Watching: Flat

Overview

Flat, 2026, is a new moving-image installation by Renèe Helèna Browne that unfolds within the shifting conditions of the so-called “mica scandal” in Donegal, Ireland, where thousands of homes were discovered to have defective concrete blocks. The work traces a period of transition wherein one dwelling is slowly relinquished as another takes form, shaped through repetitive acts of making and unmaking. Attending to gestures of labour, care, and adaptation, the film considers how knowledge circulates outside formal structures, carried instead through bodies, materials, and shared routines. Rooted in a rural environment where weather, animals, and tools inform daily rhythms, the installation reflects on how lives are reorganised through acts of repair and endurance. Flat offers a close study of resilience within conditions of structural change.