TRACES IN THE LANDSCAPE: STONE DESERT, ALPS AND ATLANTIC SHORE

Editors: Mark Cullen

Luise Kloos

Dublin Graz Zagreb 2024

Josip Zanki

Anyone Can Do It? Ethnographic Insights into

Land Art Artistic Practices

Nikolina Durut

Tomislav Oroz

STONE WALLS: MARK IN THE LANDSCAPE OR OBLIVIOUS CULTURAL MEMORY

CROATIA, 2021

Stone Walls: Mark in the Landscape or Oblivious

Cultural Memory

Josip Zanki

STARING AT THE SEA IRELAND, 2023

Introduction

Land art and reflection symposium – Staring at the Sea Cill Rialaig Artists Village & Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry

Meabhrúchán: Set in stones

Eve Woods

Staring at the sea – staring at the universe –staring at life – staring is caring

Tanja Gurke

Irish or English? – The Linguistic Landscape of Ireland

Marie Maierhofer

ANYONE CAN DO IT? ETHNOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS INTO LAND ART ARTISTIC PRACTICES

Nikolina Durut Tomislav Oroz

A statement that we have heard countless times in the public space when it comes to contemporary artistic practices, intrigued us again before the start of the land art drywall workshop in 2021 in the towns of Kožino and Privlaka near Zadar, on the island of Pag and in the Paklenica National Park. We continued the series of workshops inspired by land art in 2022 and 2023 at Grafenbergalm in the Styrian Alps under the leadership of Luisa Kloos (Austria) and at the artist residency in Cill Rialaig, led by Mark Cullen (Ireland). These locations were part of a three-year itinerary for students from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Zagreb and Ethnology and Anthropology students from the University of Zadar. Guided by mentors and collaborating with artists, workshop participation was motivated by reflection and the practice of artistic interventions in space. Josip Zanki, the Spiritus movens behind the project and the initiator of the first interdisciplinary workshop, recognized land art as an artistic phenomenon still insufficiently researched in Croatia, yet analytically relevant for cultural analysis due to its layers of meaning. Land art emerged in the sixties of the last century as a reflection of the revolt against the prevailing ideology of consumerism. To democratize and diverge from institutionalized art, land art installations immerse themselves in the local context and cultural landscape. Such reflection supports the general understanding of nature as a valuable concept

opposed to social institutions that deprive man of his innate essence (Berger 1980, 15). Our experience of participating in land art workshops opened up questions that we, as the authors of this text, tried to answer from an ethnological and cultural anthropological perspective. Respecting the interpretations of our interlocutors, we tried to understand the creation of the artwork, the interweaving of space and culture, the "life" of land art and the new meanings inscribed in the space. Through this brief ethnographic reflection, answers will be offered and additional questions will be asked to stimulate reflection on land art

One of the first questions with which we started the Croatian stage of the workshop was a universal question that we encountered countless times in the context of contemporary artistic practices: Can anyone do it? We interwove the above question with numerous other questions posed to the workshop participants. But unlike the laconic conclusions that circulate in the public space, our ethnographic insights into the creation of land art ended with a question mark. In doing so, we emphasized the process of creating land art, opening up space for thinking about the connection between ethnography and art, experimentalism, collaboration and local (tacit) knowledge. In our approach, we have replaced the relativization of contemporary artistic practices such as land art with a contextual understanding of the creation of works of art in a cultural landscape that is primarily marked by stone as a symbol of the locations where the workshops took place. For instance, stone is one of the symbols of the island of Pag, which summarizes the complexity of the island's space and its ambivalence, conditions traditional economic activities and marks the island's architecture. Also, stone construction was evident in various fortification, residential and sacred structures along Ireland's Iveragh Peninsula, while the Austrian landscape was dominated by greenery, with wood being the primary material for creating land art installations.

Participation in the workshops made us aware of the extent to which such undertakings are part of careful planning and teamwork with members of the local community. Along the way, we have lost illusions about the work of art as a reflection of the solitary, heroic feat of the artist, as well as the idea that local knowledge should be unquestioningly fetishized and endlessly reproduced in certified and existing forms. Our cooperation with members of the local community helped to encourage new ways of cooperation and shape relationships whereby interdependence was perceived as an artistic reality, not as an ethno-

graphic weakness (Martínez 2021, 19). Therefore, our ethnographic insights into the creation of land art, initially developed through observations and interviews, shifted during the creative process as we worked silently under the intense sun of the coastal karst environment. The anthropological search for meanings at the time of the creation of land art, and in the context of the summer heat, moved from the safety of controlled research to the specific context of creation, listening and learning within the workshop. In other words, mediated local knowledge and practical experiences shifted the focus of our understanding of land art to embodied knowledge (cf. Frykaman 1990) that became conscious with each new raised stone, with each blister, with the discussion of the shape of the stone, its "right" place, or the occasional automaticity of our actions that anchored us in contemplative moments. Local knowledge served as a bridge to stone building techniques and artistic ideas that took shape before us. Local knowledge, conceived as a complex of factual knowledge, skills and abilities (cf. Geertz 1983), is rooted in local environments and individuals who have opened the way to an understanding of space. Thus, local knowledge became the backbone of our immersion in the spaces where we created and tried to understand land art.

Fragmentation, which sometimes characterized our communication, dissolved through embodied practice, fading into the calm rhythm of our efforts. The sounds of hitting stones occasionally interrupted our meditativeness and started conversations about further shaping of artistic forms that referred to already existing geometric shapes. The works of art created during the workshop on the island of Pag were reminiscent of traditional architectural structures, which we then adapted to new functions and forms - a meditative bench, a clochán (a stone beehive-like structure), a spiral or the letter "L". At the entrance to the Paklenica National Park, an installation was designed that evoked the shape of a snake. Its body and symbolism in the karst environment inspired us for the sinuous shape with the accompanying flow of the stream. The Austrian workshop encouraged individual creativity accompanied by unlimited freedom of expression. In addition to stone installations, flower wreaths were made, while motifs of sun rays were shaped with branches. Wooden planks were also used, which were later transformed into an hourglass and weather vane, as well as fabric, which is of special importance to the local community. Expanding the scope of artistic endeavors, the workshop participants also held perfor-

mances. Land art on the Irish coast was staged with stone installations that symbolized changes in the landscape such as tides, referencing significant archaeological excavations from the Neolithic period and celestial constellations.

Taking into account natural materials such as stones and wood that shaped the workshops, the apparently ephemeral and ambivalent character of land art is revealed. Since the installations are positioned in nature, they are exposed to natural forces and their deterioration is inevitable. The use of such material also indicated the changeability of the landscape in which the land art installations were created. The idea of the connection of all forms of life and their transience allows us to question the idea of permanence in the context of fragile ecosystems. The interactive work Land Watch by an Austrian artist Gerlinda Thume warned us about responsibility towards the landscape. A carved wooden panel in the shape of an hourglass was placed on a tree branch, so that the observer would symbolically choose their viewpoint with regard to the height of the horizon. The view of the mountain towards which the installation is directed revealed the equalization of erosion and the imperceptible leak of the hourglass, suggesting to observers an urgent reaction related to man's degradation of nature. Such a sobering message resonated deeply during the Irish fieldwork when we came across the body of a stranded whale in a nearby bay. The sight evoked in us respect for the magnificent creature and sympathy for its tragic fate. In this context, land art installations can be interpreted as a kind of cenotaph to an endangered ecosystem.

The workshops highlighted the inevitable intertwining and mutual influence of space, culture, and society, emphasizing the ongoing nature of processuality. From an ethnographic point of view, such transformative nature of the landscape enhanced by land art enables the inscribing of new meanings and symbolism. A material like stone under the transformative power of land art enlivens the space and opens it up to various interpretations in which the verse of the everyday is reflected in the fragmentary rhythms of existence (Thornton 1988, 286). We will address the initial question posed in this paper conditionally, considering the reflections of our interlocutors and our experiences of cooperation and research. Land art as an artistic medium is open to anyone who perceives it as a reflexive team effort, condemned to a multitude of perspectives, never-ending interpretations and contextual understandings.

References

Beger, John. 1980. About looking. New York: Pantheon Books

Frykman, Jonas. 1990. Što ljudi čine, a o čemu rijetko govore. Etnološka tribina, 20 (13), 81-95.

Geertz, Clifford. 1983. Local Knowledge. New York: Basic Books.

Martínez, Francisco. 2021. Ethnographic Experiments with Artists, Designers and Boundary Objects. Exhibitions as a Research Method. London: UCL Press.

Thornton, Robert. 1988. The Rhetoric of Ethnographic Holism. Cultural Anthropology. 3(3), 285-303.

