FREE THOUGHT FM inter­rogates the notion of ‘free thought’ in one of Ireland’s major cultural and educational settings, The Douglas Hyde in Trinity College Dublin. It will use the gallery as a public space, a bastion of free expression, conversation, thought and communication, but will also spread far beyond its walls.

FREE THOUGHT FM, the exhibition, begins at 6pm on 14 Thursday March and runs until 25 Saturday May 2019.

At the heart of FREE THOUGHT FM is a 30-day live broadcast of conversations in the gallery between the artist Garrett Phelan, invited FREE THINKERS and members of the public. These conversations will open up the critical and often hidden issues of class inequality and inequality of access to education in the Dublin region.

FREE THOUGHT FM will broadcast LIVE from The Douglas Hyde from 25 Monday March until 23 Tuesday April 2019 on 105.2FM (Greater Dublin area only), and nationally/internationally online at www.freethoughtfm.com.

Garrett Phelan is one of Ireland’s leading visual artists who continues to break barriers of form and engagement. Over the past twenty-five years, Phelan has realised incredibly ambitious and deeply engaging projects in diverse contexts, ranging from a sprawling installation in a deserted council flat in the north inner city (NOW:HERE, 2003) to the coordinated ringing of the bells of Christchurch and St Patrick’s Cathedrals across the city as part of New Faith Love Song (2012). HEED FM (2016), a 28-day anonymous sound broadcast portrait of 18–25 year olds from all backgrounds, presented recordings made over an eight-month period with a generation whose opinions and beliefs are rarely heard in the public domain. Most recently, Phelan realised THE HIDE PROJECT as a continuous, permanent commission by Fingal County Council. These groundbreaking, site-specific projects across locations, form and audiences have been combined with key institutional projects nationally and internationally at the

Irish Museum of Modern Art, the 11th Lyons Biennial, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and Manifesta 5 (2004).

Panel Discussion | Reforming the Leaving Certificate, 7 May 2019.

Artist Talk | Sé Merry Doyle on Looking On in conversation with Garrett Phelan, 2 May 2019

Artist Talk | Sonic Agencies: Brandon LaBelle and Rachel O’Dwyer in conversation, 15 May 2019.

Artist Talk | Garrett Phelan, in conversation with Georgina Jackson, 23 May 2019.

Feature | Inside Free Thought FM – bringing art to the airwaves, RTE, 15 April 2019.

Feature | Free Thought FM, Think House, Thinkhouse, 21 August 2019

Interview | Sounds Underpinnings: Garrett Phelan, Free Thought FM, by Jack O’Higgins, Totally Dublin, 5 April 2019.

Feature | FREE THOUGHT FM in The Douglas Hyde, Dublin Town, 19 March 2019

FREE THOUGHT FM Broadcast Archive

FREE THOUGHT FM is funded through the Arts Council’s Making Great Art Work Open Call Award (2018), an Arts Council initiative which funds ambitious, one-off artistic projects by some of Ireland’s best artists and arts organisations.

Images: (left) Garrett Phelan, FREE THOUGHT FM, 2019, installation view. Courtesy of the artist and The Douglas Hyde. Photography by Louis Haugh. (right) Garrett Phelan, FREE THOUGHT FM, 2019, installation view. Courtesy of the artist and The Douglas Hyde. Photography by Louis Haugh.