The practice of Sarah Browne concerns itself with the creation and documentation of intentional economies. Her work often invokes a strong sense of the familiar as a prelude to engagement with layered explorations and subtleties.

For Ireland's representation at Venice 2009, Browne has commissioned a bespoke hand-knotted carpet from Donegal Carpets, a company renowned for its prestigious tradition of producing hand-knotted rugs for Irish embassies abroad, as well as for other state institutions such as The White House and Buckingham Palace. Far from its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement, the company now survives by machine production or by outsourcing labour to the Philippines. For this project however, Browne has initiated the revival of a somewhat anachronistic mode of production. Local women who used to work at the factory (most of whom now work at the 'heritage centre' that has replaced it) were re-employed to make the carpet. While seeming to recall certain modernist designs (or perhaps to reference Eileen Gray), the design and colour choice was actually dictated by the decision to work only from the surplus wool stocks remaining at the factory.

A black and white, silent 16mm film work serves as a document of the carpet's making in the museum-as-factory and seeks to address the production of nationality by cultural and economic means.