ARCHIVE:

Megan Brien

March, often viewed as a month of burgeoning growth and renewal, brings with it the promise of rejuvenation as our surroundings undergo a profound transformation. In this season of regeneration, March invites us to pause and reflect; it offers a juncture where the pace of growth in our surroundings allows us to take stock of the journey behind and anticipate the path ahead.

With thoughts of our own hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles in our minds eye, Morag Myerscough, with the community of Rua Red, presents the ongoing exhibition A Good Night’s Sleep, a colourful and immersive exploration of belonging and self-expression.

The Institute of Designers in Ireland’s International Women’s Day Event, Why Design, on March 7th, invites us to consider our own impact through a series of talks centred on designing sustainably. This event brings together the themes of environment, climate, social justice, and gender equality. Continuing the spotlight on introspection, the Crawford Gallery’s exhibition, A Matter of Time focuses on the human experience and temporality, the chosen works explore how we think about our world and our own existence.

On March 11th and 12th, the National Housing Conference: Diversifying and Expanding our Housing Delivery will be held in Waterford. The conference, jointly hosted by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, will focus on emerging trends in planning, urbanism, and architecture.

The All-Ireland Architecture Research Group (AIARG) are hosting their 13th annual conference in partnership with Trinity College Dublin titled Imagining Pasts, Remembering Futures, taking place from March 14th to 15th. The conference theme derives from historian Lewis Namier via Roy Foster’s recent remembrance of the histories written by architect Niall McCullough. Imagining Pasts, Remembering Futures will explore how architecture imagines and re-imagines its history in preparing for the future. Valerie Mulvin will deliver the keynote address.

I’d like to draw attention to an open call for participants for a postgraduate and early career workshop, Seedlings: Architectural History in Conversation which I will be hosting alongside my colleague Aoife-Marie Buckley as part of the AIARG conference. We invite interested parties to present works-in-progress or ‘seedlings’ in a peer to peer environment. We hope this event will provide opportunity for ideas to take root, or sprout, if you will. The call for participants closes March 8th.

May this March be a time of regeneration and growth, both for ideas and the communities that nurture them.