The Icon Factory, The Icon Walk

How can art be an educational tool and promote culture? What artistic practices and media can be used to communicate and encourage citizens to think differently about their environments? These are the questions at the heart of our enterprise in The Icon Factory, our artists’ co-operative.

We decided to address these issues with our Icon Walk, an open-air art installation located in the lanes behind Fleet Street, Temple Bar, in Dublin’s city centre. This installation includes work from the more than 40 artists that took part. The Icon Walk depicts figures from Irish culture in arresting and original ways alongside boards of explanatory text. All the images displayed are the work of Dublin based artists and all are donated to the Icon Walk. It is designed to celebrate Irish cultural achievements and to educate visitors and locals in the riches of our cultural heritage. Set out along the walls of the cobbled laneways of Princes Lane, Aston Place and Bedford Row.