​Invitation

The Cow Shed Collective were invited by Commonage to lead one of 3 building workshops at the 2012 annual Commonage Summer School which ran from the 1st - 17th August in Callan, Co. Kilkenny. During this time up to 50 participants, builders and designers from around Callan, across Ireland and further afield collected and worked together to realise a number of built projects as well as participating in and contributing to a parallel programme of events.



What is Commonage?

(text taken from the Commonage website)

Commonage is a curatorial, research and design studio based in Callan, Co. Kilkenny. We create new contexts for architectural, design and art practice in Ireland. We produce an overlapping programme of work in the public realm; temporary and semi-permanent exhibitions, an annual summer school and research events. In this we collaborate with a diverse range of people. We have worked with architects, artists, social geographers, carpenters, community activists, community development agencies and local councils and many others. Key to our approach is an effort to work with collaborators in a non-hierarchical way and to value the interdependencies and slowly developing relationships upon which towns like Callan are built.



Commonage began as a five year architectural research project in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, in 2010. Initiated by this rural town, we have always seen that Callan, through its distinctiveness and ordinariness, could be an important site from which to develop a new kind of design practice in Ireland. Architecture and design are important tools and we want to think about how they can be used to help us negotiate and reconsider the things we share. Sometimes we open up spaces and buildings that wouldn’t otherwise be publicly accessible but we’re often more interested in rekindling ideas that have been neglected. We like to think of this as turning the soil. This process requires lots of research, and we enjoy rummaging and delving, trying to figure out what the most appropriate approach might be in any given situation. We’re called Commonage because we feel that the traditional notion of commonage, land that is managed through collective reponsibility, is still relevant in the Ireland that we find ourselves in today.This year we have established ourselves as a curatorial, research and design studio. We’re still working in Callan, but now we work in other places too.



Commonage is led by Jo Anne Butler, Rosie Lynch, Hollie Kearns and Tara Kennedy.