Welcome to Drogheda: the artist will see you now

When he isn't plotting site-specific art installation projects and other cultural shenanigans from his Dublin home, Fergal McCarthy is right in the middle of them. You might recall his green and red Monopoly houses on the Liffey in 2010, or in 2011 his No Man's Land project, where he lived for a week on a "desert island", also located on the Liffey. Well, this year he leaves the river Liffey for the river Boyne, or rather the town it flows through – Drogheda.

Welcome to Drogheda sees McCarthy pitch his tent (literally) in the upper floor of the town's exceptionally well-appointed Highlanes Gallery for four days (from this Thursday until Sunday). From here, he will have "a conversation with the town and its people . . . It's about getting to know the town as an Irish person, a visitor who doesn't really know too much about it," he says.

Following an invitation from Highlanes Gallery director Aoife Ruane late last year, McCarthy began to pay regular visits to the town in preparation. His first was more than six months ago on a very early and frosty February morning.

“There was no one on the streets; I walked around and found under the Bridge of Peace a huge amount of beautiful street art. If you scratch the surface of anything you find little nuggets underneath – you don’t see these kinds of things by driving over them. And so the thought of what else there is in the town began to filter through – what could I do that makes art socially engaging, that would be of interest? A walking tour, obviously, but what else could I find and share?”

You don’t really know a place until you live in it, however, and so, as the weeks passed, the notion of settling into the town’s rhythms took hold. McCarthy aims to blend social with cultural; he isn’t out to highlight what anyone would perceive as the town’s less palatable elements (a short walk from the Boyneside street art McCarthy justifiably admires is another section of “art” with a racist message scrawled on it) but rather the things that stand out for him in a positive way.

"I'm occasionally accused of being negative, but I thought with this project I would park that. Quite often when I come into a town for a few days, my first natural inclination would be to make mental notes about things I'd like to change. With Welcome to Drogheda, I'm instead looking for the humour in the town, as well what makes it work as a town."

Informal chats
Throughout the four-day project, there will be frequent updates, comments and an organised schedule (available via Twitter @fergalmccarthy1). At 10.30am each day, he will be chatting to a Drogheda native for about 30 minutes; at 4pm each day he will be talking to one person from outside the town about their impressions of it.

These informal chats will take place at Highlanes Gallery, in McCarthy’s upper gallery “home”, which will include a kitchen table, a couch, a coffee machine and other items of furniture from his own home.

“There’ll be a free cup of coffee for anyone that wants to come in and talk to me during the day,” he offers. “On the walking tours we’ll be meeting local people as we go to places like Millmount, McCloskey’s – a local bakery – and pubs such as Clarke’s.” And lest we forget, St Peter’s Church, where there’ll be a gander at the shrunken head of Oliver Plunkett.

As well as making valid points about outsider perspectives, McCarthy hopes to offer an insight into the enigmatic nature of artists, who, by and large, are nowhere to be seen after the opening nights of their exhibitions. “Very rarely do the public meet the artist, so I thought it would be interesting for people to meet the person behind this particular project.”

McCarthy will be further breaking down barriers between artist and public by challenging visitors to a game of ping pong (on his transformed kitchen table). “And I’ll be bringing along a box of Lego for people to build Drogheda landmarks, which I will then photograph and upload on Twitter.”

He will also write an idiosyncratic guidebook to Drogheda and create a large-scale illustrated town map, which will be displayed in the gallery. Does he have any idea at all what the level of public engagement with this inventive and inclusive art project will be?

“It’s an experiment, so no I haven’t. I like the idea that an art project can become a topic of discussion, though. We’re so adept in Ireland at discussing music, literature, theatre, but I think visual art is of equal interest, and any project that broadens that is good.

“All I know is that it’s a playful attempt to narrow the barrier between the art and the artist. I’m making myself available – for good or for bad.”

Welcome to Drogheda runs from August 15-18. Numbers are limited for many of the events. Places can be booked online at: highlanes.ie