The South of Ireland never experienced the full impact of the Industrial Revolution but in 2005 was defined as the ‘most globalised economy in the world’ with full employment (IDA Ireland). Global multinational companies (MNCs), primarily North American, outsourced operations to the Republic of the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger economy’, branded as a ‘trans-global site of operation’, attracted by a highly skilled and flexible workforce where the direct cost of employment was among the lowest in Europe and, what continues to be, the lowest rate of corporation tax in Europe.
The title of the project is inspired by a widely utilised flexible economic management model, developed by Peter Hartz, which enables the production process to expand and contract to the needs and demands of the global market. Critically, however, it is intended to be implemented, not only on the factory floor but to extend to the level of the nation state itself.
The Breathing Factory critically addresses the role and representation of labour and global labour practices in this newly industrialised landscape as manifest in manufacturing and technology. Global industrial practices are characterised by fleeting alliances, transient spaces as capital moves when and as required. In such an ephemeral, precarious and globalised context, the project focuses specifically upon the Hewlett-Packard Manufacturing and Technology Campus, part of a cluster formation of multinational technology complexes, in Leixlip in the east of Ireland.
Having started on-site in 2003, following almost a year of negotiation to secure access due to the highly-sensitive nature of this heavily secure environment, the project was subsequently completed over a 20 month period. Each visit was pre-scheduled and pre-cleared, required being accompanied at all times and all the audio-visual material generated was vetted by HP for approval, thus, the ‘policing’ of the project is a central concern. The outcome of a practice-led doctoral research project, the first of its kind in the Republic of Ireland using photography as a central research method and framed by visual anthropology in its undertaking, the full installation includes photographs, verbal testimony, artefactual material, text-based work, digital video and soundscape as critical re-representation.
In 2007/2008, the Republic of Ireland was one of the first countries in the world to experience the full impact of the global financial crash and by 2010, unemployment had reached 15% with a rate of almost 40% among younger people.In 2017, Hewlett-Packard announced the closure of the complete complex and operations in Leixlip. The site was put up for sale.