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From ‘B’ to ‘A’
‘From Glasgow, Roderick Buchanan is an explorer of people, places, cultural identity, and forgotten histories. For decades, in exhibitions around the world, he has opened up new understandings of how the everyday and the political are entwined. In - From ‘B’ to ‘A’, from Bishopbriggs to Askeaton, Buchanan drove a van from his house in the Central Belt of Scotland, to the residency house next to the Shannon estuary in Ireland: Across Ayrshire, the North of Ireland, the Midlands to County Limerick, all the way, trying to keep on an approximate straight line. His derivé took him to a variety of sites – places of contested history and strange memory – making short films on the road that together conjure up an evocative representation of the past. Maps and documents, alongside video artworks made during the journey appeared inside special viewing devices in Askeaton Community Hall, and Roddy performed a reading recalling his family lineage from ancient times to now, all the time with affection and humour.’
Text by Michele Horrigan, Director of Askeaton Contemporary Arts
Image by Deirdre Power
Welcome to the Neighbourhood situates Irish and international artists in the midst of Askeaton each summer, discovering new potentials for creative energy, the making of place and innovative ecological thinking. From our community hall to the River Deel, castle ruins, streets and surrounding countryside, Welcome To The Neighbourhood looks to the rich layers of Askeaton’s daily life as its inspiration, as a place of exchange and cultural knowledge. Artists Roderick Buchanan, Niamh Schmidtke and Stuart Whipps lived and worked here throughout June 2025.