ISSUE #04
IADT STUDENT MAGAZINE
Letter From the Editor
Every issue of an IADT student magazine looks entirely different from the last. It’s no surprise. The Eye is open for submissions to all students and we’re a diverse bunch! Happy 2020 and welcome to Issue #04. This time around we hear students, ERASMUS students, graduates, and lecturers, on topics ranging from climate change to music video direction, and a special focus on mental health. Everyone who has taken part has been incredibly generous with their time, their talents, and in particular, their advice to students. I’m astounded by their depth of knowledge, and fascinated by their stories. Every time we release an issue, some number of you pick up a copy and think “…I’m gonna do something for the college magazine!” Looking forward to hearing from you! Michael Fortune
Contributors Amy Ní Mhurchú Anne Sillman Katherine Michael Bruna Nakic Nadia Cullinane Aaron Kavanagh Isobel Shackleton Lillian Searson Michael Fortune Adrian Federis Sam McSherry Shout out to Fionn Thompson
theeyeiadt@gmail.com
Contents What if IADT repurposed the Media Cube?
Interview : Tara O’ Callaghan
A Game Of Tones
Raison d’Être
Poetry
1 3 9 17 23
Why Greta Thunberg Can’t Save You
29
Mark Sandman - A Eulogy
33
What If IADT... Repurposed the Media Cube? By Amy Ní Mhurchú
For a few years now students have been feeling the squeeze, trying to find a few seats to collaborate with your peers, trying to find a computer to send that crucial time-sensitive email, trying to line up for lunch in the canteen without becoming part of the world’s longest human centipede, being told we can’t have more lockers because there’s nowhere to put them, or if you’re in a studio course, just trying to find space to make that large scale project you’ve been working on - and by large scale, I mean anything that isn’t table top size. While we’ve been feeling the squeeze the buildings themselves are starting to show the strain, an interview in the very first issue of the Eye revealed that the canteen is serving multiples of the number it was originally designed for, the automatic doors are constantly malfunctioning and college equipment is continuously in different states of disrepair from overuse. Recently, student critique of the lack of space is met with ‘the new Digital Media Building will solve that’ and while it isn’t clear even when the new building will be completed it has already been earmarked by Governing Body as an opportunity to “significantly grow student numbers” rather than alleviate existing growing pains (while at the same time marketing IADT on its small student numbers - but that’s a conversation for another day). Which, apart from leading the author to question the motives of the decision makers of the institute, brings us to our proposal; what if IADT repurposed the Media Cube? The Media Cube sits proud on 1,100 sqm and currently houses a mix of hotdesks, IADT staff offices and private companies and before we ask what can be gained by displacing these private companies we should ask what we would be losing. Presumably, the companies in the Media Cube provide a source of income. According to the IADT website a large office for your company will
1
set you back €650 per month. Considering that a lot of students are paying that and more for their digs to get to IADT, even with multiple companies, it doesn’t seem like a huge source of income for an institute and certainly not balanced against the cost of building new space. I’m also aware that on occasion companies located in the Media Cube might offer a couple of summer jobs to IADT students, however, again it doesn’t seem that a couple of summer jobs outweigh the benefit of a drastically improved education for all students at IADT. Finally, the fun bit, what we stand to gain. There are numerous ways of putting those 1,100 square meters to use, however, one strategy that might be the most impactful would be to move the canteen to one floor of the Media Cube. The space then available in the Atrium could be allocated to the studio currently in the Backlot. This would allow those students to be less isolated, closer to more core facilities, provide more opportunity for crossdiscipline collaboration and finally begin breaking up the Atrium, Quad and Carriglea student cliques. In turn this would free up the Backlot as a storage facility for materials and large scale works that currently hinder the 3D Fabrication Studio. The Backlot is better served by safe access for vehicles and proximity to the 3D studio for storage than the Media Cube. That is but one floor of the Media Cube - the other floors could be given over to IADTSU, Clubs and Societies and student social spaces. This would give those aspects of the student experience the degree of autonomy from the institute that would really let them flourish. An expanded social space would mean that those students who need to let off steam by playing pool or table tennis aren’t agitating students who prefer a calmer environment between classes, preventing the polarisation that is starting to take hold among students. It would give the Students’ Union the appropriate office space so that
Amy Ní Mhurchú
they can offer students private and uninterrupted consultations, therefore allowing students to feel more comfortable availing of the supports offered. This would again, open up another studio space in the Quadrangle where studio space is desperately needed for students to develop their practices.
www.wikipedia.com
In relation to the rest of the campus, which is estimated to be upwards of 10,000 square meters the Media Cube may not seem like much space but the points illustrated above show that even a little bit of extra space, that is not immediately leveraged for accommodating even more student numbers, would go a long way towards alleviating some very real issues students at IADT are experiencing.
