30/04/25 00:00
PALIMPSEST (2024)
- by artist Pauline O’Connell is an artistic and cultural project that creatively intertwines history, music, literature, sculpture and social engagement.
The project draws on the history of the Mayfair Ballroom from 1943 to 1973, a period marked by significant social, political, and cultural changes following World War II and Ireland's entry into the European Union. By revisiting the Mayfair Ballroom's legacy and its broader cultural context, the project has many layers of meaning that not only preserves and honours the past but also encourages the audience to reflect on cultural identity and the role of history in shaping contemporary society.
The concept of PALIMPSEST was directly influenced by the popular music of the era as reflective of the time. It comprises a permanent indoor wall sculpture consisting of thirty-two life-size bronze books. Each book features a song title referencing the most popular musical number 1 hit of that year (1943-1973). These are arranged (haphazardly) on seven beech wood shelves, each inscribed with selected quotes gathered from those who danced at the Mayfair Ballroom. Interspersed throughout the sculptural installation are previously banned books from the same era, such as Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls, J.P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man, and John McGahern’s The Dark. These books, strategically placed in the ‘gaps,’ highlight the tension between the era's outward cultural aspirations and the inward censorship prevalent in Irish society.
Pauline O’Connell
Pauline O'Connell is an Irish artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans theory, film, photography, sculpture, text and sound. She studied sculpture and photography at IADT (1993) and holds a first-class Master’s Degree from Limerick School of Art in Social Practice (2012). She is currently finishing her practice-led PhD at The University of Amsterdam. Throughout her thirty-year career, she has engaged with micro-histories and personal narratives, often presenting her projects within the communities from which they emerge. Her work aims to create spaces where new subjectivities can surface, bridging the gap between art and lived experience. These projects have been exhibited and commissioned both nationally and internationally, in London, Paris, Vienna, throughout the USA, and in Ireland in galleries, fields, crossroads and community halls.