Hidden in Pane Site

Since the economic crash of 2008, Ireland has been grappling with housing problems that have only worsened over the years. By 2024, the cost of rental accommodation and private property has skyrocketed. Homelessness has reached alarming figures, and there's been a significant number of people emigrating. Additionally, the commercial vacancy rate has soared.

According to Ireland’s GeoDirectory 2023 report, commercial vacancy rates have reached a record high of 14.1%. Across the nation, nearly 29,798 commercial units sit vacant. Dublin as the capital city, has seen its commercial vacancy rate climb to 13.1% highlighting the severity of the issue in urban centres.

"Hidden in Pane," a group exhibition aims to shed light on the abundance of disused commercial and residential urban spaces scattered throughout the city. This exhibition will focus on activating the window pane of these vacant urban sites to bring awareness to these potential pockets of space that now exist in the city. I intend to activate these neglected window panes through curated artistic interventions.

I have secured a six-week slot at the LAB Gallery on Foley Street for March 2025. The LAB Gallery was established by Dublin City Council in 2005 as a municipal arts hub which supports emerging art practices and delivers a year-round programme of free events for all ages. The gallery has three separate exhibition spaces. One large main gallery with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, a smaller upstairs space that overlooks the main gallery and the CUBE space which is a glass room that looks onto the street. The LAB Gallery's prominent location in the heart of the city and expansive windows make it an ideal hub to launch an exhibition that transcends its walls and reaches into the heart of Dublin. I will use the LAB gallery as a central site and expand this exhibition into three additional vacant sites in the city. These sites include Seville Place, a historic Georgian house that has remained vacant for over a year, Merchants Quay a former office space and a space above a commercial shop on Talbot Street.

Collaborating with artists influenced by Dublin’s urban landscape is pivotal for this project. Together we can curate interventions that will pull back the curtains, revealing contemporary challenges within this dynamic city. By leveraging these overlooked windows in vacant spaces, I will create unique environments that will showcase contemporary artworks but also engage with the urbanity and invisible spaces that surround us. This exhibition will provide a space for artists to criticise the social and political systems that surround them every day.