“The Media Cube sits proud on 1,100 sqm and currently houses a mix of hotdesks, IADT staff offices and private companies.�
Media Cube
2
3
Photogrpahy: Luisa Salmeron
Director Tara O’ Callaghan Interview by Michael Fortune
With music videos, directors have a unique opportunity to fast-track the evolution of their style. Ideas and influences are guided by the changing demands of every project. The work is fast, and the creative possibilities within the format are limitless. Each new video is an opportunity for the director to present their current skills, show their range, and explore new directions. “This is me, now.” That’s how IADT film graduate Tara O’Callaghan puts it. Her 2018 graduate film ‘Skint’ premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh and went on to win two SMEDIA awards as well as the Rising Star award at the Underground Film Festival. She immediately switched her focus to music videos and now finds herself working as an in-house creative with Event Junkies. Tara stresses the importance of taking pride in every step of your progression as a director. In January 2019 she sends her first music video to the biggest Irish music blog, Nialler9. “Because if you don’t have confidence in your work, who will?” she explains. October 2019 and the strategy proves effective when 50,000 copies of the latest issue of Totally Dublin are sent out across the city, featuring Tara O’Callaghan on the list of five leading Irish music video directors. Behind the article is Luke Sharkey, the same music journalist who received her first video at Nialler9. So what was so good about that first music video? The track is ‘Everything’ by electro-pop artist Caz9. It’s an intimate glimpse of romance, memory, and heartache, which the video is careful never to betray. It leaves the viewer wanting for the details. The story behind the emotions. “It’s so important to leave the viewer wanting more after every scene, that’s what’ll leave a lasting impression about your video, having more questions than answers, a persisting thought in
the viewer’s head, rather than a perfectly tied up answer.” And how did the project come about? Tara talks about itching to do a music video as the end of 4th year approached. A search for the right artist led her to Caz9. “I actually went to her gig in the Bernard Shaw and I approached her as she got offstage and went ‘Can we’ve a chat?’” The months that followed presented a monumental challenge - When you set out to make music videos, who will share your vision? “We had three cinematographers and a producer drop out. It was such a struggle to get it off the ground. I always believed in the project, which luckily led me to meet Aidan Gault at the Galway Film Fleadh, who immediately was buzzed about the video. It was great to finally find that energy I was looking for.” When it comes to shoot day, Tara surrounds herself with skillful creatives. As with all filmmaking, successful collaboration will make or break the endeavour. “With each video, it’s great to know that I’ve built up a solid group of collaborators that I know I can really trust and lean on”. She is willing to put her script aside to explore what it is the actors can do. What they want to do. To some degree, they are the most important creatives on her set. Of course the lead actor in a music video is often not an actor at all, but a singer! How do you direct a nonactor? And in scenes of romantic passion? “What I did was I brought them up to a bedroom. So it was me and the actors. I got them to put their faces together and said ‘Look straight at each other! Do not close your eyes and count to 100.’ And nothing’s fucking awkward after that!”
4
Photogrpahy: Luisa Salmeron Filmmakers are responding to the rise of Irish hip-hop. On the Totally Dublin list of leading Irish music video directors, three out of five are busy doing videos for Irish rappers. Tara knows why she took this path and she raves about the directors that inspired her along the way - directors such as BRTHR, Anton Tammi, Amber Grace Johnson and Cole Bennett. “It was the editing. I had never seen editing as out-there. It was so experimental, so different. Everything about filmmaking that I was excited about going into IADT - it just brought that all back up again when I saw those videos.”
“I think if you like a certain visual style and you put it into your own concept, that becomes its own thing in itself. It develops into its own style. So don’t be afraid to do those things. Don’t be afraid. Because you’re young you need to experiment with the things you’re naturally drawn too.”
5
Photogrpahy: Fáolan Carey
Still, new filmmakers struggle to embrace their influences. The ambiguous lines between inspiration, emulation and plagiarism are paralyzing.
Graduate Interview
Photogrpahy: Fáolan Carey
Tara’s second music video was with Waterford rapper 7th Obi for the track ‘Choose a Side’. With the artist living in England, they took a very 21st century approach to the collaboration. After reaching out to him on Instagram, they worked through concept development and pre-production without ever seeing face-to-face. A dark and emotional track, they looked to 70s and 80s American cinema for inspiration. It wasn’t until day one of the shoot that they finally met each other. “It was really interesting because I had no idea what working with this guy in person was gonna be like. It was scary but it was exciting at the same time, and I was kinda trying to channel that into it.” How do you then take a concept into the real world? “Think about the value of what your image is telling you” For Tara that means a restless dedication to the best images, the best possible results. Preproduction sees her driving around for hours at night, in search of the perfect locations. “An aquarium, a church, a forest, a beach, a street, a laneway, a home, a balcony, a nightclub. The locations were fucking endless with this video.”
Tara O’ Callaghan
6
When it comes to production, it’s low-budget, high-intensity. Against the odds, it all has to come together in a 3-day shoot. That means reinventing the main narrative. It means rescheduling on day one so that 7th Obi can perform with American rapper KYLE. It even means pretending that it’s a charity video to get filming permission. Tara calls them speedbumps. Creative workarounds borne of immediate necessity. Yet “necessity is the mother of invention”, she insists. And for these challenging moments have delivered her most memorable visuals.
Photo taken by Fáolan Carey
7
Along comes music video number three and this time Tara has teamed up with Irish rapper Hovay on the track ‘Karma’. Hovay was introduced to Tara’s work after discovering her website. He reached out to her on instagram in the hope of a collaboration. Her reaction? “Why not, let’s do it.” By now she’s working fluently with some of her favourite collaborators. She’s in a rhythm with producer Emma Smith (IADT). She’s bending the rules with DOP Robin Kavanagh (also IADT), chancing a few shots on the pitch at Boh’s stadium. She’s discovering the hidden value of her stills photographer, Faolán Carey, who keeps everybody engaged in between shooting. It’s collaboration with the artist however, that Tara seems to prize above all else.
Graduate Interview
Photogrpahy: Fáolan Carey “I try to open myself up to every artist and listen to them. Not to meet in the middle, but to create something that we’re both proud of, and happy with.”
end! I was like “What am I doing? Why didn’t I do a multimedia degree in DCU and work in Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram?”
Before the video was through, the same portfolio website that caught the attention of Hovay also attracted the attention of production company Event Junkies/Motherland, who approached her to work with them. It was a big opportunity, and she jumped at it.
For Tara, it has taken some time to come to terms with her student experience. On the one hand, she’s not sure that the film course at IADT really suited her. As someone who thrives under pressure, the course failed to engage her fully for the first three years. She wonders if a restructured course, with two core years and two specialization years might be an improvement.
“I’m being opened up to so many different types of filmmaking with them. They’re helping me grow and learn as a creative which is going to aid me in becoming a better director in turn.”
“I don’t think you’re really getting into the layers of any particular discipline. Especially with directing. I finally found in fourth year I was getting somewhere with what I wanted to learn”
The dream now, she explains, is to experiment with the medium and hopefully, in the long run, direct films. She wants to experiment with artists, collaborators, personal projects, styles and formats. And she wants to have fun doing it! As it happens, a number of other IADT graduates currently work with the company. As Tara notes, IADT produces very good graduates.
On the other hand, she credits the college with toughening her up. She thinks that students should take their time in college to learn from their mistakes, to overcome the fear of failure, and most of all, to discover the value of criticism.
So what about the subject of her old college?
“It made me separate the emotion from the piece, which I think is crucial. It’s your work. You need to be able to hear about what’s wrong with it, and be able to grow from that as well.”
