The Free Seas
7th, 8th and 9th of April
Located at the First Lock of the Royal Canal, Charleville Mall Library, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Part of The Five Lamps Arts Festival 2011.
The Frees Seas is a creative collaboration between artists Áine Ivers and Kathryn Maguire. Inspired and moved by a story told by the folklorist Terry Fagan, the artists undertook to build a raft and float it on the Royal Canal at The First Lock. The installation arising from this undertaking will be visible on the canal as part of this year’s Five Lamps Arts Festival.
The Free Seas collaboration explores the manifestation of Ireland’s identity as an island – the physicality and the psyche of such an existence. Terry Fagan’s story relates how, as a young boy growing up in the Five Lamps area, he and his friends once built a raft near the canal as they dreamed of escaping 1960’s Ireland. The story, for Maguire and Ivers, represented the heart of what they wished to explore: the nature of island life, the dark and tragic legacies of the island’s recent social history, and the eternal island dream of escape – of water as a medium of change, hope and difference.
They tied this story into an old mariner concept called ‘Mare Liberum’ – The Free Sea – whereby one is free to journey on the sea without permit or passport, in contrast to the bureaucracies of land travel. The opening up of physical and psychical borders interested them here. The geography and history of Terry Fagan’s story became a structure for creative collaboration on this idea. The artists’ attempt to create a raft from found detritus and float it is offered as an ecological, sculptural and social symbol of the necessity of the ideas of free movement, escape and survival; ones which island living curtails, yet the concept of The Free Sea excites.
Artists’ Collaborative Statement
We are interested in the place where lands meet waters, and the historical proposal of Mare Liberum – The Free Sea. We propose a project that starts with these points and locates in Fairview. We see the geography and history of Fairview as a way to structure our collaborative investigations into these ways of thinking. We see the reopening of The Royal Canal as a channel to lead exploration of these ideas, through a workshop-based project with children from the locale of Fairview. We also see the folklore of Fairview as feeding into the project: we wish to employ storytelling as a medium for exploring contemporary relationships between the residents of the area and the presence of a once-closed, newly-accessible canal system. We see the canal as a possible site for a micro-economy of history, ecology and movement, based on the currency of story-telling, the price of portals, and the history of canals as channels for trade and economy in general.
Outline of Project.
- A series of workshops for children from Swan Youth Services, during which they explored raft-making in response to storytelling.
- Storytelling with a local folklorist Terry Fagan.
- Sculptural installation on the Royal Canal by artists Kathryn Maguire and Áine Ivers.
- An exhibition of the children’s rafts and sketches on The Kingfisher Barge on the Royal Canal.
- Boat rides on the Dubhlinn co-ordinated by Inland Waterways.
- Canal-side sea shanties sung by members of Clontarf Yacht Club.
Thanks to all participants and people who helped to make this project happen.
Martin Leen, Five Lamps Arts Festival.
Róisín Lonergan, Five Lamps Arts Festival.
Terry Fagan, for storytelling.
Sinead McCauley, Swan Youth Services.
Toni, Chloe, Katie, Waldek, Joanne, Jessica, Megan and Jodie, the children from Swan Youth Services who participated in the workshops.
Mick Kinahan, and all who helped out at Inland Waterways.
Derek Whelan, owner of The Kingfisher Barge.
Frank Purcell and the members of Clontarf Yacht Club who gave their time to this project.
Noreen and all the staff at Charleville Mall Library.
Dave and Richie and the men from Irish Fire Services on North Brunswick Street, Dublin.
Karl and Kay for taking photographs.
Marita, Paul, Albert, and Jane, The Five Lamps Festival volunteers.
Tom, Ken, Joe and all who turned out to help assemble the raft at the Canal.
Breffni and Róisín for helping to make a sample raft.
Aoife for bringing muffins.
