Fostering restorative cultures by connecting past stories, with what we do today, to how we envision the future

Repair Acts, Ireland aims to foster vibrant and restorative repair cultures in Ireland by connecting past stories about mending and fixing things, with what we do today, to how we envision the future. Over 2022 we will be working with local communities, repair enthusiast and experts, DIY hobbyists and passionate amateurs to build the people’s online photo archive of everyday repaired objects. Documenting and mapping how we used to repair things, with our “Right to Repair”, we will be creating Ireland’s first “Repair Declaration” and speculating on future directions. We will be creating a series of new art works and site-based installation, which will be positioned in Kilbeggan, Westmeath as part of a 4-day event running from 3-6th Nov.

As humans we celebrate the our life cycles marking them through birth, death and other rites of passage. What potential is there in marking the life cycle of other species in bringing us into a more attentive awareness of our surrounds? A site-based ritual constructed for reeds that surround the Floating University, Berlin. Calling into the Now looks to the role that ritual plays in supporting the ontological shifts necessary to move from human-centered to more earth-bound positions.

TALES OF CARE & REPAIR is a crowd-sourced collection of photographs and stories about the objects we repair today. Over 700 ‘stories’ of everyday repaired objects from Bristol (UK), Belo Horiztone (Brazil) and New Delhi (India) were uploaded to the TALES OF CARE & REPAIR website and tagged with details about the repair. Alongside the images, we interviewed a number of professional repairers about their work and we began co-creating with various communities what we call local “Repair Declarations”. Some of the images and conversations with professional repairers are currently exhibiting at Somerset House, London as part of their exhibition on care, repair and healing, ‘Eternally Yours’ (16th June-25th Sept 2022).

My Square Mile explores local histories of repair economies in the Bedminster area of Bristol, UK. Taking twenty-years slices, archival material from 938, ’58, ’78, ’98 and 2018 was drawn on as a means to map change across formally registered repair, care and maintenance business and services in the area. This work provided insights into the changes repair, fixing and mending practices. Visual cultures of repair advertisements across these periods of time, were also explored with emphasises on recreating and highlighting particular adverts, including their aesthetics, languages, trade marks and symbols.