Stand-out arts centre a reality in Skibbereen

West Cork Arts Centre’s new, €3.5m, 10,000 sq ft Uillinn building is a feature in Skibbereen, says Noel Baker.

IT is appropriate that the inaugural exhibition,opening today in the newly relocated West Cork Arts Centre is called ‘Fourth Space’ — for, make no mistake, there is plenty of dramatic new space here in the heart of Skibbereen.

The new centre is also called Uillinn, and it’s fair to say the pipes have been calling for some time for a larger location for the WCAC. Highly visible across the town, with its rust-hued Corten steel skin, the centre is a booming 10,000 sq ft, a quantum leap from the original, 890 sq ft of its former base, in an old street-side building.