| The Office of Public
Works built a temporary holding centre to cope with the accommodation
crisis for asylum seekers in Ireland.
As part of the Irish Government's
per cent for arts scheme, they invited six arts groups to submit
proposals for artist-in-residence projects. Our proposal was chosen.
The artists were commissioned to provide a minimum
of 30 weeks contact. The first workshop took place on the 6th November
'2001 and the final workshop took place in mid-June 2002.
It was agreed by all of the artists that it took
about 6 weeks for each artist to get a sense of the people and to
establish a regular group.
Each residency consisted of a multimedia project
involving six artists from various disciplines of the non-verbal
arts.
The artforms that were included are as follows:
Percussion and harmonic
singing:
John Bowker
John Bowker made a number of recordings with residents. These consisted
of traditional ethnic songs, original compositions, and various
other combinations. He recorded a professional quality CD, comprising
17 tracks.
MP3 samples of 4 of the tracks can be found here
Textile Art:
Allie Kay
Allie Kay created a number of beautiful painted textile works with
the children. These were stretched for presentation and located
around the reception building.
Allie Kay and Sarah Fuller created a number of textile and painted
pieces to decorate the children's playroom. These took the form
of a number of themed wall-hangings, some painted, and some large
floor cushions. The purpose was to create an environment where creative
play could take place.
Photography and basic printmaking:
Veronica Nicholson
Veronica Nicholson took over 1200 colour photographs, and 25 b/w
portrait photographs of residents and staff. Each person who was
photographed received a copy. She also created 2 artworks, consisting
of black and white & coloured photos assembled in a grid format
and installed within the reception building.
Puppetry and pageantry:
Sarah Fuller
Sarah Fuller created a series of large group paintings with children
in the form of boxed scenes. These were hung in the playroom and
the studio. (Sarah also worked with Allie on a textile project for
the children's playroom, see "Textile
Art" above.)
Website construction and design:
Musa Engelbrecht
My task was to create an artist-response to the theme of 'refugee'
and to document the artist residencies through the construction
of this web site.
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