STONE WALLS: MARK IN THE LANDSCAPE OR OBLIVIOUS CULTURAL MEMORY

CROATIA, 2021

STONE WALLS: MARK IN THE LANDSCAPE OR OBLIVIOUS CULTURAL MEMORY

Josip Zanki

The key reference of the project Stone Walls: Mark in the Landscape or Oblivious Cultural Memory was the heritage of dry stone walling in Croatia. This type of stone wall construction is made by stacking stones without using any connecting material like cement. The dry stone technique, practiced in Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2018. It was used on the Croatian coast for various purposes. Its function was closely connected to the landscape: it was used as a hill fort defense system, to construct houses or huts, to make terraces for growing vines or olives, and to create partition walls, whose function was to separate different owners’ sheep droves and create pasture. With all of the above, building the dry stone walls also served a simple function, which is to clear the land from stones and as a defense against strong wind.

There are different construction methods of dry stone walls: walls made of one row of stones (unjulica), walls made of two rows of stones with a filling of smaller stones (duplica) and basic form walls (barbakan). Each method depends on the landscape configuration and the form of natural stones in the area where the dry stone structure was built. The Croatian dry stone walls’ living tradition is not only heritage, but also an unforgettable part of the landscape and a platform for contemporary art expression.

The project was organized by the Croatian Association of Fine Artists, led by artist Josip Zanki, and realized from June 23rd to 29th, 2021, in collaboration with partner institutions and organizations: Next from Graz, Pallas Projects/Studios from Dublin and the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Artists in this project, Luise Kloos (Austria), Ivan Fijolić, Josip Zanki and Anđela Zanki (Croatia), and Mark Cullen (Ireland), realized their interventions in suggested locations in Croatia: site Paška vrata on the Island of Pag, National Park Paklenica and Sokolar well in Privlaka. The project also included ethnologists and cultural anthropologists Sara Mikelić (project coordinator) and professor Tomislav Oroz, students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb Dorian Pacak and Laura Stojkoski students of the Department of Ethnology and Anthropology of the University of Zadar Nikolina Durut and Lucija Dania, and professor Bojana Vukojević and students of the School of Applied Art and Design from Zadar. Anthropologists and students participated in the project as part of their research and academic courses, and being involved in fieldwork and assisting in the realization of artworks.

In this project the dry stone technique was used as a tool for artistic expression. Artworks were created as spatial interventions and were made from natural materials, stones and soil found on the locations. Maja Flajsig, a member of NGO organization Dragodid (well known for organizing and conducting drywall workshops and conducting research on drywall heritage), conducted a workshop on the dry stone walls technique at the Matešić family farm near Kožino. The workshop took part on the first two days of the project, June 23rd to 24th, and it was preparation for artistic interventions. After practical instructions, Flajsig and project participants constructed two rows wall (duplica), as a protection from the northern wind bura, and one row wall (unjulica) as a fireplace. The knowledge participants gained in this workshop helped in the construction of land art interventions.

On the third and fourth days of the project, June 25th to 26th, interventions were created near the trekking path at Paška vrata on the island of Pag. This specific site is on the north part of the island, opposite to Velebit Mountain. There is no vegetation there, and nature is formed as a stone desert on the Moon. Mark Cullen built a miniature form of the Irish clochán (Beacon, aluminum wrapped stone intervention). In its origin, clochán is a beehive-shaped structure built on the west coast of Ireland, intended for meditation and prayer in the early Middle Age monasteries, such as Skellig Michael. Cullen's work is installed on the

hill near the trekking path. Flat stones used to create the intervention were wrapped with aluminum tape, which creates light reflection and makes the work visible from a distance.

On the platform near Cullen's work, three land art interventions were created. The work of Luise Kloos, an L-shaped drywall (one row, unjulica), repeats traditional wall forms and marks the landscape of the Island of Pag with its precision. Kloos stated that her wall is referred to the word ‘love’ and to her name Luise, but it is also naturally shaped like all other walls in the area. Next to Kloos’ intervention is the work created by Ivan Fijolić with the assistance of Anđela Zanki. Fijolić's intervention is a spiral constructed in the first part as a two-row wall (duplica) and in the last as one (unjulica). This spiral shape reinterprets the iconic work Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson (1970) in the moonlike landscape of Pag. The connection between these two works is salt; in the Great Salt Lake and on the surface of the north side of the island of Pag, caused by the bura wind. The third work created by Josip Zanki is an intervention at the edge of the platform near the trekking path. The intervention is reminiscent of bunja (a traditional vernacular building in the function of a field shelter built all over the Croatian coast), whose purpose is to be used as a bench, a gloriette for observing the romanticized landscape of the island and nearby Velebit Mountain.

On the fifth and sixth days of the project, June 27th to 28th, all participants created a spatial intervention in the form of a huge viper snake (approximately 12 meters long) at the entrance to the National Park Paklenica. The intervention shape of the snake refers to the Velebit Mountain landscape, using the natural undulating shape of the terraces on which it is created. The intervention is constructed as a specific type of dry stone wall podzid, traditionally used to stabilize vineyards or olive terraces. To mark the end of the tail of the snake and to finish participative work on the intervention, Mark Cullen placed a stone wrapped with aluminum tape. This intervention was built in memory of a famous academic Radoslav Katičić, a Croatian linguist and Slavist who visited Paklenica on this site during the conference Fairy Portal (Croatian Vilinska vrata).1 On the June 29th, the last day of the project, all participants built a spatial intervention in Privlaka, next to well Sokolar, a local historical

1 The conference was organized by the University of Zadar and the University of Zagreb in 2012 and presented research on Slavic mythology and sacralization of space.

monument, which is mentioned in the first Croatian novel Planine by Petar Zoranić (published in Venice in 1569). The intervention was built of a specific local stone called pamparot, collected on the beach, and could be used as a bench.2

The presentation of the project results was held in the Duke's Palace in the City of Pag on the last evening. Project leader Josip Zanki spoke about drywall tradition and organizational points of the work in three specific locations. Project coordinator Sara Mikelić presented artistic interventions, and then artists and other participants (students and professors) talked about their personal experiences and impressions of the landscapes, stones and artistic methodology.

The project Stone Walls: Mark in the Landscape or Oblivious Cultural Memory was based on the reinterpretation of the traditional heritage of drywall construction through the artistic mediums of land art and spatial intervention. The objective of this project was to re-evaluate the traditional art of dry stone walling through contemporary artistic media and by respecting traditional landscapes and give it new meanings; in the local community and in the Croatian and international cultural and educational sectors.

2 A detailed report on project results Završio je projekt Suhozidi: trag u krajoliku ili zaboravljena kulturna baština written by Sara Mikelić in 2021 can be consulted at https:// www.hdlu.hr/2021/07/zavrsio-je-projekt-suhozidi-trag-u-krajoliku-ili-zaboravljena-kulturna-bastina/

Mark Cullen, Beacon, aluminum wrapped stone intervention, 2021

Luise Kloos, spatial intervention, 2021

Ivan Fijolić with the assistance of Anđela Zanki, spatial intervention, 2021

Josip Zanki, spatial intervention, 2021

Mark Cullen, Luise Kloos, Ivan Fijolić, Tomislav Oroz, Dorian Pacak, Laura Stojkoski, Anđela Zanki and Josip Zanki, spatial intervention, 2021

Luise Kloos, Ivan Fijolić, Dorian Pacak, Laura Stojkoski, Anđela Zanki and Josip Zanki, spatial intervention, 2021

WOOD AND STONE

AUSTRIA, 2022

WOOD AND STONE LAND ART PROJECT ON THE GRAFENBERGALM 2022

The second part of the cooperation project DRYSTONEWALL was realized in 2022 on the Grafenbergalm in Austria. Regarding the natural and cultural circumstances in this alpine area, the project was extended by the material wood and titled “Wood and Stone”. The Grafenbergalm at an altitude of 1800 to 2000 meters confronted the artists with an environment that is rich in landscape and tradition, but barren and meager as a way of life.

The aim of the project was to research traditions and customs with cultural anthropological means and to reinterpret them in contemporary art. The historical traces on the Grafenbergalm date back to Roman times. Nowadays, it is used as an alpine pasture. The landscape is shaped by rocky limestone, the tree line emphasizes the sensitive balance between protected natural space and economic use, especially in the tradition of woodworkers, charcoal burners, and raftsmen.

The materials wood and stone were the basis for artistic interventions. Through hiking the artists examined the natural structures of the landscape. They were interested in signs of human interventions, customs, and mystical rituals passed down over centuries. At the end of the week the artistic works were presented in an Art Walk with visitors from the valley, local villages, Graz and Vienna.

