Can choirs be a form of protest, and what kinds of resistance could they provide in the midst of climate crises?
Our mini-series, ‘as a chorus’ begins with Niamh Schmidtke’s work, CHANTER (Aughinish). Their 15 minute audio introduces us to an aluminium refinery and it’s impact on the local population. Combining song and audio description, the work brings together its own chorus, inviting us to join their melodies, building from the individual to the collective as our awareness of their injustice intensifies. Together we discuss how the work incites forms of direct action, and the need for collective making.
This work was made through the Welcome to the Neighbourhood residency in summer 2025 at Askeaton Contemporary Arts. Askeaton Contemporary Arts is an artist-led organisation based in the west of Ireland since 2006. An ongoing residency programme creates critical cultural encounters in the midst of the Irish countryside each summer, while public programmes and exhibitions in Askeaton and elsewhere over two decades have found innovative public contexts and resilient relationships for new forms of artmaking to emerge.
Further resources about Aughinish can be found through https://www.stigmadamages.com/
Voices (in order of appearance); Bernadette Hayes, Inbher Glenn Community Choir, Monya Riachi, Christopher Clery, Grainne Hassett and Akinsola Lawanson.
Bio:
Niamh Schmidtke (b. Dublin 1997, they/she) is an artist, lecturer and arts facilitator based across London and Limerick. They explore the politics of green washing, economic jargon and the language of democracy through speculation, audio, ceramics and installations, centring intimacy as a form of decolonial praxis. They examine the relationship between listening and speaking, to consider the kinds of voices that deep time, the sea, or humans could have with one another. They currently lecture in the School of Architecture, Limerick, with an MFA from Goldsmiths, London and BA from LSAD. Awards include; Agility Award, Material Futures Residency at Cove Park Scotland and the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Artist Development fund. They have exhibited across Ireland and internationally including TULCA; Salvage Agency, Galway (2024), Pulling Blood from a Stone (solo), Science Gallery Berlin (2024), DARE 2019, Orpheus Institute, Belgium and PULSE, Limerick City Gallery (2022). Their work is held in public and private collections, including the EIB’s permanent collection. They are a member of Lewisham Arthouse artists’ co-op where they co-organise the Graduate Award with Sara Willet.
Artist @niamhschmidtke
Hosts @influential_bro @_rebecca.edwards
Broadcast through @rtm.fm
