PROGRAMME
Kevin Barry (IRL)
Author
Title: Island Time
Location: Inis Oírr Lighthouse
Written and performed at Inis Oírr Lighthouse, this captivating multi-media monologue by acclaimed author Kevin Barry sounds a tragi-comic tone as a melancholy lighthouse keeper dreams of a different life and of distant lands ... and of a woman in Ennistymon. With a sound design by Foley artist Jean McGrath and film by Louise Manifold. Kindly supported by the Commissioners of Irish Lights.
www.aerialsparks.org/kevin-barry
The Aerial/Sparks programme is free. Advance booking is required for Kevin Barry’s Island Time at Inis Oírr Lighthouse to comply with physical distancing requirements. The lighthouse will accommodate a maximum of 3 people per 30 minute time slot.
Ailís Ní Ríain (IRL)
Contemporary Classical Composer
Title: East-West: Where morning is the sea.
Location: Áras Éanna
A meditation on time spent at sea where music and imagery allude to the grasp of the sea, lives beyond our imagination and the favour of viewpoints. Ailís Ní Ríain’s atmospheric audio-visual work integrates one long take of the porthole in her cabin on the RV Celtic Explorer with a composition of hummed song and sounds created inside a grand piano.
Carol Anne Connolly (IRL)
Visual Artist
Title: Answering Echoes
Location: Áras Éanna
Carol Anne Connolly's work is influenced by time spent in the Mid Atlantic on a scientific survey led by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University College Cork. Inspired by the use of soundwaves in acoustic mapping to create visuals of the sea bed, Connolly has drawn on this visual information to compose acoustic portrayals of the ocean landscape using photoelectronic synthesisers, a technology that turns image into sound.
David Stalling (DE)
Composer and Sound Artist
Title: Palace of Ships
Location: Handball Alley
An audio-visual soundscape based on material and data gathered during the SEA-SEIS Survey 2018 which deployed seismometers in the Atlantic to monitor tsunami activity. Making long records of seismic activity audible to the human ear involves manipulating their pitch and duration. In this domain of listening, geological time becomes tangible and the naturally occurring micro seismic tremors and human made sounds take on musical qualities. In turn, excerpts from the 8th century Irish poem “Anbthine mór ar muig Lir”, describing a perilous journey during an ocean storm, are slowed down and become sonic strata of historical artefacts.
Realised in collaboration with Prof Sergei Lebedev and Dr Maria Tsekhmistrenko of the Geophysics Section at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Kennedy Browne (IRL)
Collaborative practice of artists Gareth Kennedy & Sarah Browne
Title: Island Affinities
Location: Áras Éanna
Kennedy Browne’s video work stages an encounter between a destroyed US military vessel, washed up on Inis Oírr, with Sean-nós improvisation in music and dance, performed by brothers Colm and Gearóid Devane.
Magz Hall (EN)
Radio Artist
Title: Waves of Resistance (Radio art without borders)
Location: Áras Éanna
A radiophonic poem by UK radio artist Magz Hall draws on her enforced isolation first through Brexit and then in lockdown. In the spirit of transnationalism, it sends a broadcast from the phantom but once mapped island of Hy-Brasil off the Irish coast, relaying a message of peace, hope and unity across all borders. Narration by Máiréad Ní Chróinín.
Robertina Šebjanič (SI)
Intermedia Artist
Title: Selachophilia: Cetorhinus maximus - Limaria hians
Location: Inis Oírr Church
Stories unfold carried by the migratory basking shark (cetorhinus maximus) and the flame shell (limaria hians), sea creatures that Slovenian artist Robertina Šebjanič had the opportunity to experience during her residency on the RV Celtic Explorer. Sean-nós vocals by Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin and Róisín Seoighe are intertwined with the narration of a storyteller and field recordings of the Atlantic Ocean in this immersive audio installation.
Info
Venues: Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr Lighthouse, Inis Oírr Church, The Handball Alley
Opening times: Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm*
*If you are visiting the Aerial/Sparks trail on Saturday, Inis Oírr Church is closed for mass and sanitisation in line with the island’s Covid-19 protocols. Aerial/Sparks will reopen in the church at 3pm on Saturdays.
Booking: The Aerial/Sparks Trail is free. Advance booking is required for Kevin Barry’s Island Time at Inis Oírr Lighthouse to comply with physical distancing requirements.
Duration: If you plan to visit the trail on foot, you will need a minimum of 5 hours to experience each work in all 4 locations. If your time on the island is limited, we recommend bike hire or a mixture of walking and taxi hire to experience the full art trail – give yourself a minimum of 3 hours.
Groups: For groups attending, maximum group size is 6 people to comply with Covid-19 restrictions. The lighthouse will accommodate a maximum of 3 people.
Accessibility: The Art Trail is accessible to wheelchair users. Advance notification is required for access to the lighthouse on booking.
Getting to Inis Oírr : Ferry services from Rossaveel (Galway) and Doolin (Clare). The Art Trail is aligned with ferry arrivals.
Getting around the island
By bike: Bicycle hire is located next to the pier where the ferries arrive and depart. Bikes are available for hire from 10am to 5pm. Please be aware that this is a hilly island and cycling to the lighthouse may be challenging for less experienced cyclists.
Taxi: Mini bus hire is available at the pier (timed with ferry arrivals) or phone 087-2298039.
Pony and Trap: You can hire a traditional pony and trap at the pier. Please note that the lighthouse is only open to the public as part of the Aerial/Sparks art trail. You will need to advise the driver that the lighthouse is open as the pony and trap does not usually take visitors there.