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='''The Egg'''=
=''' Project Propsal'''=
'''What:'''
=='''Michael Collins’ Flying Column (working title) '''==
*The Egg (working title) is a narrative performance and exhibition that follows a man’s sisyphean attempts to achieve flight by absurd means including using balloons and a skateboard or trying to hatch a genetically mutated bird's egg. The Wrongs Brother  is about the hubris of humans, about naivete , more subtly, this artwork seeks to satirise (space/neo) colonists and delusions of grandeur.
[[File:Hackpackt.jpg|thumb|center]]
I am trying to deconstruct and rearrange the narrative of humanity’s discovery of flight. I want to turn it from this mythical story of human determination and turn it into a clownish cautionary tale.


The character listens to the mystic egg, hearing a soft pulsating heartbeat. He hopes that he can hatch the egg into a winged guide that may help him achieve flight. The Cuckoo bird lays its egg in the nests of other birds who incubate the egg and raise the Cuckoo's young as their own. It is known as a brood parasite.
https://youtu.be/2tqfFAEKyco
[[File:Listening to the Egg.jpg|thumb]]
 
Perhaps this character has been fooled by a brood parasite. Perhaps he thinks he is raising a giant bird but in reality it is a poisonous basilisk.
[[File:A Basilisk.jpg|thumb]]
 
'''How:'''
* The exhibition would include a video of the quest, alongside this there would be photographic and installation works. A live performance would happen within the gallery space. This performance will be highly choreographed, interactive and musical. Within the performance the sensation of human flight is simulated through collective movement and noise making.
 
Within the core narrative I would like there to be a strong structural elements; crisis, struggle & resolution but perhaps I also want to try and subvert the meaning of these western narrative blocks.
 
 
 
 
'''Timetable'''
*1.Storyboarding
*2. Prop-building - shot prototyping - costume making - location scouting.Research by making
*3. Kermis
 
 
'''Why?'''
*This work came to my imagination in perhaps a similar way to my previous video. It feels in my mind to be in the same wheelhouse and fits well into a larger body of work. I want to make it because I think there are interesting avenues of thought to explore while researching. I do not want to back myself into a corner with a defined ending. I want to find the ending through research, I think this image of an egg has potential to develop into something personal.
 
I remember my grandparents used to have a wooden chickens egg. A surrogate egg to encourage hens to lay. My grandparents were farmers in rural ireland in the 1960s.
 
I imagine a retelling of the Wright brothers story but instead of this flight happening in North Carolina’s Kill Devil Hills it happens in the irish midlands above a peat bog. I do not think it is possible to make this artwork in ireland right now, but this imagined alternate history is a source to draw from for this Rotterdam based artwork. +
 
An egg is a layered symbol. Birth, fragility, food, reptilian,
 
 
 
'''Who can help me?'''
Camera person. Sound person maybe. Tutors. Keremis. Sometimes I need a person behind the camera who can give me direction even though I am the maker. Sometimes I need someone who has their own ideas and is willing to help me piece together a shot. My friend & designer Lorcan Rush. Tape recorders. Record Player.






'''Relation to previous work.'''
'''''What do you want to make?'''''
Similar ambience, a fool’s errand. I seek the same emotional response as Gravy the Clown. Using musical motifs in a similar method. Evoking or playing with nostalgia. Using literary and theatrical references. A one man show. This I think will be different because there will be dialogue or narration but hey I said this last time too.
Two weeks after writing the original outline for this project my research has taken me downb different avenues of thought. My


'''Relation to a larger context.'''
I plan to make a collection of short videos that explore Irish identity through a postcolonial lens. The short videos or sketches will predominantly feature myself as a performer. I will act out scenarios from various points in Irish history, some may be fictional but take place within specific historical contexts. These performances intend to tackle the Irish condition from different historical standpoints. It is satirical. It is vaudeville. While the sketches and characters take place at different points in history, a common theme throughout is media, iconography and national narratives. This work speaks to the visual and verbal language of Irish media and colonial media. The format is directly related to the sketch shows like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, hence the title. The sketch show format allows me to play with short, vignette-like videos.
I think I need to carve out this artworks relation to its wider context. This vaudevillian method of video and performance making I think is often demoted in status because of its absurdity or its kitchness but it has a rich and authentic history and speaks to many different cultural reference points. I am trying to say that making this kind of work matters and that you can do it, that performance art doesn’t have to be all misery and pain it can and should be performative .


