Something of Place: 140 Rules for Life (Portfolio)

Originality

I was invited to present 'Something of place: 140 rules for life' at the 13th international ACE (Arts & Christianity Enquiry) conference co-hosted by ASI (Arts and Spirituality in Ireland); ‘The Artist as Pilgrim, Saint, Scholar?’ at Trinity College, Dublin in July, 2016. The paper gave the opportunity to disseminate the
outcomes from an artistic enquiry I had undertaken during a residency at a restored 13th century chapel in France, where the only trace left behind in the empty space was the Book of Rules belonging to the monks.

Significance

I asked visitors to respond to the space by writing down rules they followed in their own day-to-day lives as a
way of connecting them with the history of the building. 140 different rules were collected over a 4-week period which uncovered 7 common areas. These were put in category order and presented together in a museum exhibition box which became a container re-presenting this specific 'place'. ‘140 rules for life’ used
immanent real-time experiences to reveal ‘something of place’ by evoking memories of lives once lived to a given set of rules, so linking the past with the present.

Rigour

The proposal Something of place: 140 rules for life was selected for the 13th International Arts & Christianity
Enquiry (ACE) and Arts and Spirituality in Ireland (ASI) conference. Conference delegates included artists Marcus Coates, theologians Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman (Glenstal Abbey) international art historians, academics and researchers. Delegates were invited to interact with the collection of rules in the museum box following the presentation and based on their feedback, I created further work in the form of time-based drawings which were selected for the Loss & Lucidity exhibition at Fabrica Braco de Prata, Lisbon, Portugal in August 2019.