with James Bilson, Colette Beausang, Mike Cleary, Carol Anne Connolly, Kate Damery, Lucy Dawe-Lane, Lynne-Marie Dennehy, Sera Ellis, Roisin Everard, Nicole Flanagan, Pauline Gibbons, Michelle Hardwick, Mark Hathaway, John Hennessy, Patricia Hoffie, Fiona Kelly, Peter Kidney, Willie Maloney, Jerome McCormick, Maaike Mijland, Catherine Murray, Peter Nash, Inge Nieuwstraten, Breandán O’Brien, Diarmaid Ó Cadhla, Melanie O'Driscoll, Bill O’Flynn, Caroline O’Sullivan, Anne Roche, Claire Ryan, Stephen Thornhill

2 May - 7 July 2019

Sirius Arts Centre (and various locations around Cobh)
Cobh, Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland

In a town that is not only known for its dark, popular history of famine, poverty, forced emigration and nautical disasters, but is also implicated in the global mood of uncertainty and despair, how is it possible to stay optimistic about the future?

Elizabeth Woods and Kevin Leong pondered on this question since their first visit to the port town of Cobh in the winter of 2013. They returned in 2016, and over four years, developed See you tomorrow, a series of public actions focused on optimistic collective visions for the town's future. They momentarily deflected attention from impending environmental disaster, political chaos, institutional disintegration and cultural fragmentation by redirecting attention towards the promise and furtherment of what appeared abundantly in the town: social ideals, creative collaborations and community-driven initiatives.

These collective visions originated from a series of conversational, one-on-one video interviews with a diverse group of community members who were prompted to speak about aspects of the town they valued and those they would like to change. The interviews were then analysed for common topics which then become the bases of public actions that were developed in collaboration with the same community members and Cobh artists.

The actions included:

• A Sirius Bakery
• The Green Light
• The Long Table
• Vacant Building Appreciation Society
• Me & My Mate Manners and Etiquette for Cobh-Heads and Old Folks
• Meeting Your Future Self with Kindness and Compassion
• Sign Bearers by Lynne-Marie Dennehy and Nicole Flanagan
• From Above by Mark Hathaway

Please click on the cover image on the right to read the notes for gallery visitors.

See you tomorrow was run in association with This Must Be The Place, an annual Sirius Arts Centre program exploring the relationship between the contemporary art gallery and community. More information about other programed events in can be found at siriusartscentre.ie.

The artists would like to thank the project partners: Cobh Youth Services, YMCA Cobh, CIT Crawford College of Art and Design and, with particular mention, Miranda Driscoll and the staff at the Sirius Arts Centre for their unwavering trust, friendship, enthusiasm and support.

This project has also been assisted by the Australian and Queensland Governments through the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Queensland, their respective arts funding and advisory bodies, and by Cork County Council’s Creative Communities Award.