In early 2024, Aisling Phelan and Viva Dean made an application to Dublin City Council for a 10-week lease on a big studio space in the city centre. They envisioned turning the studio into a public-facing art space with a feminist ethos, one where they could hold workshops, exhibitions, talks and performances centred around creative tech education. Later in the year, the grant was awarded, and BASE, a new space in the heart of the city, was born.
I met up with the co-founders on a chilly October evening in their new space, which is located beside Connolly Station. Lemon and ginger tea was brewed, Palo Santo was lit, and our shoes were kicked off. We got comfy on their array of couches, cushions and blankets, and they told me how they got here.
“I work with sound,” says Viva Dean. “I’m an engineer by trade, but my practice is rooted in education and art facilitation. I’m interested in creating alternative learning environments and being very imaginative about how we teach and learn from each other.” Dean founded Synthesize_Her_ in 2022, a collaborative experience and workshop centred around noise making technology.
Aisling Phelan is a multidisciplinary artist. “I work across a lot of mediums like photography, video, interactive technologies, and AI. My practice is mainly concerned with our digital online identities and how understanding them work can help us understand ourselves.” She is a curator for DATA, Dublin Art and Technology Association, which hosts monthly meet-ups for digital artists in Ireland.
When I ask how the pair met, they cycle through a few anecdotes, trying to remember their initial meeting. They recall being introduced to each other at art shows, crossing paths on dance floors, and Dean playing one of Phelan’s songs on their radio show. “Wait, I remember the first time we met.” Phelan says, laughing. “We were sitting in an abandoned warehouse that we’d broken into with about ten friends. We were sitting in a circle and talking about..”
“..What we were going to do with that space.” Dean finishes. It’s a fitting memory for the situation we find ourselves in now; sitting cross-legged on the floor of a formerly empty space which they worked together to transform into something new. BASE was made possible by Dublin City Arts Office’s Vacant Space Scheme, which provides support and advice to artists and arts organisations in accessing buildings in the Dublin city area.
When applying for the grant, the pair hadn’t officially worked together before, but they knew they shared a sensibility that would become the founding ethos of BASE. “We applied as a feminist space for creative use of technology and that is exactly what we followed through on.” Dean tells me. “Maybe that's why we got it, because our application was very genuine.”
Once granted the lease, their next step was raising funds for the space. They set up a Kickstarter page to crowd-fund for equipment they needed, such as a PA system, lights, and a projector. A one-time payment of €30 results in membership to BASE for all 10 weeks of the project.
BASE raised €3,000 before opening its doors. “That was a huge testament to how much the space is needed and how much people wanted to use it and be a part of it. That was really encouraging for us.” Phelan says, smiling. When their lease concludes, the gear purchased will be absorbed back into the creative community and donated to organisations such as ThinkPunk, Tallaght Community Arts, and Dublin Digital Radio.
“Initially, I was uncomfortable with the idea of asking people for money, but that was before I made the connection of how it influences the way people view spaces.” Phelan reflects. “I pay for membership for Daylight and DDR, and when I go into those spaces, I’m like, I had a hand in making this possible. It changes how you feel a sense of ownership over a space.”
The Kickstarter page also listed the regular weekly activities planned for BASE, which are now going full steam ahead. Monday Morning Coffee sessions, taking place from 7.30 to 10am, encourage members to come in, mingle and enjoy a free Roasted Brown coffee. Tuesday’s Lunchtime Library is open from 12 to 2.30pm, where members can flick through BASE’s collection of books relevant to Phelan and Dean’s artistic practices. Wednesdays from 6pm to 7.30pm are for Deep Listening Sessions, with live performances from local artists, meant to be enjoyed in a “horizontal position” and enhanced by the space’s collection of cushions and blankets.
Alongside their regular programming, members can apply to run their own events, and the pair tell me that they already have a booked schedule of album launches and workshops taking place in the space across the ten weeks.
While BASE will be ephemeral, closing its doors after the ten-week lease is up, its ethos, eclectic events programme and network of members makes me certain that its impact will last long beyond December. With DIY spaces typically existing on the fringes of the city, it’s inspiring to see a place like BASE pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the heart of the city.
“It’s about community building.” Phelan agrees. “It's behind our name as well. This space is the base for anything we can imagine, within reason. It's not a late-night venue. It's not an art gallery, it's not a coffee shop, it's not a library, it’s not anything. It's just a room that can be made into as many different possible things as we can fit in ten weeks.”
“It's actually so radical to give people a place that they don't feel like they have to leave and where you can just chat and have this really organic cross-pollination of ideas.” Dean agrees.
BASE, they both conclude, is a space for dreaming. It started out as Dean and Phelan’s brainchild; a city-centre creative hub with a feminist ethos, designed to encapsulate talks, ideas, and communities. But now, as its own entity, BASE has grown to incubate the dreams of its members and wider community, creating a space where people can run events that might not be possible in more traditional venues. As I finish my tea, wrap our interview, and head up O’Connell Street towards home, I feel full of ideas of what I could do there myself. I find myself dreaming, too.
BASE runs until 21st of December 2024. Check them out here.
Cover graphic by Róisín Jordan.