Composer Michael Gallen writes for Culture about his experience as an Artist in Residence at Albert Cottages, as part of Dublin City Arts Office's Residential Spaces scheme, and the fiscal (and spacial) realities of making art in Ireland today.
Over the past few years, as the scale of my artistic projects have grown, I have often felt the need to get out of Dublin in order to do my work. My driving licence was a ticket to a new type of freedom; suddenly I realised that I could sub-let my room, pack my van with books and musical instruments and head off to some remote cottage, rented for the whole winter for the cost of a month in a Liberties house-share.
Many of my most successful peers in Ireland still live in a state of suspended studenthood, scrambling for both fiscal breathing-space and actual, physical room in order to imagine their work.
Although many of these periods ended with an overbearing sense of solitude, I would arrive back to civilisation with a completed album or composition under my arm. People often ask me if I need scenic landscapes in order to inspire my work; they can only help, but what I need is a relatively quiet, dedicated workspace and a calm, focused mind.
Watch: Michael Gallen performs Rivers Unseen
The invisible landscape that lies beneath recent, vital discussions around how to better enfranchise the arts sector in Ireland is that the cost of renting in many Irish cities makes them untenable as living places for artists. Many of my most successful peers in Ireland still live in a state of suspended studenthood, scrambling for both fiscal breathing-space and actual, physical room in order to imagine their work.
It is harder to be inspired and grow creatively when living in constricted, expensive spaces, under the constant threat of rent hikes and loophole evictions.
The extent of this issue only became apparent to me when I began working on projects in Germany, Belgium and France. I found that my collaborators, many of them my own age and at similar points in their careers, live comfortably on ten-year leases in their own apartments, always for less than €1000 a month. Though these people may be performing or facilitating my work, their self-assuredness in their artistic path is generally miles ahead of mine.
I am finishing my first large-scale opera commission, run my own company and perform regularly to large crowds in theatres and festivals, and still, I often wonder whether I am going to have to take on some other job in order to be able to live as a fully-fledged adult in Ireland. If you consider the artistic 'golden ages' of many European cities, they most often occur in periods when the rent was particularly low and stable. It is harder to be inspired and grow creatively when living in constricted, expensive spaces, under the constant threat of rent hikes and loophole evictions.
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I have gotten great relief from periods of artistic residency in various houses and institutions around Ireland and abroad. Although these places can be remote, there is always a sense of being connected by unseen threads to other artists who have worked there before.
From the summer of 2019 up until a few weeks ago, I was an Artist in Residence at Albert Cottages, one of two spaces provided on a year-long, subsidised lease by Dublin City Arts Office. For much of the winter, I was focusing exclusively on the composition of Elsewhere - the new opera that will premiere in 2021/22 - and I found that I was able to reach a level of creative flow that had eluded me during the previous year, when I was moving frequently from one workspace to another.
It was a gift to attune my life to the rhythm of the passing seasons, especially during a time of such societal turbulence and uncertainty. Initiatives such as Dublin City Arts Office’s Residential Spaces scheme are a noble attempt to make artistic life in our country more dignified and sustainable; many of our most notable artists and artworks have benefited from such support. Imagine what we could create if such comforts were the norm.
Find out more about Dublin City Arts Office's Residential Spaces scheme here.