“When I graduated I couldn’t sleep for weeks on
Tara O’ Callaghan
8
A Game Of Tones By Anne Sillman
9
Mental health is not so black and white. 8.00am The alarm goes off. I am turning around, pulling the blanket over my head. I blink. My eyes open slowly. The soft sunlight breaks through the window blinds. Hot air waving through the bed sheets. The summer outside is already creeping inside my bedroom. But it’s one of those days when I am trapped inside my head, haunted by my feelings and destructive thoughts. I can’t move. University starts at 10 am. I still have another two hours. Too short. Too much of an effort sitting on the train for half an hour to get there. Being watched by the outside-world-people. Judging. Laughing. 25% of the world’s population are struggling with mental health issues or are likely to face a mental health related topic at one point in their lifetime. Be it diseases, illnesses or temporary conditions. 9.00am Baby steps. Sliding out of bed. Getting dressed. One item after the other. I don’t look in the mirror. I know what I will see there. Imperfection. A flawed body. Chubby tummy. A double chin. Spots in my freckled faced. At least the freckles hide them. I head over to the kitchen. Luckily, my flatmates have already left. I am alone. No need to put on a mask. Not yet. I prepare coffee. The only thing that keeps me running these days. Not waking me up, though. It just comforts me enough to be able to leave the house. And it suppresses the hunger, so I don’t have to eat just to get chubbier. Just to give them more reasons for their judgement. I grab a banana. This must be enough.
A Game of Tones
The symptoms accompanying depression can be different for everyone. Eating disorders, anxiety and self-harm are only a few related to depression. However, these symptoms are not always present. Some people can get out of bed without any problem and some can’t. That doesn’t mean either one of them is sicker than the other. Mental health looks different for everyone. 9.20am With my cup full of coffee, I leave the house for the train. Warm air welcomes me outside. Why do people enjoy this? Too many people at the station. My earphones and the loud music keep me locked in my head. My eyes are hidden behind my sunglasses. As if I was in my own world. As I walk towards the entrance of the university, I turn off the music. Replace the sunglasses with the mask of a slightly smiling face. I talk to my classmates as we head over to our seminar room. We chat. We laugh. I laugh. It is almost a real laugh. Almost. The lecturer begins. He talks about the assignments. His expectations. My breath is short. I don’t think I can do this. I should quit university. I should work. I should not be here. Confronted with what I can’t do each day. There are too many assignments. Too many expectations I can’t fulfil. I am not as good as my classmates. They are experienced. I am just stupid. Wearing a mask is a common tool to hide feelings. Usually this means the outside world doesn’t even suspect that something is wrong. Often when talking about mental health, it’s a person you wouldn’t consider that’s suffering. But behind their ‘mask’ their thoughts might be constantly beating them up. Their self-esteem could be shrinking every day, as they cannot properly complete tasks.
10
6.00pm I finish the last seminar. I feel relieved as I leave the doors behind me and catch the next bus. Back home I am finally allowed to eat. I am starving as I only had black coffee for lunch. My flatmates have not returned home. Good. I take my dinner to my room and turn on Netflix. Distraction. I am tired. My mind is tired. My feelings are tired. 10.00pm I turn off the laptop. Turn off the lights. Turn off my phone. I pull the blanket over my body. It is too hot. My brain turns on. All the feelings and thoughts start racing through my head. It takes another two hours until I fall asleep. Finally. When struggling with mental health issues, bad days are common. Some people only have these days. Some people rarely have them and some don’t at all. The next day might be better – or not. You never know what awaits you the next morning. 7.00am The alarm goes off. I open my eyes. It is raining outside. A smile creeps onto my lips. I love rain. I jump out of my bed, turn on some music, get dressed, sit in front of the mirror to put on some make-up. I look at myself. Smiling. I love my freckles, the blue eyes which change their tone depending on my mood, the light and the weather outside. My tummy is flat yet a little curvy. I feel good. My French-press is waiting to prepare coffee. Half a litre should be enough. The smell of the coffee waves through the kitchen. I prepare cinnamon porridge. My favourite breakfast. Healthy and yet so delicious and comforting. With the coffee and the bowl, I return to my room and turn on the laptop. There is so much work to do. I start writing a to do list. My job as a working student keeps me busy for three hours. Let alone the incredible number of
11
tasks I must complete for university. But I take it one step at a time. One task after the other. I am good at these things. I am efficient. On a good day, you are still suffering from depression. It has not gone away overnight. But on some days, it’s easier to do what’s necessary to keep you going. For example, writing to do lists. Breaking down tasks into manageable pieces helps prevent you from feeling overwhelmed. 2.00pm I enter the studio for the first seminar of the day. We are working in groups creating a new TV-Show. I have some good ideas and I rewrite the logline. I am good at this. I write amazing texts and I am
Anne Sillman
Photography Lillian Searson
great at scaling things down to the most important features. This is what I like to do. Writing and creating. And this master’s course gets me there. It is hard but it will prepare me for the reality that is out there in the world. 7.00pm I leave university together with my new classmates. My new friends. I am exhausted yet happy. We decide to go to a bar for a drink or two. On the way there we are chatting, joking, laughing. I am happy. Happy to be here. Happy to get the chance to learn all those new things. But also, I feel like I don’t belong. My depression holds me back way too often. I am ready to finally fight it once and for all. Though I know, this feeling won’t last forever. So, for now, all that’s left for me is to enjoy the moment. Also, socializing – something which was not possible on the day before – can help a lot. But even that takes strength and is only achieved by a constantly fighting the voices in your head telling you, “everyone hates you”. 11.00pm
Photograpohy Lillian Searson
I return home, still smiling. In my bed, I close my eyes and fall asleep immediately, hoping for another good day to come. Hoping for that light feeling just to stay a little longer. Hoping for this fighter spirit to stay within me.
