tour de force is a national tour of Ireland by visual artist Liliane Puthod and writer Ingrid Lyons.
At the wheel of Liliane’s late father’s Renault 4, tour de force is a celebration of culture and creativity in the format of a mapped adventure engaging with artists, musicians, mechanics, farmers, archaeologists, craftspeople, academics and aficionados over a series of pit stops all around Ireland…a summer 2025 ‘buddy movie’.
Ingrid and Liliane made a pilot tour last year when they live streamed their journey from the Renault 4, driving across France and up through Ireland for Beep Beep, a major installation by Puthod curated by Temple Bar Gallery and Studios off-site at the The Pumphouse, Dublin Port.
tour de force is a nomadic museum on a journey into the Otherworld through a series of collaborative pit stops, speculative flash fictions; vignettes that mark out points on the broader narrative. They are a series of mise-en-abyme, where stories are embedded in one-another. Cycles of apotheosis occur within the plot, proposing a generative, self-reflexive structure that harks to the orally disseminated storytelling traditions, material culture and intangible heritage of Ireland. Allegory, symbolism and metatextuality represent an intricate labyrinth, an evolving, circuitous structure that contains narrative rotations within the overall system, much like the revolutions of the crankshaft of the car itself.
En route, the car becomes a mobile broadcasting unit with K7 dans la 4L hosting interviews, artist talks and readings as well as cassette tapes played from a Renault Blaupunkt Audio 3000; a visual and sonic journey live streamed on Twitch. The Renault 4 is a character, a mechanical prop, a narrative device and a portal which brings tour de force through invisible edges between reality and fiction, memory and desire, the past and the present.
Departing from Dublin after a demonstration by Ireland’s last remaining tinsmith, James Collins at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, tour de force moves onwards towards Laois for a coffee conversation at Dunamaise Arts Center. Next stop; Timahoe with artist and singer Paddy Critchley. In Carlow at Muine Bheag Arts, founders Leah Corbett and Mark Buckeridge are invited for an interview in the Renault. Barry Kehoe shares his research about Dan Donnelly’s mummified arm. South towards Wexford and tour de force parks up for a coffee morning at Wexford Arts Centre - please come and chat - share memories and photographs you might have of the Renault 4. Wexford is a key location where hundreds of workers assembled Renault 4s in the 70s-80s; a special place to gather stories! At the Irish Agriculture Museum, also in Wexford, a lecture about car industrial heritage by Matt Wheeler. Following that, an artist talk with Orla Barry in situ at her farm, in the Renault 4. Then west along the road towards Cork stopping at Outlaw Studios, for an experimental music event with Brian Leach. In Ballydehob DJs and musicians Samuel Arnold Keane, Taf Hassam and Vera Schliebitz host a night of music at Levis Corner House. In Kerry, visual artist Laura Fitzgerald reads a new short story from the car with her father. Northwards towards Galway, taking part in Mountbellew Vintage Car Rally, the Renault showcases itself alongside hundreds of other vintage cars. At The Dock in Leitrim, a visual and musical performance between Ingrid Lyons, Liliane Puthod and a special guest. Up towards Sligo where collaborative visual artist duo Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty talk about Yeates’ bones. After that tour de force is for Donegal. Author and broadcaster Áine Ní Dhíoraí delivers a lecture on old roads and their Irish names at An Coimín (Gleann Fhinne). On the backroads of south west Donegal, the tour moves further in through towards Glencolmcille for an evening of traditional fiddle music and song at the Folk Village with Sinéad Kennedy, Catriona Kennedy and Ellie McGinley. Tarrying a few more days in the Glen, singer and weaver Margaret Cunningham discusses some of her tapestries. Leaving the Glen tour de force stops for an interview in the car, in situ at the Killybegs Classic Car Show - Cliodhna Timoney and Paddy Joe Rickard talk about their visual art practices and research around car banger communities. After a north easterly journey, the car boards a ferry for Rathlin Island off the coast of Antrim, where a mechanical sculpture made from scrapped car parts found on the Island will be fabricated by Liliane Puthod for the Renault 4. A stop in Belfast for a special K7 dans la 4L for COMMUNE hosted by Muine Bheag Arts. And last, but not least, the one and only Donal Dineen welcomes tour de force with club night, Backstory in Dublin.
tour de force pit stops itinerary
♥︎ Co.Dublin, James Collins, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios ♥︎ Co.Laois, Dunamaise Arts Centre — Paddy Critchley, Timahoe ♥︎ Co.Carlow, Barry Kehoe, Muine Bheag Arts, Railway House ♥︎ Co.Wexford, Wexford Arts Centre — Matt Wheeler, Irish Agriculture Museum, Johnstown Castle Estate — Orla Barry, South Wexford ♥︎ Co.Cork, Brian Leach, Cork Guitars, Outlaw Studios — Samuel Arnold Keane, Taf Hassam, Vera Schliebitz, Levis Corner House, Ballydehob ♥︎ Co.Kerry, Laura Fitzgerald, Inch ♥︎ Co.Galway, Mountbellew Vintage Rally ♥︎ Co.Leitrim, Ingrid Lyons, Liliane Puthod, Edwina Guckian, The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon ♥︎ Co.Sligo, Ruth Clinton, Niamh Moriarty, Drumcliff ♥︎ Co.Donegal, Áine Ní Dhíoraí, Oideas Gael, Glenties — Sinéad Kennedy, Catriona Kennedy, Ellie McGinley, Glencolmcille Folk Village — Margaret Cunningham, Turas Cholmcille — Cliodhna Timoney, Paddy Joe Rickard, Killybegs Vintage Rally ♥︎ Co.Antrim, Charlotte Bosanquet, Rathlin Island, Belfast ♥︎ Co.Dublin, Donal Dineen, Backstory ♥︎
Renault 4 images from www.allez-y.info
Partnering institutions
Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Muine Bheag Arts, Wexford Arts Centre, Irish Agriculture Museum/Johnstown Castle Estate, Cork Guitars, Levis Corner House, The Dock, Oideas Gael, Glencolmcille Folk Village, Void Art Centre and Backstory.
Produced by Liliane Puthod and Ingrid Lyons. Core personnel are Rosa Abbott, Public Relations, Gavin Fahy (1815fc) & Eddie Kenrick (City Rocker), Public Engagement. Mary Conlon, Curator and Director of The Dock is invited to respond with a series of texts to follow this nationwide cultural tour of Ireland.
tour de force is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland Touring of Work Scheme.
Follow www.tourdeforce.club / Instagram @___tourdeforce___ / Twitch @tourdeforceclub
Contact: tourdeforce.club@gmail.com
