Dublin Port Company has announced the artists commissioned to create a series of site-specific public artworks in response to Dublin Port and its relationship with the City.
Pictured (l-r) at Dublin Port are Cliona Harmey, Sheelagh Broderick, Business to Arts CEO Andrew Hetherington, Dublin Port CEO Eamonn O’Reilly, Alice Butler, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Silvia Loeffler.
New works by Sheelagh Broderick, Silvia Loeffler and AEMI & Cliona Harmey will be unveiled at sites and on structures within Dublin Port over the coming months. This is the latest development from Port Perspectives, Dublin Port’s arts commissioning series for 2017, aimed at strengthening the bond between Dublin Port and the City and bringing Dublin Port to new audiences through the arts.
An open call for proposals from Irish and international based artists attracted over 100 submissions from which the three projects were selected, as judged by a panel of experts drawn from the public arts commissioning, education and heritage arenas.
Sheelagh Broderick’s ‘Great Wall Walks’, looks to create a link between Dublin Port Workers and Dublin Port Walkers, i.e. between those who work at the Port and those who use its environs for recreational purposes. Based at the new Seafarers’ Centre on Alexandra Road, international seafarers arriving at Dublin Port will be invited to collaborate with Sheelagh on creating a series of audio guides to their home towns and cities. The audio will be available to download and highlighted to walkers on the Great South Wall, encouraging local walkers to connect with the world of the international port worker. Launching on May 1st, Sheelagh’s project brings an inclusive and international dimension to the series, celebrating multi-culturalism and social diversity at the heart of port life. An accompanying event will follow on International Seafarers’ Day (June 25th).
Silvia Loeffler’s ‘Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port’ will document the transitional changes in the shape of Dublin Port, from its medieval shoreline to modern day configuration. In collaboration with partners and the local community, Silvia will work for the next nine months on artistic cartography to show the changing connections of the city and how the port has acted as a gateway, creating a vital connection for the city with the wider world. Her work will go on display in the Terminal 1 building at Dublin Port, and a seminar will be held each month to mirror the nine phases of the mapping process. The seminars will take place in the last week of each month at the LAB Gallery on Foley Street, Dublin 2 and places can be booked online through Eventbrite.
In September, audiences can look forward to AEMI & Cliona Harmey’s ‘port | river| city’. This project will research and co-curate a season of artist, experimental, and archive moving-image artworks that interrogate and reflect on ports and their environs. Their collaborative project comprises a series of cinematic screenings as well as site-specific installations across a number of strategically chosen locations in the city. With the use of a mobile field cinema, audiences can expect screenings from early September for a three-week period.
For more information see Dublin Port & the City.