'''Bibliography'''
*Youtube Ad music
*Lamisil - It's Alive (2003, USA)
*07 Domex 'Marenge'
*SELF-ISOLATION - DAY 56
*eatcarpet 98 The Mongreloid.Dir.G.Kuchar
*Justice - Stress (Official Video) i
*12 ways to make small talk | How to with John Wilson - BBC
*Limmy: Requiem


'''''How do you plan to make it?'''''
I plan to make the majority of this work independently i.e I will be the cameraperson, the performer and the writer. This is a method that suits my way of working and informs the materiality of the work. I have made test shots in my bedroom using simple costume and set design and the low tech nature of the work speaks to a broader media context.
[[File:DeMimsey.jpg|thumb|left]]
[[File:Nelsons Pillar.jpg|thumb|center]]


'''Inventory'''
The characters within the sketches are in the process of being designed and fleshed out already. I have been building a database of sorts that describes the characters, their contexts and their personalities. This character info then informs the script and the performance. You can see the character development and scripts here [[Character Traits & Scripts]] 
Ingredients/locations/Scenarios


Kite Flyers - go somewhere windy where people fly kites
'''''What is your timetable?'''''
My plan is to amass this collection of sketches throughout the year building up a collection or archive that builds a wider world that my artwork exists in. I believe that I can make a lot of this work in the Netherlands. I am also considering shooting some scenarios in Ireland. Over the Christmas break I will be in Ireland and I hope to use that time to shoot site specific sketches. More specifically there are some dates and times in regards to production.


Flight simulator - is there a large to scale simulator that I could use as a test sight?
* Before the 23rd of December
''Have at least three sketches filmed. they do not have to be complete but must be fully thought out. in script and production.''


Kermis - fair ground great location for B roll and make some photos too, perhaps ride a rollercoaster that simulates flying
* 23rd of Dec - 9th of Jan
'' Film in location in Ireland. need to flesh out the dates and locations and scripts for this.


Sensory deprivation tank/egg?
*9th of Jan - 17th of March
'' Finalise what has already been shot, edit, correct reshoot if needed and also prepare script and scenario for filming in Ireland for St.Patricks Day. The main reason for this excursion is to film on st.patricks day but can also be an opportunity to reshoot or correct for december's shoot


Plastic bag/litter in the wind


Toy paratroupers
'''''Why do you want to make it?'''''
I have often been asked through the course tutors and through application forms What is at stake in this artwork? Or What is the Urgency?Currently I would struggle to describe these answers in a condensed and clarified way but I can undoubtedly say that there is a lot at stake and a specific urgency within this work for  me  as an artist. This work of dissecting and satirising Irish folklore / pop culture / iconography feels to me as a method of understanding the Irish psyche and how intertwined it is with colonialism. I am finally drawing the parallels between what I previously thought were unconnected nodes of interest. I am boiling down my memory and the narratives and myths that I have grown up with, into a base of wider understanding of Ireland. I don’t know how big this work will be, perhaps it will grow into many characters and timelines. There must be a greater question at stake, an Irish question. One pervasive question that I am interested in is about the Irish narrative, the narrative that makes up the Irish identity and state. Our events, our landmarks, our blunders, our disgraces and our martyrs. How have these been synthesised into the Irish psyche and lens. There is a large disparity between Irish revolutionary ideology and what The Republic of Ireland actually became. Within this negative space are the subjects that I want to unpack.


'''More References'''
'''''Who can help you and how?'''''
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.263 (teaching a stone how to fly)
I am interested in exploring archive material and seeing how that can be sewn into the artwork. Dialogue will be an integral part of this artwork. I will be speaking to the camera in the majority of the sketches, and the audio is something I may need assistance with. Or at least I may need to consider it before I film rather than afterwards. Folklore and anecdotes will be used as a tool to introduce and engage with certain subjects and I may need to collect more of these stories from friends or strangers in Ireland.
https://www.clevelandart.org/exhibitions/kim-beom-objects-being-taught-they-are-nothing-tools  (teaching a stone how to fly)