Ursula Beiler

Roots, branches, and tree beard combine to form a large cross symbolizing the female. The cross as a cross of life, as a connection to heaven, as a symbol for nature in symbiosis with humans, takes on a mystical meaning. From the cross the so-called “Wildfrauenlöcher” (wild women's holes) high up in the mountains can be seen, a place where female demonic creatures once lived. “HELLO GODDESS" was echoing in the landscape in Ursula Beiler's performance. With it the artist shows that in a masculine-dominated language there is room not just for God, but for a female deity as well.

WILD WOMEN’S CROSS 2022 –

The direct line to heaven on earth is the cross of life

Performance, sculpture

Mountain pine and larch branches fastened with screws to a rooted larch trunk split by lightning

250 x 180 cm

A box made of found Swiss stone pine panels, painted with ox blood on the outside and egg tempera on the inside, lies on a hill and is waiting to be revived, or simply remains lying in the landscape. It is a box for pulling, laying, setting up, storing, a phone booth with holes for listening, a shrine, a bed, a perch, a supposed raised bed, or even a dressing room. There are no limits to imagination or nature. Ambiguity, complexity, and narrative elements as well as directly addressing, even touching, people who come to the Alp and are curious are important to the artist in his project.

THE BOX

Sculpture, performance

Swiss stone pine wood sawn freehand into boards, connected with dovetails, gilded with egg tempera on the inside, painted brown with ox blood on the outside, a calf rope to pull, four times three holes for listening

approx. 210 x 35 x 45 cm now left to rot

Mark Cullen

The abundant yellow flowers in a small clearing after a steep rise welcomed all to the upper pastures with an elevating joy. The spirit of Rosi Bradroitti's Posthuman book permeated Mark Cullen's thinking on our collective activities on the mountain. Our work in nature, our work with nature and our work as nature with no degree of separation.

Garlands celebrated the coming together of all these elements, it was a temporary relational work – honouring the people who made the journey as much as the artists who preceded them in the landscape. A posthuman gesture acknowledging we are not separate, we are not above or beneath, but rather we are consistent with nature in all its contingencies.

Flowerchains of hawkweed (hieracium) and hawksbeard (crepis)

Variable dimensions

GARLANDS

Ivan Fijolić

When the artist arrived at the pasture, he found what he considered to be a dramatic landscape. Starting from one central stone, he connects large stones found in a meadow to form seven radiating lines, which are traced with stones. The image that emerges in the soft rolling hills is reminiscent of constellations, an image of a section of the sky, presented as if on a canvas. For Ivan Fijolić nature and natural elements symbolize the relationship between body, mind, and the universe.

SPARKLING!

Stones from the field

22 x 12 m

Silvia Maria Grossmann

A finely carved feather made of wood in the middle of a compass rose, where stones take the places of the respective points of the compass, shows the wind situation on the pasture. The feather is related to the birds living on the mountain pasture, but also to the quill pen and therefore to writing and text. In this sense, it refers to the writer Bodo Hell, who farms the alp in summer and is active as an author. The "Wind Dancer" stays anchored in the meadow, where it is exposed to the forces of nature. Without influencing nature and animals, the feather on the wooden pole dances in the wind and gives direction, aesthetics, and momentum to the place.

WIND DANCER Sculpture

Stone base, Swiss stone pine pole, steel bearing, metal pole, carved larch wood total height

230 cm, length of the feather 68 cm

In his experimental literary work artist, writer and alpine herdsmen Bodo Hell incorporates the experiences of living on the pasture: the landscape, the nature, the encounters with humans and animals, and the mythological and historical elements. During the Art Walk Bodo Hell introduced the visitors to the cows in a poem. Together with Maria Schneider he constructed a perch on the top of a hill with a view of the three striking mountains Grimming, Stoderzinken and Kamm as well as Lake Grafenberg.

COWNAME-POEM

Reading performance

Luise Kloos transformed a found rock on a hilly area on the Grafenbergalm into "Menhir". Clothed and sewn in with a bright petrol blue tumbled fabric from the Lodenwalke in Ramsau it is a testament to the tradition of this 600-year-old craft. The stone becomes soft and sensual, it adapts to the landscape, takes on something almost human. The loden shines in its colourful opulence, will then merge with nature, decompose, and leave the stone in its materiality again. The stone is an invitation to perceive the landscape and its traditions in a new way.

Dachstein limestone stone sewn into loden from Ramsau

Stone approx. 1.80 m high, circumference approx. 5 m

Loden 7.50 m2

Luise Kloos

MENHIR

Erwin Lackner

In a performative ascent, a metal boat made by Erwin Lackner was carried up to the Alp with the help of his friends. There it is partly buried in the ground at the origin of a spring. It fills with water and serves the cows on the pasture as a drinking trough. Since the animals are reflected in the water while drinking, the artist calls his work "Cowatch". The boat, which has occupied his artistic work for years, is a symbol of rescue and at the same time of capsizing. It commemorates the many refugees who come across the sea in hope of a new life. On the Alp the boat is a life-giver that found acceptance among the cows immediately.

COWATCH aluminum canoe 458 x 91 x 33 cm

Maria Schneider

How are humans and nature connected, what unites them, what separates them? During her walks on the Grafenbergalm Maria Schneider combined sticks, twigs, fibres, grasses and found objects from nature to form a new whole and create "Human:Nature". A large round net with a view of the mountain scenery, a viewpoint of the surrounding nature, a wheel of life that unites and completes is fixed between two trees.

SUPERNOVA

Object

Wood, branches, hemp cord

Approx. 4 x 4 m

MAMA

Object

Wood, branches

Approx. 8 x 6 m

Kurt Ryslavy

The outdoor performance on a high hill on the pasture is called “Smoke and Mirrors”. Cigars are smoked together, a text is read that inspires contemplation, after smoking them the cigar butts are collected again, locked in a small wooden box and released for the art market. What remains of the performance are the remnants of when smoke was consumed as an object.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

(a well-behaved production for the international art market)

Duration approx. 30 to 45 minutes

Wood, tobacco leaves in many hands and finally extinguished to stinking butts on the stone and returned to the wooden box, labelled and signed, dated July 16, 2022 Performance

Grafenbergalm

The theme of erosion is the central motif of this work. Hung in the branches of an elevated tree, the shape of an hourglass, cut out of thick white cardboard, offers a view of the nature that lies before and below. The picture can be chosen individually, depending on the height from which one looks through. It is a clock that deals with the geological conditions of the Alp, with its origin and development. Thuma also refers to climate change and the urgently needed human response.

LAND-WATCH Object

Gerlinde Thuma

Sawn poplar plywood, tree lime paint

110 x 70 cm

Josip Zanki

The structure of the landscape, the thresholds, and paths that the cows walk on every day, prompted Josip Zanki to find forms and objects in nature, which are brought together in an almost logical, natural sequence and become part of the natural ensemble on the alpine pasture. His artistic interventions, a bench, a ship and a path for cows, are made of stone and wood and subtly integrated into the landscape. Found nature as well as Arte Povera and the ideas of romanticism influence the content of Zanki's work.

BANK – PATH TO BODO

Dry stone wall intervention

Various sizes

HAUS – E LA NAVE VA

Installation

Various sizes

SPUREN – A LUCIO FONTANA TOUR IN THE ALPS

Spatial intervention

Various sizes

STARING AT THE SEA

IRELAND, 2023

INTRODUCTION

LAND ART AND REFLECTION SYMPOSIUM –STARING AT THE SEA CILL RIALAIG ARTISTS VILLAGE & IVERAGH PENINSULA, COUNTY KERRY

6TH-18TH JULY 2023

As part of ongoing international exchanges and land art projects with artists and curators from Croatia and Austria Pallas Projects were happy to host Staring at the Sea. This residency at the Cill Rialaig Artist Village was one section of a multi-part project which began as 'Stone Walls' led by Josip Zanki, exploring dry wall stone techniques as a tool for artistic expression and site-specific practice at Kožino, Privlaka, National Park Paklenica, Velebit Mountain, Fortica at the Island of Pag, Paška Vrata, Croatia in 2021; and continued as 'Wood and Stone', led by Luise Kloos, which extended the materiality of the project to include an exploration of natural materials, interventions, sited objects and performances in the natural environment of Grafenbergalm, Styrian Alps, Austria in 2022.

We were delighted to welcome artists to the Cill Rialaig village at the generosity of Dr. Noelle Campbell Sharpe and the Cill Rialaig Project who donated the use of the eight houses of the village. This pre-famine village (c.1790) set high on promontory peninsula at the very edge of Western Europe has been rescued from a state of abandonment and rehabilitated as the perfect retreat for artists, poets, writers, film makers and composers of national and international repute.

