The Rural Condition

THE RURAL CONDITION
Definition: Rural (adjective)
- outside city: found in or living in the country
- typical of country: relating to or characteristic of the country or country living
- agricultural: relating to, characteristic of, or involving farming
Source: Encarta Dictionary: English UK.

How do we define “rural”? In a country such as Ireland, with such diverse regional identities, the concept of rural is completely subjective, it can be ambiguous and rather vague. For example, someone from Belfast city may define “rural” as places which do not have the typical civic infrastructures and institutions which would normally exist in cites: hospitals, universities, motorways, museums, galleries and cathedrals etc. Someone living in a small Irish town of say 1000 inhabitants, (such as Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim) may define rural as the place that exists beyond the limits of the town. If we abide by the first definition of rural most of Ireland would technically be rural! Since there are only five cities in southern Ireland (Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford) and five cities in Northern Ireland (Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, Newry and Armagh) does this mean that anywhere outside of those ten cities is rural? Perhaps it is more reasonable to define rural, not by what is it but by what it is not; non-metropolitan landscapes. This live project endeavours to explore ‘cultural productions’ in the “rural” context.