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WORDS Tom Lordan of what they relate is as you mi
ght expect, though still interesting for all that. However, Corroon has done an excellent job in pinpointing the insights and reminiscences that are unique, and that then anchor themselves in your consciousness, returning for days afterward. The mould began following a leak from an unknown source in our downstairs airing cupboard. The floor was wet with water in a puddle; it happened once and has never happened again. But the mould seems to have grown throughout the house ever since. It makes me feel worried because mould is something scary. It’s not nice, it’s not a flower: it’s the opposite. I’m not sure how to explain it really, but it’s the first time I’ve ever experienced damp. I’ve never lived in a property with it. So I feel like it’s an actual entity. It’s like me and it. I don’t say “hi” when I come in, but I certainly am aware of it. We noticed water dripping from the ceiling in our bedroom. And the water in the living room, it was rising from the skirting boards. You could see it was wetting the wallpaper. Then we had the issue with the damp coming across the walls. Our daughters’ toys are in a toy box against the wall and the damp must have gone in and spread. She had some teddies in there. I had to throw quite a lot away. The idea that it was in your bedroom, where you’re probably doing 7 or 8 hours of breathing, and that it was collecting, it was liquid breath; that was quite interesting. This was something that… It wasn’t real. It wasn’t human. It was an organism of sorts. But part of that organism was us – me and my wife. We are far away from either the ancient Greek or and they lead to positive associations in our cultural imaginary that are universal; water = sustenance, water = life-giver, water = the fluid engine of the planet. And yet as you walk into the installation at Project Arts, those associations are quickly and dramatically eliminated. Confronted with 25-30 jerry cans, two huge vats, and several large blue drums filled to the brim with water, your accumulated experience of the containers and their large volumes inescapably breeds a sense of anxiety. This anxiety is compounded by the tight architectural formations that Corroon has used to structure the space: tall aluminium panels, as you might find on a building site before the walls are constructed, carve up the gallery floor. The winding, narrow pathways lead you to the central area, where Corroon’s video installation is exhibited. Corroon’s video work features about half a dozen interviews with people living in households marred by severe damp. This is the centrepiece of the show, and it is through the descriptions and impressions offered by these long-suffering tenants of their circumstances that our understanding of the nuances of dampness’ psychological impact develops, word by word. Much contemporary ecological model of water; now water is a thing, an invasive force, the mother of mould, the opposite of flowers, an entity that you could speak to, something that targets and infects children’s toys, and even an organism that detaches from you and grows independently. This constant activity of producing new models and descriptions is a feature of the installation that Corroon believes is integral to her practice as a whole: “art has the ability to forefront contradictions,“ she says, “and challenge hegemonic ideas and the boundaries of our time. I think my artwork comes first from a sense of curiosity, of wanting to treat the absurd with importance.” But we mustn’t mistake the character of Corroon’s interest in contradiction or absurdity: according to the artist, her preoccupations stem from “a yearning for justice and frustration with the inequity that exists in our society.” Got Damp/Púscadh Anuas is at the Project Arts Centre until June 10. Avril Corroon will give an artist talk presenting her practice along with research ideas, at 6.30pm on Friday May 26, as part of Clear Away the Rubble / Glan an Spallaí ar Shiúl, an open research project about housing avrilcorroon.com projectartscentre.ie/event/glan-an-spallai-ar-shiul/ 49