Events

Tables and chairs and other people, 2016
Tables and chairs and other people, 2016

Tables and chairs and other people

Curated by Emer Lynch

A collection of art installations presented in and amongst Lynders Mobile Home Park for the duration of the Bleeding Pig Festival featured work by Hannah Black, Richard Forrest, Marcus Gambrill, Lorna Hayden, Mitchell Kehe, Caroline Madden, James Moran and Camilla Wills.

Resort Revelations 2016
Resort Revelations 2016

Alan James Burns
Entirely hollow aside from the dark

Entirely hollow aside from the dark was a psycho-acoustic work installed in Smuggler’s Cave: an ancient natural auditorium carved into the underbelly of Portrane’s Cliffside. A symphony of sounds unfolded from the fissure between reality and imagination, swirling an inner dialogue down a curious yet treacherous path of self-identity. The work was made in collaboration with writer Sue Rainsford and sound engineer/editor Ian Dunphy, with thanks to Dublin Institute of Technology’s Summer Studio programme.

Communication Evolution, Fiona Marron, 2016
Communication Evolution, Fiona Marron, 2016

Communication Evolution
Fiona Marron

Communication Evolution was presented in response to Fiona Marron’s investigation into a sub-sea cable that linked Lambay Island and a beach on the North Dublin coastline. Many of her artworks to date have involved narratives of modern day subsea cables and their significance in the infrastructure of the internet, she found that focusing on a historical communications cable was an interesting way of exploring the precedents for contemporary communication, whilst also uncovering a local artefact of interest and the stories that surround it. Her work for the festival culminated in a talk alongside exhibited elements with specialist Derek Cassidy, founder and chairperson of the Irish Communication Research Group (IGRG) and also the chairperson of the Irish Network of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)

St. Ita's Radio, Portrane
St. Ita’s Radio, Portrane

Ocean Wonder
Michael McLoughlin and Mike Finn

Michael McLoughlin and Mike Finn in Association with the Donabate Portrane Dramatic Society, Tower Bay Singers & St. Ita’s Hospital Radio 89.5FM, Tower Bay carpark

Ocean Wonder is a form of radio play that mixes narrative, monologue, verse, song and soundscape. It was a special one-off radio broadcast for the Bleeding Pig Festival to be listened to in Tower Bay car park. It was a site-specific artwork developed by Michael McLoughlin & Mike Finn. The radio play is based on stories, histories and testimonies relating to Portrane from the sinking of the Tayleur in 1854, to the present day. Visitors were invited to listen live to Ocean Wonder on St. Ita’s Radio 89.5FM from Tower Bay carpark, Portrane on Friday the 9th of September 2016 at 6.30pm.

the fools, the fools, the fools, Ella de Burca, 2016
the fools, the fools, the fools, Ella de Burca, 2016

the fools, the fools, the fools*
Ella de Burca Symposium

The seminar examined the role of art and politics in shaping how a society remembers past events through a keynote discussion which asked, ‘Are artists viable political agents for social change?’ The seminar invited art practitioners to speak about how they use their art practice as a platform to highlight political and social situations. Chaired by Helen Carey, the seminar featured contributions by writer Dr. John Welchman, Professor of Art History at the University of California, Irish artists Sarah Browne and Brian Maguire and curator Aneta Szylak (Director of the Wyspa Institute of Art, Poland).

*the fools,the fools,the fools relates to a speech given by Padraig Pearse at the grave of O’Donovan Rossa in 1915. His funeral was used to stir nationalist sentiment before the 1916 rising.

A Motivational Manifestation, Caroline Doolin, 2016
A Motivational Manifestation, Caroline Doolin, 2016

A Motivational Manifestation
Caroline Doolin

A research presentation combining video, 3D modelling, narration and sound to explore the idea of energy and how it might be articulated through visual, digital and linguistic forms. The work focused particularly on the geothermal energy bound to Portrane’s volcanic past, its geological present and the wider potential for such heat to be harnessed for contemporary industry processing. The presentation further incorporated aspects of motivational speaking, its equivalent language of potential, transformation and purpose and its desire to manifest psychological and emotional energy in the individual.

Events

St. Ita's Radio, Portrane
St. Ita’s Radio, Portrane

Ocean Wonder

A special broadcast of the Ocean Wonder — A Radio Play by Michael McLoughlin, Mike Finn and members of the Donabate Amateur Dramatic Society broadcasted on St. Ita’s Radio 89.5fm on Sunday 10th of September 2017 at 6pm. The Ocean Wonder was produced as part of Resort Revelations 2016.

