Workshop & Talk

Denise Murray, CoLab 
Dr Sarah-Anne Buckley 
Seamus Ruttledge 
Teresa O’ Sullivan
Ethna Rose O’Regan 
in conversation with Maeve O Rourke (Chair) 

Preceded by Exhibition Tour in the Festival Printworks Gallery.

Photography and the Built Environment 
with Mark Shiel and Alice Clancy 

Tickets: €25 - prebook via Eventbrite

A one-day workshop, guided by two conveners, in which participants make, reflect on, and discuss architectural photographs of selected buildings in Galway city centre.

Architectural photography is a key medium in disseminating knowledge and ideas about our built environment. Focusing attention on selected still images of buildings in place and time, it heightens our understanding of their visible aspects while bringing invisible details and processes to light, making the unseen seen. Architectural photography is also a professional and commercial technique used to visualise buildings according to a brief for a client (architect, developer, or property owner). Bearing in mind this tension between art and function, this workshop provides specialists and non-specialists alike an opportunity to explore and reflect on architectural photography, using Galway city centre as a studio. Guided by the conveners and working in small groups, participants will take photographs of selected buildings and locations that they will then edit, present, and discuss, expanding their technical ability and their understanding of the principals involved.

Freedom Wall Paste-Up Events

Come along and help us stick things to walls! 

Sunday 05 October 2025, 13.00  

Freedom Wall, Lower Merchants Road 

Wednesday 08 October 2025, 15.30 

Children’s Freedom Wall, Eyre Square Centre

Friday 19 September 2025, 19.00 - 20.30

Children’s Cartoon Workshop in Charlie Byrnes Bookshop 

Installation 

Building A Wall  To Break Down Barriers

It began as the shared dream of some NGOs – Europeans Without Borders, Cartooning for Peace, Reporters Without Borders – but soon found the hearts of young volunteers, many from underprivileged neighbourhoods outside Paris. They were inspired to create a wall of cartoons celebrating the vital role of a free press.

Following their example, we will cover walls in cartoons to raise awareness of this important freedom. Contributors draw on paper or send us images, we print these enlarged and paste them up on two walls – one for professional cartoonists from many countries, the other for local and visiting children.

This event is part of the Galway Cartoon Festival programme. Beginning on Culture Night, it will continue throughout AATE Festival 2025 and the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. 

A Space In-Between
Kilcolgan Village

A community celebration on Kilcolgan’s Old Road with art, music, and dialogue, showcasing its potential as a vibrant shared public space.

A Space In-Between will transform part of Kilcolgan’s Old Road into a vibrant, car-free community space. Central to the project are local children, who will take part in fieldwork with artists and architects and a creative workshops in school. Their findings will form a temporary installation, giving voice to how they see Kilcolgan today, and how its public spaces might support play, safety and connection in the future. The installation will be open to all, offering a sensory, reflective space that invites visitors to pause and experience the qualities that define Kilcolgan. The space will allow for gathering, imagination and dialogue – providing an opportunity to share ideas for the village’s future and to view concept designs. During the day, the event will celebrate community - a space shaped by community, and responsive to it. 

Project credits:

Kilcolgan Community Development Committee in collaboration with Helena McElmeel Architects - Róisín McConnon, Ellie O’Connell, Joanna McGlynn, Scoil Mhuire, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan Educate Together National School.

Supported by Galway County Council.

Workshop / Roundtable Talk

Tithe ón Seansaol / Lost Houses

Laura O’Connor, Will Judge & Morgan Davies

Explore Lost Architecture  

Through presentations, round-table talks, and a hands-on workshop, exhibitors will unveil their design research and creative investigations into sites of lost buildings, forgotten homes, and overlooked architectural fragments scattered across Galway City’s rich cultural and social landscape.

Share Your Story

We invite you to bring a memory— a photograph, a story, an object, or a personal recollection. These prompts will spark a round-table discussion on themes of cultural identity, conservation, social history, and the unseen layers of our built environment.

Connect, Reflect, Reimagine 

Join us in a welcoming, inclusive setting for an afternoon of conversation, debate, and discovery. Together, we will recall and reimagine Galway City’s architectural heritage—lost or unseen, but not forgotten. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a unique celebration of local architectural history. Let’s uncover the stories that still live in the walls, streets, and memories of Galway City. Ready to join the conversation?

Project credits

Laura O’Connor, Will Judge and Morgan Davies are a dynamic collective of architectural designers based in Wales, they interpret heritage, landscape, and local traditions through drawing, writing, photography, and media. Their multidisciplinary research spans the Celtic nations, embracing diverse languages and cultures to reimagine architecture as a living dialogue shaped by social histories.

Supported by Galway City Council Architectural Conservation Office & Galway City Council Arts Office.