To be what we are

An installation built to hold a space for play, this workshop-world was co-created with children and their adults as a document of a creative laboratory exploring artistic play.

Come behind the curtains into a world we have built for flying, printing, pouring, moving, marking, transforming, framing, bickering, being and becoming art. A special transitory place of wild imagination where paint flies, glows and settles into art. A place where children transform to monsters, artists and magical creatures and where values, traditions, cultures, myths are born, rehearsed, believed and turned on their head.

The artists are Annalise, Candy, Cheryl, Bernie, Bridgie, Helen Marie, Jennifer, Jimmy, Jimmy, Kathleen, Mariah, Mossie, Rihanna, Ruby and Theresa, children from Traveller families living in the Knocknaheeny and Farranree areas. They are locally known as the ‘Groups’ and have been active as an after school art group for the past 15 years run by Deirdre O’Regan and more recently Maeve McCarthy (Springboard Family Services) and Noreen O’Regan (Cork City Partnership).

They explored art and constructed a space to play together with Eszter Némethi and filmmaker Claire Murphy. This play-based methodology was developed in collaboration with the artists, Helen O’Reilly, Ann Stokes, Maeve McCarthy, and Susan Holland (Cork Midsummer Festival).

Workshop + Publication Launch

You are invited to join the team for a workshop sharing the methods and learning of the To Be What We Are project (Cork Midsummer Festival, 2023). After a brief introduction to the project, they will briefly explore play as a participatory method and the possible role of documentation. After a short break, those attending will gather to discuss some of the core principles of the methodology and how they might be applied in other contexts. The workshop is led by Eszter Nemethi and Claire Murphy.

To Be What We Are was a two-year residency of Eszter Nemethi collaborating with groups of Traveller children and their adults in the North of Cork produced by the Cork Midsummer Festival. It resulted in an installation and a short film of the same title (dir. Claire Murphy), the latter premiered at the Cork International Film Festival. The final outcome of the project, the publication 'Playing by Ear, a case study of To Be What We Are' by Eszter Nemethi that documents and reflects on the process, will be launched later on the day at MTU Gallery.

The project was funded by the Arts Council through an Arts Participation Project Award and supported by Springboard Family Services, Cork City Partnership and TUSLA. Initiated by Cork Midsummer Festival it was part of the BE PART Art Beyond Participation (2019-2024), a Creative Europe project that critically explored the politics and practices of participation in the arts. This workshop is funded by the Arts Council's Agility Award and is the outcome of a residency at the Green Corridor, Brussels.

The workshop will take place in MTU Gallery, 46 Grand Parade. Doors from 1.30pm and the workshop will start at 2pm sharp. The workshop is free and is aimed at artists, social workers and education professionals. The launch at MTU Gallery will take place at 6pm.

Please contact Susan Holland (participation@corkmidsummer.com) to register for the workshop.

Supported by Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award, Creative Europe BePart Network, Springboard Family Services, Cork
City Partnership. This project is part of the Creative Europe funded BEyond PARTicipation, exploring methodologies and possibilities of participatory co-creation.

Image credit Jed Niezgoda.