This symposium foregrounded reflection, meditation and group explorations and interventions in the open landscape alongside studio activity. The combination of stone, sea and artistic retreat resonated with the ancient practices associated with the drystone beehive huts that were built in the region for meditation and reflection on the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Presentations from Aoibheann Lambe a local archaeologist with a speciality the neolithic art of the Iveragh Peninsula, and curators from each region were supplemented by visits to Skellig Michel, Loher Stone Fort and the beaches around Ballinskelligs and Loher. The participants were encouraged to explore the environs on walks and sits and of course swims in the powerful Atlantic Ocean.

We welcomed Austrian curator and artist Luise Kloos with artists Gerlinde Thuma, Silvia Maria Grossmann, arts manager Tanja Gurke and art historian Marie Maierhofer; from Croatia curator and artist Josip Zanki with artists Laura Stojkoski, Ivan Fijolić, Dorian Pacak and anthropologist Nikolina Durutt; alongside Irish artists Bernie Colhoun and Ellen-Rose Wallace. The project was curated by Mark Cullen and produced by Eve Woods.

The view from Cill Rialaig Artist’s Village l-r Marie Maierhofer, Bernie Colhoun, Laura Stojkoski, Nikolina Durut, Gerlinde Thuma, Silvia Marie Grossman, Josip Zanki, Eve Woods, Aoibheann Lambe, Tanya Gurke, Luise Kloos, Ivan Fijolić

MEABHRÚCHÁN1: SET IN STONES

Following travel from Zagreb, Vienna, Graz, Dublin, Mayo and Meath the group of 15 lived as a village for 12 days on the edge of the cliffs of the Skellig Ring. This select location allowed access to several sites for research, artwork creation and external collaboration including; Boolakeel beach, Ballinskelligs beaches, Abbey and Castle; St. Fionan's Bay, Holy Well and Ring Fort; St. Fionan's Monastery on the UNESCO world heritage site of Skellig Michael; Cill Rialaig Arts Centre; Loher Stone Fort; Toor Beach, standing stones, ringfort and early Christian sites on Bolus Head, and ancient stone marking sites in Caherdaniel guided by an archeologist.

Visits to sites for art making and research were supplemented by discursive dinners and formal presentations. Participants outlined specialisations including drystoning techniques, research methodologies, artistic processes alongside a presentation by Kerry-based archaeologist Aoibheann Lambe who specialises in prehistoric megalithic-era mark making.

This rich stacking of locations, views and ideas allowed for the undulations of collaboration and exploration within the landscape. Artists selected local materials such as quartz, limestone, slate, seaweed, shells, foliage and driftwood reformulating them collaboratively and singularly into temporal and permanent art pieces, documented or not.

We walked the quiet slope from the artist 's retreat village to a windy Ballinskelligs Bay, clambering past a trifecta of stone vestiges; the

1 Meabhrúchán (Gaeilge): (Act of) remembering, reflecting, thinking, meditating.

Eve Woods

Spatial Intervention, Ballinskelligs Beach by Nikolina Durut, Ivan Fijolić, Dorian Pacak, Laura Stojkoski and Josip Zanki, 07.07.2023

abbey graveyard, castle shell and workhouse carcass, a crumbling testament to past patrimonial power. We explored the natural formations of cobbled stone and craggy peaks interrupting select locations with interventions echoing the landscape. The Croatian group led by Josip Zanki carried smooth boulders across the sharp slippery terrain to produce a seemingly whimsical dot work echoing conical limpets nearby. By placing polished rocks upon the jagged sheets of stone between rockpools the mise-en-scène interrupted and echoed the mountain views.

Simultaneously a fluctuating group joined the natural quartz line, which ran through the sandstones littering the beach, to mark a tide line 200 metres long. The arrangement flowed through numerous variations of loops and corporeal forms utilising the lightning strands and decisive splits in the rock until it was ultimately disbanded and straightened out. The first of our group entered the water through a slush of seaweed before the fierce storm rolled in and we returned to shelter in our cottages on the edge of the cliffs.

ii

We were greeted with the surprise of sunshine and the news that a whale had beached at our closest inlet. With the message of this spectacle the group converged, wandering through gardens and over boulders to find him; a 19 metre, 50 tonne, fin whale. The anomaly of this mega creature bloody from the sharp rocks he rolled over in the night was a moving experience for the group. We sat in turns to witness him laid out on the rocks with the open bay behind him.

iii

We drove over and around the Bolus Head and on to St Fionan's Bay. The views from the crest introduced the peaks of the Skelligs which we would later step. After a walk down the sheep lined slope we came to the busy beach, surveying the cove with its razor sharp rocks, creeks and caves to the right and a flat bed of stone across the sand to the left before the sandy hills became green fields again. Our guests were introduced to the powerful Atlantic swells which lifted adults and children alike while surfers sat sentry. Following a salty tussle in the waves, the rain swept in ushering us to visit the holy well overlooking the bay. The sunken well lay above grassy dunes near a weathered farmhouse and

the line, Utilising quartz markings on stone to draw an artificial tideline, covering 200m of beach reaching from castle ruins towards the Abbey. Collaborative work.

was headed with a Valencia Slate lintel inscribed ‘Tobar Naomh Faonàin’. Within the aged stone basin coins, flowers and rosary beads lay with soft crosses etched into the shelf. One field behind the farmhouse entombs a triple circle neolithic ringfort. The mound is visible from the road but stone is concealed with grass and wildflowers. The cow-hooved field was wet with grasses as we clambered up the banks to view the cup, ring, ring formation of the protective dwelling.

iv

Further pilgrimage to Sceilg Mhichíl was blessed with clear skies after the force that brought the whale. An early boat ride from Portmagee, passed Illaunloughan monastery, Horse Island, Long Island and Lemon Rock before circling Skellig Beag to view the gannet colony. A jump from the 12-seater boat to the steps of Skellig Micil was the first of the slow ascent to the monastery. Fortuitously the season had puffins and pufflings littering the walls and steps to the summit while Storm Petrels purred in their stone bunkers aside the path. The landmark Wailing Woman cross stone is the first opportunity to view your height above the sea. Slowly and mindfully, step by step, you balance 600 stone steps to reach the mediaeval monastic ruins including iconic stone-stacked beehive huts, worn slate crosses, and graves covered in shining quartz.

Driving the coast road we looped the bay to clamber Loher Stone Fort, a reconstruction from around the 9th Century. The defensive walls reach over 2 metres and are in a cup, ring, ring format with an internal circumference of 20 metres. Ducking under the stone lintel through thick damp walls we reach the internal circles and a covered recess in the floor. Climbing indented steps from the interior you are provided a wide footing atop the thick walls and view of the fort, mountains and the distant sea. On the exterior of the walls circular and cross markings can be found at the cardinal points, some weathered to the point of near invisibility.

…

Toor Beach is accessed by a long sandy slope from the road edge following a stream out to sea. This shallow stoney beach was rich in natural materials of every hue and texture, with multiple stone samples, shells, seaweed and foliage.

Echoing the ancient logic of the fort, our group circled the stream outlet in a double cup formation and mapped cardinal directions and stars with croppings of dark stone. The disruption caused a pool to gather with circles looping each other.

A triangular point pushed out to sea with a Drystone bow for-

Dorian Pacak and the 62ft fin whale was found at Baile Uí Chuill Strand, Ballinskelligs 09.07.2023

Loher Stone Fort, l-r Gerlinde Thuma, Silvia Marie Grossman, Tanja Gurke, Marie Maierhofer, Luise Kloos, Laura Stojkoski, 13.07.2023

Cup

mation by Silvia Maria Grossmann. The top line of the stacks in light grey stone created an hovering tideline while the defence walls acted as barricade to the sea.

Further on the beach Josip, Laura Stojkoski, Ivan Fijolić, Dorian Pacak and anthropologist Nikolina Durutt used seaweed and stone to map man's evolutionary ascent from water to land. The tenticular weed oozed up the slabs and gave way to the sturdy rock form marking evolutionary finality.

That night we walked in the dark to a farmer's field to look at a monolith under the moon and ‘fire’ light. Hidden by the day and highlighted with angled torches, Aoibheann shared the hidden gatherings of cup, cup, ring littering the stone. We clambered atop, avoiding nettles to see the carvings curve the edge of the large stone. We theorised what the markings and purpose could be; a map of land or sky, an alter, tri-circles as spiritual or literal glyphs, the cleft in the rock matching the edge of the hills in the distance; a trick of pattern matching or a skillful tool from a thousand years before?

castle shell, workhouse carcass and defunct nunnery which stretch the edge of the

Gerlinde Thuma with assistance from Dorian Pacak embedded green fern branches in the sand to form a navette. It pointed from land to sea with the 28m growth speeding against the tide. This formation was documented as a time lapse from the air and speaks to the Irish history of migration and migratory crisis today.

