Relics of the Future V (detail)
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Relics of the Future V (detail)
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Relics of the Future V
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph by Ana Vuko courtesy of Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing (CIMO)
Relics of the Future V (detail)
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph by Ana Vuko courtesy of Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing (CIMO)
Relics of the Future VI (detail)
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread, brass, embroidery hoop, wooden dowel
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Relics of the Future VI
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread, brass, embroidery hoop, wooden dowel
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph by Ana Vuko courtesy of Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing (CIMO)
Relics of the Future VI (detail)
2024
Irish linen, cotton workcoats, reclaimed textiles (nurse’s uniform, Arena cardigan, Regeneracija floor covering, souvenir tablecloth, carpet shavings), thread, brass, embroidery hoop, wooden dowel
900mm x 2100mm
Installed at Etnografski Muzej Zagreb, 2024. Photograph by Ana Vuko courtesy of Center for Research of Fashion and Clothing (CIMO)
Relics of the Future I
2019
brass, glass, gold leaf, digitally printed silk
plinth: 460mm x 230mm x 1100mm. scarf: 900mm x 900mm.
installed at The LAB, Dublin, 2019. image © Kasia Kaminska (install). image © Marielle MacLeman (scarf)
Relics of the Future I (detail)
2019
brass, glass, gold leaf, digitally printed silk
installed at The LAB, Dublin, 2019. image © Kasia Kaminska
Relics of the Future I (rearranged)
2019
brass, glass, gold leaf, digitally printed silk georgette and silk satin, Dublin City Council Weaver Park grass, strimmer cord, wooden beads, plant dyes, hoop
plinth: 460mm x 230mm x 1100mm. scarves 900mm x 900mm
installed at Galway Arts Centre, Galway, 2019. image © Marielle MacLeman
Relics of the Future I (rearranged) detail
2019
installed at Galway Arts Centre, Galway, 2019. image © Tom Flanagan
Relics of the Future II
2019
brass, silk, ink
460mm x 900mm x 230mm
installed at The LAB, Dublin, 2019. image © Kasia Kaminska
Relics of the Future II
2019
brass, silk, ink
460mm x 900mm x 230mm
installed at Galway Arts Centre, Galway, 2019. image © Tom Flanagan
Relics of the Future III
2019
silk, cotton, linen, MDF, ink, plant and vegetable dyes, brass, dyed wooden beads, resin, Weaver Park grass, buddleia
500mm x 580mm
installed at The LAB, Dublin, 2019. image © Kasia Kaminska
Relics of the Future III (detail)
2019
silk, cotton, linen, MDF, ink, plant and vegetable dyes, brass, dyed wooden beads, resin, Weaver Park grass, buddleia
500mm x 580mm
installed at The LAB, Dublin, 2019. image © Kasia Kaminska
Relics of the Future is an ongoing series employing museum and department store display techniques to reconsider remnants and remains, calling attention to care and conservation in the context of commerce. The series began in 2019 with a number of sculptural works made in response to the social enterprise plans for a cottage market by members of Dublin’s Bridgefoot Street Community Garden. Seeds and plant materials were incorporated in jewellery-like forms or pressed and reimagined as designs on silk scarves. More recent additions to the series look at handwork and industrial heritage through the lens of Croatia’s former communities of socialist labour. These artworks set a collection of artefacts against backdrops of Irish linen, its weft threads stripped to make fringes then the unpicked threads used to make the displayed artefacts.
Employing papermaking processes, the unpicked linen threads of Relics of the Future V were combined with the pulped white cotton workcoats of museum conservation – the reconstituted ‘cloth’ then micro-pleated to mimic the sculptural surfaces of bodices and sleeves in Ethnographic Museum Zagreb’s collections of national dress. The collar of a discarded nurse’s uniform was used as a pattern for reassembled offcuts of handmade paper made from reclaimed industrial textiles, and trimmings saved during the making of adjacent works were rolled into beads. In the background, digitally printed onto a linen-cotton mix fabric, photographs of bales of recycled textiles serve as a reminder of the objects’ provenances. For Relics of the Future VI, the unpicked threads of fringing and tablecloths were wrapped around objects reminiscent of the tools of a needleworker, or blended with cotton workcoats and reclaimed industrial textiles as paper, then cut into yarn-thin slivers.
Relics of the Future I – III were made for the exhibition In Course of Rearrangement at LAB Gallery, Dublin and Galway Arts Centre in 2019 and with thanks to Richard Taplin, Bridgefoot Street Community Garden, and James Healy Ltd, funded by an Arts Council Project Award 2018 and developed during a Dublin City Council Residential Residency supported by Galway City Council. Relics of the Future V and VI were made for the exhibition We are collecting today for tomorrow at Ethnographic Museum Zagreb in 2024, curated by and developed with CIMO following a Briefing on Soft Arts Residency at CIMO in 2023.
