A GROUP OF artists have taken over what was to have been the headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin and staged a guerilla exhibition on the site.

The exhibition by twenty-eight artists on Dublin’s North Wall Quay had been planned for some time before the paintings were put in place today on the boards around the shell of the building.

The artists say that the exhibition entitled Romantic Ireland is part of an artistic response to NAMA.

The artworks are inspired by the poem September 1913 by WB Yeats which repeats the line “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,” and which the artists say is a still-relevant comment on the effect of greed on the ideals of a nation.

One of the artists said that planned HQ for Anglo – now called the IBRC – was chosen for the exhibition as it is a “very obvious symbolic representation” of Ireland’s economic collapse.

“It is unbuilt, a sign of the recklessness at the time,” said the artist, who asked not to be identified. “It is owned by NAMA which is owned by the people of Ireland. We didn’t seek permission to do this as it wasn’t even clear who we should have sought permission from”.

The artists say that they hope to kickstart a debate about NAMA.

The best case scenario is that it provokes discussion, as there is very little discussion at the moment about NAMA buildings, about the ugliness of them and who owns them. This is part of the conversation that’s starting about these buildings.

One of the artists said that they don’t know how long the art works will stay in place for.

“I think it’s a  legitimate and skilfully executed piece of art so I would hope that it would be preserved,” he told TheJournal.ie.

“However the artists got involved on the premise that the pieces could be taken away, vandalised, robbed or taken down immediately. Whatever happens, that will be a further comment on what these buildings mean”.