Entirely hollow aside from the dark
Alan James Burns

‘Entirely hollow aside from the dark’ is a psycho-acoustic sound performance within caves; ancient natural auditoriums carved into the underbelly of Ireland’s countryside. The immersive installation creates a visceral experience of journeying into someone’s inner dialogue by using 3-dimensional audio. The cave personifies a human consciousness questioning reality, wherein an audible inner dialogue and choreographed sounds echo the character’s thoughts and memories. In the darkness, this psycho-acoustic work unfolds and a symphony of sounds shifts around the cave. Entirely hollow aside from the dark is an artwork by Alan James Burns, made in collaboration with writer Sue Rainsford and sound editor Ian Dunphy.
This event was part of a national tour taking place across the island of Ireland throughout the summer of 2017. The tour of Entirely hollow aside from the dark was core funded by the Arts Council of Ireland Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme and was kindly supported by Creative Ireland. The artwork taking place at Smuggler’s Cave, Portrane, was in conjunction with Bleeding Pig Festival, and supported by Fingal Arts Office, Fingal County Council and Lynders Mobile Home Park. Entirely hollow aside from the dark was initially commissioned by Fingal County Council Arts Office for its Resort Revelations Programme 2016.

Perishable Picnic, Deirdre O’Mahony, 2017
Perishable Picnic, Deirdre O’Mahony, 2017

Perishable Picnic
Deirdre O’Mahony

The Perishable Picnic celebrated the history of fruit growing in North County Dublin. A giant ceramic strawberry jam pot made by artist Garnet McCulloch was the centrepiece for a picnic of strawberry foods, drinks, and conversation. Roger Lamb (Lamb’s Fruit), Ray McLoughlin who has completed significant research into the Lamb Farming History at Trinity College Dublin, artist Deirdre O’Mahony and Fingal County Council’s Heritage Officer Gerry Clabby discussed the history of fruit farming focusing on the impact of Quaker Farming practices, ethics and investment in the area through an industry that once played an important role in the local economy and community. There was a screening of archival film footage from the Lamb Family collection, and a reading by local author Peig McManus where she reflected on her experience of strawberry picking in the area as a child. Deirdre devised a strawberry feast to accompany the day’s discussions with local chef Wayne Hand, featuring lots of strawberry delights.

Earthbound, Catherine Barragry, 2017
Earthbound, Catherine Barragry, 2017

Earthbound
Catherine Barragry

An alien spaceship approaches in the distance. What is this unknown vessel and what future does it carry in its hull? Intruders have come to these coasts before: the land of Fingal is named after a foreign tribe. The vessel nears, and fear swills with awe, as the mechanisms that keep this immense vessel in flight become apparent. The vessel, now hovering a mile or so overhead, performs a majestic vertical landing in the corner field at Lynders. This mobile home site is used to welcome visitors, who come to decompress from busy lives, bringing only the most important things with them on their journeys. Perhaps in these decisions to decompress, simplify and change speeds, lies wisdom for our visitors. What can we tell these new inhabitants about Earth? How on Earth can they survive and thrive in these conditions?

‘Earthbound’ imagined that an alien landing is imminent. The work came in two parts; a live sound performance and a text. The sound performance uses voice and synthesised sound to place the viewer at the moment that the spaceship approaches and performs a majestic vertical landing in the corner field at Lynders. Meanwhile the text acted as a guidebook for the alien visitors to assist them in their survival on Earth. Written and directed by Catherine Barragry, music composed by Seán Mac Arlaine, performed by Cliona Ardiff, Susan E Brown, Jill Kiernan and Donna Wearen.

Other Space, Vanessa Daw, 2017
Other Space, Vanessa Daw, 2017

Other Space
Vanessa Daws

‘You will understand why the boat has not only been for our civilisation, from the sixteenth Century until the present the great instrument of economic development but has been simultaneously the greatest reserve of the imagination. The ship is the heterotopia par excellence. In civilisations without boats dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure and the police take the place of pirates’ Foucault ‘Of other spaces’, 1967.

Vanessa Daws through her residency was drawn to the site of the famous shipwreck. The RMS Tayleur, which lies beneath the sea off Lambay Island. Her deep connection to the sea is demonstrated through her practice in which she swims, dives; engaging others in these acts as a way to inhabit the space of water.

