Nature and Place commissions
Nature and Place is a series of temporary works, taking inspiration from the forests of Ticknock, Tibradden, Barnaslingan, Carrickgollogan, Kilmashogue and Ballyedmonduff.
2025 Projects
Shared Terrain by Louis Haugh is a lens-based project exploring our relationship with and experiences of public forests during a time of escalating environmental crisis. The project will use collaborative methodologies to engage forest users - walkers, runners, mountain bikers, horse riders, and families - to explore their own understanding and place within the rich biodiversity of the area. During this project, recorded conversations between artist Louis Haugh and leading environmental professionals, including Dr. Quentin Crowley (TCD Centre for the Environment), will provide a contextual backdrop to people’s engagement with the project. The culmination of the project will be an archive of images, video, sound and text.
Cracking Light Productions (Maeve Stone and Alex Gill) will collaborate with award-winning composer Tom Lane and forester Bill Murphy to record interviews with a diverse range of forest users; locals, hikers, bikers, conservationists, children, and elders. These conversations will explore their love of place, connection to nature and hopes or fears for the future. Using a unique creative process, they will transform these recordings into lyrics or rhythm by sampling voices and natural forest sounds to compose original songs reflecting the community’s emotional connection to the landscape. Using macro photography and drone footage, they will capture images of the forest’s biodiversity; these images will accompany the music as nature-based videos.
The projects are funded by Creative Ireland, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLR) and the Dublin Mountains Partnership
Past Projects
Four projects were commissioned in 2024. Three were awarded funding by dlr Arts Office to develop projects between December 2023 and March 2024 - Martin Healy, Méadhbh O'Connor, and Robert Coleman with Laura Sarah Dowdall. Nature and Place was supported by Coillte and the Dublin Mountains Partnership. Ticknock: What's Going On? by artists Listen and Breathe was the fourth project to be commissioned, and was funded by Creative Ireland.
Download PDF of Martin Healy's Silva Here:
Silva PDF
Download Méadhbh O'Connor's sound files and Sky Walkers Map Here:
Sky Walkers Soundfiles
Ticknock: What's Going On? Listen and Breathe
Download Ticknock What's Going On
Martin Healy
Martin has captured a series of photographs while walking in and observing the six forests over a period of two months. The photographs were taken in a variety of locations and include wide-angle images of tree cover, close-ups of the various flora and fleeting images of birds. Healy describes the resulting images as “observations in the field” – a visual language for the thoughts and observations that occur while undertaking these walks. The resulting photographs have been compiled into a digital artist publication entitled Silva.
Martin Healy's work has been shown widely both nationally and internationally. International residencies include CCA, Andratx, Mallorca, 2022; Cove Park, Scotland, 2014; Temple Bar Gallery & Studios / HIAP-International Residency Exchange, Helsinki, 2010; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, 2008; Artists’ Residency Programme at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2007; the International Studio Programme Residency at PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York, 2000/01.
Méadhbh O'Connor
This sonic artwork invites people to take a walk in the forests of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, stopping at key sites to listen and take a private moment to reflect. O’Connor’s work features six meditative poems written and recorded by the artist, which can be downloaded to phones or other listening devices free of charge, along with an artistic map of the forests. Sky Walkers conjures mysterious and fantastical vignettes based on the local landscape. The poems, which have historical, mythical, scientific and futuristic allusions, are set over ambient soundscapes. The sound files and map are available to download here for self-guided walks.
Méadhbh O’Connor is a visual artist whose work is composed of an extended exploration at the intersections of art, science, technology and environment. She uses sculptural and multimedia installation, image making and the written and spoken word. She has a decade of experience working in parallel with scientific researchers with whom she shares deep interests in the underlying structures of nature.
Robert Coleman / Laura Sarah Dowdall
Reroot was a site-specific soundwalk, co-created by composer Robert Coleman and dancer Laura Sarah Dowdall, which explored the sensory soundscape of Barnaslingan Wood. Through listening and somatic exercises, field recordings that reveal sounds typically inaudible to the human ear – such as the internal sounds of trees – and performance, Reroot presented an immersive experience. Five guided walks of Reroot took place in March 2024.
Composer Robert Coleman’s current work draws from soundscape studies, site-specific art, field recording, and community and participatory arts. Laura Sarah Dowdall is an innovative dance artist creating engaging work, which incorporates site-specific performance, spoken word and film.
Ticknock: What's Going On? Listen and Breathe
This was the fourth project to be commissioned, and was funded by Creative Ireland. It is a guided podcast which explores the changing landscape of our forests over seasons, years and millennia. The core collaborators Hugh Farrell, Tyler Kieffer and Kevin McNamara have created the work through a series of in-depth interviews with the caretakers and communities who engage with our forests. It can be listened to while walking from Ticknock Forest car park to Fairy Castle. The starting point is the upper car park at Coillte’s Ticknock Forest (Google Maps link) and the walk will take about an hour. Please note that it is steep at times so is not suitable for those with limited mobility. It can also be listened to as a podcast if you are unable to visit the forest.
Download the podcast to your device before in advance, as the signal gets patchy towards the top. Download it here or on the major podcast platforms by searching for Ticknock: What's Going On?
Gallery
