Guide to the Drawing

Location: The Orchard Centre, Blackrock, Dublin.

Time: A 16 minute loop representing a 24-hour cycle.

Protagonists: The drafting hands embody 16 inhabitants of The Orchard Centre as they occupy parts of the building. The occupants draw fragments of the plan, because they cannot hold its totality in their minds. As the day passes, drawings accumulate and assemble a collective understanding of the building.   

Grids: As we navigate and orientate ourselves, the grid cells in our brain activate in hexagonal firing fields. These fields fire when a room is entered or observed.

Gardens: The gardens blossom and change from spring to summer, autumn and winter. The four seasons are mirrored in quadrants of the daily cycle.

Sounds: 64 speakers play local, regional and global sounds to complement the drawn activity. Familiar snippets of Irish life are layered with the sounds of the building, the noises of the drawing process itself, and momentary memories.

6am - 12pm Morning [Spring]

Respite clients wake and begin to rise. Some look towards the gardens. Night staff leave and day care staff arrive, followed soon afterwards by the staff of the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland headquarters. Breakfast is served and daycare clients begin to arrive by bus. People chat and the radio is turned on. The gardeners tend the planting beds, watched by a group of occupants who have stepped out for a cigarette. A meal is prepared in the kitchen.

12pm - 6pm Afternoon [Summer]

All meet for lunch in the dining hall. Some inhabitants go back to their bedrooms, but many stay in the social areas. Some play pool, some meander from room to room, others rummage through the bookshelves. The staff in the Alzheimer's Society offices are busy. It is someone's birthday, so tea and cake is served in the dining room. There is dancing and singing: someone plays the piano. Day care clients begin to leave, and staff in the kitchen prepare the next meal. 

6pm - 12am Evening [Autumn]

The Angelus strikes, clients watch the news before dinner. The office staff have gone home and the ASI headquarters are quiet. Staff and residents go to the quiet room, and resident says a decade of the Rosary. The magnolia tree blossoms. A couple of occupants stay up to watch TV, but most go back to their bedrooms. With the clients in bed, staff gather in the sitting area at the end of the corridor. One resident walks slowly in the corridor.

12am - 6am Night [Winter]

Most residents are asleep, though some rise at times to use the bathrooms. Staff supervise, speaking in whispers. Deep in the night, the call line in the offices rings, though generally the building is quiet. A client wakes and plays the piano softly. Sea waves hit the Blackrock shore.