Launch 6pm Fri 16 February
Readings 6:30pm by Julian Bernard and Eimear Murphy
At The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar Street, D02 YK53.
GOT DAMP is a project developed by artist Avril Corroon from research into living conditions as a galvanising issue for communities in exercising their political voice. At the heart of Corroon’s material enquiry was an ongoing exchange over 2 years with 55 households from London and Dublin who joined through canvassing local areas, a public open call and an invitation to members of the Community Action Tenants Union Ireland. Energy efficient dehumidifiers and support to manage damp was provided, whilst households contributed experiences, ideas and collected their damp as a material for an artwork. A total volume of 1800L in water was collected and gifted to the project which was then exhibited at TACO! and Project Arts Centre, Dublin in 2023, as part of an expansive installation which included an artist film.
The publication, GOT DAMP collates documentation of research, process, installation images, interviews, poetry and responses from writers, half of whom were project participants. Contributors include Mat Jenner, curator of artist-led space TACO! introduces Got Damp, its contexts and critical scope. Julian Bernard reflects on the project’s process in relation to collective action, community and damp in their home. Chris Fite-Wassilak examines contradictions of modern living under the scope of rot and microbial terroir. Kirsten Cooke charts damps’ fluid coordinates through buildings and bodies. Daisy Lafarge presents a selection of poems ‘understudies for air’ and Eimear Murphy asks what reciprocity is.
This book is published by TACO! and was supported by Arts Council Ireland and Lottery funding through Arts Council England.
Avril Corroon is a visual artist from county Westmeath. Her artwork examines inequity and situations where precarious living conditions become every-day. She has made cheese from toxic mould, collected 1800L of dehumidifier water and performed on a city rooftop as the Airbnb logo. She completed a BA at NCAD in 2014 and received a Masters of Fine Art from Goldsmiths University in 2019. Her work features in the Arts Council of Ireland Collection.
