LETTERBOX DUBLIN
I founded the Letterbox Dublin project in 2008. I put a letterbox up in Dame Lane as a piece of interactive street art. I placed different themes on the box and collected an archive of letters from people who choose to interact with the project between 2008-2015. I was writing my thesis on street art when I started the project, and was experimenting with placing art in a public setting so that members of the public would find it unexpectedly in their everyday life and add positively to their experience of my city. I have exhibited the letters in galleries, publications and on billboards around the city -bringing the letters back to the streets where they came from. I was interviewed about the project on Sky Atlantic tv show Urban Secrets. The letters were exhibted at Science Gallery Dublin as part of their Secrets exhibition, where I also did an artist talk about the project. Letterbox Dublin has been featured in Dublin guidebook Secret Dublin: An Unusual Guide by Pól Ó Conghaile and has been featured in many online publications.
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The projects aim was to add to the experience of Dublin City in a positive way, to make it an interesting place to live and visit. It aimed to interact with Dubliners and visitors alike -to give them a creative outlet in a public setting and to provide a channel of anonymous expression and confession. Letterbox acted as a modern confessional booth, instead of a church it used the city, it offered a vent for passer’s by to unburden themselves, share their problems or a joke with a stranger. The project documented, exhibited and published the letters that are themselves, valuable artefacts of the time in which they were sent and capture the voice of people from that time. It was a unique landmark of the city of Dublin.
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Previous themes included:
Letters to the Past | Letters to the Future | Letters to your inner child | Letters to God | Confess your Secrets
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Letterbox Dublin Press Coverage:
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Sky Atlantic’s “Urban Secrets” Series hosted by Alan Cummings. I was interviewed about the project and exhibited some of the letters. See the interview below.
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In 2015 I exhibited the letters on billboards around Dublin City and in the Dublin Design Institute
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“Secret Dublin: An Unusual Guide” by Pól Ó Conghaile. A Dublin Guide Book.
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“Where the City of Dublin Spills Its Secrets” An article by Laura Secorun Palet, a reporter for the American online magazine OZY - partner with NPR, USAToday, CNN and NatGeo.
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Totally Dublin
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Le Cool Dublin
Why did I create Letterbox Dublin?
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To add to people’s cultural experience of my city
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To bring art into a public space where it can be found and experienced by a diverse audience
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To engage people that don’t normally visit galleries to experience art
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To make Dublin a more interesting place to live and visit
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To bring art to places where people don’t expect to find it
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How did Letterbox Dublin Project engage with the public?
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Exhibition of letters on billboards around the city
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Exhibition in Totally Dublin Magazine (free around the city)
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Gallery show
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Zine of the letters
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