Curated, commissioned and produced by the Irish Architecture Foundation and hosted in seven venues in partnership with national and international arts and cultural organisations and venues, this touring exhibition was a public occasion for the telling and retelling of true stories, lost traditions and possible futures for Irish towns and the people who live in them.  Supported by a talks programme, Talks of the Town, each stop of the tour invited local community interest and engagement, deepening knowledge and capacity for future local action and policy development.

Organised around a series of immersive display structures or ‘characters’ intended to engage and communicate to new audiences in a variety of ways, the writings and buildings of Valerie Mulvin and her practice McCullough Mulvin Architects were exhibited through models, drawings, texts, and a series of slides, notes, personal memorabilia, and building fragments. For the exhibition, IAF commissioned three new films, including an interview with Valerie Mulvin and Vincent Woods.

Each Douglas-fir display character, designed by AP+E, held a specific chapter or story of three decades of Mulvin’s research and designs on and for the Irish town. As curators, IAF aimed to leave audiences in no doubt that when architects work, they do more than build buildings, they build knowledge. Read together in a room, the exhibition of Mulvin’s work across the seven chapters, reveals that despite decay and neglect, our town's foundations are solid, and strong fragments remain. These prompt today’s urgent conversations on the future of the Irish town. They also revealed how interconnected issues such as housing, public space, climate change, and built and cultural heritage actually are and that any future plans for towns will need to be cohesive, coherent and inclusive.