A Game of Tones
12
How to meet your mental health. The topic is just about to arrive in people’s minds, yet in most countries these subjects are still highly stigmatized. Which is the reason why it’s so important to start a conversation. To ask, to listen and to talk about it. Let’s discard one stereotype from the beginning: People with mental health issues are not crazy. It’s not just in their head. And if it is, it’s in a different way – and they cannot just simply ‘get over it’ by thinking positively. Sure, that helps. But to get to that point where thinking positively is an option, you must have regained control over your thoughts to such a degree that you can affect them. It’s not that easy. It needs time. And maybe, it also requires help. That is exactly where this article comes in. Maybe you are affected by mental health issues. Maybe one of your friends or relatives is. So whatever position you are taking here, you might need a little assistance on what to do. First, and this can’t be stressed enough, every person is different. Every character is different. Every brain functions differently. And just like this, mental health issues look different on everyone. As you might have noticed before, there are obviously good days and bad days. But there is also every shade of day in between. It is not just black and white. It is all the tones and it highly depends on the person suffering. That means that there is no one-fits-all-solution.
13
A good start is to open up and to no longer hide. The next step might be to simply reach out for help. It is much easier to go through that time if you are not alone. Most people recommend seeing a therapist. Yes, this is one possible solution. There are several mental health conditions that require proper treatment with a therapist (the person you usually talk to) and maybe also a psychiatrist (the person prescribing medication). It may be a good idea to talk to your doctor for advice on where to go, but you can also search on your own. Especially when you know your doctor in person and don’t feel like telling them. Whether it be your doctor,
the therapist you choose, or the counsellor in your college- if you do not feel comfortable, success is unlikely because you will probably not be honest or hold back. Whenever this happens, remember you are a free human being. You can always decide to leave. Number one rule is: YOU must be comfortable! So if you find out, or you already know, that you don’t want to commit to therapy but you need someone to talk to, find a trusted friend or relative. Usually, it is harder to speak with them, as to a certain degree you must admit weakness. Which is why this step requires just as much strength as all the others. You see, there is no weakness. In fact, it’s the opposite. Talk to your entrusted person about how you want them to behave and what kind of help you wish to have from them. That can be anything from just distracting you, up to talking through your thoughts and feelings. Also, let them know what to do in serious cases, e.g. when you are feeling suicidal or feel the urge to self-harm. You will see, it gets easier after a while and by talking about the topics that bother you, you can get a different perspective on things. Pro Tip: if you have trouble asking for help in critical situations you can set up a code with the person you choose. That can be an emoji, a * or a #. Anything works. It is much easier to just send a text with a symbol than asking for help. Then, the entrusted person can do the next step by asking how you are feeling, what is bothering you and so on. It is easier to answer specific questions. Whatever solution you choose, be patient and acknowledge that it is okay to not be okay. Allow yourself to feel bad but know that you are in charge of your feelings and thoughts. Only you can change them. Once you have found someone to talk to or tried various solutions it will get much easier to regain control. Remember: You are strong! Keep fighting!
Anne Sillman
A Game of Tones
14
Hello from the other side. Switching to the side of the entrusted friend or relative, there are obviously a few tips on how to handle the newly acquired responsibility. Up first, the most important thing is to listen! Listen without judging. When a close person opens up to you, they have most likely thought about that for days, weeks or months and is hard enough. Don’t make it even harder by judging them. Secondly, do not behave differently. The person who is talking to you has been in that state of mind before they told you about it. And you did not treat them differently. So why should you do it now? They are still the same person they were seconds ago. Just with a different story. Being treated as if you are suddenly a fragile piece of glass is horrible, unnecessary and makes everything even worse. A much better way to deal with that is to regularly check in on your friends and offer your help. Respect that sometimes there is nothing you can do but reassure the person that you are there for them and ready to go through whatever it might be with them.
In the end, you need to find your own solution on whatever side you are standing. I have been on both sides and I have tried all the options mentioned above until I found what works best for me. It takes a lot of time and patience, that is for sure. But the support out there is amazing, and I am sure, there is a solution for you as well. In IADT for example there is a Counsellor and the Students Union deals with such topics as well. Finally, if you are in an urgent situation there are crisis lines in every country which you can call for immediate assistance. You just have to decide to fight and win over whatever mental health issue you are facing!
Of course, being entrusted with such an important and sometimes critical topic is hard for you as well. Remember that you have the right to say no. If it is too much for you, kindly explain that to the person. They will understand and if they are not suicidal most issues can wait until the next day. Also feel free to talk to someone yourself if you need to. That is completely valid. If you don’t want to hurt the privacy of your friend just don’t say their name. Just tell someone about the situation and about how you feel about it. Your mental health is just as important as everyone else’s and you don’t have to do all this on your own.
15
Anne Sillman
A Game of Tones
16
17
Photography Eimear Boyd
Photogrpahy Eimear Boyd
Raison d’Être In conversation with Eimear Boyd, Anson Cording, and Ali Kemal Ali
By Katherine Michael
IADT is a creative heaven for me. I absolutely love being a student here and I appreciate the spirit and community and the experiences that the staff and tutors provide for us creative misfits (meant in the best way). I love listening to people’s stories, particularly if they love what they are doing. I believe if we find something we love to be and do, then that helps not only ourselves but the world becomes richer as a result. I spoke with Eimear Boyd our Welfare officer who recently graduated with a BA honours in Art, Anson Cording, a model maker who looks after the hire of cameras in the college and with Ali Kemal Ali one of our staff from the technical department. As I was writing this article I came across the book The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and there is a beautiful passage about work. “…And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret. And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God”. I sit across from Eimear, I find her humble in her role as Welfare officer. She is wearing a navy college hoodie and a warm – cream hat that covers her brown hair and as she talks she smiles with her whole face. I ask her about the large Moon ball sculpture that hung in the college Chapel. She started in the art world in the Gorey School of Art with Ali and completed a portfolio preparation course which gained her direct entry into second year. On seeing the Print Room at an open day she made her mind up. Once here she was able to do copper plate printing, aluminium, collagraph and screen printing. “The world is your oyster coming into that print room.” While a student at IADT, Eimear got to see Ali making his now famous UFO that has featured at Electric Picnic the music festival and has been an
Raison d’Être
integral part of the creation of Transmission. For the uninitiated, Transmission started in 2016 with Ali Kemal bringing together a collection of unknown DJs, artists and creatives. “We decided we wanted to build a planet, I wanted it to be the moon. He knew he wanted to build it with a cross brace but I knew if you put a light in it you would see the joined lines, so I had the idea to make a Papier Mache mould first and that was when the whole collaboration with Ali really began,” says Eimear. In the summer of 2018, Ali gave her the skills and tools to know how to work with fibreglass. They put a 140 watt bulb inside the moon and it was installed the following year at the Electric Picnic it had a stepper motor inside so it had a moving lunar cycle. This is a fine example were a project shared can become greater and that is the power of collaboration which is widely encouraged by the tutors within IADT. It is said that Geese fly further in formation than by themselves and both Eimear and Ali show this in the different projects they have undertaken. “The moon represents such meaning to many people and it’s probably the most memorable commercially acceptable artwork that I’ve ever been involved with in contrast to my prints which are very abstract. They are quite textile tactile quality prints. I absolutely love collagraph print, which is a form of print were you ink up the plate and stick down any material you wish to see the lines within the material rather than the etching or Intaglio, you get the reverse the textual material seeing what the material looks like on paper and ink.’ She explains how she sees hints of the Fibonacci Sequence which are the natural patterns and symmetries that pop into lines even within tinfoil.
