Outdoor site-specific shows, live projections, pop-up installations, and creative conversations promoting equality, compassion, and rights

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In the Open – Faoin Spéir
Funded by The Arts Council

Two parks in Rathfarnham play host to a carnival-style performing arts spectacle by Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality from October 2021 to April 2022 featuring site-specific outdoor shows of theatre, film, literary pop-up installations and creative conversations, promoting equality, compassion and human rights in changing times.

Open call for story submissions

Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality and partners present an outdoor programmes of arts activities in two ‘sister’ parks –Rathfarnham Castle park and St Enda’s – both located in Rathfarnham, South County Dublin – with projections onto Rathfarnham Castle located in Rathfarnham Castle park. The grounds of Rathfarnham Castle Park (in October 2021) and Pearse Museum/St Enda’s Park (in April 2022) will play host to a carnival-style performing arts spectacle, an offering of intimate, site-specific, outdoor theatre, film and literary pop-up events.

The programme is a mix of live artworks – site specific shows featuring theatre, poetry, literature, song, music and dance presented alongside digital/film projections onto the building walls of Rathfarnham Castle and creative pop-up installations in both parks generating a celebration of literature, visual and performing arts and discussion on key themes of equality, compassion and rights in a time of Covid.

The Art of W/Rights will be launched as part of the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival 15 – 24 October 2021, which will include an exciting blend of in-person and online events, reaching audiences locally, nationally and internationally, including theatre, visual arts, music, panel discussions, presentations, and more, all linked by the common goal of promoting human rights and justice for all. The festival will be curated by Mary Moynihan, Artistic Director, Smashing Times with Laura O’Leary, Events and Promotions Coordinator, Front Line Defenders working as co-curator in relation to human rights. View the 2020 programme here and the upcoming 2021 programme here.

The partners are Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, South Dublin County Council Arts Office, Rathfarnham Castle, Pearse Museum and the Office of Public Works – Rathfarnham Castle Park and St Enda’s Park. The Art of W/Rights is funded by the Arts Council, South Dublin County Council Arts Office and Creative Ireland.

Public Call: A Call for Stories and Poems inspired by people who have helped Shape Our Lives

We are all formed and shaped by the people who pass through our lives. A key part of the project is to directly engage the local community through an open call for stories and poems based on the theme ‘people who inspire or have shaped us in some way’.

This open call is asking members of the public to tell us who has inspired you, a person from the past or present who has inspired or shaped you in some way and who has promoted equality, compassion and rights in your life and the lives of others.

A selection of 100 stories and poems will be displayed in a ‘digital book’ online via the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality gallery and digital arts platform, set up to promote the arts for equality, human rights and diversity and supported by The Arts Council.

Artists involved in the project will be given the stories and poems to read. A selection of stories, poems, words and themes will inspire the creation of new artworks generating a ‘gathering space’ to celebrate stories of care and compassion and to act as a catalyst to generate creative conversations on visions for a better world. Stories and poems will be used to create a digital book, to be projected onto the walls of Rathfarnham Castle with a page of the book turning very slowly every few minutes, and live performances taking place in Rathfarnham Castle Park for the annual Dublin Arts and Human Rights festival running from the 15 to the 24 October 2021 and in St Enda’s Park in April 2022.

In keeping with our themes of equality, compassion and rights and the metaphor of a river (both parks feature ponds and have strong connections with rivers) where we can create a flow of equality, compassion and rights in the wider society, we are asking all citizens to tell us stories of the people who have helped carry you forward, to share a story of how you have been formed or shaped by the people who pass through your life. The stories and poems are a celebration of all that is good and kind in the world, a reflection on life and a celebration of connections made, the interconnectedness of people as no person is an island.

The final artworks will tell stories of people in the past and today who shaped society in a positive way and will be a mix of stories of well-known people with an association to South County Dublin as well as a mix of words and stories gathered from the general public through the open call.

How to Submit: Please submit using the online form here. Submission is free. The submission deadline is Friday 10 September 2021, 5pm.