Luise Kloos layed a cross flower with flat stone in the sand, the softened curves expanding 5m linking the surrounding architecture with spirituality and growth—away from a cross and towards a flower. Following this an 8m ‘bridge’ was laid with whitish kelp leaves in a direct line between Abbey and Castle.

Silvia Maria Grossman stacked stones to form the skeletal effigy of a whale, wrapping it ceremoniously in seaweed bleached white by the sun to create a memorial for the young Fin from our first days on the bay. Silvia also stacked flat stones not far from this, in collaboration with Josip Zanki and Nikolina Durut, utilising the duplice drywall technique to build a large throne as a viewpoint to the sea.

In the final days, enriched by stone and sea, individual walks and interventions took place in our familiar surroundings. Ellen-Rose Wallace armed with a drone circled the remaining roofless cottages of our village to document and engulf the stone with artificial waves through animation skills. Bernie Colhoun grew simulant crystals using water from a local mountain stream. The simulants, placed on found natural materials, echoed natural quartz and were utilised in offerings to and gilding the landscape. Luise Kloos, assisted by Ellen-Rose, carried seaweed forth from the Bay in many trips, drying it in the sun at the famine village before building a ring upon the stone floor of a cottage ruin.

These artworks are left to age and change in the sun and with the tides, and for the weather and the waves and future visitors to continue to form and reform. The nature of land art through its release of control in materiality, oft-collaborative nature and the external forces of animal life and weather align it with the reflective and meditative practices foregrounded in this final iteration of residency for Stonewalls.

Our return to Ballinskelligs Bay on a showery day prompted work in the sand reflecting the looming history of the abbey graveyard,

Aoibheann Lambe, Kerry-based archaeologist who specialises in prehistoric megalithic-era mark making shows hidden markings by torchlight near Caherdaniel

bay.

Gerlinde Thuma, Tempting Distance, with assistance from Dorian Pacak Fern grasses on sand, 28 m following the decreasing tide A reference to the history of emigrants in Ireland and the current crisis of migratory movements

Luise Kloos, Ring of Kelp, 3.5 m diameter

Bernie Colhoun, Geo Variance, Simulant quartz-like crystallised rock, temporary intervention in drystone wall along The Skelligs Way. The simulant quartz was grown on residency from a small stream of mountain water on Bolus Head.

STARING AT THE SEA –STARING AT THE UNIVERSE – STARING AT LIFE –STARING IS CARING

Tanja Gurke/art historian, cultural manager

“Sublime, serene, serendipitous, supreme.

Forging lives of many, forming the nature of all.

Creator of life, giver of death.

Invoker of passion, sender of hope, inspirer of dreams. Magnificent, munificent, miraculous marine.

Saline world of obsession, silent depths of the Divine. Crashing breakers, sea of lost souls.

Sea spirits, humanity, great maker of signs.”

(Peter Green, Songs from the Ocean)

The view of the calm sea makes time stand still. We breathe in and feel the greatness that emanates from the sea, that slumbers within it. We breathe out and have inhaled the salty air, have heard the sounds of this ancient force that never sleeps, that only calms down from time to time to gather strength, to gather itself, to build itself up, to prepare for the next stormy unrest.

Looking at the sea means looking into the universe. No two waves are the same. Every drop, every spray is different. Every wave brings different water, different material to the beach, sounds different, leaves different traces. And yet the movements are the same, the endeavours to form a wave and let it go are the same. It is the rising to the highest point, to the point of crashing, of spilling over, of levelling out, of ebbing, of flowing, of fading, of seeping into the ground, of disappearing, that forms the rhythm every day and constantly stirs up the blue anew.

It is like looking at our lives, at the ups and downs, the coming and going, the constant movement, the process, the development, the positive and the negative. The build-up of a wave until it overturns also

means going through the development and subsequent steps in life. The only certainty is uncertainty, is movement, change, renewal.

Every wave holds a new possibility, a chance for change.

Every wave builds up, gathers energy, channels it, takes it to one point, only to be a thing of the past in the next moment.

Every wave is a bridge to the future, a path to a new shore, an elegant movement into the unknown.

Beware of the shallows of the sea, of the sudden tide, of waves that are strong, that do not stop at life.

Enjoy the fingers of the sea that lure you in, touch you, wash over you, tickle you, tease you, take you away and let you go again.

Imagine you come to the sea and the waves are gone. The beach is alone, left behind, dried up, lonely. The waves have receded, you can hear them in the distance, a mirage of sound. Waves of memory roar past our ears. The sound of the sea overlaps the sound in our ears - or is it the other way around? Waves wash over the strands of our brain, gliding through our memories. Seaweed clings to our optical nerve. Salt clears a path to our sinuses. Even when the sea is not there, it is present in our memory because it is powerful enough to remain alive in our depths.

The sea is a symbol of life and survival, of death and dying. It is giver and taker, makes dreams and nightmares come true. It saves and destroys, harbours and scares away, connects and separates. It inspires and motivates, frightens and traumatises, nourishes and kills.

“Water, thou hast no taste, no colour, no odour; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses. By thy might, there return into us treasures that we had abandoned. By thy grace, there are released in us all the dried-up runnels of our heart.”

(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Taking one stroke after another, gliding, diving, surfacing, accelerating, flowing, slowing down, drifting – water means retreating; it means communicating inwards, speaking to yourself, paying attention to your own well-being, consciously perceiving and moving, being mindful of yourself and your surroundings. Once we have internalised movement in water, we can calm down and relax.

People wash up on us in the course of our lives, some go with us through the crest and trough of the wave, others trickle away, say

goodbye to us, others take us on an exciting ride and climb the highest and most exciting waves with us, flavouring our lives, making them sparkle and filled with adventure. And then there are those who enjoy the low tide with us, the light, gentle pearling of small waves, the glittering drops of the sea, those who spend the slowly flowing time with us and accompany us on dreams and visions.

Living by and with the sea and the tides, working there, dealing with it, having sounds, scents, moods, feelings around us every day, every hour - we experienced it for ten days, in the south-west of Ireland, far from towns and villages, in solitude, in the midst of nature, surrounded by the green of the meadows and the blue of the sea. Interrupted only by the bleating of the sheep, the mooing of the cows, the sound of the water, the short daily rain, the clouds, and rays of sunshine.

“There is no path, only a walk in your own direction. A place to go, a way to be, a sense of reinvention. A spirit’s release, a mind’s eye belief, some inclination, To see the world, with art in your heart, imagination, Discover yourself, be free of life’s regime, a proclamation.

A journey to you, the greatest distance travelled, an explanation, Suffice it to say, your path is your own way, your inspiration, Art felt, sublime, in nature divine, an incarnation, Arrive, on the edge of a view, monastic Cill Rialaig.

A possible life, no world alike, a remove to Illauntannig.

A network beyond, friends who became fond, the artists way.

Traditional fare, sharp practice rare, a cliff, a cliff or an island to stay.”

(Peter Green, Songs from the Ocean)

Working by the sea, with the water, the animal traces, the artefacts that the sea brings ashore and that the beach harbours, the plants, spores, and natural traces of the surroundings: this was the task that the artists from the three countries Austria, Croatia and Ireland set themselves. The sea and its surroundings are a diverse source of inspiration; every day brings new atmospheres, new motifs, new inspirations, and new places to discover. The tides presented a challenge, always imposing a temporal dimension on the artistic work and to a certain extent determining what is possible when and for how long. The different places on and near the sea offered a variety of working materials, and so stones, seaweed, sea grass and shells, twigs, ferns, leaves, and flowers were the basis for the artworks.

What can still be found on site the day after the artistic work?

Has the tide already carried some of its parts away? Has the wind blown something away? Is anything still visible at all? And if so, what does the work look like now? Is it still recognisable as such?

Has its meaning changed? Is the story it told the day before still the same? What new content has nature added to it?

On the one hand, it is these practical thoughts that arise when working in nature, as changes can happen unexpectedly and quickly and then something has to be done with that. On the other hand, it is creating in the open air, playing with the forces of nature, allowing thoughts to flow and making the mind and body open and receptive to ideas that enriched these creative days.

