WITH ASKEATON CONTEMPORARY ARTS is the first event in a series of curatorial collaborations organised by PUBLICS in Helsinki, coming together with another institution because of common or overlapping ideas, interests and concerns. Launching with a public programme and exhibition in May 2024, a cohort of artists associated with the ongoing programme in Askeaton meet audiences and the artistic community in Helsinki.

Emphasising oral histories and explorations of urgent ecological research, Seanie Barron’s bespoke walking sticks, Jes Fernie’s uncovering of the ups and downs of being an artist working in Ireland, and David Beattie’s deep listening of ancient monuments feature. Michael Holly introduces his mapping of contemporary Irish landscapes, presented beside Amanda Rice’s spiralling narratives of extraction in her new videos. More exchanges of artistic experience feature in Sean Lynch’s and my continuing curatorial and publishing activities, researching Askeaton Contemporary Arts’ role and position in contemporary Irish and European society.