The exhibition of de Blacam and Meagher was Ireland’s participation at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. The installation of five stacks of papers presented in the Sculpture Hall is both an archive and a reading room. The public are invited to read the work and take it away as a folio. Over time the stacks are depleted by the actions of the public, until finally we are left only with the furnishings.

In addition, a film about the exhibition, called dBM gallo Words, by Ruán Magan will be screened.

Using stunning visuals and sound, the film moves poetically through the processes involved in creating a national pavilion, from the arrival of the archive by boat, to the installation and interaction of the curators, and the final interplay between the visitors and paper scrolls. This new commission is an Irish Architecture Foundation and Ruán Magan production and will be screened at each venue on the of de Blacam and Meagher tour in 2011.

The Irish participation at La Biennale di Venezia is an initiative of Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council. The exhibition was curated by Tom dePaor, Peter Maybury, Alice Casey and Cian Deegan, and commissioned by the Irish Architecture Foundation, under the directorship of Nathalie Weadick. The exhibition is also supported by RIAI and the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government.