Airfield is a 35-acre estate with working farm, formal gardens, a café and shop situated in Dundrum, Dublin. I visited on a sunny day filled with activity– a massive drumming circle and a gig in the Red Barn, with hay bales as seating.

The very well-rehearsed and good-humoured North Strand Kontra Band were playing– I took a walk around the estate, which seemed extra special in the sun. There were a lot of visitors, especially very young kids with no inhibitions, not afraid to dance or gaze at you with their huge eyes, joyous with the outing in the beautiful surroundings.

Two big sheep looked mammoth, out on their own in fact. The Shetland foal is growing up, fields are seeding grass, and there seemed to be four times as many cattle and sheep as usual.

On my walk, in the north west corner of the estate, and finding a body of water– everything seemed newly created– I was greeted by a shy Belfast man, standing beside a small wooden house on a handsome raft, the artist in residence.

He introduced himself as Andrew Dodds. And, after we were finished comparing the cost of living between London and Dublin, he invited me to take a look at the installation he had made in honour of the Overend sisters, Letitia and Naomi, who used to drive around Goatstown in their Rolls Royce, and who bequeathed the house and farm in its entirety, now called the Airfield Trust.

Inside the hut, I was greeted by the eyes of an uncommon red fox staring back at me, sitting on a shelf with rare stuffed birds, of which there were several.

‘Wunderkammer’ was the name of the exhibition, which I thought was a breed of bird, but actually refers to the cabinet of curiosities which wealthy people used to display in their homes objects they had collected from trips abroad. Andrew had assembled artefacts from the house in the same manner, and purpose-built the hut as their cabinet.

On the left wall were bones of, probably, African animals. The smell of the wood inside and the view over the lake standing on the raft put you in mind of the Overends and their life together.

Most exciting of all were the poems and letters in their handwriting which were on a tabletop under glass. Letitia and Naomi were artists, and one of them had composed a revised version of The Lord’s Prayer… ‘The Lord is my pilot I shall not want…’ on the wall was a large sheet of blue paper, a long scribbled list of the Overend kittens, and how each one had perished, evidence of the cruelty of a rural-type birth control.

Airfield and Dun Laoighre-Rathdown commissioned Andrew Dodds to come over from London and do this residency and installation.

The exhibition must have provided a talking point for visitors, as I am writing about it here. And it was nice to be able to talk to Andrew about the ‘Wunderkammer’ he had created.

www.andrewdodds.com
Airfield, Upper Kilmacud Road, Goatstown, Dublin 14.

Ticket office: 01 2984301
Airfield and Overend’s Cafe are open 7 days a week 11-5pm.

Picture: The bronze sculpture under the great oaks near the house ( dont know the artist)