Askeaton’s been punk’d

On a shelf behind Ranahan’s Bar in Askeaton is a pile of coconut shells – bric-a-brac brought home by a regular, one assumes. Wrong. It is, in fact, a contemporary art installation by Freek Wambacq, a Belgian conceptual artist, that refers to the use of coconut shells to recreate the sound of galloping horses in movies. The old shells have retired to the bar having been superseded by digital sound effects.

This tiny, low-ceilinged, brown-windowed place is about as far from the contemporary art world as you can get. Across from it on a gable wall is an elegant relief scroll of seemingly 19th century stucco work, until you realise that the calligraphic script declaring “Ecce Signum” just means “this is a sign”. It’s another conceptual artwork, by Ireland’s representative to the 2015 Venice Biennale, Sean Lynch.

Is Askeaton the You've-Been-Punk'd capital of conceptual art?

In the past nine years more than 50 artists from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, Turkey and other places have spent a few weeks in northwest Limerick engaging with locals in some capacity to create artworks for Askeaton Contemporary Arts, which takes over the town from the launderette to the monastic ruins, via the grocers, each July.

It’s (a bit) like Venice, where the entire city becomes a gallery of cutting-edge art during the Biennale. But how does a somnambulant, bypassed, rural town get to become a crucible for cutting-edge art?

“We’re just continuing the medieval tradition of Askeaton as a centre of travelling bards and international culture,with a liberal Franciscan friary here and ships sailing in from Spain and France,” says curator Michele Horrigan. “It’s about coaxing art out of its ‘white-cube’ spaces and embedding it in the local community.”

Just how embedded is evident in Stephen Brandes' heritage plaque installation, described by a bewildered Ireland of the Welcomes journalist as "a signboard of the rarest kind, it says nothing of the past or present, but predicts happenings in Askeaton in the distant future. Between 2240 and 2263 AD, a succession of horrible happenings are to occur, terminating in the destruction of the castle by 36 lightning strikes and a fireball".

“It’s fun to watch tourists reacts to it,” says Horrigan. “Watching their bewilderment is like a spectator sport for locals.”

Anita Guinane, manager of the tourist office in Askeaton, admits that locals were wary at first. “We viewed the whole thing with suspicion, wondering who were these people. Now, in its ninth year, people stop me on the street . . . asking when are the artists coming back.”

When the Swedish artist Ilja Karilampi scattered hair from Ita’s hair salon on the floor and then swept it up again in 2006, the inevitable reaction was, “That’s not art. It’s what Ita does every day of the week.” This was Askeaton’s first encounter with performance art.

“We had never seen anything like it before,” says Guinane.“The beauty of the festival is it gets people asking questions. Gradually we’re all learning.”

She remembers when she first came across an electric toothbrush in the Bank of Ireland branch. "What the heck is that? I thought. Obviously someone had left their toothbrush behind. I only later learnt it was Freek Wambacq's installation, Landslide at the Bank of Ireland."

Now the fun has started all over again with six artists, including Jorge Satorre from Mexico and Mike Cooter from London, taking over the town.

The art runs the gamut from the amateur folk art of Seanie Barron to the lofty conceptual probing of Mexican artist, Jeronimo Hagerman, who creates sculptural installations in public spaces and museums around the world and was this year commissioned to make the contemporary art float for Askeaton and Rathkeale’s St Patrick’s Day parade.

Hagerman’s entry consisted of a phalanx of mirror-clad bodies who reflected the parade attendants back at themselves, turning spectators into spectacles, and hinting at issues of surveillance and voyeurism.

The 9th Askeaton Contemporary Arts began last Monday with six artists including Jorge Satorre from Mexico and Mike Cooter from London taking over the town. Next Saturday, July 12th is the Open Day with the artists at hand to discuss their work.

By any estimation this is a ground-breaking arts festival. When I ask Guinane why is it held in Askeaton, she says, “Why not? If you don’t bring art to the people, what point is it? Art in isolation, or just for other artists, is a dead thing.”

Askeaton Contemporary Arts, 9th Edition runs until July 12th. askeatonarts.com