Wildroutes at the Kiosk
Public intervention in The People's Park. Commissioned for Limerick City of Culture. Limerick, Ireland. 2015.
As part of Limerick City of Culture 2014 I was selected as one of three artists to take up residency in The Kiosk for five weeks: a tiny old sweet shop neglected since the late ‘80s that had been recently repaired and painted.
This manifested as a site-specific installation including found natural objects, scrap timber, wire mesh, plants, photographs, books, drawings, terrariums, and people. Participants were invited in to discuss the topic of Limerick as a ‘green city’, examine urban biodiversity, discover mapped biodiversity walks, compare historical and experiential stories about the area, and — if desired — make something relating to the city’s biodiversity. I also gave away free wildflower seeds, bird feed, postcards of Limerick's urban biodiversity, and maps of walking trails in the city to aid participants in their discovery of the existent non-human urban communities.
The workshops and encounters resulted in the collaborative creation and installation of wildflower planters, wildlife shelters, bird feeders, and nesting material dispensers which were installed in the People’s Park in winter/spring.
The aim of this work was to engage a diverse audience in dialogue with one another through the process of making and a shared history of place. It also resulted in the installation of objects in a public space that genuinely benefited the local wildlife thus positively connecting people, place, and non-human populations.