='''NEWWEST ITERATION : Michael Colins' Flying Column'''=
'''''Relation to previous practice'''''
==Project Proposal / Character Outline / Script & Notes ==
The Property Ladder  (2018) was a project made from the creative partnership of myself & friend Lorcan Rush. The project was a satirical reaction to the rapidly changing landscape of Dublin. We felt alienated by the massive developments of the city during an extreme housing crisis and hotelification. This work for me is the most comparable of my previous artworks. Though by contrast I think the research I am engaging now is more thorough and nuanced. The Property Ladder was born of reaction and of gut feeling towards a specific site. With this project I want to stop and investigate my reactions and gut feelings further, to deconstruct, to ask myself why do I feel this way and uncover  the greater symbolism behind my points of interest.
----
Relation to a larger context
These performative sketches try to tackle the Irish condition from different historical standpoints. It is satirical. It is vaudeville. While the sketches and characters take place at different points in history, a common theme throughout is media. This work speaks to the visual and verbal language of Irish media and colonial media.
Iconography and Iconoclasm plays an important role in Ireland. We place much power upon the symbols that we surround ourselves with. The first act of the Irish Free State in 1922 was to repaint the post boxes or ‘red brit boxes’ to green.(Harrison, Irish Times, 2017) The Free State being the political equivalent of a premature infant could not afford to paint them all in one particular shade of green, so they were painted in a variety of shades, whatever was available.
==='''Thesis Outline'''===
My thesis will run parallel to my graduate project and research. In my artwork I am researching characters, icons and media. I am making a sketch show that satirises and speculates upon Ireland’s history and its potential future.
Media and national narratives are themes I want to explore. How do Irish museums construct our collective identity? I want to place Irish history, folklore and art under a contemporary lens, finding specific nodes to unpack and creating new dialogues.
My thesis shall have an essayistic mode of address.The tone will be personal and it is important that my voice come through the text. I am telling a story of my country, using the mythology and folklore that I have inherited from my friends, family and my own lived experience.
Here are some examples of the nodes that I would like to address and unpack within the thesis. Perhaps some of these examples will manifest into my practical artwork though I imagine not all will.
* Paddington 2 (2017) is a film much loved by critics and audiences. Its appeal is bolstered by its cutesy British tone. There is an arc in the plot, where Paddington finds himself in prison and it’s all very funny and light hearted. The filming location is Kilmainham Gaol, an historic prison in Dublin where several of our revolutionary leaders were executed by British soldiers after the Easter Rising of 1916. James Connolly was badly injured in the failed revolution and as a result he could not stand for his execution by firing squad. He was tied to a chair, blindfolded and shot in Kilmainham Gaol.  Did he die so a cute CGI bear can dance with Hugh Grant?
*In Dublin Castle, a tourist attraction and landmark in the city centre is a very busy corner of the city. However in the basement of one of the old buildings is the little known Revenue Museum. The Revenue Museum has a collection ranging from postal stamps, bootleg football jerseys to a reproduction of the toilets used to examine the faeces of drug mules in Dublin Airport. Taxation, it’s an inevitability, what does The Revenue Museum omit in its collection if Ireland is a tax haven?
*Another Example: Across Ireland there are towns with grand Georgian era districts. Well preserved and handsome, they are often preserved by Georgian Historical Societies. Some of these societies even go so far as to reenact aristocratic life in the Georgian period. Is this love of the Georgian era a fetishisation of our colonisers?


I don’t know how big this work will be, perhaps it will grow into many characters and timelines. There must be a greater question at stake, an Irish question. One train of thought that I am interested in is the Irish narrative, the narrative that makes up the Irish identity. Our events, our landmarks, our blunders, our disgraces. There is a disparity between Irish governmental policy and Ireland’s constructed identity. Ireland is meant to be a freedom loving, friendly, funny and artistic island, and sure these elements may be somewhat true but our governments waver between centre right and slightly more to right of centre. Perhaps through this work I am trying to create a muddier interpretation, to besmirch our national heritage. Sure we all tell ourselves that we had a family member who fought in the rising but I doubt many ever wanted to or would want to die for Ireland.
''further notes of interest can be found in my [[Notes on Eire]] it is where I collect narratives to unpack..
Ireland’s collective consciousness is formed by colonial oppression. Terms like anti-treaty and pro-treaty created an Irish civil war but this division was created by our coloniser.
-----
I would like to get into contact with some of these organisations and institutions and create a dialogue, which would serve as primary research for the thesis. I do not know what the conclusion of this research will be. Though I think that the research may actually obfuscate rather than clarify, which, in a sense, illuminates how intricate and complex Britain’s colonisation of Ireland was and is.  
*'''''De Mimsey'''''
[[File:De Mimsey.jpg|thumb]]
De MImsey is a mid ranking noble, he is assigned by the crown to counsel and advise Earls and Barons on the island of Ireland. De Mimsey is a self serving tool, he rarely brings good news, his solutions often are to the detriment to the serfdom.
He is highly educated and warns the nobles of rebellion, cholera outbreaks and famine.