18
She is very passionate about what she puts her mind to. “I get a natural high from print and this welfare job too. You get to help people and it might be a little thing for you but it’s a massive thing for someone else,” she says. She talks about her involvement in the Scouts with art classes and she enjoys that too. Our time is nearly up and I ask Eimear what’s her favourite book.
Photogrpahy Katherine Michael
The Magical Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton “Man that book!” she clasps her hands together and she lights up again. “That book fuelled my brain with so much creativity and imagination I still read it to this day. I absolutely love that book. A tree with magical people and at the very top of it is a door into a magical land that changes every day where a magical place exists. Eimear recently graduated with an Honours BA Art. Instagram: boyd.eimear & boyd.eimear@gmail.com •
“You start seeing beautiful marks from banal things like orange peel and someone once printed dried raspberries! You can do the most wonderful and weird things with Print.” Her dream job would be to be a print technician and she’d be delighted if the college would hire her. She smiles at the idea. “I applied for a masters in Japan in print but I’ll find another way of doing it. I might look elsewhere around the world. There are other studios doing amazing things. I’d like to have my own studio but I’ll see how that works out. “Transmission has always been a love for me as it’s away from college and actually out there in the art world. I’ve been able to collaborate and make friends for life and every year improve and do more.” She smiles again: “I absolutely loved working on the moon. I can’t wait to work on a bigger piece.” Does her full time welfare role impinge on her creativity? “It’s the best thing I have done. It can be draining caring for everyone else rather than yourself and I know it’s important to keep in touch with my art.” She plans to do art projects throughout the year for climate change and a BYOB painting in Bakers pub and help the IADT print society.
19
It’s only my second time to use and hire a camera and tripod from Anson - a brilliant facility provided by the college and same day I am encouraged by Ali and Tony from the student union to just jump in and take photographs of the installation of the Moon which hung in the Chapel and the UFO at a Festival for the dead in Glendalough for Halloween. I see Anson has a pet robot! But it transpires technically it’s not. It’s actually a 3D printer moving back and forth forming an object like Frankenstein. He informs me it’s called the Franken Printer. To me it’s his robot. Necessity is the mother of invention and his time working down in the camera department has led him towards designing and writing the firmware for a 3D printer. Before IADT he worked in display design and for Forbidden Planet years ago and for Paramount repairing one of the enterprise miniatures from Star Trek ‘cause it had been damaged in transport. We discuss briefly the article I’m forming about work you love. He has a jovial manner which sparks the idea for the title. What is your Raison D’Etre? He stresses the importance of doing something you enjoy for the fun of it rather than the focus to make money. For hire of camera equipment, contact: Anson.cording@iadt.ie
Katherine Michael
• During his lunch break I ask Ali about his cool UFO and how it came to be. I’m inspired by his immense positive attitude and open light heartedness a real sense of possibility permeates around him. He’s wearing a black T-Shirt one of the many he has designed for Transmission (he used the symbol of the insert of a 45” record for his inspiration) He asks me how I am getting along in college I say it’s so brilliant to be here and honoured to be surrounded by such talented dedicated people. “This college is amazing, know what I mean? He says in his cockney accent, the facilities are brilliant, there is so much here, the people who work here are so helpful and kind. He continues: “I absolutely love what I am doing now. I couldn’t BE in a better place I could never find what I wanted to stick at until now.”
He asked his tutor Amanda could he build it and she agreed but Ali thought there must be a catch “I don’t want to build something and you say it’s a great prop so now where is the art?” He wasn’t convinced so he went to the Head of the Facility and he got the go-ahead. That same year when it was built, Emma McKeagney from his class, suggested that he apply to Electric Picnic. Instantly they invited him to bring the UFO to the woods at the festival in Stradbally. It had a sub-woofer, played music, drove, had lazers and even smoke machines. He made a short film of it driving down Gorey main street with police chasing it. According to Anson this was on the news as far as Japan! Ali saw a great opportunity and made a proposal to EP to include the DJs and artists he had met from Gorey and so Transmission was born. They set up a rave in the woods where aliens and humans could party together. “If we can get along with aliens surely we can get along with everyone else in the world because at that time there was a lot of negativity and talk about war and building a wall,” he says. “I just fell in love with the idea and the next year
Photography Peter Kavanagh
Ali Kemal Ali had direct entry into third year in Sculpture at IADT. His whole class was away in Venice and he was the only person left behind so having worked with wood mostly all his life from making guitars to building TV sets for the BBC, Top of the Pops, Miss World, shop windows for all the major department stores including Harrods and Selfridges to building kitchens and houses with the
amount of different experiences he gained over the years, he decided to take things a step further and set himself the challenge to build a UFO.