Vanessa has been working with local man Laddie de Jong, a salvage diver who brought up many artefacts from the Tayleur in the 80’s, and also with Billy Crowley who in the 1950’s along with Tom Shakespeare re-discovered the RMS Tayleur and were pioneers of scuba diving in Ireland, the UCD Sub Aqua Club, Eoghan Kieran from Geomara who is an expert on the Tayleur and took Vanessa out while they were conducting a Multibeam Sonar of the Tayleur this summer, and Eamon McGrattan skipper of the Malahide Charter Boat.

Vanessa, through her experience of the dives, the installation on the boat hopes to make visible the depths of what’s below the surface to a new audience. Through the exploration of the RMS Tayleur the work considered the blurring of boundaries between culture and nature. It investigated the way in which maritime histories can come alive through stories, interactions with place, artefacts that are brought up to the surface and also through technology such as a Multibeam Sonar used to create a 3 dimensional image of the RMS Tayleur as it was in 2017.

Vanessa invited the audience to join her and underwater archaeologist Eoghan Kiernan on a boat trip to the site of the RMS Tayleur where she presented her own artefacts which relate to her personal interaction with this Other Space. Boats departed from Malahide Marina to the site of the RMS Tayleur wreckage.

Vanessa also hosted a conversation between Marine Archaelogist Eoghan Kiernan, former diver John Tayler and local man Laddie de Jong, uncovering more stories from what lies beneath the sea. The title Other Space was taken from Stephanie Merchant’s essay Deep Ethnography: Witnessing the Ghosts of SS Thistlegorm, 2014.

Events

Exhibition and Programme Launch

The 2018 Resort Revelations Exhibition and Programme were officially launched by Councillor Anthony Lavin, Mayor of Fingal. The evening included an exhibition of new work by Ciaran Murphy, Bennie Reilly, Difference Engine and Marie Farrington.

There was also a performance of work by Jessica Foley of Difference Engine and a card game to introduce Bennie Reilly’s Souvenirs of Portrane, Resort Revelations’ limited-edition card decks. Souvenir decks of cards were available free to visitors of the exhibition and at the Cabinet of Curiosities at Newbridge House at tours of Bennie Reilly’s work there.

Bennie Reilly—Souvenirs of Portrane

A selection of natural curiosities collected on the beaches of Portrane including highly unusual seashells, strange rock formations and other questionable artefacts. Bennie Reilly presented work in The Cabinet of Curiosities at Newbridge House. Tours of the work at Newbridge House took place on Saturday 8th and Saturday 15th 2018 at 2pm and 3pm each day. Tours of the work included a tour of the house. 

Souvenirs of Portrane, Bennie Reilly, 2018

Jessica Foley—Worldizing in the Modh Coinníollach: A writing workshop to see what condition our condition is in

Worldizing (a term/technique developed by Walter Murch in the 1970s) is about bringing sounds from one place into another and making an audio recording. The Modh Coinníollach is a tense in the Irish language that involves making affirmative statements in the conditional mood. This writing workshop with Jessica Foley introduced participants to both of these ideas and explored how they might help illuminate our relationship to technology and our sense of future through the wonderful world of the Gantt Chart. 

Ciaran Murphy, I, See, 2018

Workshop with Ciaran Murphy

Ciaran Murphy invited participants to join him in an observational drawing workshop situated along the sites which inspired his work. Now that nearly everyone has ready access to a camera phone and can take a picture without much thought or effort, what is the point of trying to draw or paint outdoors? Perhaps this easy access to cameras has eroded our ability to look more closely at the world. Drawing demands close observation, and for the artist to be faced with the challenge of interpreting a world in motion. It also highlights the gap between intentions and outcomes. 

This practical workshop looked at some of the key challenges and approaches to drawing and painting outdoors. It began by introducing techniques from art history, before venturing outside to explore the seascape. 

Difference Engine—Image Engine: A Drawing Workshop

Image Engine was a short speedy workshop into colliding images where piles of words met participant’s machinic imaginations, where exploding thoughts were drawn onto paper, where labyrinths were decoded while the corpse was reconceived exquisitely.

Participants worked with Difference Engine artists on creating coloured drawings on paper using imaginative techniques that helped generate exciting and playful sketches, with an introduction to ‘exquisite corpse’, one of the favourite drawing games of the surrealists, and a brief look at the Celtic maze and its drawn construction.