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Curating Project:
Hedgeschool (Artist: Glenn Loughlan), Leighlinbridge, Ireland / 2006
Artist and educator Glenn Loughran created a temporary 'context-school' in the rural community of Leighlinbridge, Ireland. The lifespan of the project included the construction of a temporary school-house (the 'Hedgeschool') from a straw-bale construction; the delivery of a six week arts-based education programme to a group of 12 local young people; a finissage exhibtion and event; and the subsequent demolition of the school-house and return of the site to its previous empty state.
The education programme took the rubric of 'The Neighbour' as a central theme, utilising artistic strategies to explore notions of identity, politics, racism and community, in localised contexts, and to a level engaging and appopriate for the target age group. Hedgeschool took inspiration also from the historical Irish 'hedgeschools', and the 'Itinerant Schools' of Brazil's Movimento Sem Terra (Landless Rural Workers).
Hedge School was funded by Carlow County Council's Per Cent for the Art Scheme and commissioned through Visualise Carlow. The project was curated by Ciarán Walsh.