Open Call: A love letter to your old band T-shirts

Conceived by Cliona Murphy

Produced by thirtythree-45 & The Kiosk Project Arts Space

Worn threads and the lives lived — a frayed relic of a band T-shirt. Hidden in drawers, in the backs of wardrobes, shunned to attics. Dig it out. Unfold the quiet archive of who you were. Let them breathe again — those old band T-shirts. Faded, frayed, full of memory. Carriers of sweat, sound, and story. Choose a shirt. The one. And write it a letter — or maybe a love note, or an elegy. Tell us how it found you. Where it took you. What it meant, and what it still means. The gigs, the nights out, the friends, the strangers, the versions of you it held close. Did it make you feel seen? Loud? Loved? Did you wear it thin? Tell us what you did together — back when you still fit each other just right. This isn’t just about fabric. It’s about memory. It’s about music. It’s about you.

Shane McGrath - Sensless Things shirt

A chapter in my musical youth. The Senseless Things when they occupied that elliptical space between DIY pop punk fanzine style newsletter mail outs and dealing with industry agents and A&R on a push through to some version of another side. They were for me one of those bands that loved bands so much that with each band love, you were automatically passed another set of bands based on their musical tastes and the t-shirts they wore.

In this case it was a band love beyond the countless others I had, because some mates and myself wrote letters and offered to organise tours for them. Cut to half of them sleeping in my suburban family home attic whilst myself and my brother slept elsewhere. My mother feeding them to the point of near comas. There was a mention of her "stomach exploding breakfasts" in the Melody Maker soon after. Most of all it was the stuff of rite of passage and although I meandered in and out of that feeling go getter pluck in the subsequent years.

It informed a sense of can do in me that didn't exist before it all happened. All this from a t-shirt?

Annya MaCabe - Spacemen 3 shirt

This shirt was made from an old Spacemen 3 shirt I had where the design had completely faded through the years. I got the idea when my ma walked in while I was listening to ‘Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To’ and she said "this is just noise".

Sarah McDonnell - the Mystery Jets t-shirt

T’s the autumn of 2005, I’ve just started into my leaving cert year. I’m obsessed with finding new music on MTV2. This one evening I’m drawn in by the opening bar of song with an idiosyncratic piano intro. You can do anything you want. As long as it makes sense.

It’s the Mystery Jets - You Can’t Fool Me Dennis. So began a longterm love affair with the skinny jeaned, messy haired boys of Eel Pie Island. It wasn’t until 3 years later that I would I see them live, in Wolverhampton of all places. At this point I had no Mystery Jets official merch. I did however have the bands symbol permanently etched on my wrist and a homemade MRS. E. JETS tee. That gig I went home with 2 tees, pins for all my pals and guest list for life. The things permanently scarring your body will do for you.

Remember those barmy days. Through a rose-tinted haze Martini 🍸 x

Liam Ryan - Fugazi - Chumbawamba - In Motion

The somewhere was the St. Francis Xavier Hall (SFX), Dublin. A once-beloved venue that played host to countless iconic gigs over the years. We were In Motion, the first act of the night. A three piece, lost in the vastness of the SFX's massive stage, we spent the day both excited and terrified. The buzz around the gig was building for months accompanied by complaints from concerned parents about the tickets containing information on safe sex. The gig was a benefit show for Act Up Ireland. Even though we were on first, the venue was packed and we went down well. Coming off the stage Lou Watts from Chumbawamba said to us that "we had an unusual brand of pop." Chumbawamba were great and Fugazi as always, were outstanding.

There was no rock n roll after party, it was back to my place for a cup of tea.

Exhibition Opens on February 14th (Valentines Day) at 3pm and runs until February 28th, 2026.