MARTA GOLUBOWSKA
County Kildare
An artist living on the Grand Canal, Marta is part of a community of boaters who’s lives depend on the waters of the canal. Her project is called ‘Invasive Species’ and is concerned with a waterweed known as ‘Coon’s Tail’ or ‘Hornwort’ (Ceratophyllum Demersum) which wraps itself around the shafts of propellers and makes navigation difficult or even impossible.
JOANNA McGLYNN
County Galway
Joanna develops context-specific projects in response to the immediate physical environment, with a sensitivity to communities of people, place and interest. Themes of natural heritage, plant biodiversity and microecosystems form the foundation of her collaboration with the Eco Showboat which she has been developing in partnership with a sound artist, Anne Marie Deacy (see above), and with the help of researcher Dr. Christie Cunniffe.
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WITH
THANKS
TO
Adrian Conway
Aidan Cleary
Alan Kelly
Alison Alderton
Andrea Fitzpatrick
Andrew Deakin
Andy Walsh
Ann Liston
Ann Murphy
Ann Phelan
Anne Marie Deacy
Aoibhean Bird
Aoife Mcgrath
Averil Gannon
Basil Mannion
Bernie O’Flaherty
Brenda Tobin
Catriona Hilliard
Celine Reilly
Chelsea Canavan
Claire Riordan
Cliona Maher
Clodagh O’Hagan
Colin Becker
Conor Nolan
Constanze O’Toole
Cormac McCarthy
Dave Wall
Deirdre Power
Derek Kelly
Donal Boland
Donna McGreevy
Ena Cleary
Filippo Giancarlo Martinelli
Fran Igoe
Gerardette Bailey
Gerry Burke
Glenn Loughran
Hilary Murray
James Carton
Joanna Mcglynn
John Flanagan
John McDonagh
John Murnane
John O’Neill
John Stack
Jobst Graeve
Josephine Kelliher
Jürgen Huber
Karl Wallace
Kevin O’Dwyer
Liz Burns
Lucina Russell
Máirín Ó Cuireáin
Malcolm Bridge
Marcus Collier
Marie Hanlon
Marie Mannion
Marta Golubowska
Mary Mullins
Melanie Scott
Muireann Ni Chonaill
Neil Higgins
Niall Armstrong
Nina McGowan
Noel O’Connor
Nollaig Feeney
Nora Hickey M’Sichili
Orla Foster
Owen Hickey
Paddy Harkin
Pat Liston
Pat Lysaght
Patrick McBride
Paul Berg
Paul Bird
Philip Delamere
Pippa Little
Rachel Kavanagh
Ray Yeates
Rhona McGrath
Roise O’Shea
Sally O’Leary
Shane Anderson
Sharon O’Grady
Sheena Barrett
Sheevaun Thompson
Sheila Deegan
Sinead Hurson
Siobhán Bourke
Siobhan McQuaid
Siobhan Mulcahy
Stephen Daniels
Stephen Napier
Tania Banotti
Thomas Carolan
Vincent O’Shea
〰️〰️〰️〰️the BOATs〰️the EXPEDITIONs〰️the ART〰️the SCIENCE〰️〰️〰️〰️
ALAN PHELAN
County Offaly
Alan will use historic photography processes to document the fragile ecology of the canal banks. There are strong connections to County Offaly within the history of photography and he will be studying the Offaly stretch of the Grand Canal. Working with Louis Haugh he will be using the Joly screen colour process for the first time in an outdoor setting and hope to develop a parallel digital version of the Joly process with science collaborators which can provide a more contemporary light spectral analysis of the landscape.
MARIE HANLON
County Dublin
Water quality is central to Marie’s project, The Way We Treat Water, which will focus on water in a time of climate change - the water cycle, flooding, drought, water treatment, water recycling, desalination etc. - supporting the idea that available water is a limited entity now threatened by climate change, rising population and the ever-increasing demands of modern lifestyle.
KERRY O’LEARY
Fingal
Kerrie is interested in turning complex data sets into simple visualizations that uncover previously unseen connections and patterns. Her work for the Eco Showboat will be a visual representation of the behaviour of fresh water/salt water in Dublin Bay. The project will explore the changes that have occurred over the years, how the water has physically changed the shape of the land and how nature has been affected by these combined. The work will involve projections and physical computing components (stepper motors/servo motors and LEDs). The moving elements will aim to draw viewers in and help them to understand the effect climate change has already had.
