The Garden Shed Manifesto
The Garden Shed Manifesto proclaims that the suburban garden is not an ornament but an ecosystem, not a private patch but a shared future. The shed is our base: a cart on wheels carrying tools, seeds, stories, and the will to rewild.
We reject the lawn as a monoculture of conformity. We embrace the messy, the diverse, the buzzing and the blooming. We believe a shed can be a stage, a classroom, a kitchen, a portal. We believe that soil is not dirt but memory, that a garden is not property but possibility.
Our horse-drawn garden shed will roam Old Bawn hosting workshops, performances, shared meals, and creative experiments throughout Spring - Summer 2026.
Artist Biographies
Gráinne O’Carroll is an interdisciplinary artist and director working across physical theatre,
textiles, film, installation, and collaborative performance. Her work often deals with costume
and environment as active forces within surreal, embodied and ‘edge of frame’ narratives
where emotional, social and critical intelligence is sparked through corporeal play and
collaborative research.
Recent projects include ‘The Storyteller’ (2024), an experimental film shot between Cologne
and Inis Óirr, ‘It’s a Real Coincidence’ (2024), a performance reimagining the female body as shifting from object to other/s and UCC Dance/Plant Science residency at Crespo
Foundation’s Glenkeen Gardens in West Cork (2023). She also develops family-inclusive
projects for contemporary art spaces, most recent engagements include audience-tailored
workshops at The Ark, Enable Ireland School, Mohill Library, and forthcoming in Rua Red.
O’Carroll trained in textiles art, visual culture and physical theatre at NCAD Dublin, Khib
Bergen, and Centro Moveo Barcelona.
Ghiath Al Jebawi is an architect, community development practitioner and data scientist,
combining technical expertise with socio-spatial research. His work spans governance and
economic development, humanitarian, and cultural projects, where he integrates advanced
data analytics, social network analysis, and geographic information systems to better
understand and support stakeholders and communities. He is active in research,
consultancy, and creative collaborations, bridging architecture, technology, and social impact to design solutions that are both innovative and deeply rooted in real-world needs.
Al Jebawi trained in architecture, urbanism and data science in Damascus University,
Politecnico di Milano and Sorbonne University.