The Shed

In the heart of Dublin, a few meters off O’Connell Street, at the bottom of a little lane called Henrietta: the Shed was born. Or better say, in this lane the Shed arrived two years later, because at first it was concealed in another place. Yet it was already in the mind of whom, thanks to her passion and tenacity, runs it: Eli Mcbett. But who is Eli Mcbett? She is an artist who left Rome, her native city, and arrived in the Island of Emerald. At first on a trip, then, charmed by Samuel Beckett’s land, she has been living here for eleven years. Eli Mcbett started by collaborating with the Samuel Beckett Theatre exposing her works of art that had been exhibiting also in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, America.
Among these installations, sculptures and these works of art, which are visible and tangible, the idea of the Shed was born. The Shed is a place (mental and not) in which all artists, from any social background, have the right to express what they feel. It is a place in which the art is shared, where the art is free from every compromise or economic profit; it is a different idea from others: a new idea which is possible to share with other artists, the same evening, in the same space, as different ways of being. It is a workshop space and experiment that allows artists in fact to experiment their own ideas like the ancient alchemists used to do: give life to something unexpected and new.
The single artist mixes his art with other artists’ art and the result is just art itself, in all its shapes and ideas that after an encounter can change and be open to something else. What happens here is important not only because it is a chance for everybody, but also because the artists’ minds enrich from the beginning to the end. An enrichment that can be direct, unconscious, recognized, subtle, invisible.
Because, perhaps, also art works like other things: it is the encounter with the other, with different ways of interpretation that enriches and completes us, which creates that space inside us, ready to welcome and to create new ideas like a seed fallen on the earth that buds and doesn't wait nothing else but next contact to bloom. As if it were those claros del bosque when the things that before were little visible, suddenly become the truest ever. Like when in the Shed the sun light filters from the ceiling the audience and the artists who are in speaking, laughing, playing, and singing become the reflection of something that men call Art.
(translated and edited by Antonella Mazziotti and Annalisa Lorelli)


Nel cuore di Dublino, a poche centinaia di metri da O’Connell Street, in fondo ad una stradina chiamata Henrietta Lane, prende vita lo Shed, o meglio lo Shed in questa strada ci è arrivato dopo due anni, perché prima era nascosto in un altro luogo. E prima ancora si trovava nella mente di chi, grazie alla sua passione e alla sua tenacia lo porta avanti: Elisabetta Jacomini. Ma chi è Elisabetta Jacomini? È un’artista che ha lasciato Roma, la sua città natale, ed è arrivata nell’Isola di Smeraldo prima per un viaggio di piacere, poi, lasciandosi affascinare dalla terra di Samuel Beckett, è rimasta qui undici anni, collaborando con il Samuel Beckett Theatre, esponendo le sue creazioni che sono state presentate anche in Italia, Spagna, Germania, Francia, America.
In mezzo a queste installazioni, sculture, a queste opere d’arte che si rendono visibili e tangibili, nasce l’idea dello Shed: un luogo (mentale e non) in cui tutti gli artisti, di qualunque leva sociale, hanno il diritto di esprimere quello che sentono, è un luogo in cui l’arte si condivide per davvero, in cui l’Arte è libera da ogni compromesso o tornaconto economico, è un’idea diversa dalle altre, un’idea totalmente nuova in cui è possibile to share con altri artisti, nella stessa serata, nello stesso spazio, modi di essere totalmente differenti. È un esperimento, un laboratorio che vede gli artisti di oggi sperimentare le proprie idee come facevano quegli alchimisti antichi che puntualmente davano vita qualcosa di inaspettato e nuovo. L’arte di un singolo artista si mischia al pensiero di un altro e quello che ne viene fuori è l’arte stessa, nelle sue infinite forme, le idee che dopo un incontro possono mutare e aprirsi ad altro. Perché quello che avviene qui è importante non solo in quanto costituisce una chance per tutti, è importante perché le menti stesse degli artisti si arricchiscono dall’inizio alla fine. Un arricchimento che può essere immediato, inconscio, riconosciuto, sottile, invisibile. Perché, forse, come in tutte le cose, anche per l’arte è così: l’incontro con l’altro, con diversi modi di interpretare, ci arricchisce e ci completa, e crea quello spazio dentro di noi pronto ad accogliere e far nascere nuove idee, come un seme caduto sulla terra che germoglia e non aspetta altro che il prossimo incontro per fiorire, come quei chiari del bosco in cui le cose che prima erano poco visibili all’improvviso sono più vere che mai, come quando allo Shed filtra la luce dalle tettoie e il pubblico, gli artisti che sono dentro, che stanno parlando, ridendo, suonando, cantando, diventano il riflesso di quel qualcosa che gli uomini chiamano Arte.
di Antonella Mazziotti (July 2009)

