SEARCHING FOR HANNAH ARENDT - BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH AT KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL 2013

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            BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH EXHIBITION UNTIL SUNDAY 6TH OCTOBER

                                  AT BUTLER GALLERY, KILKENNY CASTLE

I havn't been at my desk for a couple of weeks as I have been attending Kilkenny Arts Festival (Aug 9-18).   This festival is in its fortieth year and the variety and quality of material on offer never disappoints.  I hope to give you a small flavour of the festival in my next few posts and maybe my musings might entice you to visit this beautiful city and county for Kilkenny Arts Festival 2014. 

My first post will feature the headline visual artist at this years Kilkenny Arts Festival.  I found this a challenging exhibition.   Bob and Roberta Smith – one artist despite the dual identity – is London based artist Patrick Brill.  Confused?  I was.  I visited the main exhibition at the Butler Gallery in the basement of Kilkenny Castle.  Bob and Roberta Smith is an artist, an educator, a musician and an activist.  His signature works are on display in the Butler Gallery and are all about empowering or enabling the spectator.  His work is bright, brash and often very large sign paintings, featuring his own or quoted snatches of various texts.  He poses questions about art and society.

 

I was informed at the Butler Gallery that Smith was also making use of some of Kilkenny City's historic public spaces.  I was advised to visit the bishop’s robing room at the former bishop’s palace to ‘BE Hannah Arendt’.  “To BE whom?” I enquired.  “You can dress up like Hannah Arendt and make a speech,” the lady in the gallery informed me.  “The bishop’s robing room is never open to the public so this is your only chance to see it”.  Later I learned Hannah Arendt (1906 -75) was a German feminist, philosopher and Smith is drawn to her political theories.   Armed with a name and place I set off through the bustling medieval streets of Kilkenny in search of Hannah Arendt.

Walking from Kilkenny Castle to the former bishop’s palace takes twenty minutes so I broke my journey with a visit to seventeenth century Rothe House on Parliament Street (see previous post) to visit Smith’s ‘Centre for Argument’.   Rothe House was the meeting place for supporters of the Confederation of Kilkenny.  Drawing on this rebellious heritage, Smith re imagines Rothe House as a space for meeting and discussion, provoking and encouraging visitors to get on his Soap Box and start a debate.  This was an entertaining exercise as there were plenty of people willing to give their views on various topics pertaining to the arts.    

 

I left Rothe House and continued my quest.  I walked through Irish Town and climbed St. Canices’s steps to St. Canice's cathedral.  "Where can I find Hannah Arendt and the bishop's robing room?" I enquired at the tourist information desk in the cathedral.  I was directed to a large building to the rear of the cathedral.  The former bishop’s palace is now home to The Heritage Council.   In the foyer of the building was a sign for “The Bob and Roberta Smith Art School”.   I went to investigate.  I discovered people of all ages in the community rooms busy at easels and drawing boards.   There was a buzz of activity as children worked alongside parents and grandparents to create family masterpieces.  There were instructions if you needed help to get started and pictures to inspire you or you could just dive in and do your own thing.  The artworks created were then displayed on site.  I was beginning to understand the  message behind Smith’s work.  A film on Smith was also shown entitled ‘Make Your Own Damn Art’.  
 

This was all very well but I still had to find Hannah Arendt.  "Where can I find Hannah Arendt?" I asked the girls at the desk in the foyer.  They sent me to a large garden to the rear of the house.  At the end of a gravel path was a ancient, one-roomed stone building surrounded by trees.  I couldn't imagine the bishop coming out to this little house to change his robes when the house he lived in was enormous.    I peeped into the building to find it had been converted into a small atelier.   I encountered a cheerful young woman at the door.  “Is there an exhibition here?” I enquired.  “Yes,” she answered. “Come in.”  I entered a small dank, musty room. I was the only person.  I felt a little awkward.  What was I supposed to do?  One side of the room resembled a little theatrical set with books and furniture.   The woman pointed to a rail of dowdy old clothes and informed me that I could dress up and make a speech about anything I felt needed to be said and BE Hannah Arendt.   I looked at the clothes in disbelief.   “Are these Hannah’s clothes?” I asked. “No,” she replied.  “They are from the Abbey Theatre costume department but they relate to the same era Hannah was alive.”     At the other side of the room a low guttural voice was emanating from a black and white television.  At last I had found Hannah Arendt.  Curious to see what she was about I hastily retreated from the clothing rack to one of the chairs in front of the television.    Hannah was an intellectual powerhouse and theorised forcefully in German.  Thankfully the interview was subtitled in English. She fixed the interviewer with black penetrating eyes.  She chain smoked and spoke emphatically. Her demeanour and the dampness of the old stone building made me shiver.  I listened to her for ten minutes and decided to return to the warm August sunshine. I left Hannah Arendt as I had found her, theorising in the bishop’s robing room at the former bishop's palace at Kilkenny Arts Festival.