Samhlaiocht Transforms Empty Tralee Shop

It's difficult to open a newspaper or turn on a television or radio these days without hearing about the current economic climate. Evidence of the downturn is palpable in the number of disused and vacant shops in the towns and villages through out Ireland. Tralee, unfortunately, is currently suffering from a similar fate and the current talk of Tralee town is the number of empty shops in the town centre.

Help, however, is on hand. Samhlaiocht, the leading Arts Organisation in Kerry, has come up with an innovative and Artistic way to brighten the town, offer a free Artistic event to the public while at the same time tying in with their landmark Easter Arts Festival, which takes place from April 10th to April 13th, over the Easter Weekend.

Imaginarium, an exhibition of contemporary art, will take place during the Festival, but Imaginarium is not the usual type of exhibition, it will take place in a disused shop on Castle Street! Gary Brosnan, who owns the vacant shop, says, "I thought it was great when Samhlaiocht came to me to see if they could use the shop. I think it’s a fantastic idea."

Jason O' Mahony, Director of Samhlaiocht, is equally full of praise for Gary, "I think it's brilliant that he's agreed to get involved. It shows a willingness to work towards some greater common good. This is about brightening up Tralee and Gary's selflessly giving us the premises completely free of charge for the weekend and we're absolutely delighted about it! We'd love to turn the whole town into one huge interactive Arts exhibition!"

Imaginarium is one of a series of short-term exhibitions that will take place in Ireland and America during 2009 and is the brain wave of American Artist and organizer, Sean Naftel. The exhibition will feature work from six artists from home and abroad, coming from as far away as America and Germany and from as close to home as Kerry.

"I'm delighted that the exhibition will take place as part of the Samhlaíocht Easter Arts Festival," said Sean, "it's great to get the opportunity to showcase work by exciting, emerging international artists to new audiences."

Imaginarium is part of a larger programme which Sean is curating called Roving Project, which is a wandering gallery project that occupies empty storefronts, transforming them into short-term gallery spaces. This year the project will use empty shops in Ballyvaughan and Tralee as well as venues in Kansas City and Boston.

Sean goes on to explain, "There are a lot of empty shops around at this time both in Ireland and America with the economy slowing down, but it turns out to have a positive side because it provides a great chance for young artists to have their work seen even if only for a few days. It's really exciting."

The theme of this year's Samhlaiocht Festival is 'Imagination' to coincide with 2009 being the European Year of Creativity and with the fact that 'Samhlaiocht' is a translation of 'Imagination' as Gaeilge. In addition to this all artists use the imagination, whether in the exploration of their work or in devising new and exciting venues to display their work. The Imaginarium Exhibition embraces all these ideals, creating a space where imagination can be born and thrive without interruption or judgment, free from everyday restrictions, the exhibition will reveal possibilities heretofore unknown.

Imaginarium will be officially opened at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 9th and will open at various hours over the Easter Festival Weekend. It features work by Sean Naftel, Chris Attenborough, Erin Traecy, Emmet Kierans, Kerstin Schaefer and Kerry artist Roisín McGuigan. For more information or to find out exact opening times please call into the Samhlaiocht office, located in The Old Presbytery, on Lower Castle Street, in the heart of Tralee and pick up a Programme Guide.

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log onto www.samhlaiocht.com

For more information on Roving Project please log onto www.rovingproject.com