Niamh Riordan / Kirsty Roberts / Katie Sanderson /Sarah Staton / St. Andrews Community Centre / Francesca Ulivi / Miranda Vane /Fiona Whelan / public works / NÓS workshop / NVA / Somewhere / Sweet Water Foundation / Villagers from the Swiss village of Leytron / Tom Watt & Tanad Williams, and many more.

The project has been delivered with the generous and creative support of construction collaborators Swift Scaffolding, Hentech Fabrication and Rilco Roofingand has received additional funding from the Goethe Institut Irland.

This project is presented as part of an exciting on-going initiative, New Art at IMMA, proudly supported by Matheson, which allows IMMA to continue to support artists’ vital work in a strand of programming that recognises and nurtures new and emerging talents, new thinking and new forms of exhibition-making.

A Fair Land is part of the official Ireland 19 / 2016 Cultural programme

You can download a .pdf of the programme overview.
A weekly programme of events will be published closer to the time. Bookmark this page or follow us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram for the most up to date project details.

About the Project

A Fair Land began with IMMA taking the unique step of inviting Grizedale Arts, an international commissioning and residency agency, to take up residence in IMMA’s own residency programme from March 2016. Whilst in residence Grizedale Arts, in collaboration with IMMA, invited a range of artists and creative practitioners from Ireland and beyond to use the residency as a base to research and develop a major activated project for our 17th century courtyard which is at the heart of our building.

A reflection of pre-1916 Ireland, A Fair Land reveals a vision for society informed, and led by creativity and artistic practice – whether through a Ruskinian reconsideration of industry, a vision for education or culture as a mechanism for political activism – where the creative voice was central to new visions for modern society emerging in Ireland and internationally.

You can follow the development of the project by looking for the hashtag #AFairLand on Instagram or Twitter

Associated Events

A Fair Land will be active from Friday 12 August 2016 with core activities then happening from Thursdays — Sundays until 28 August 2016. You can download a .pdf of the programme overview now, and a weekly programme of events will be published closer to the time.

There is a daily schedule of activities and special events that will offer visitors opportunities to make, learn and take part in the Village. Some of these are outlined below but there are lots more to be announced. The casual visitor can enjoy the Ambulatory Food Vendors and their interesting fare
while wandering through the garden of everyday delights.

Bookmark this page or follow us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram for the most up to date project details.
Creative Fitness
Daily / Thu — Sun / 7am + 4.30pm / Free
Artist Marcus Coates will initiate a daily ‘exercise’ routine in the village at 7am and at 4.30pm each day. This 7-minute routine is designed to become part of your everyday life, being integrated into any brief moments of idleness. Learn through the youtube channel or in person.No booking required.

A Fair Introduction
Daily / Thu — Sun / 11.30am / Free
Find out more about the project with a daily introduction led by one of the team. No booking required, just come to the Meeting Point at the Straw Barn.

OR/AND Lunch
Daily / Fri — Sun / 1 — 2pm / €10
Join us for a delicious meal prepared by the Fair Land team from the glut crop of courgettes grown in the IMMA courtyard.

Tickets for lunch are €10 per person and must be booked online in advance. Booking details will be announced in early August.

That’s the way to do it / Cooking demonstrations
Daily / Thu — Sun / 2.30pm / Free
To find out more about the food being served each day, join us for a free cookery demonstration, taking place in the Straw Barn in the Village. No booking required but places are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Food / Power School
Daily / Thu — Sun / 10am + 3pm / Free
Re-discover the power in domestic life by joining the Food School where you will work with the Fair Land team and learn more about the growing, cropping and preparation of produce used in the OR/AND table.

There are only four places available each week and you must join for a full week of sessions,i.e. four days.
Suitable for all ages from 12 upwards there will be an age range for each week for teens, adults and young adults. For more details and to book please emailmark.maguire@imma.ie or enquire at IMMA Main Reception.

Make – Buy – Download
Daily / Thu — Sun / 12 — 4pm / Free
You can make for free, or buy for a cost, a series of products that are intended to be ‘useful, desirable, and achievable’. 15 minute making stations are set up for anyone to make useful and desirable items which you can take home with you such as slippers, a bowl or a jar of pickles. Open to all including accompanied children over 7 years of age.

The A Fair Land shop will stock further ‘useful and desirable’ items that are not so achievable. All produced on site these can be bought with village money buttons. This Fair Land currency is available from IMMA’s main reception at an exchange rate of €5 for 3 buttons.

Fair Families
Daily / Thu — Sun / Times vary / Free
Join us each day for free family workshops during which children and parents can spend some creative time together making artworks, as well as seeing the ‘village’ of A Fair Land in IMMA’s courtyard. No booking required, just come to the Meeting Point in the main IMMA reception. Please note that these workshops take place at 10am on Thursdays and Fridays, and at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays. See schedule below:

Thu, Fri 10 – 11am /
11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26 August

Sat, Sun 2 – 4pm /
13, 14, 20, 21, 27, 28 August

Reinvent / Discuss / Debate
Daily / Thu — Sun / Times vary / Free
Daily talks by participants. Project and invited speakers will prompt discussion about the function of creativity in our lives, alternative perspectives on living, and the elemental things we need within our individual ‘systems’.

A daily schedule will be available online in early August.No booking required.