HISTORY
The Guesthouse is a Cork Artists Collective (CAC) initiative that began in collaboration with the Cork City Council and with the support of the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2004, Shandon House was purchased by Cork City Council and entrusted to the CAC to develop a new visual arts initiative. The process of developing the project began in 2005 during Cork’s Capital Of Culture. The building
became an active testing site that informed its development and renovation plan in 2006. In 2009, operating on a voluntary basis, The Guesthouse Project was launched and developed as a creative initiative, led by artists who were actively engaged in experimentation, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and collaboration. Its creation formed a unique type of workspace and social space that facilitated conversations and cross-practice exchanges within the arts and beyond. Inspired by the residential and domestic nature of the house, with the kitchen at its centre, open events became a key gathering point and an interface between the artists and the visiting public. The project has undergone significant changes over the past years and has maintained its vitality and necessity by assessing and questioning itself. It evolves in response to artists and a changing arts environment. The Guesthouse Project is an artistic endeavour, continuously questioning the notion of organisation. NOW
2020 marked a change in the orientation of the project. residency duration was extended to enable visiting artists to establish deeper ties over a 3-month period. In 2020 we formed a non-resident community of artists to utilise the building as a shared work and meeting space, developing relationships, collaborating, and programming activities and events. New developments include:
- Sunday Sessions – multidisciplinary improvisation
- T-Junction – hosted discussions, presentations, workshops and food
- Off-site residencies and events
- Ghost editions – limited edition productions
