The Hellfire Club

Exhibition catalogue

A series of new commissions based upon the presence of an 18th century secret society house in Askeaton. Today, the building is inaccessible to the public, as a ruin in constant danger of collapse. Around this site of physical decay, featured artists have considered the Hellfire history, its non-conformist allusions to the society of the 1700s, and its material presence as a crumbling ruin in the middle of a small Irish countryside town. New artworks by Stephen Brandes, Diana Copperwhite, Tom Fitzgerald, Sean Lynch and Louise Manifold are detailed in the publication, alongside texts from Michele Horrigan, Padraic E. Moore and Brian O’Doherty and a variety of contextual material about the project.

Further information on each commission here

Further information on a related event with Independent Curators International, New York here

PRINT COPY

48 pages, 19 colour images, 32 b/w images.

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DIGITAL COPY

pdf file, available to download for free here

From the archive:

Oswaldo Ruiz

Askeaton Idle 

Mexican artist Oswaldo Ruiz has spent considerable time exploring Ireland’s landscape, economy and politics since completing a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2010. The video and photographic project, Askeaton Idle, was produced by Ruiz during his residency in the Welcome to the Neighbourhood programme in 2011.

As a model for a series of nocturnal trips in the town of Askeaton and the surrounding countryside, Ruiz considered the fable and lament of Sweeney, an ancient Irish King who was cursed to be half man, half bird, forever to roam throughout the land. He spent his life leaping from place to place, mad and exiled, lamenting and composing verse as he travelled. In a resuscitation of the myth, Ruiz journeyed around West Limerick for two weeks, his camera moving amongst streets, fields, yards and inside an ancient ring fort with an eerie, often surreal direction. His wanderings led him to find the proverbial road to nowhere, a mile-long tarmacadam lane built for an unrealized industrial estate, ending abruptly into a field. One night Ruiz constructed a sculpture there with a variety of found objects. Formally akin to a tree, upon a countryside road and in the evening, Ruiz’ piece evoked a place for Sweeney to finally perch and rest. Moreover, his project suggests that another drama might be played out in these places: a provisional, live version of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, where whatever might happen in the future is replaced with the need to establish an environmental consciousness of the present.

 

 

From the Archive

Berndnaut Smilde
Until Askeaton has Streetview
2009

Amsterdam-based artist Berndnaut Smilde says "Askeaton, Co. Limerick is one of the oldest towns in Ireland. In the 1840s, lots of Irish people immigrated to the US. A few people from Askeaton set up a new town in Wisconsin which they also named Askeaton. If you look for Askeaton on Google maps you’ll find a streetview of Askeaton, Wisconsin, US. The first building you see is a barn. The original town of Askeaton in Ireland had not yet been photographed by Google and didn’t have streetview yet. I’ve constructed a copy of that specific barn in Askeaton US, and placed this facade or ‘prop’ on the most resembling location along the main road in Askeaton Ireland. The idea is that if the Google Photocar came by, this image will be picked up, and the building will simultaneously exist in both Askeatons."

In the end, Smilde' work was captured and today still appears on Google Streetview.

Askeaton, Wisconsin                        Askeaton, Limerick