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_Dwelling Time

The context of this project (Portloaise = Prison),=20 naturally curbed a dimension of the freeness, expressed in other = projects by=20 Hope Inherent. As a result an interesting inversion of their usual = process=20 has emerged. The artists' dialogue was dependent not on the vigour = of=20 their practice but on the willingness of those within the system to = engage with=20 them. In their previous investigations this could be communicated as a = gift,=20 here it was necessary to create greater fluidity, to be valve-like - = creating=20 some kind opening within the system and back out into the world. = Doing=20 this, gaining this type of free access, is of course counter-current to = prison=20 stratagems.

For outsiders, Portlaoise is synonymous = with the=20 prison. Its physical prominence in the town is considerable. The = prison's=20 closeness to the hospital, church and commercial centre place it = prominently in=20 civic life. This idea of placement, orientation and position emerge as=20 significant aspects of this project. Hope Inherent=E2=80=99s = previous works were=20 located in the heart of Dublin City. Perceptions and possibilities = of=20 engagement with the prison site, with its own inexplicable alternative=20 world. So in coming out of a city context and being in this one = emerged to=20 upset their initial intended processes to which they had committed so = much time=20 and research.

Bentham=E2=80=99s and Foucault=E2=80=99s = urban and city panoptical=20 prisons performed control and punishment and served to facilitate = surveillance,=20 but most importantly, the performance of surveillance. Recent discourses = about=20 prison building uncover an administrative desire to see these complexes = removed,=20 decentred and peripheraliased. Will there be prisons built in town = centres=20 in Ireland in the next twenty years? As an inevitable = privatisation of the=20 prison system emerges it will be easier to de-center, the prison both as = a space=20 and as a culture. They will be removed from our towns - as = detention by=20 the State cannot be performed in the same manner as detention which is = to profit=20 from the State. The prison will be out of sight and, for most, out of=20 mind.

For Hope Inherent to regard the enforced = application=20 of the systematic over the life of an individual was one ambition for = the=20 project, but also, to consider what may be translatable from within this = incubatory and intricate system of prison living. How does one function = when=20 removed from society, to a place where social order is blankly applied = over,=20 onto and into personal choice? There is a radial optimism in the = orientation of=20 these observations as there is with much of Hope Inherent=E2=80=99s = projects. Past=20 works have included the ideas of gifting and small acts of = generosity. The=20 symbolic exchange of a gift can be interpreted as a mechanism which = unfastens a=20 potential for dialogue, it functions also as a re-enforcer of social = bonds, a=20 methodology for creating alliances. In past projects, perhaps the=20 gift-exchange has been a tool for disarming the anomalous parity between = strangers. As the offering of gifts and services require a = response. =20 It is also a direct challenge to engage, accept or reject; the social=20 significance of accepting or rejecting is universal in its = resonance. =20 However, where there is systemically no equality, this conceit shifts=20 considerably.

This project focused on Portlaoise Prison = as a site=20 of research, reflection and the resultant considerations will form a = role in the=20 development of future works, as Hope Inherent has received funding = for a=20 mobile unit and are working towards a series of interventions to take = place=20 around Ireland. The planned projects are of a gentle and low-lying = almost=20 incidental nature and revolve round the idea of giving, fixing, = suggesting and=20 contributing and exchanging in some way. Early works such as the = Kiosk=20 Project and, more recently, Assembly Line, offer solutions, pauses and = things to=20 do, re-do or make for publics to engage with. As if out of = small=20 kindnesses comes communication, through this emerges gentle points of=20 consideration from which to review contemporary living. The work = isn=E2=80=99t=20 didactic or salvationary but opens potential to be part of making and = with that=20 to express something of an arc that poetically reaches from the lyrical = to the=20 mimetic.

For UNIT, Hope Inherent questions what is = useful,=20 soothing, practical, imaginative, and what in prison life could be = re-oriented?=20 Are there clever, even tiny solutions to be learnt from questioning and = research=20 here? From enforced limitations what are the actions offering respite = and=20 comfort? The intention of the project at an early stage was the = analysis=20 of potential mirco-solutions to highly processed and restricted = life. As a=20 site of research, the denuded space of prison might be very useful, = especially=20 when read as having application and solutions to city living and the = increasing=20 constricted and merged public and private spheres. What gives = colour=20 creates potential for a mental or physical lull out of the kaleidoscopic = forces=20 that form prison cultures.(?) The praxis here is where small self = generated=20 (re)actions offer ease and how these actions might be socially = significant to=20 the =E2=80=9Coutside=E2=80=9D?

Being so highly codified prison life and = its=20 negotiations takes a psychoneurotic vigilance. You imagine questions = like; how=20 far might this or that be pushed, how serious is such a person or event? = Where=20 are the spaces to be alert, what are the times of rescinded power? = Living=20 with a collective somesthesia is it possible to understand where can you = relax=20 peripheral vision, or rest the senses to a point of normality? The = volume=20 or temperature of the place is being rapidly and constantly adjusted. = Box4=20 Procedures are march through the prison life, but these must also draw = in some=20 creative and imaginative solutions, offering small alternative = freedoms.

A paradox is that the system's culture is a = force=20 which is intentionally emptied of time, and that somehow this dimension = of time=20 becomes delusional; really and falsely full. This also became a motif of = the=20 research =E2=80=93 time and its value. The project takes the = opportunity for=20 parallel considerations in seeing that being removed from the stimulus = of=20 general broad and active society =E2=80=93 prison society is a more = amplified and for=20 many more dangerous. Prison is thought about here as the threatening=20 distillation of destructive turns, which mirrors widening limitations = and=20 narrowed choices for wider society. Conditions of internment often = result in=20 brutalising and extremely polarised stances, for staff, prisoners and = the=20 residents of the immediate surrounds. Individually is expressed in = a=20 constricted and condensed manner. To pick at meanings, understanding = values and=20 choices takes considerable knowledge of the context and cultural nuances = and the=20 time.

There are plenty of questions that arise = when two=20 artists wish to access a place like a prison, many questions from = lots of=20 constituents. Even though there has been institutional support for = the=20 process (by Mark Kavanagh, among others) it hasn=E2=80=99t been easy or=20 straightforward. This lack of straightforwardness, has forced a = willowy=20 bend. As work and thought evolved over the term of the project = =E2=80=93 access=20 became less and less important as a methods of direct communication, the = context=20 of the residency funelled Hope Inherent=E2=80=99s positioning into an = inverted space,=20 which emerges as an interesting resource from which to develop cognitive = and=20 lateral connections for this type of analogous research into the future. = Box6=20 There is also a practical and tangible resolve to mark the end of the = project=20 with a gift or object. This object is offered as a solution, fun = and=20 game-like, a viewfinder from which to be in a place of reflection, = making and=20 action. There has been talk about creating individual mountain = ranges=20 (Laois is light on mountains) or, instruments that can entertain in = places of=20 waiting, making places of waiting, not the suspension of time -but of = potential=20 and hopeful.

Sarah=20 Searson

Sarah Searson led the unit project. She = invited Hope=20 Inherent to the project. Tara Kennedy and Jennie Moran, have individual=20 practices as artists and work collaboratively as Hope Inherent.

Hope Inherent http://www.hopeinherent.com/

Hope Inherent=E2=80=99s gift object will be = launched on the=20 19th May 2009 and is available a locations = in the=20 town.