projects

In July 2009, I undertook a five week residency at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray. Entitled The Making Of, my residency consisted of an open and evolving studio in the gallery where I worked from every day. I was there to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Ardmore Studios in Bray, a film studio just outside the town, by collecting memories from people living nearby whose lives had been in some way touched by it. People were invited to drop in to the gallery during the month and meet me, lending documents I used to create a digital archive and allowing me to record our conversations, where they reminisced about the studio. The stories that emerged were, as can be imagined, amazing insights into the past fifty years, swirling out into broad general histories but always returning to the legacy of the film studios.

The end result of the project came in different forms. There were workshops throughout, from teaching how to make pin wheels from the old Bray seafront to impromptu discussions and guided tours of the props and documents contributed to the exhibition. There were two events to thank all the people involved, both with words said and wine drank and the second one with music from dear and talented friends of mine Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, Odessa and The Wheel Wright and Rory Grubb. There was an audio walking tour composed by myself and Alex Synge using original text and recordings from the participants with accompanying music by Cian Nugent. You can listen to this just below or download it from the Mermaid Arts Centre website. Ideally visiting the Mermaid Arts Centre would be best, as they will welcome you with a fold out map and set of headphones and send you to do the tour properly, while walking around the town of Bray.
There was an archive made from all the scanned images and documents so kindly contributed to the exhibition and a fold out map and text documenting the project.

Click here to listen to the audio piece:

All installation shots by Leah Reynolds

The You That Is In It is an installation comprising works on paper and an audio walking tour on exhibit at the Irish Museum of Modern Art until March 2009. I was commissioned to create this piece by IMMA and the curator Ian Russell, who was working on behalf of the World Archaeological Congress to curate a contemporary visual arts programme entitled Abhar agus Meon. You can read more about the programme here.
The You That Is In It attempted to excavate the hidden histories of the Royal Hospital of Kilmainham, which houses the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and explore notions of artistic process through the medium of a short walk leading participants out of the gallery space into the surrounds of the gallery. I created the piece in collaboration with the sound artist Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh. Each participant is given a work on paper I illustrated during the process of creating the tour, which they fold into a pyramid shape and hold throughout the walk, as a talisman of their journey.

You can listen to the tour by clicking below, but I recommend listening to it in the gallery itself, where the invigilator will lend you your very own shiny ipod with which to do so.

Its an Audio De-Tour is a piece of site specific performance art for two people. It is an audio tour that goes in through your ears and out through your feet. Each tour lasts 30 minutes. At the starting point, you and your partner pick up an mp3 player each. A voice describes your surroundings and takes you each on a separate but synchronised journey through public and private spaces, using the architecture of the city as stage design. Its an Audio De-Tour layers choreography, soundscapes and stories on top of the real city and asks you to use everyday space with a playful and childlike sense of experimentation, exploration and adventure, exploring places you might normally ignore. It's an Audio De-Tour is made afresh for every space.

It's an Audio Detour is a collaboration between Fiona Hallinan and Maebh Cheasty, with sound currently being created by Alex Synge.

It's an Audio Detour's sound was previously created by Peter Morrow and, previous to that, by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.

From April 2008 It's an Audio Detour: Forever and Ever will be available on an ongoing basis from Project Arts Centre, Dublin.

The tour is available to take every day except Sunday from 12pm to 7pm. It takes 30 minutes.

For some more information, including excerpts from texts written for past detours you can look here or see our myspace page.

Left: It's an Audio Detour as part of We are Here, a "season of alternative projects probing the physical and cultural landscape through interactive film, mixed-reality gaming, mobile theatre and gently subversive audio tours" in collaboration with Project Arts Centre and Dublin Docklands Authority.

Right: It's an Audio Detour: A Christmas Special in collaboration with Project Arts Centre, Dublin.

The Sea Sees Me is a project by myself and Patrick Bresnihan, with live sounds by Rachel Ni Chuinn. Stories are told through words and real taste, touch and smell to a blindfolded audience. It was invented for LightsOFF! a festival of acoustic and non-electric art held in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny in May 2008 and organised by Kate Strain and Luci Van Delden. We are performing this show next inside Disconnect a walking tour and party made by Maebh Cheasty/ You're Only Massive as part of We are Here 3.0. This will start on June 30th and happen every evening until July 5th.

A Symposium A Banquet

A Symposium A Banquet was "a meeting time for the exchange of lessons, knowledge and sharing experiences over a banquet table". The show involved a diverse range of speakers giving talks on different subjects to an audience of about thirty people. The subjects ranged from an introduction to String Theory to lessons in tearing a phonebook in half. Afterwards everyone sat down to eat a meal of Korean barbecue prepared for us by the Parnell Street restaurant The Hop House.

You can see some more information and pictures of the night here. I produced this event with Tessa Giblin, who is the visual arts curator at Project Arts Centre.

Home