A new piece of public art has been installed on the exterior of the new café in the Thurles Market Quarter, Co. Tipperary. The artwork evokes memories of local history, while questioning the present and future of place.
Wrapped around a building that was once part of the farmyard established for the nearby College around 1834, the artwork interrogates its constantly evolving surroundings. Artist Anja Buchheister studied old maps of the area and drew from interviews with local residents when considering the location’s history and its multi-layered memories.
Today, the public artwork forms part of the newly developed Market Quarter, which will host a weekly market that offers a mix of handcrafted products, artisan food and fresh produce and will make a vibrant place of creativity and local enterprise. Hot drinks can be enjoyed in the adjacent One19 Coffee House, while the newly placed marquee allows for outdoor activity all year round, including special events and performances.
Conversational phrases like “it is what it is” are used in everyday life as a form of acceptance of circumstances. The artist has utilised such phrases, collected from local interviews, to form a sentence that questions this narrative in a playful way. Made from yellow powder coated metal cuts, the artwork marks the place with successive statements and questions, flowing around the building in an endless loop. Flowing Places takes the viewer back to local history, makes them contemplate what place means to them today and what it could look like tomorrow.
Originally from Wolfenbüttel, Germany, artist Anja Buchheister now operates from her studio in Templetuohy, Thurles. She obtained a diploma in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and a diploma in Graphic Design from the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim. Her work is exhibited in Ireland and Germany for which she received numerous grants and awards.
Flowing Places was commissioned by Tipperary County Council as part of the Per Cent for Art Scheme and developed in close cooperation with Thurles Municipal District. The Project was funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht under the Rural Regional Development Fund (RRDF) and Project Ireland 2040.
Click here to read more about the artwork.
Photos courtesy of the artist, © Anja Buchheister / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2026