Raison d’Être
20
How did he make the mothership? “I made it at home in my garden with fellow student Lorcan McGeogh: my right hand man (Alis’ sanity) who was there from the start and Claire Burke (his tutor) introduced him to Luke Maguire who used his skills in LED (light emitting diode). He was on the creative media technologies course here in IADT . He created the most amazing light display on the Mothership and when you experience it in full it really is out of this world it’s Wow”. I see how Ali is an example of the ethos behind what IADT is about, using his alchemy to encourage students to become the best they can be. Where does he see this all going from here? “I’ve got my own stage at Electric Picnic called Transmission and its becoming one of the favourite stages people talk about. I’ve got the little UFO, the Mothership, the Stairgate with visual projections, a five foot moon co-created with Eimear. “She’s so talented,” he says. “It is its own entity, it’s not me anymore. Fifty or more people are involved and the more I can include people with EP the better as it gives them the platform to contribute to something that is phenomenal.” There are talks about the Transmission stage being at four festivals a year it’s taking on a new life opening up to new audiences. What brought him to Ireland? Ali is originally from North London (he jokes that he is related to Muhammad Ali) and grew up with kids from all different backgrounds. His mum was from Cyprus but moved to England in the ‘60s to have a better life. She worked hard to bring up the five children on her own in a country where she could barely speak the language. “It was only when my mum died that I felt like my anchor was lifted and I was free to sail. Other than that I wouldn’t have dreamed of moving away from her. I had two kids living on the tenth floor of a tower
21
Photogrpahy Peter Kavanagh
they asked me to expand on that so I said I would build a mothership. I didn’t have a clue how I was going to do it. I knew it had to be big.” Ali is a great advocate of anything is possible, the only limit is your imagination. “The little UFO is three metres in diameter and the mothership is eleven metres in diameter. That year I was graduating so it was very intense” (noticed he doesn’t use the word stressful.) He shows me photos of the mothership thirty foot off the ground and I’m amazed by the scale but also that he had had time to construct it at the same time as his final year graduation piece his sculptural wooden Mind Map with a Fibre glass ball (reminding me of a giant futuristic war of the worlds wooden structure)
block a council flat and used to get out of the lift on the ninth because that’s as far as it went, stepping over junkies with syringes hanging out of their arse and thought: “I can’t bring my kids up in this. and Sue was of Irish descent and she used to come here as a child and she would bring the kids here for the summers. We couldn’t afford a place in London so Sue suggested we look at places in Ireland and I trusted her with my life as she always considered everyone in her decisions. We had nothing to lose. We took a chance and it is the best decision I’ve ever made.” In 1996 they moved to Ireland to have a better life. What is his Raison D’Etre; his reason for being and doing what he does? “If you can help someone to be true to themselves and to encourage them to do something that they didn’t believe they could do and they end up doing it. Happy Days know what I mean? It’s just a coincidence that I found this job when I did because I needed something for me, yes I am getting more by giving to the students…..it is in the
Katherine Michael
giving that I am receiving. If I can help just one or two people it makes it all worthwhile . I come to IADT to be part of something that happens that is wonderful and I get paid for it which is even better because I don’t have to do something else. That is what keeps me going” He reminds me it’s not often someone finds something they love doing and can do it. And his advice to students: “Follow your heart. Let it go to where it goes, just let yourself go. Don’t be afraid of doing something you are not sure about. (When he graduated he screen printed a T-Shirt with the IADT logo with the words I did it!) Just do it as long as you are not harming anyone or anything. If you make a mistake, it doesn’t matter – it’s part of being a student. I’m not here for a big salary or nothing like that. Purely for the love of what I’m doing. I still feel like I am a student here being paid. It’s an amazing place to be - not just the energy from the students but from the tutors. I am very grateful to Amanda Ralf
Raison d’Être
(his tutor) without her the UFO wouldn’t have come about. When I was 18 I worked for a company in London called DesArt. It was so creative I absolutely loved it.” Whenever his boss got a commission from BBC or wherever, he gathered all the staff and listened to all ideas - everyone was involved in the process. Ali loved that and in a way IADT became a continuation of that. ”I should have carried on when I left there, I should have figured it out but I didn’t until now…” We are all glad he didn’t figure it out until now. Doing what you love is having true abundance. “Work is love made visible” as it says in The Prophet. Follow Ali on: Facebook: transmission-space Instagram Aliali7263
22
Tell me your story, I’ll tell you mine‌ By Nadia Cullinane
I am a wonderer I have no home I make space in others worlds And take up little So as to remain unseen And small Size does not determine The extent of ones worth I am big But I am shrinking And they neither notice Nor care Or so I think it so And so it is I wonder will they notice When I am not there This little light This tiny thing So stifled I will either shrivel up in Despair Or explode out of sheer Desperation Into tiny pieces I will become many And vast And into the Universe I will become (For there is no stopping a star)
23
Poetry
24
Illustration: Bruna Nakic
I leave her when she is sleeping By Nadia Cullinane
Hoping to slip out in the stillness of the night With only the whispers of night as company I flee, leaving a piece of me behind But only the broken and scarred Hopeful of a new budding life without her And yet at the same time I know it is useless She always finds me I am her and she is me We are part of the same We do not have our best interest at heart And even as she sleeps she chastises me As if, she says, you can change after all this time You’re so stupid Accept your prison But I am hopeful still
25
Poetry
26
Illustration: Bruna Nakic
I am a murdress By Nadia Cullinane
I am a murderess, a bully, a destroyer of dreams My disguise is disinterest and casual ease Yet I watch. I am a spy. An interloper. An intruder in lives I will steal your heart and leave you bleeding You will ask me why but see nothing but distain in my eyes You have lost me I am cold, unyielding, relentless with my spite You say I am mysterious and beautiful I am not. I’ve searched all of me and I am none of these things But I’ll accept your words if you leave me alone Solitude is my only enemy. I have no friends A prisoner of my own doing Destruction is my destiny There is no gilded cage for me Only darkness
27
Poetry
28
Illustration: Bruna Nakic
“Change is coming whether you like it or not”. -Greta Thunberg
”…There’s a message for all of us in the voices of young people”. ”…We now stand at a unique point in our planet’s history - one where we must all share responsibility both for our present wellbeing and for the future of life on Earth”. “Every one of us has the power to make changes and make them now. Our wonderful natural world and the lives of our children and grandchildren and all that follow them depend on us doing so”. -David Attenborough
29
By Nadia Cullinane
Greta Thunberg
30
Photography: Adrian Federis
Why Greta Thunberg can’t save you. By Nadia Cullinane
“She’s the voice of our generation.” I would argue she’s the voice of all generations. The ones before and the ones still to come. This decline is not confined to one generation, today’s generation, but to all of us. And its effects will not be selective either. It won’t be one generation that ends global warming or turns back greenhouse emissions or extinction. Irreversible... This is our/ an ongoing concern. Now and always tasked with being the wards of our planet and the life in it. No one can drop the ball on this one. We are in it for the long haul and no one gets a free pass. She speaks for you and me. Those born today, yesterday, generations to come. What a burden! What a great big weight she takes on. And we helped create it. As she says - if not me then who? And indeed she is right, if not me then who. I’d like to see badges and stickers like that at the next IADT art fair. Want to help her out? I would. I mean, I want to. But hopefully it doesn’t mean getting too uncomfortable right. Right? I hear you. Hard to create change while staying comfortable. Change is uncomfortable. But gosh isn’t the reward worth it! Or rather, wouldn’t the prospect of inaction be so much worse?! Don’t do it for another generation “the children of tomorrow.” It’s too abstract. Plus many of us have shocking creative thinking abilities so scrap that. Anyone else devastated about Orangutans losing their homes to deforestation due to our increasing consumption of palm oil? Me too. Still buying those products? Yeah. So feeling bad isn’t really giving back a lot/ doing a lot. It also takes you into a mire of despair and often breeds inaction.
