Art in the everyday
FROM gaining an insight into the seemingly mundane work of chambermaids, to seeing an iconic building through the senses of a young blind man, the Irish premiere of Parallel Cities, produced for the Cork Midsummer Festival, is an intriguing project. Continuing until July 1, and developed by artists working in interdisciplinary arts, it started in Berlin in 2010 and has also been executed in Buenos Aries, Warsaw and Zurich. It is curated by Lola Arias from Buenos Aries and Stefan Kaegi from Berlin.
The Cork production includes ‘Chamber Maids’ at the Maldron Hotel in Shandon. The event is for one audience member at a time. You are given five keys to five bedrooms. In each, you are given clues that allow you to build up a portrait of the cleaning staff. The information is gleaned through the workers’ voice recordings, photographs and installations. ‘Chamber Maid’ could be described as documentary-like. It demands of audiences their willingness to bear witness to the lives of the people under the microscope, people who are normally anonymous.
