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arts · Saturday 25 July 2026 · 10:00am 
Hello Human - New Media Art Workshop with Elaine Hoey
At Solstice Arts Centre · Railway Street, Navan, Co. Meath
At Solstice Arts Centre · Railway Street, Navan, Co. Meath
This workshop turns a simple question - what does it mean to be human in the age of AI - into a working piece of art you build yourself. Artist Elaine Hoey leads a four-hour session at Solstice Arts Centre in Navan where each participant creates their own personal Chrome browser extension. The extension interrupts prolonged AI chatbot use with something irreplaceable: your own face, your own voice, your own words. It is part creative act, part gentle provocation - and no previous coding or art experience is needed to take part. The workshop suits curious adults and teenagers from 16 upward, and runs as a companion to Hoey’s ongoing exhibition Parasocial Alchemy, part of the summer group show “The Future is Open” at Solstice.
Over the course of the morning and into early afternoon, Hoey walks participants through the basics of HTML, 3D scanning techniques and reflective narrative writing. The name “Hello Human” refers to the first line of code most programmers ever write - a small act of announcement. Here it becomes something more personal: you record a short message to your future self, a reminder that you have a body and a life beyond the screen. That message gets woven into a functioning Chrome extension that plays back at moments of AI overuse.
The result is yours to keep - a browser app, but also an artwork. Hoey’s practice examines identity, the body and our evolving relationship with digital spaces, and this workshop is a hands-on way into those ideas rather than a lecture about them. Tickets are priced at €10 to €15.
You must bring your own PC laptop running Windows (not Mac) with Google Chrome installed, plus your mobile phone.
Solstice Arts Centre sits on Railway Street in Navan town centre, right at the heart of Co. Meath’s county town. Bus Eireann runs regular services to Navan from Dublin (route 109 from Busaras) and from surrounding towns including Drogheda and Trim. The bus stops are a short walk from the venue.
If you are driving, on-street parking on Railway Street is metered at €1 per hour (maximum two hours). The Fairgreen car park off Circular Road offers up to three hours at €1.20 per hour. There is also a pay-on-exit car park at the nearby ETB college on Railway Street. Navan is roughly 50km north-west of Dublin via the M3 motorway.
Navan is the county town of Meath and sits at the meeting of the Boyne and Blackwater rivers, with easy access to some of Ireland’s richest heritage - from the Hill of Tara to Trim Castle, all within a short drive. There is more to see in Navan and across Co. Meath.
Heading to Solstice Arts Centre in Navan? Meath has plenty more to see. Read the Navan area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.