Public Art Roundup

THE BRIDGE

Sara Cunningham-Bell, THE BRIDGE: Fiacha Dhubha Fhionglaise ar Foluain, Finglas Ravens Soar, 2021, Corten Steel and mirror polished stainless steel with luminescent pathway; photograph by Jacob Cunningham-Bell, courtesy the artist and Sculpture Dublin.

Visual Artist: Sara Cunningham-Bell Artwork Title: THE BRIDGE: Fiacha Dhubha Fhionglaise ar Foluain, Finglas Ravens Soar Media: Corten Steel and mirror polished stainless steel with luminescent pathway. Site: Kildonan Park, Finglas, Dublin. Commissioning Body: Dublin City Council for Sculpture Dublin (a DCC initiative, developed by Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services and the City Arts Office) Project Partners: Hugh Lane Gallery and Visual Artists Ireland. Unveiled by: The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alison Gilliland, on 8 November 2021. Photography and videographer: Jacob Cunningham-Bell.

The core sculptural form comprises two steel figures with celebratory arms raised up, holding high a ‘river rug’, reflective and threaded through with symbols and signifiers of Finglas life. These stories and memories were shared with Sara through many conversations and workshops. Its sculpted shape and materials draw the eye and the mind skyward into the sphere of hopes and dreams. The sculpture has kinetic movement built into its lean form, which rises seven metres on this flat, 20-acre site at Kildonan Park. It can be walked through, under and around.

Sara was inspired by Sophie Pierce-Healy, a celebrated aviatrix of the 1920s, who flew her plane, ‘The Silver Lining’, at Kildonan Aerodrome. Sara was interested in how Pierce-Healy won the campaign to overturn the ban on women obtaining a pilot license, and pioneered women in sport at Olympic level. Sara was visually motivated by the streets, playing fields and homes of Finglas; the kitchen table where local artist, Una Watters designed Claíomh Solais /Sword of Light to mark the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, along with painted scenes from Cappagh Road. This alongside the pioneering vision of Eliza Wollstonecraft Bishop in promoting education for girls; the rich work and achievements of local writers, such as the amazing Paula Meehan; and sporting heroes, too many to mention. The Norse black raven, the crest that symbolises the area, is referenced in the sculpture’s title, a collaboration with the poet Rachael Hegarty, from her poem, Flight Paths over Finglas.

Mostly though, Sara is inspired by the ordinary people of Finglas; the invisible work of wives and mothers that is the backbone of family life. The selfless campaigning of community activists is engraved and woven through the sculpture’s form, while the youngest generation are literally lifted high-up as the biggest treasure of all in Finglas. The artwork is genuinely responsive, ambitious, and powerfully symbolic.

Discord

Larissa O’Grady, Sam Perkin and Alex Pentek, Discord, 2021, Birch-ply, contact microphones, sound composition and performance, skateboard performance; Film still by Néstor Romero Clemente, courtesy of Alex Pentek.

Visual Artist: Alex Pentek in collaboration with Larissa O’Grady (musician) and Sam Perkin (composer). Artwork Title: Discord Media: Collaborative public artwork, performance and sound work with wooden structure. Commissioning Body: Dublin City Council Arts Office Site: Meeting House Square, Dublin Date: Performed on 26 September 2021 Budget: €17,290 Commission Type: Local Authority Project Partners: Skateboarders Michael McMaster, Pete Buckley and Anto Thornberry; sound engineering by Adrian Hart; film by Néstor Romero Clemente.

Discord is a collaborative public artwork, performance and sound work with a newly created deployable, origami-inspired sculptural pavilion that changes its form to be skateboarded upon. The performance on 26 September was a world premiere of a new work written for violin and skateboard by award-winning composer, Sam Perkin. The amplified sound performance by renowned violinist Larissa O’Grady (joined by Sam Perkin playing skateboard) is disrupted by three virtuoso skateboarders – Michael McMaster, Pete Buckley and Anto Thornberry – who skate on the collapsed reverse-fold wooden structure.

The sculptural pavilion is used as a concert platform to amplify the skateboard sounds. I created the articulated design at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork. Using seven carjacks to manually deploy and collapse the sculpture became part of the performance. Blurring the lines between sculpture, performance, and sound installation, this new work smashes together different worlds of high art, classical music, and skate performance out of the gallery and concert hall onto the street.

Performed in Meeting House Square, Dublin, the work explores ‘site as discourse’ through Hannah Arendt’s idea of the public sphere as an agonistic site for critical public agency. Huge thanks to world-class skaters Michael, Pete, and Anto and to Adrian Hart for the wonderful soundscape he engineered on the day. A short film of the performance was created by Néstor Romero Clemente, for which we are forever grateful. The sound work and performance can be viewed at: https://vimeo. com/641330950 (Password: Discord)