Curated by Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong, lead artists

Events run from 2 – 12 May, see the website for associated events • Exhibition runs until Sunday 7 July • see also School Days: Cobh & Great Island and This Must Be The Place | Great Island 2019

In a town that is not only known for its dark, popular history of famine, poverty, forced emigration and nautical disasters, but is also implicated in the global mood of uncertainty and despair, how is it possible to stay optimistic about the future?

Australian artists Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong have pondered on this question since 2016, and have responded with See you tomorrow, a series of public events focused on an optimistic collective vision of Cobh’s future. They have momentarily deflected attention from impending environmental disaster, political chaos, institutional disintegration and cultural fragmentation by redirecting our gaze towards the promise and furtherment of what appears abundantly in Cobh: social ideals, creative collaborations and community-driven initiatives.

Their collective vision originates from a series of conversational, one-on-one video interviews with a diverse group of Cobh community members who were prompted to speak about aspects of the town they valued and those they would like to change. The interviews were then analysed for common topics which then become the bases of public events that were developed in collaboration with the same community members and Cobh artists.

Artists and creative contributors include Mike Cleary, Roisin Everard, Bill O’Flynn, Michelle Hardwick, Mark Hathaway, Patricia Hoffie, Fiona Kelly, Kevin Leong, Maaike Mijland, Peter Nash, Claire Ryan and Elizabeth Woods.

Stakeholders/Interviewees include Breandán O’Brien, Colette Beausary, James Bilson, Diarmaid Ó Cadhla, Kate Damery, Melanie O’Driscoll, Sera Ellis, Mark Hathaway, Michelle Hardwick, John Hennessy, Peter Kidney, Willie Maloney, Jerome McCormick, Inge Nieuwstraten, Anne Roche, Caroline O’Sullivan, Stephen Thornhill, Students of YMCA Cobh STEP Programme.

See you tomorrow is in association with This Must Be The Place: Great Island 2019 at Sirius Arts Centre. In partnership with YMCA Cobh, Cobh Youth Services / Chill on the Hill and CIT Crawford College of Art and Design.

Kindly supported by Cork County Council’s Creative Communities Award. This project has also been assisted by the Australian and Queensland Governments through the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Queensland, their respective arts funding and advisory bodies.