A team of Galway-led creatives will represent Ireland at the prestigious La Biennale di Venezia global architecture showcase in 2027.
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, announced the selection of Emmet Humphreys and Nathalie Weadick, on behalf of Galway City Council, as the curators to represent Ireland at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice - a global platform for structure and design.
Their project, RESIDUUM, was selected following an open call by Culture Ireland, in partnership with the Arts Council.
RESIDUUM refers to that which remains: the overlooked spaces, structures, material culture and social fabric embedded within our city, understood not as leftovers but as an untapped resource. It proposes a methodology for repairing the inherited city, responding to the fragmented landscapes created by decades of urban sprawl by transforming them into places of belonging, connection and civic life.
At its heart is an ambitious approach to city-making that addresses the interconnected challenges of housing, place-making and identity, weaving a richer and more coherent urban tapestry.
Curators Emmet Humphreys is a Senior Architect in Galway City Council, and Nathalie Weadick is a cultural strategist, advisor and curator based in Dublin.
The curators will work with a multidisciplinary team comprising Frank Monahan of Architecture at the Edge on the public programme; Alice Casey and Cian Deegan of TAKA Architects on exhibition design; Jim Byrne of Galway City Council on content coordination and research; Peter Maybury on identity and publication design; Caoimhín Corrigan as project manager; and Elaine White of Galway City Council as project administrator.
While rooted in Galway city, RESIDUUM tells a story familiar to cities around the world.
Taking the role of the public architect as its central thread, the exhibition will bring the visitor on a journey through artefacts, models, representations, speculative scenarios and conversations, stretching backwards into the inherited city and forwards towards its possible futures. As the narrative unfolds, architecture, public policy, local government and communities come into dialogue, revealing how modest acts of repair can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
At its heart is a proposition that is both simple and radical: that the future of our cities begins by recognising the untapped value of what already exists.
Public workshops will be held this autumn in Galway city, with full details to be announced at www.ArchitectureAtTheEdge.com