31
By Nadia Cullinane
We take a collective sigh and think that means something. And it does in a way - because we are growing unified thinking around the health and longevity of our planet. And we are worried. And we should be. Awareness is good! But what next? “How dare you?!” Indeed. We talk of saving the world. Our world. The only one we have. No plan B. Yet we continue to pollute our bodies, the air we breathe and overconsume. We speak of animal rights yet still seem unsure of our own. Every life has value, yes but how much do you truly value your own when you are communally/ collectively undermining the only home you have? So this is the square/ rub/ low down/ point - and it’s not new really. No one can save you. No one will. We are all standing around - aware, upset, angry, and hoping someone else will do it. We are selfish by nature. Animals looking to save our own skin mostly. So they can’t or won’t. We all stand waiting while the sea laps at our ankles. Not so romantic now. And neither can Greta. She is not our saviour. She is our voice. We are louder for having her. And thanks to her efforts we are together more visible. But she is also one person. See how significant one person can be? That’s the point. That speech is directed at all of us. It’s not just for the political types, world “leaders” and representatives. It’s for You. Me. Us! Don’t put all your hopes and dreams on her. On anyone! All that creates is false idols and? Because she can’t possibly deliver on all we expect of her. Plus? It just isn’t fair. She’s not responsible for all of us. She’s not your mother - make your own bed.
and all of us should take this seriously. It’s our responsibility to act consciously and be united in a vision. Most importantly though; do something yourself. Even small. Start making a contribution to change. The change you want to see. Showing up is important and noble and it does send a message. Yet change does not come from knowing but from doing that which is needed to be done. For the greater good. Be present to your own actions. If it can be recycled, recycle it! If... do it! It’s not about a solution we can come up with tomorrow. It’s about the acts we can do today. That’s the point. We are running out of tomorrows. And don’t wait for politicians to solve your problems. Many have died waiting for less.Human beings are terrible at starting today and even worse at tomorrows. How many tomorrows have come and gone? Too many. People create change. People make change. So let’s all be change makers. Small acts do matter, especially when multiplied by many. David Attenborough put it all so eloquently as oft he does; ”…There’s a message for all of us in the voices of young people”. ”…We now stand at a unique point in our planet’s history - one where we must all share responsibility both for our present wellbeing and for the future of life on Earth”. “Every one of us has the power to make changes and make them now. Our wonderful natural world and the lives of our children and grandchildren and all that follow them depend on us doing so”.
Listen yes. Be aware. More importantly inform yourself and make a good argument for why we
Greta Thunberg
32
Mark Sandman: An Introduction and a Eulogy By Aaron Kavanagh
Whenever I say, “I like Morphine,” I always feels the need to qualify it with, “the band, that is.” I only discovered Morphine, myself, recently, in September of this year (I’m writing this in November of 2019, for reference). I was watching a morbid YouTube video, titled “Performers Who Died in Front of their Audiences,” and Mark Sandman, the lead singer and bassist of Morphine, was featured. The narrator of said video’s description of the band intrigued me. He said, “Morphine was one of the most unique alternative rock bands of the ‘90s; playing music that was funky, groovy, and vaguely unsettling. That memorable style was due, in large part, to singer and bassist, Mark Sandman, who pioneered bizarre, extra-low bass turnings, that added a spooky element to Morphine’s songs.” I looked them up, and saw a clip of them performing their song “Buena” on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and was immediately hooked. In the two months since, I’ve consumed their entire discography, and have become somewhat evangelical about my preaching of them. And now to publish my ramblings in the vain hope at least one person reading this will have their “Come-to-Morphine” moment, like I. As someone who spent his teenage years as a punk, I was super disappointed that punk wasn’t on the radio. It was like something that was hidden from me, and, by extension, everyone else. I thought if everyone else had heard hardcore punk, they’d love it, too. You’d shop it around to your friends, and realise, disappointingly, “this stuff isn’t on the radio for a reason.” With Morphine, however, there’s enough funk and pop elements to their bizarre alternative music, that I think a wide net of people could get their rocks off to it. Mark Sandman had started off in the ‘80s in a “punkblues” band named Treat Her Right (who, most famously, had their song “Rhythm and Booze” featured on the soundtrack to the first The Hangover movie). Treat Her Right had a strong following in Boston. Boston in the ‘80s and ‘90s spawned some amazing alternative rock acts (personally, I find the term “alternative rock” to be amorphous. While there’s room for differentiation and divergence in any genre, when bands as opposed as Photo credit - equipboard.com
33
The Lemonheads and Soundgarden are both considered “alternative,” it may be a vague genre). Some of the alt-rock acts from Boston at the time included, but is by no means limited to: The Pixies, Juliana Hatfield, The Lemonheads, Mission of Burma, Letters to Cleo, The Blake Babies, Buffalo Tom, The Del Fuegos, Evan Dando, Big Dipper, etc. The alternative scene, ironically, was rather uniform. Amanda Palmer, who formed her band The Dresden Dolls in her hometown of Boston, has talked about how her band were outcast in the Boston music scene for not conforming to the established fashion and music of the Boston alternative scene. Treat Her Right were outside the musical vogue of the typical Boston alternative act. After Treat Her Right, Mark founded Morphine, with Dana Colley and Jerome Deupree. Mark switched from guitar in Treat Her Right, to bass in Morphine, but he played a rather unusual bass: it was a Waterstone Premier Bass, that Mark had modified to remove the E and G strings, and would tune the A and D strings to odd tunings, and play it with a pick and slide. Strange enough as it is, Colley played a baritone saxophone (he would later upgrade to playing both a baritone and a tenor saxophone simultaneously by the band’s second album, Cure for Pain). So, the three-piece featured: an oddly modified bass, a baritone saxophone (which, outside of Prince, was rare for rock music), and drums. Pretty early in Morphine’s career, Deupree was replaced by Billy Conway, who had played cocktail drums in Treat Her Right. Deupree played on the band’s first album, Good, and all subsequent albums featured Conway. Although, technically not a Boston band (the band was formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts), the band were credited as such (in much the same way Nirvana are seen as a Seattle band, despite being from Aberdeen). Mark would introduce most shows by saying, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are Morphine, from Boston, Massachusetts, at your service.” While Treat Her Right may have been atypical from the average Boston alt-rock act; Morphine were even further divorced. Furthermore, the band were really unique, lyrically, and, especially, musically from any music scene. The band’s music was
