Luke Brabazon

Only 1 WEEK left to see Snáithe by Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh PRHA at the LAB Gallery! ✨ Curated by Margarita Cappock The exhibition runs until Saturday, 22 November. The gallery is open Monday–Saturday, 10am–6pm. 📸 @lukebrabazon

Here are a few stills from the short documentary "The Last Miner" which screened at the very first Athlone Film Festival all the way back in 2019! The doc was directed by Luke Brabazon and featured the coal miner Jim Power. Luke was the very first film maker to come down to the festival and take part in our now famous post screening panel discussion. His short documentary went onto win best student film at the 2019 Manchester International Film Festival and best student short at the 2019 Emerging Director Awards in Dublin. A fun bit of trivia about the film is that when Luke went down on the first two days to film with Jim, it turned out to be the very last two days Jim ever mined at that site. Making the film a genuine piece of history that otherwise would of gone undocumented if it wasn't for Luke. Also it makes the name of the documentary more literal then you first think! Over the following weeks, Luke recorded almost 12 hours of conversation with Jim about his life working in the mines, which was then edited down to only the essentials. Making it into the 7 minute film you see today. You can follow Luke on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to see what he's up to next. A huge thank you to Luke for being the first film maker to come down and take part in our panel discussion! Other films screened that year were: That Old Feeling, Pernicio, Breast Friends, and Growing Alice. Submissions for next years festival (2026) will be open on the 15th of September 2025. . . . #irishfilm #irishcinema #filmfestival #allirelanddramafestival #filmmaking #theathlonefilmfestival

Graduation from the @arciadt Masters in Art and Research Collaboration earlier this month. A fantastic 18 months spent with wonderful classmates and lecturers, exploring possibilities around the Lineview Railway Cottage and creating collaborative arts spaces. The rest of the photos are some phone photos I grabbed quickly during our exhibition opening in @thelabgallery over winter 2024. Thank you to everyone who came out to see our show! Photo 1 by @mariamcs__photography

Only TWO days left to experience In the ticking room by Eileen Leonard Sealy at the LAB Gallery, curated by Margarita Cappock! This incredible exhibition closes tomorrow, Saturday, March 1st, at 6pm, don’t miss your chance to see it before it’s gone. 😱 We would like to wish Eileen all the best in her future endeavors, including an exciting solo show in France later this year! 📷 @lukebrabazon

"Experiments in Self-Building" Shown in @thelabgallery December 2024 - January 2025 as part of "Water Has No Enemy", our @arciadt grad show. A timber-framed cabin, 3*1.5*2.8m, containing 2 TV monitors, 2 whiteboards, and corkboard insulation with the story of my attempt to turn my 1850's railway cottage into a collaborative arts space - and the promotion of 'meitheals' as a sustainable way of building the living spaces we need within our communities. Thank you to everyone that came to the cottage over the past few years, gave advice and support, and also to everyone that came to see the installation on show over the Christmas season. Also to my lecturers, classmates, installers Carmel and Maria, and everyone that helped with making this exhibition possible. #meitheal #selfbuildireland #artwork #dublin #ireland #housingforall

Me, explaining what a lot of what I've been up to over the past few years and why it's led to building a cabin in an art gallery. @arciadt @thelabgallery #meitheal #collaborativeart #dublin #ireland #selfbuildireland

Thanks to everyone who has checked out Counting Rain so far! Here’s a snippet of a live performance of the song which was filmed and graded earlier this year by @lukebrabazon at @oregansdublin You’ll find links to the full video, as well as to the song on Spotify and Bandcamp in my bio Thanks to @ben.rawlins for mastering the audio

Thank you to the @myiadt Year 1 Art course for inviting me to talk a bit about my work and "Experiments in Self-Building" project yesterday! A lot of interesting discussion afterwards about the importance of bringing back a 'Meitheal' culture - working together within our communities to create the spaces we need to live. Also, how art can help provoke these conversations. Thank you to Kassey for the photo, and to Emma and Sophie for helping me dismantle the cabin structure afterwards so I can get it to @thelabgallery . Our @arciadt exhibition will open there on December 11th 6-8pm, and run until January 4th. #meitheal #selfbuildireland #dublin #ireland #collaborativeart

Artist Spotlight: Luke Brabazon 🪚 Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting each of the incredible artists featured in the upcoming ARC MA show, Water Has No Enemy, opening at The Lab Gallery on December 11th. ✨ Luke Brabazon is a Dublin-based documentary videographer and artist interested in how art can be used to bring communities together. His project Experiments in Self-Building continues from his efforts to renovate a building into a home and community arts space. In 2020, he inherited a railway cottage in Westmeath, and over the following years hosted gatherings, or meitheals, where small groups would come together to aid in bringing life back to the semi-derelict structure. Mentoring during this process was supported by the Arts Council Agility Award. The structure exhibited in the LAB was originally designed to be a temporary shelter during renovation. While much was learned during the planning process, the renovation project had to be put on hold in 2024. The timeline of the project forms part of the exhibited structure, extending from the dream of the cottage as an arts residency and event space, to the lessons learned during the development. Many of the manual and social skills needed to build homes were once held within communities and families, but this shared knowledge has been lost in recent generations. By working and learning together, it is possible to recover this knowledge and empower communities to build the spaces needed to live, create and gather.

My dad Peter Brabazon and Steve Wickham @wicko playing in @fennellys_of_callan last night. Tonight they play again in @ryansbarkk , tickets available on the door. @aka_kilkenny @kilkennygigguide

[Photo 1] A little lunchtime project while taking a break from video editing - a coffee table made of [2] an interestingly-shaped piece of firewood, combined with [3,4] a thin disc of wood salvaged from some tree-felling that happened near the cottage years ago. Secured by [5] a single woodscrew. It's not very strong, and may split or chip apart if used often, but still a nice experiment with found materials that was very quick to put together.

Last Thursday, I presented my research in progress alongside my classmates in @arciadt at @immaireland . 'Build Again, Test Again' was one day to show our projects in development in a semi-public setting - it was fantastic to get so much feedback and engagement on my project, Growing Space. There were a few elements, from right to left (roughly) of image 6: 1) The old cottage door, which became a collaborative art piece painted by many visitors to the cottage including @aoife.anderson.7 , @more_phoebe , @lochlann.dowd , @garethqr and @conor.f.campbell . 2) Nettle tea, made of nettles gathered during a mini Meitheal at the cottage. Balanced atop - 3) Squeezebox V1, containing some books that have been inspiring and informing me over the last few years. 4) Excerpts from "Herbs at Lineview and their uses" by @ronika.merl , including the many uses of nettles beyond just tea 5) My renovation planning notebook 6) A whiteboard, laying out the premise of the space and with a map of the garden inviting audience feedback on what they would like to see added to it On the wall, 7) Images of the house in the past few years 8) A 5 minute silent video giving a brief sense of the space, and the wonderful times shared there over the past few years. Thank you to everyone who came to the event, and all who have mentored and supported me over the past few years as I research and start putting into practice the plans for the future!