Common Ground

One more before we go on.

“Shall we go on?
Yes, lets go.
They do not move.”

Before Shifting Ground.

“Estragon: Recognise! What is there to recognise? All my lousy life I’ve crawled about in the mud! And you talk to me about scenery!… Look at this muckheap! I’ve never stirred from it!
……
You and your landscapes! Tell me about the worms!”
(Waiting for Godot, Act Two.)

Having commented on the relationship, using an overly simplistic dichotomy, between the image and the word in Irish art, it must be acknowledged that even before the Celtic Tiger was a cub, contemporary Irish art was producing leading edge practice, particularly in the field of socially engaged work.

Reflecting this development, in 1995 I invited Ailbhe Murphy (Unspoken Truths Project, Dublin), Marie Barrett (Artlink, Buncranna, Donegal) and Ailis O’Baoill (Catalyst Arts, Belfast) to the Chimera Conference in Sydney. In 1998, Dun Laoghaire, near Dublin, was chosen by Ian Hunter (Projects Environment – now Littoral) and the Critical Access group (Mick Wilson and Martin McCabe, Dublin) for an international conference, Critical Sites: Issues in Critical Art Practice and Pedagogy. This conference, Chimera, and Littoral (Salford, 1994) were important in identifying the new area of practice later to be theorised as Dialogical Art by Grant Kester in his book Conversation Pieces (2004).

Another group in Ireland, Ground Up Artists, has been doing some interesting projects with rural issues and the changing nature of non-urban life.

Fiona Woods - Ground Up Artists Collective.

The rapidly emerging world where urban experience is the default for contemporary life leads to a weakening capacity for people in rural communities to define their own lives and retain their physical and cultural heritage.

Mangrove Mountain, where my family have been farming for generations, and which is still a rural district, is now designated a suburb of Gosford in the City Council planning instruments. At a recent ‘community consultation’ meeting we were asked to describe the “scenery” or “landscape” that defined where we live.
I wanted to tell them “about the worms!”. They did not have the language to ask a question that could be answered meaningfully.

So congratulations to Ground Up Artists for important work (and a great name).
Do check their website.