Mark Sandman
34
deep and low, with Colley’s baritone bass, and Mark’s super low voice. Mark’s lyrics were dark and unsettling. Born in 1952, Mark was a good decade (sometimes even a-decade-and-a-half) older than your average Gen Xer in an alternative rock act, at the time. As a young man, he was somewhat of a vagabond, wandering from place to place, and learning about different cultures. He had a hard life: he had three siblings (two brothers and one sister), and one of his brothers died from a nasty virus, and his other brother died from a car crash. He was also stabbed in the chest, while working as a cab driver (this was unrelated to the heart attack he would have, years later). Mark was inspired by film noirs, pulp fiction, and beat poetry, and the smooth and effortlessly cool delivery of Mark’s words off his tongue, despite the dark subject matter sometimes, with the super low baritone of the band is a huge part of their appeal. Often, when performing, the band would stop playing, just to perform poetry. In the post-Nirvana/Nevermind hysteria that occurred, where every major label wanted to sign alternative acts, after Nirvana’s surprise hit album Nevermind had knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous off the number one spot on the Billboard 200, Morphine signed to Rykodisc. Rykodisc, at the point, was an odd label to sign with. At the time, they were mainly known for rereleasing old albums or compilations of already popular musical acts, and releasing spoken word and stand-up CDs. The band’s album sales, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired, but they were all critically well received. Despite the low record sales, in 1996, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg started a new music label, DreamWorks Records (a subdivision of DreamWorks Pictures, the studio that gave us the wonderful Bee Movie, starring Jerry Seinfeld), and Morphine were one of the first acts they signed, and, after three albums on Rykodisc, the band released their fourth studio album, Like Swimming¸ a year later. Unfortunately, this makes Morphine’s discography incomplete on websites such as Spotify, or to purchase, as their last two albums were on DreamWorks Records, which no longer exists, and the rights to those albums are, at time of writing, in limbo. The band’s somewhat obscure reputation isn’t due to lack of media exposure. The band was featured on television shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Jon Stewart Show, and 120 Minutes in the US, Later…with Jools Holland and The White Room in the UK, and Recovery in Australia.
35
Their music was featured extensively in Spanking the Monkey, the feature-length directorial debut of five-time Academy Award-nominated director David O. Russell, who would go on to direct movies such as American Hustle, Joy, Silver Linings Playbook, and The Fighter, and their music has been featured in films such as Get Shorty, Definitely, Maybe, Wild Things, Nothing to Lose, The Mod Squad, and more; as well as TV shows such as Gotham, Daria, City on a Hill, and their music videos have been featured on The Sopranos and Beavis and Butt-Head. The band went on to have success in America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. They’ve played festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading, Roskilde, Pinkpop, Rock am Ring/ Rock im Park, Lowlands, Livid, H.O.R.D.E., Rock Werchter, Super Bock, and many more, in the US, Europe, and Australia. On July 3rd, 1999, the band were headlining the second of three nights at the Nel Nome del Rock festival at the Parco Barberini, in Palestrina, Italy, when, just as Mark was announcing the band’s eight song of the night, “Super Sex,” he collapsed and died of a sudden heart attack, almost immediately, aged 46. Years later, speculation came out as to what caused Mark’s heart attack at such a young age. Most assumed drugs, but this myth was busted by music journalist Michael Azerrad (author of one of my favourite books, Our Band Could Be Your Life), who talked with the people who knew Mark, and they all attested to the fact that he didn’t do hard drugs. Most likely the cause was Mark’s heavy smoking. The band’s final album, The Night, was released posthumously in January of 2000. The remaining members toured the album as Orchestra Morphine, to celebrate Mark’s life. In 2009, the remaining members reformed as Members of Morphine, with Jeremy Lyons doing bass and vocals. The band changed their name to Vapors of Morphine in 2014, and still tour to this day. While the band never had huge commercial success, some of their fans include Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Les Claypool of Primus, Mike Watt of The Minutemen, Joe Strummer, and Henry Rollins. There’s an intersection in Cambridge, MA dedicated to Mark, and there’s two documentaries about him: Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, released in 2011, and Morphine: Journey of Dreams, released in 2014. Thank you, Mark, et al. for the music, and may you rest in peace. Do yourself a favour, and check out Morphine. Play it loud, play it proud.
Whenever I say, “I like Morphine,” I always feels the need to qualify it with, “the band, that is.” Mark Sandman
36
Isobel Shackleton Design for Stage & Screen
This scenic painting is based on the work of Ludwig Fahrenkrog, a German painter. This was my first attempt at painting for theatre and at the size of 1m x 1.5m it is the largest painting I have completed to date. I created this while on Erasmus in Osijek under the guidance of Professor Goran Tvrtković and the piece was finished in a mere 12 hours which was spread out over my four month stay. This artwork challenged me greatly, however after completing it and feeling that sense of accomplishment I am ready to go out and create some more. To view the process pictures of this piece and other stage design artifacts you can go to my Instagram @shackleton.design.
theeyeiadt@gmail.com
