From Tuesday 17th February to Sunday 1st March 2009

Signal Arts Centre is delighted to present an exhibition of work produced in collaboration with Youthreach, the Artist in the Community winners; Greg Murray and Denis Dunne and some senior citizens from the community in Bray.

The premise of the project is to engage Youthreach and the senior citizens in a collaborative project.  The project is based on the art of storytelling, of conveying events in words, images and sounds.  Traditionally old stories were passed from generation to generation and survived solely by memory.  This tradition is fading and part of the project's aim is to give the storyteller (Senior Citizens) an opportunity to be heard, the storyteller creates the experience while the audience (Youthreach) perceives this story/memory and creates personal mental images from the words heard and gestures seen.  In this collaboration the audience becomes co-creator of the Art, and this in turn begins a new creative process whereby the audience becomes the creator of a visual depiction of the aural Art.

To create an atmosphere of social interaction between the groups in an attempt to highlight the social and generational differences that have become apparent during the process.  As part of the process the facilitators attempted to engender an environment whereby the individuals felt comfortable and empowered to create his/her own individual art piece.  This project is driven by the basic need to tell and share stories and for the younger generation to gain a sense of place and history.  To help break down the barriers isolating young and old and to allow each group become an audience for the other.

Opening Reception: Friday 20th February 7-9pm