While in the two previous Land Art projects it was materials such as wood and stone and places such as meadows, fields, lakeshores and alpine pastures that defined the artists' Land Art works and gave the works something grounded and connected to the land, the situation on site now was (apart from the stones on the beach) a temporary, changeable one dominated by the power of the sea. This made it necessary to rethink, to think differently, to recombine, to be flexible.

Gerlinde Thuma has incorporated precisely this aspect of time into one of her works on site and inspired by it has named this work "Tempting Distance".

The drawing power of the sea, the fascination, the longing, the pull, and the magnetic effect that is exerted on us when we are looking around us at the beach, looking at the open sea, inspired Gerlinde and moved her to create a work that deals with the themes of time, movement, and ephemerality. She also seeks to emphasise the hope that the sea harbours.

Those who cross the sea may have the chance of a new, better life. In doing so, she recalls Ireland's past, when the famine forced people to leave their homeland.

Her work is centred around a special fern that she found on site. Together with Dorian Pacak and in a race against time, against the tides, she formed a 28-metre-long shape out of layered ferns that replicates the outline of a boat facing the sea from the shore. With the pull of the sinking tide (the tidal range of 380 cm corresponds to around 50 cm per hour), she draws the parallel lines of the ferns to the lowest point, where they close to form the shape of a boat. The short window of time to complete the work, being precise and finishing on time, shows the processual way of working that is typical of Gerlinde. The lines drawn inward from the sea to form the shape of the boat are captured in a stop-motion short film.

In addition to this large work, Gerlinde created other smaller pieces that address the idea of protecting and sheltering, the survival of the small in the vastness of space. By placing a wet transparent paper on one half of a stone, the lines of the crystalline inclusions are brought into the surface, the second half shows the natural surface traversed by veins; the physicality of the stone recedes.

Another work shows a green stone taken out of context on a white sheet of paper. The paper is cut in a trapezoidal shape so that it appears rectangular when viewed from above. An irritation arises when looking at it, the spatiality is suspended, the individual stone is removed from its wide perspective.

In all these works, Gerlinde makes it clear that she is concerned with time and perception, with the objectivity and subjectivity of our view and with changing the gaze through subtly inserted elements, both in terms of the content and form of her work.

In her work "Grave for the Whale", Silvia Maria Grossmann refers to the deep impression that a dead fin whale stranded on a nearby bay shortly after her arrival had left, as well as to the whalebacks and the fountains that could be seen from the retreat and off the Cliffs of Kerry. The stranded whale caused a sensation; it is very large, it weighs tonnes, it is defenceless, lifeless, and now in no danger. The deceased animal arouses pity, it is unclear what killed it, what caused it to drift to shore. What will happen to it here? How long will it lie there? How can it be taken away and where to? How will he decompose, what other animals will he attract? How many onlookers will make their way to him, photograph him, look at him?

Silvia first used large beach pebbles to build the whale's back, which arched out of the sand. As she worked, thoughts of funeral rituals came to mind, where white cloths are used to wrap a corpse. So she used white kelp to cover the stone whale's back. An enclosure as protection, a cover to give it a final resting place.

The theme “staring at the see” signifies for me to sit in a boat and watching at the sea, the waves and navigating to some aim… So, it was evident for me to build with the stones of the beach a bow of a ship pointing to the sea!

„Bow“, ca. 120 x 90 x 50 cm

Silvia Maria Grossmann, Bow, Toor Beach, 13.07.2023

On another beach, the work "Bow" was created using drywall technique. It looks out to sea, like a boat that is ready to set sail. Skilfully interlocking stones create and stabilise the construction and the colourful pattern gives life and rhythm to the "boat part" and makes the work special. In a short amount of time, Silvia has built the part of a ship that would like to rock in the waves and give us humans the opportunity to leave the land behind us, set sail, and explore new things.

Silvia, together with Josip Zanki and Nikolina Durut, has also built a "throne" on the beach using dry stone construction, an old building method in which flat and angular stones are preferably used and laid one on top of the other without a binding agent. Grey, reddish, and greenish stones are skilfully interlocked, weaving a subtle colour pattern into the seating construction and giving it a gently sublime appearance. The view directly onto the open sea, in keeping with the theme of the symposium "Staring at the Sea", which you enjoy from a "comfortable" seat where you can even rest your arms, allows your thoughts to drift into infinity, into a vision of the future, into foreign countries, other cultures - or simply into the nothingness that surrounds us, envelops us and dissolves the boundaries that we often erect around ourselves.

Some days before I made the work “Grave for a Whale” we got to know that a big Fin Whale was stranded in the Boolakeel Bay near the artist’s retreat. It was a very impressive experience to see this big mammal dead since weeks!

Also the whales we have seen near the Cliffs of Kerry – only perceived by their backs and fountains from their blowholes – led me to this work.

The base is constructed like a whale’s back with stones from the beach then wrapped with kelp.

These special algae are white, so, as the work developed, I thought of the rituals in Asian countries where one gets dressed in white when accompanying a dead person.

"Grave for a Whale", length about 140 cm, high ca. 30 cm

Silvia Maria Grossmann, Grave for a Whale, work in process

Silvia Maria Grossmann, Grave for a Whale, Near the pier of Ballinskelligs, 12.07.2023

Luise Kloos used stones to create a cross-shaped flower directly on the beach, which has the shape of both a flower with four petals and a cross that almost fits into a square. At the same time, this shape also resembles a compass that spreads out in all four directions. The work is carefully orientated in a triangle along lines of sight to the nearby fort on one side and the remains of an abbey on the other. The fort represents guarding, defence, and protection, while the abbey represents prayers, wishes, and hope. The sea that spreads out between them symbolises the unconscious feelings that repeatedly, often surprisingly, emerge, come to shore, become visible and tangible.

The crossflower is located in an area of the shore that is close to brackish water, where sweet river water from the inland mixes with the salty sea water. Due to the special salt content, it is a terrain for certain animals and plants. If the blossom stands for desire and fertility, if the sea reveals the unconscious, if the water evaporates in the air, is carried over the land and finally rains down and thus becomes water again, a cycle is created, the process of life and flourishing, of becoming, and passing away, which has existed for thousands of years and is constantly repeated.

Kelp is considered to be the fastest growing plant in the world. Large marine algae, also known as seaweed, are referred to as kelp. They are characterised by their high resilience against the cold, rough waters and have a high iodine content as well as many valuable nutrients and minerals. Luise found a large quantity of dried kelp in various sizes, colours, and coils on the beach and, with the help of Laura Stojkoski and Marie Maierhofer, laid it out in a circle and wove it together on the ground in the ruins of a stone cottage.

More seaweed was placed above on a wall facing the sea, laid out as if to dry and with a view of the sea where it came from. The circle of kelp corresponds with two other circles that were painstakingly worked into the ground with stones a long time ago. The result is a sequence of circular elements, a path that leads from the top down towards the sea or, conversely, up to the cottages that serve as accommodation. Like the head of Medusa, formed from snakes, the pieces of dried kelp meander within the circle, almost as if they were moving, wanting to break free. A living structure undulates on the stone and makes it clear that the individual elements were once alive and scrimmaging in the sea. And it almost seems as if just a glance would be enough to wake them up again.

Luise Kloos, Crossflower Stones, 5 x 5 m, 2023, Ballinskelligs Beach

Cill Rialaig Artists Village

IRISH OR ENGLISH? –THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF IRELAND

Marie Maierhofer

Ireland's linguistic landscape is characterized by its bilingualism: Both Irish Gaelic and Irish English can be found on places and streets, at train stations and bus stops, in cafés and shops as well as in official buildings. This is especially interesting as only about 15 percent of Ireland's population speak Irish well or fluently (Central Statistics Office, 2023). Both languages have a long tradition and a rather complicated history within the country, which in turn directly influences today's linguistic landscape.

