Image shown: Bolthole at Tate Britain as part of BP Saturday event for under 5s, curated by Katy Fitzpatrick. Photograph Rhona Byrne.

Rhona Byrne and I have been collaborating on her artwork Bolthole since its inception in 2012 when I curated the interactive installation for a large scale early years family event at Tate Britain. Bolthole is a participatory sculpture made up of a series of panels that the viewer/participant can interact with to make their own shelters, shared spaces, dens and labyrinth-like trails. The artwork encourages participants to explore the space and environment around them and to create quiet spaces that they can hide away in, spaces to observe from, spaces to move in and out of, and spaces to share with others.

I remember when we were first planning it for the Tate event, we painstakingly discussed the colour choice and the scale of the work. In that instance, because it was early years, we were paying particular attention to the height and size of the pieces so they could be easily moved and so that with some of the pieces the children could see over the top and behind others they were completely hidden. 

Image shown: Bolthole at Tate Britain as part of BP Saturday event for under 5s, curated by Katy Fitzpatrick. Photograph Rhona Byrne.

The work not only plays with space in a structural sense but it also makes us think of our own body in relation to the work and its environment. Do we have to crawl into a shelter or can we stand? How do we move from one space to another and how do we physically manage to move the pieces (some of the very large ones require people to work together)? 

Since its first iteration at Tate and for subsequent exhibitions at Big House Festival, Castletown House, and as part of the exhibition Action all Areas at IMMA, Rhona has developed the colour palette, taken away (for now) the fabric that was used to cover the shelters, increased the height and range of the pieces to allow for interaction with all ages (including just with adults), and added a carpet to define the area of the artwork.

Image shown: Garden Folly installation at Big House Festival, Castletown House, curated by Katy Fitzpatrick, co-commission by IMMA and The Performance Corporation. Photograph Rhona Byrne. (For this installation Rhona changed the title to Garden Folly to relate to the context of Castletown House, where there are a number of follies built on the land.)

What interests me about the work are its limitless possibilities for interaction, spaces, and structures, how immediate it is for families (there is no need for instructions) and how it is relevant for all ages to engage with it – individually and collaboratively. I love watching children and adults interacting with it; early years children engaging with the surfaces, the textures and with moving in, through and out of the spaces; older children becoming competitive with their building, collecting pieces and challenging the structural possibilities of the work; and dads becoming really involved and competitive alongside their children.

Image shown: Bolthole at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, curated by Katy Fitzpatrick and Janice Hough, co-commission by IMMA and The Performance Corporation. Photograph Katy Fitzpatrick.

In 2013, we began to discuss, with a friend Kristen Harrison who runs a publishing house in Berlin, Curved House and Curved House Kids, and who has an interest and specialism in visual literacy, the idea of developing Bolthole into a publication/kit for families. We were fortunate to get some Arts Council funding to develop a prototype and since then we have been creating, testing and fine tuning what will be called the Bolthole DIY Kit. We began with looking at materials and what we would ideally like to see in the Kit, which included materials such as felt, Mylar and rip stock nylon.

Image shown: Bolthole DIY Kit backpack, taken during test day with families at Irish Museum of Modern Art. Photograph Rhona Byrne.

We also began to test and fine tune a series of instructions to go into our kit that encouraged children and families to explore their environment;such as ‘make a small space in a big place’ or ‘find a corner and make it your own’. Alongside the Kit, we are also hoping to develop a website that gives children the opportunity to share their own Boltholes, to find out more information and tips, and to purchase further materials. It’s an exciting project, and we are hoping to have the Kit ready for later in 2015. After that who knows where Bolthole, in its many manifestations, might travel to!

Image shown: Bolthole at Irish Museum of Modern Art, curated by Katy Fitzpatrick and Janice Hough, co-commission by IMMA and The Performance Corporation. Photograph Ines Billings.

Web links:
Bolthole at Tate - http://www.rhonabyrne.com/35060/320532/works-and-projects/bolthole
Bolthole / Garden Folly at IMMA and Big House - http://www.rhonabyrne.com/35060/320543/works-and-projects/bolthole
Curved House Kids - http://curvedhousekids.com/