For immediate release 13/11/ 07

THEN, ​an intriguing new Breaking Ground multi-part public artwork in various locations across Dublin by acclaimed British artist Adam Chodzko.

Residents of Ballymun are perplexed this morning by a series of posters, which have mysteriously appeared overnight on hoarding along the Balbutcher Road, announcing a meeting to take place in the foyer of the Hagens Hotel, Måløy, Sogn og Fjordane, on the island of Vågsøy. Yet the photo on the poster seems to be a streetscape in Mexico City, taken in the early ‘70’s.

Each afternoon, on the top floor of the recently restored ​Na Píobairí Uilleann ​/Uillean Pipers headquarters on Henrietta Street, ​a new sci-fi film, ‘Around’, documenting the paranormal and uncanny properties of an otherwise unremarkable boundary wall and its effects on an unsuspecting group of individuals, is showing.

And visitors to Dublin City Gallery ​the Hugh Lane​, can ​swap their shoes for someone else’s, which they’ll wear as they walk around the Gallery’s other exhibitions and permanent collection.

Meanwhile, preliminary discussions with ​property developer Mick Wallace are being had, about the possibility of using the name Ballymun in a new development somewhere else in the city, some time in the future.

“Adam Chodzko is recognised internationally for his multi-media work which triggers a shift in our perception of where we think we belong in the world​. Fact and fiction are provocatively intermixed, and terms such as ‘community’ and ‘the public’ are deviated as we enter a surrealist world which plays on notions that we take for granted and assume that we understand!” says Aisling Prior, curator of Breaking Ground.

Chodzko was invited to make work through Breaking Ground, the Ballymun per cent for art programme, as his work blatantly subverts expectations of what ‘public art’ is and who it is for. “Chodzko’s work is a wryly philosophical look at how an area is read and how individuals present themselves within society. In ​Then this new commission, the quasi sci-fi film, the posters advertising an impossible meeting in a no-longer existing place and the shoe-exchange, whereby residents of two parts of Dublin (Rathmines and Ballymun) donated their unwanted shoes, are all inter-related. Each work intends to have a momentarily transformative quality, which ​spurs us into asking ourselves if we are, in fact, in the right place. Or if we are meant to be somewhere or even, be someone, else, or did we just get everything ​wrong​?! ” says Aisling Prior

Recent Breaking Ground projects include ​Seamus Nolan’s hugely successful “Hotel Ballymun” in Clarke Tower earlier this year and ​Jochen Gerz’s “amaptocare” tree planting project.

th​ th​ “Then” by Adam Chodzko, 16​ November 2007 to 13​ of January 2008. “Garden” Balbutcher Lane, Ballymun, Dublin 9 “M-path”, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin 1

“Around”, Na Píobairí​ ​Uilleann, 15 Henrietta St, Dublin 1

For further info contact Breaking Ground on 01.8832112 or ​[email protected]

Adam Chodzko​ was born in 1965 and lives and works in Whitstable, . Since 1991 Chodzko has exhibited extensively: ; Royal Academy, ; , Athens; PS1, NY; , Birmingham, Kunstmuseum Luzern etc. Recent projects include commissions by , The Society, and the . Forthcoming works include commissions for Museum d'arte Moderna, Bologna and the first Folkestone Sculpture Triennale, 2008. His work is in the collections of the , The British Council, The Arts Council, and international museums and private collections. www.adamchodzko.com

Breaking Ground is the Ballymun Regeneration Ltd per cent for art programme. Since its inauguration in 2002, Breaking Ground has produced some of the most significant, diverse and challenging public art commissions in the history of the State. Breaking Ground is committed to being a continual and progressive resource within the local community, while also creating debate and discussion about contemporary art practice nationally and internationally, challenging perceptions about what can be achieved within communities. ​www.breakingground.ie