White House Bar

52 O’Connell St, LimerickGoogle Maps

Established in 1812, the White House Bar has developed a reputation for being Limerick’s literary bar.
The White House Bar became the venue for a poetry group called the White House Poets, which was a weekly open mic poetry session held every Wednesday, organised by the late Barney Sheehan.
It has been used as a venue for EVA for three editions – in 2006, 2004 and 1998.
This site was one of 12 venues for the 30th edition of EVA in 2006, curated by Katerina Gregos (b. 1967, Greece). That year Mark Titchner (b. 1973, UK) and Minerva Cuevas (b. 1975, Mexico) presented works at the venue.
Titchner’s Thoughts thought, Words spoken, Thoughts thought (2006) was a pair of posters installed in the bar’s street-facing windows. One poster was printed with the text ‘An open invitation to see things as they truly are, infinite: gather here’. The other read ‘An open invitation to improve the lives of the wealthy and the privileged: gather here’.
In the artist’s own words on the work: ‘two offers are made to the reader: one promises impossible enlightenment and the other offers something that, as good consumers, we are all already doing – improving the lives of the wealthy and the privileged.’