Before this history can be explored, it is important to understand the distinction between Irish Gaelic and Irish English: Irish Gaelic is an independent Celtic language that can be found in Ireland since the fourth century AD and is still spoken primarily on the north-western, south-western and western coast of Ireland as well as to some extent in Dublin.1 Irish English is a so-called variety, a ‘version’ of English spoken in Ireland, displaying distinct features concerning pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and pragmatics compared to standard British English or other varieties of English.2 (Hickey, 2007)

While modern Irish is considered to begin around 1600, the historical development of the Irish languages begins with Archaic or

Proto Old Irish in the fourth century AD, while the earliest accounts of Old Irish date back to 600 AD.3 The introduction of Christianity and the subsequent spread of Christian monasteries in Ireland brought with it the Latin language and around 700 AD, Irish monks had started writing down their native language (Old Irish) using the Latin alphabet. After the settlement of Vikings around 800, Irish was influenced by Old Norse as the Vikings assimilated into the Irish communities and adopted the Irish language over the years. From 900 to 1200 AD the language underwent great linguistic change likely caused by political and social changes, marking a new period now called Middle Irish. The following 400 years are referred to as Early Modern Irish. English, on the other hand, was first established in Ireland in the 12th century, following the Anglo-Norman conquest. After the invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans in 1169, Anglo-Norman lords settled all over Ireland to control the different regions but were met with Irish resistance. The following 300 years saw constant alternations of rebellion, war, and truce between the Irish population, the Anglo-Norman lords and settlers, and the English monarchy. Apart from political, legal, and social changes, the Anglo-Norman invasion greatly affected the linguistic landscape of Ireland. Irish continued to be spoken, while English was mainly present in the areas controlled by the Crown. Yet, in these areas, most people spoke both Irish and English. Since then, bilingualism has been a defining feature of Ireland's linguistic situation. However, the influence of the English language on the shape of the Irish language itself was only mild as the majority of Anglo-Norman families became somewhat “Gaelicized” (Doyle 2015, 15) and adopted Irish as their language. (Doyle, 2015)

Following the conquest of Ireland by the English Crown, tensions remained throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. To quite an extent, these tensions were rooted in religion, with Catholic Ireland on

1 Irish Gaelic is often simply called ‘Irish’ or ‘Gaelic’. In this article, it will be referred to as ‘Irish’.

2 Nonetheless, for simplicity, Irish English will be referred to as ‘English’ in the following.

3 The Irish language evolved from Celtic languages that were introduced by Celtic tribes, who presumably invaded the island around 500 BC (Ó Ceallaigh, & Dhonnabháin, 2015). The earliest evidence of Archaic Old Irish is ‘ogam’, a script developed by Celtic-speakers in Ireland, that can be found on stone grave memorials (galláin) from the fourth to seventh century. Research suggests that ogam was the language of an elite priestly order and used in rituals and oral traditions. It could be that Old Irish started as an informal, non-standard variety of ogam, which it then replaced entirely. (Mac Giolla Chriost, 2005).

one side and Anglican England on the other. The two languages represented opposite world views, values, religions, legal and political systems. Establishing English as a language, or ideally as the only language, was a technique of colonization, a means to strengthen and signify the British rule in Ireland. In the view of the British monarchy, this would also serve to reform the Irish Church to be in line with Anglicanism and thereby encourage the people of Ireland to conform to English customs.

Throughout this time, Ireland was always characterized by different language communities: Irish speakers, English speakers, and a considerable number of bilingual speakers. Over time, however, English became more and more present under the rule of the British Crown, which established English as the language of power, tied to landownership4, trade, law, education, religion and even poetry. The British view of the Irish as “inferior” and “uncivilized” (Hickey, 2007, 19) is perhaps most evident in the Penal Laws of the 17th century, a series of laws by the Protestant English monarchs severely restricting the rights of the Irish-speaking population. As English culture and society gradually replaced the former, the framework for the Irish language became more and more fragile.

This resulted in Gaelic communities becoming increasingly isolated and Irish being confined to rural areas. (Doyle, 2015)

The decline of Irish progressed drastically in the 19th century, in part due to the Famine of 1845. The dire situation caused over 1 million5 deaths (Ó Gráda, 2021), many of them Irish speakers, and a wave of emigration in the years that followed. Not only did this mean that many native speakers of Irish left Ireland, but it also reinforced the perceived “usefulness” (Doyle, 2015, 125) of English. In this regard, the United States also positively influenced the status of the English language: As many Irish people emigrated to the US, (American) English was seen as the language of freedom and hope, a new ideal many Irish aspired

4 by disowning Irish speakers and giving their land to English and Scottish settlers (Doyle, 2015).

5 Recent historical research suggests that the number of deaths is significantly higher than previously thought. As Ireland had no birth and death registration system at the time of the famine, demographical data is not well-documented. Additionally, the previously cited number excludes famine-related deaths of Irish emigrants. Therefore, the Irish historian Cormac Ó Gráda estimates that the death toll could have been as high as 1.5 to 2 million people. (Ó Gráda, 2021)

to. Increased mobility and access to education, which was associated with English, further facilitated the gradual shift towards the English language. (Doyle, 2015)

By the end of the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism, Irish society was striving for cultural and political separation from Britain. The political movements in line with the Celtic Revival eventually led to the War of Independence in 1919. Two years later, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, and the Free State of Ireland was declared independent in 1922. In becoming a nation in its own right, Ireland sought for an independent identity, a question which was directly related to language and thus caused aspirations to revive the Irish language. Various organizations and initiatives were established, most notably the Gaelic League, which sought to protect and conserve the Irish language. The League promoted speaking Irish at every occasion by implementing it in primary and secondary schools, offering Irish classes for adults, organizing cultural events, and establishing so-called Gaeltachtaí, districts where Irish is spoken as a first language. Eventually, Irish was officially declared the national language of Ireland in 1922 and made compulsory for all children in schools. (Doyle, 2015)

However, by then, most people spoke Irish only as a second language, while English had already become the language of everyday life. The shift to English could not be reversed. Therefore, during the second half of the 20th century, the focus changed from restoring Irish to Ireland's primary language to preserving it within a bilingual society (Mac Giolla Chriost, 2005). Today, the attrition of the Irish language continues due to emigration, globalization, mass communication, and the continuing loss of traditional ways of life.

A result of Irish being taught in school is most Irish people knowing (only) cúpla focal, that is, adding Irish words into English speech as a deliberate, playful practice. While this practice testifies to Irish people's interest in and engagement with the language, it cannot be equated with natural language skills. (Hickey, 2007). A different phenomenon of the relationship between Ireland's two languages is the frequent usage of loan words in Irish English that derive from Irish. This is especially common in informal contexts or when referring to Irish life and culture and serves as a way of identification and demarcation from other varieties of English. The mutual influence of Irish and English as well as the historically determined, negative attitude towards Great Britain have certainly contributed to the fact that Irish English is very different from

Standard British English in terms of pronunciation, syntax, semantics, and lexicon. (Hickey, 2007)

The legal status of Irish as Ireland's first language can be observed in public spaces and official contexts; it is used in advertisements, or when naming government buildings. Public announcements at train stations are in English and Irish, as well as ATM displays or street signs. (Doyle, 2015)

One way to further explore the status of the Irish language today and its relation to the English language is linguistic landscaping. Linguistic landscaping is a field of research within linguistics concerned with the visual representation of language in public space. The underlying idea is that the semiotic organization of a public sphere is a political act representing linguistic diversity, which can be a means to acknowledge cultural and ethnic diversity. Specifically, linguistic landscaping analyses the use, distribution, and design of written language in public spaces, i. e., street and shop signs, posters, advertisements, etc., in order to gain insight into social structures and power relations. Apart from an informative function indicating what languages are or can be used to communicate within an area, the organization of linguistic landscapes has a symbolic function representing the relationship between different linguistic communities. They for example deal with questions like “How visible is a certain minority in a linguistic landscape?”. (Androutsopoulos, 2008)

When examining a particular sign, different categories are considered. Firstly, it is important to ask who is responsible for the sign. While official signs are usually related to the language policy of an area, private or commercial signs offer insight into societal attitudes. Non-authoritative signs can be evidence of rebellion or opposition. Secondly, the state of the languages involved has to be considered. Is the language officially recognized? Or is it a minority language? Thirdly, the different languages can have different scopes. Maybe the use of one language is restricted to a specific domain, for example, menus and food. The fourth category deals with the semantic relationship of the different parts of a sign: Is the same piece of information translated into the second language, or do the different languages complement one another? Finally, the design of the different components, their font, size, and placement, illustrates the relation of the different languages to each other. (Androutsopoulos, 2008)

For the linguistic landscape of Ireland, bilingualism is a defining feature. Throughout the country, public spaces are characterized by the joint appearance of Irish and English. Both languages can be found on street signs, traffic signs, panels, posters, billboards, instruction manuals or dustbins, post boxes and ticket machines (fig. 1 and 2).

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

The most noticeable among the above-mentioned examples of bilingual occurrences are street and traffic signs. Place and street names as well as directions or instructions are given in Irish and English, showing a visually distinct design. For example, on the sign in fig. 3 the placename in Irish is written in a smaller font size and italics. The same approach can be observed at train stations, bus stops, and at the airport, where all the important signs are bilingual, and the languages are easily distinguishable due to the use of different font colors (fig. 4). Usually, the Irish utterance is placed above the English one. This corresponds to the official status of Irish as the national language.

