Transitopia is a contemporary public art event created specifically for Naas town Co. Kildare. The project aims to explore the shifting built environment and identity of Naas. Six artists were commissioned to make new site-specific artwork in response to Naas and its changing form and identity. Four of these artists Michelle Browne, Jo Anne Butler, Elaine Reylnolds and Dominic Thorpe activated their artworks in the town during August 21st -24th 2008, while artists Dara McGrath and Carl Giffney undertook research in relation to the Transitopia project with a view to disseminating their work through the Transitopia publication to be launched December 20th 2008. Transitopia also commissioned a visual/textual piece by artist SarahBrowne for the print publication and a live improvised piano piece by musician Justin Carroll to accompany a silent cinema event.
The sites addressed by the curators and artists are signifcant points of transition in the cultural trajectory of the town. Each location requires a reinterpretation of its use and its role in the cultural identity of Naas.
The goal of this project is to explore Naas through new and innovative approaches to the production and disemination of contemporary art in alternative contexts. The project uses various modes of dissemination: temporary art installations, once off events, a website and virtual forum and a print publication. Non-art spaces are used to produce and present work: A vacant factory, a windswept road between a train station and the town centre, a rarely used civic garden, an under-used town hall and a former cinema.
These sites were seen as potential spaces for the exploration and presentation of art activities. We aim to reinvigorate an understanding of Naas’ everyday cultural dynamics by causing creative investigation and activity in institutional buildings and industrial facilities such as these.
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