Join us at Athenry MAD Festival to launch the giant Umbrella Orphanage butterfly kite. Created by Jeni Roddy from some of the 670 broken brollies rescued by Galwegians after the winter storms, this huge 4 metre barrilete realises Galway’s umbrellas’ natural inclination to take flight. This is a Galway guardian, a spirit of Galway come in joy and celebration. In its final incarnation, the barrilete will spread its wings to create a rain canopy and outdoor work space for local community groups.

Bring your own kite, and you can try out some of Jeni’s smaller flying umbrellas.

Geometric Shape Shifters. Part kite, part coat, part thingummybob - they’re multi-hyphenates. Umbrella canopy panels sewn into open polyhedrons and joined together into irregular polywhotssit shapes - gawping shape-shifters. This is what happens when umbrellas swap workplace environment from rain to wind. It's mad fun. Catching the wind and throwing shapes.

image by Conall Geoghagan