Other frequent examples of bilingual signs are those describing and explaining touristic sights and their history (fig. 5). In many cases, the Irish components use ornamental fonts reminiscent of Celtic manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, especially on the signs indicating explicit cultural spaces (fig. 6). This emphasizes the strong link between Irish traditions and cultural heritage and the Irish language.

While most of the official signs are bilingual, there are exceptions. The signs indicating the border of a Gaeltacht, for example, are written in Irish only (fig. 7), as are some signs at traditional Gaelic places. With advertisements like the one in fig. 8 the exclusive use of Irish

is likely to be a marketing strategy to gather attention. In commercial settings such as restaurants or shops, on the other hand, it is common to find signs in English only.

The Café Cois Trá in Ballinskelligs is an example of a place where local people actively appreciate the linguistic diversity of Ireland. The semiotic design of the café is paradigmatic for the bilingual practice of the individuals, located in a Gaeltacht, in a region where Irish has a

Fig 4

Fig 5 Fig 7

Fig 8 Fig 6

strong history. Not everything is directly translated; rather, some signs are English only, some are Irish only, some are bilingual. A poster next to the kitchen (fig. 9) translates common phrases for ordering from English to Irish while also describing the Irish pronunciation. It thus encourages customers to not only passively process, but actively use Irish in social interactions. The café illustrates the potential of appreciating the linguistic diversity in Ireland.

Ireland's linguistic landscape testifies to an institutionalized language policy characterized by the effort to preserve the Irish language. The frequency and the design of Irish components emphasize its status as the official first language of the nation.6 However, other aspects of Ireland's linguistic landscape also indicate that the official state of Irish does not correspond to reality. Signs written exclusively in English are far more common than those written exclusively in Irish, apart from those in Gaeltachtí. Monolingual English signs are the default, especially in commercial settings such as restaurants or stores. The English language is present in all aspects of everyday life, as it has become the language of everyday use for most of the Irish population. It can be said then that Irish has perhaps “more of a symbolic function than a communicative one” (Doyle, 2015, 266). The point of its usage is not to convey information but rather to signal its symbolic significance for ethnic identification and cultural value. The awareness of and appreciation for linguistic diversity inscribed in the history of language in Ireland is visible in public spaces.

6 Whereas English only has a supplementary function according to the Constitution of 1937 (Hickey, 2007).

Androutsopoulos, J. (2008). Linguistic Landscapes: Visuelle Mehrsprachigkeitsforschung als Impuls an die Sprachpolitik. Lecture at the international symposium „Städte-Sprachen-Kulturen“, 17.-19.09.2008, Mannheim.

Central Statistics Office (2023, May 30). Census of Population 2022. Summary Results. Education and Irish Language. CSO. Retrieved from https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cpsr/censusofpopulation2022-summaryresults/educationandirishlanguage/

Doyle, A. (2015). A History of the Irish Language. From the Norman Invasion to Independence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hickey, R. (2007). Irish English. History and present-day Forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mac Giolla Chriost, D. (2005). The Irish Language in Ireland. From Gíodel to Globalisation. New York: Routledge.

Ó Gráda, C. (2021). Black ’47 and Beyond. The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.

Ó Ceallaigh T.J., & Dhonnabháin, Á.N. (2015): Reawakening the Irish Language Through the Irish Education System: Challenges and Priorities. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 8(2), 179-198. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1085869.pdf

BIOGRAPHIES

Ursula Beiler (AUT)

Studies of sculpture and philosophy, Verein Alpenweiber; sculpture, performance www.urbeil.eu

Götz Bury (DEU/AUT)

Study of sculpture and philosophy University of Vienna, assistant of Franz West, team of SOHO Ottakring; experimental sculpture, performance, acoustic sculpture www.kopf-head-glava.at/künstler-innen-a-f/götz-bury/

Bernie Colhoun (IRL)

Visual artist, sculpture, print, installation, studies gemmology at University of Galway, member of TheNCF, co-founder of Sample Studios. www.berniecolhoun.com

Mark Cullen (IRL)

Curator, new media artist, member of Difference Engine, co-founder of Pallas Projects/Studios; conceptual art, Land Art www.pallasprojects.org

Nikolina Durut (HRV)

graduate student of Ethnology and Anthropology and Art History, University of Zadar (UNIZD)

Ivan Fijolić (HRV)

Assistant Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb; sculpture, Land Art www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Fijolić

Silvia Maria Grossmann (AUT/CHE)

Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (under Franz Xaver Ölzant); sculpture, Land Art, photography www.silvia-grossmann.at

Tanja Gurke (AUT)

Art historian, management of Grazer Kunstverein

Bodo Hell (AUT)

Studies at Academy for Music and Performing Arts and at the University of Vienna, literature, herdsman on Dachsteinalm www.bodohell.at

Luise Kloos (AUT)

Studies at the University of Graz and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, head of next – Verein für zeitgenössische Kunst; drawing, painting, performance, sculpture, installation, Land Art www.luisekloos.at

Erwin Lackner (AUT)

Member of Gruppe 77; sculpture, painting, drawing, Land Art www.gruppe77.at

Marie Maierhofer (AUT)

Senior Student in Art History, German Studies and Philology, University of Graz

Tomislav Oroz (HRV)

Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Zadar

Dorian Pacak (HRV)

Master of Art Education, sculpture, land art, art teacher, Zagreb

Kurt Ryslavy (AUT/BEL)

Studies of philosophy at the University of Vienna, wine merchant; conceptual art, performance www.ryslavy.com

Maria Schneider (AUT)

Graduate of Ortweinschule Master Class, member of the art association Roter Keil; performance, object, painting, multimedia, Land Art www.roterkeil.at

Laura Stojkoski (HRV)

Art Education student, sculpture, land art, Zagreb

Gerlinde Thuma (AUT)

Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (under Maria Lassnig); Land and Environmental Art, sculpture, film www.gerlindethuma.at

Josip Zanki (HRV)

Professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Zagreb; sculpture, Land Art, performance, drawing, cultural anthropology

Ellen-Rose Wallace (IRL)

Visual artist and photographer; Student at the Master of Fine Arts, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam; Graduate of Limerick School of Art and Design www.ellenrosewallace.com

Eve Woods (IRL)

Visual artist: research, performance, paint; co-founder Con: temporary Quarters; Curator/Producer at Pallas Projects/Studios; graduate MA Visual Arts Practices IADT. www.evewoods.com

IMPRESSUM

Publisher: Hrvatsko društvo likovnih umjetnika

Editors: Mark Cullen, Luise Kloos, Josip Zanki

Graphic design and catalogue layout: Duje Medić

Print:

Edition: 300 copies

ISBN: 978-953-8098-72-7

CIP record is available in the computer catalogue of the National and University Library in Zagreb under no. 001234025.

Book suport: Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske, Općina Privlaka

STONE WALLS: MARK IN THE LANDSCAPE OR OBLIVIOUS CULTURAL MEMORY CROATIA, 2021

Organization: Hrvatsko društvo likovnih umjetnika, www.hdlu.hr

Project suport: Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske, Turistička zajednica Općine Starigrad, Općina Privlaka

Photos: all artists

WOOD AND STONE AUSTRIA, 2022

International Artists in Residence Project: 11th – 17th July 2022

Art Walk: 16. Juli 2022

Grafenbergalm Ramsau/Dachstein

Authors: Tanja Gurke, Luise Kloos

Translation and Editing: Marie Maierhofer

Photos: all artists

Financial Support: Land Steiermark Kultur, Stadt Graz Kultur

Cooperation: HDLU Zagreb, Culture Ireland

Organisation: next – Verein für zeitgenössische Kunst www.nextkunst.at

STARING AT THE SEA IRELAND, 2023

Authors: Mark Cullen, Eve Woods, Tanja Gurke, Marie Maierhofer

Organisation: Pallas Projects/Studios, 115–117 The Coombe, Dublin 8, Ireland, D08 A970 pallasprojects.org info@pallasprojects.org

Pallas Projects/Studios is a not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity, consitituted as Pallas Projects CLG, a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital and registered under the laws of Ireland. Registered number 503645 with its registered office at 115-117 The Coombe, Dublin 8. Registered Charity Number (RCN) is 20206495.

Artistic Directors: Mark Cullen and Gavin Murphy

Cill Rialaig Residency participants: Bernie Colhoun, Mark Cullen, Nikolina Durutt, Ivan Fijolić, Silvia Maria Grossmann, Tanja Gurke, Luise Kloos, Marie Maierhofer, Dorian Pacak, Laura Stojkoski, Gerlinde Thuma, Ellen-Rose Wallace, Eve Woods, Josip Zanki