Façade

The Irish property bubble burst in 2008, precipitating one of the worst economic crises of any nation since the Great Depression and a programme of severe fiscal austerity. As credit dried up and developers went into receivership, developments were abandoned at various stages of completion. Empty housing estates, skeletal buildings and zoned wastelands scarred the landscape for many years.

Many sites on the periphery of towns and cities were left encircled by hoardings, some covered in hyperreal imagery and grandiose slogans which contradicted the reality. These fences obstructed our view and acted like screens, projecting a fictional past over the present reality.

They became part of the topography of the country, relics of an illusionary age.