The outdoor work, ‘(…) Water & Sand + Sticks & Stones (…)’, which was first installed in the East Arch of the Royal Hospital in 1993, was originally placed in another configuration – on the first floor landing of the Museum as part of the exhibition ‘Projects’ by Lawrence Weiner. A leading pioneer of conceptual art in America in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Weiner’s work is concerned with language and the way meaning is carried in words, signs, symbols and codes. Exhibiting internationally, he has made books, posters, postcards and textual installations. His work was previously seen in Ireland at the Guinness Hopstore as part of the ROSC exhibition in 1984.

Context forms the content of Weiner’s work, in which the traditional art object is by-passed in favour of language as the medium through which meaning is presented. The context here is the Royal Hospital itself which although an important historical seventeenth century building, now functions as a space for modern art.