Tattered Outlaws of History, Fingal, Ireland
Date uploaded: July 8, 2009
In 2006 Fingal County Council Arts office advertised nationally and internationally for artists to submit their interest in becoming part of a Public Art Panel for Fingal. Using funding from the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Governments Per Cent for Art Scheme, the council was in a position to commission new work which would represent Fingal’s rich heritage, landscape, society and culture.
Visual artist Dan Dubowitz (UK) & choregrapher Fearghus Ó Conchúir (IRL) were selected and began the process with extensive site visits in the county. It was clear that they were both particularly taken with the Martello towers and began to research their history, their use and their owners, filming each of these unique buildings from a rooftop perspective.
Ó Conchúir is concerned with the notion of making dance outside the theatre space, making the exceptional familiar and the familiar strange. He uses unexpected environments for dance to explore the relationship between bodies and buildings. Dubowitz has worked on a number of significant regeneration projects in Glasgow and Manchester taking the role of the artist and cultural master planner.
To create this piece a camera was placed at the tower’s former cannon point and moves slowly on a motorised tripod to take in twelve revolutions of movement and landscape, to correspond with the presence of the twelve towers. Fearghus intercepts the filming with movement capturing the character and feeling of each place.
The twelve screen, site specific installation will launch in Fingal on the 16th of July in Skerries Martello Tower and will run through at weekends until August 30th.
Contact:
For further information on the project or the artists -
Caroline Cowley
Public Art Co-ordinator
Fingal County Council
Tel: 01 870 8449
Email: [email protected]
