The disused dance hall in Waterville, Co Kerry, once a ballroom of romance, has metamorphosed into the Ballroom of Imagination and Desire and will remain open to the public in such an exalted state until August 30th.
The premises have been lent to former publisher Ms Noelle Campbell-Sharp, to house a free summer festival of arts and music. In showband terms, this is already proving to be a crowd-puller, not least because at the entrance to the ballroom the Co Meath mural artist Fionnuala Collins has painted a 14 ft likeness of Botticelli's Venus de Milo. But in this version the nude Venus is sipping a pint of Guinness.
Ms Campbell-Sharp, together with friends, was the motivating force behind the project which has seen the restoration of the pre-Famine village of Cill Rialaig on Bolus Head as an artists' colony. It has been hugely successful, with artists from all over the world queueing up to spend time in the refurbished cottages at the remote headland. Their work will be on public display at the old ballroom until the end of the tourist season.
Ms Campbell-Sharp also has plans for a more lasting exhibition centre, a major gallery like the Tate at St Ives.
She is convinced that such an attraction could play a huge part in developing tourism in this part of the Ring of Kerry and give a permanent home to the work of national and international artists.
There were those who took a sceptic's view of the Cill Rialaig project when it began. They were proved wrong. The latest concept might not be that far-fetched either.