KEVIN O’DWYER
County Offaly
Sacred Spaces follows the Pilgrims Road (Slí Mhór) from the 6th century monastic ruins at Lemanaghan through Boher, the home of Ireland’s finest reliquary Saint Manchan Shrine, to the monastic site of Clonmacnoise along the River Shannon. The roadway has been used by pilgrims for centuries as they travelled along the Esker Riada, a continuous raised glacial ridge on the landscape formed over 12,000 years ago. The Esker Riada and the River Shannon formed a natural ‘crossroads’ in the heart of Ireland providing pilgrims easy access through the bogs and the waterways to important centres of learning and devotion.
ARTS PROGRAMME
DIANE HENSHAW
PADDY McENEANEY
County Fermanagh
Their aim will be to create work that presents the ancient nature of our landscape and man’s relationship with it over the milllenia from the crannogs on the Erne to the black pigs-dyke and the industrialisation of the past 200 years. Diane intends to draw with sound / line into the land / rock/s / mineral /scape using ephemeral / digital media and also within a collaborative oriel / physical performance installation ethos with Paddy using corporeal mime and movement with and without sound highlighting the need for an immediate call for action in regards to the preservation of our local ecology.
Anne Marie DEACY
County Galway
Attuning to the different seasons and creating experiences that heighten the awareness of the wonders we are surrounded by in the rich tapestry of life in Portumna Forest and surrounding areas is a theme that permeates through Anne Marie’s collaboration with Joanna McGlynn (see below).
Tuning In is to be a happening in early spring 2022, one of the participatory events the two artist will host as part of the Eco Showboat programme. As nature begins to come from the more dormant winter period and we traverse into the warmer climate of spring, the forest, waters and meadows come alive with activity. It is the perfect time not only to see the richness of the landscape but also to tune in to the discreet, heard and unheard sounds of the environment.
PAUL BERG
County Clare
Four years ago Paul started working on ‘An Crannog Ceoil’ (The Musical Island) a four meter diameter raft fixed to a disused pontoon. The project involves working with air displacement by water pressure (in this case using the natural flow and rise of Lough Derg, where the raft is located) to play sound pipes (deconstructed harmoniums, bamboo and timber). For his collaboration with the Eco Showboat, Paul plans to construct a range of low sounding, free floating pipes that can be played on the island and on the harbour wall where the raft will be moored.
AN ART EXPEDITION ON A SOLAR POWERED ELECTRIC VESSEL ALONG RIVERS & LAKES CONNECTING COMMUNITIES ACROSS IRELAND TO BUILD A ZERO CARBON FUTURE.
ARTS COUNCIL OPEN CALL AWARD / SFI DISCOVER AWARD 2021
〰️〰️〰️〰️the BOATs〰️the EXPEDITIONs〰️the ART〰️the SCIENCE〰️〰️〰️〰️
DEIRDRE POWER
County Limerick
As an interdisciplinary creative project, Chelsea’s and Deirdre’s collaborative practice aims to visualise the intricate channels of community ecology by way of navigation on the waterways. Water Paths are currently working with communities along the river Shannon catchment area. Much like the natural movement and evolvement of water, Water Paths traverses the ecologies of people from urban to rural, from controlled & industrialised to commons & wild landscapes, and the spaces in-between. The artists look at existing communities of interest within these spaces, communities that remain situated - despite the affects of the socio-economic landscape. Their journey along the social & ecological pathways of the river exposes new histories, our relationship to space, all the while relying on the generosity of free-lifts aboard local boats from the river’s heart in Limerick City to the Grand Canal in Tullamore.
Any response to climate change needs to be founded on science, but there is a growing awareness that the arts community is uniquely placed to develop conversations around climate change and to generate positive creative action. Six artists from five counties are already engaging with the Eco Showboat with the help of Creative Ireland. Through 2022 & 2023 we will be inviting at least another twenty artists (six of whom are already working with us) to collaborate on climate action with Arts Council support.
Four participants in Water Paths by artists Deirdre Power & Chelsea Canavan, 2021