The use of the words ‘spaces’ and ‘collectives’ amongst Dublinese creative types seems to be rising by the day. No longer is it acceptable to just get off your tits and have a dance on a night out, it is now part of the course to engage in some kitsch organised fun in the process. But The Shed on Henrietta Lane is once ‘space’ that sticks to what it knows: art. Since their initial ‘Stranger than Paradise’ call for artists in 2006, The Shed has involved more than 130 artists in around 80 events all with Eli McBett at the helm. They are all recored in The Shed archives. Connected caught up with the founder/producer/artist to learn more... McBett attributes the establishment of The Shed to what she calls “Deformazione Professionale”, that’s chronic professional syndrome to us non-Italian speakers.
“I discovered to be affected by this syndrome many years ago, at the beginning of the 80's, when the urban context I was soaked in Roma, was dull and dry and all the past reference points were lost. Something like the Celtic Tiger was spreading sickness at that time in Italy.” The globalisation or Americanisation of culture was a particular influence on the syndrome. “A shame for older forms of culture and heritage pervaded people, and developers took inspiration from the worst of American standards. This provoked in sensitive individuals, the positive deep wish to change the world with unique alternatives to collective suicide.” McBett says, “I was young at the time, but this environment was deeply influential in my development.” The dominance of this syndrome for McBett led her to rejecting traditional academic institutions and “dusty bureaucratic infrastructures” and getting involved in independent cultural centres. “We did Auto-Productions, producing off site theatre festivals and art activities that offered at the time a different way of expressing vision and perspective for cultural and political operators.” In 1998, McBett arrived in Ireland and developed her views while working in ordinary jobs and creative projects on the side. For a series of 14 installations aimed to Kilmainham Gaol, McBett required people participation. “I started teaching in jails, creating workshops with children travellers and in other contexts, and so, I went around interviewing individuals approaching them mostly through the community centres.” This lead to teaching people in rehab, in institutions and schools, with people with disabilities, teenagers in jail, children travellers, women in jail and people with mental disorders or disabilities. But McBett is keen to stress that these were not groups, but individuals. “The creation of my art events includes individuals of various backgrounds, but they are all included on the same basis as whatever other collaborator. I adapt my actions to the individual personalities and avoid hierarchies.” Government funding for these projects is at a minimal. The Shed received just €2,000 by the City Council art grant, which funded the centre for less than one month, and also got some flyers printed. In the past she got founded by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura only, despite being an Irish artist. McBett says, “All the costs are covered by my personal money, my free non-stop work and other participant donations. I am repaying a personal loan with the bank that will bond me to this project unless some other source of income will help.Now an office team from Italian universities is temporary helping thanks to EU project Leonardo and Erasmus Placement.” At the time of going to press, McBett is still applying for funding from the Arts Council, as she has every year - for the last decade. But McBett says, “The real difficulty is finding individuals keen to participate in long term no profit projects. To have some regular supporters from the same audience would facilitate our independence from institutions and the possibility to equip the space and facilitate the artists in presenting their work for free. The more we are independent the less we need to waste time on bureaucracy.” Irish pub culture is cited as one hindrance to The Shed, “My main hope is to start a proper artist/art-operators resident collective. There are plenty of difficulties in finding individuals so focused and also prepared in experimental performance and installations, such as the local culture and custom which pushes people mostly to socialise and meet in pubs.” McBett encourages everyone to visit, “Come and introduce yourself, tell me what you usually do, what you would like to do here, and let's bring in whatever you like to exchange with others your creative experience in a once-off night.” The Shed hosts international residences, monthly events, daytime workshops and classes, and a resident collective. www.mcbett.net
Amanda Kavanagh
Connected Magazine n.47

"The High point of a masked debate in Dublin's Temple Bar last night came not from anonymous speech-making, but the rebellious unmasking of some of the participants. (...) One woman from Rome stood up and took off her mask, saying it was important to see each other.
"These masks are symptoms of the sickness in the society we are living in," she said. (...)"
The Irish Times, Thursday, August 20, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0820/1224252949785.html

"Italian Eli Mcbett came to Dublin in 1998 after years of establishing alternative spaces in Rome. Mcbett opened the Shed on Foley Street before moving it to its current location, another converted joinery, on Henrietta Lane, behind Bolton Street.
The Shed (..) is a gritty and expansive space, featuring and interior gazebo covered in mosquito netting. It hosts bold music and film events every weekend (...)"
The Dubliner, July 2009

www.mcbett.net
www.myspace.com/mcbett

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