io – intentionally offline

What happens when artists and writers detach entirely from screens and electronics and create something exclusively phyiscal? 

That is the question writer Niamh Bagnell asked herself, and then asked many writers and artists whom she knew. Instructed to create entirely in the non-digital (with the exception of finger digits), more than 30 talented, innovative and international contributors got to work. Offline. They then physically posted, couriered or hand-delivered their creations to Cork, bringing together a most interesting collection of touchable things for publication. 

Join instigator Niamh Bagnell in conversation with Niamh Boyce, Maeve Higgins and Billy O’Callaghan as they discuss the result – io-intentionally offline, art, heart and literary annual – and what it means to be an artist in the age of ai.

An exhibition of the original pieces, which will later be auctioned for Medicins Sans Frontières will be on display in the library during the festival.

For real and present eyes only.