Artwork in Anticipation of Door-Knocking Politicians. Image: Jack Caffrey

The art collective School of Thought is a collaboration between long-time Dublin 8 resident, artist Augustine O’Donoghue, and historian and educator Dr. Conor McCabe. This interdisciplinary collective was established as a creative response to Collective Futures.  School of Thought acknowledges the need and value of working collaboratively across disciplines as a way of bridging different spheres of knowledge, to think through ideas from different perspectives in order to gain new insights and ways of working. They believe that in order to build a future we need to look at the past, that history is not linear but circular, and the future, in many ways, is old. School of Thought use a range of research-creation methodologies to collaboratively engage with residents across different communities across Dublin 8. Together and with others they creatively explore, unpack and make visible some of the forces shaping and defining our collective futures.

Their residency ran from April to December 2024 and involved workshops, talks, and film screenings. In the run up to the local elections in May 2024 they created a site-specific public artwork employing text and images on doormats to be placed at Dublin 8 doorsteps. Each doormat posing a question or opening a conversation on one of the most pressing issues for people – Housing.

In November 2024, School of Thought presented the first of a series of Counter-Culture events. This included a walk and talk event, Counter – Compradors: A walk Through the Radical Histories of Dublin 8 and a screening of PUSH, an award winning documentary by Fredik Gertten with a post screening talk by Abaigeal Meek, The Liberties SOS, Lois Kapila, editor of Dublin Inquirer, and Aisling Hedderman, CATU.