Takes place in a nobel’s hall.


*'''''Brother Eamon'''''
Brother Eamon is a high ranking Monk in an early christian ireland monastery. He works mostly in the scriptorium, producing holy texts that fuse Irish mythology and paganism into a new hiberno-christian narrative. He is highly superstitious, concerned with omens and prophecies. He is a pseudo-scientist. A quack. He synthesises meaning and myth from the mundane. He creates monsters in the margins of his manuscripts. He devines the health of the land by picking at bog cotton, from smelling the autumnal mushrooms.
Brother Eamon is worried about vikings or messengers from Rome and a brewing noise coming from the Normans in England.
Brother Eamon dictates orders to an off screen monk (perhaps will be on screen) Brother Ignatious, a lower, younger monk. Ignatious fetches Eamon’s vellum, his spirits (whiskey) and listens to brother eamons complaints.
Brother Eamon and Brother Ignatious sit together in a darkened room at the top of the round tower of their monastery. Vikings raid and pillage the monastery below. Eamon looks out the window on the violent scenes and describes them to ignatious who records them though Eamon’s meaning is lost in Ignatious’ interpretation.


*'''E:''' We hid in the tower as soon as we noticed the birds flying, and the plumes of smoke rising from the direction of the estuary. They are violent, foaming at the mouth, blond-haired giants. And they are Horny
===='''Bibliography.'''====


*'''I:''' Horny, Brother?
*Darran Anderson. “Body of Evidence: A History of Irish Iconoclasm.” Architectural Review, 28 June 2019, www.architectural-review.com/essays/body-of-evidence-a-history-of-irish-iconoclasm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
 
*Fallon, Donal. “Dispelling the Myths about the Bombing of Nelson’s Pillar.” TheJournal.ie, 22 Dec. 2016, www.thejournal.ie/nelsons-pillar-destruction-myths-2647389-Dec2016/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
*'''E: ''' Yes! Horny! Make sure you write that down, and illustrate it too, if you please Iggy
*“Frank McCourt v Gerry Hannan | Late Late Show 1999.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mb8Mb0p808&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=2. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
 
*Harrison, Bernice. “Design Moment: Green Post Box, C1922.” The Irish Times, 18 Mar. 2017, www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/interiors/design-moment-green-post-box-c1922-1.3004436.
*'''I: ''' But Brother, em, I’m not quite sure what you…
 
*'''E:''' I said write it down! You oaf! I should feed you to the norsemen, they would make a hearty stew from you, boy
 
*'''E:''' Alright Brother
 
Scene ends with an illuminated manuscript with pictures of horned vikings
 
This will be shot in a room with one window. The window will be masked to look like the window of a round tower. The scene takes place in a round tower.
 
*'''''Mr. McGuire'''''
Mr.McGuire is a servant employed by the aristocratic father of young william. McGuire has lost his children to poverty and famine and despite him having every reason to detest the little lord, McGuire cannot but love the innocent little toff. This plot will unfold from the perspective of William. He is awoken in the night be McGuire, the towns-folk have conspired against the landed gentry, they believe that they have poisoned the towns well with cholera. The town is half dead and half infected, they are making their way to william’s manor to seek vengeance.
 
This video is shot at night , in candle light, creepy atmosphere, gothic. The scene takes place in a country manor house or on a darkened country road.
 
References: Bram Stoker / The Heroes Quest
 
*'''''No Surrender Splendour'''''
Craig is an amateur baker from belfast, he finds himself in the semi final of the Great British Bake Off. Craig makes a multi layered cake that resembles a belfast bonfire in July. It is made with ginger, marmalade and turmeric. To represent his orange tendencies. The cake is covered with miniature irish flags and loyalist slogans such as “Michelle O’ Neil : Catholic Slag”
 
*'''''The Time Traveling Revolutionary'''''
 
Commandant Boyle, a low ranking member of an irish paramilitary during the Irish Civil finds himself at a shrine in the middle of nowhere. He has become separated from his flying column, he sees candle light coming from the shrine and he walks toward it hoping to gain some sense of direction. As he walks towards the shrine the light grows bigger and bigger and it envelops him. He is transported a hundred years into the future and across the irish sea. He awakens on a welsh country road. He stumbles down the road until he comes upon the Fron Goch Garden centre. A cute garden centre just miles from the infamous internment camp that imprisoned irish revolutionaries after easter rising.
-------
*'''''WHAT'''''
a video work sketch show that discusses matters relating to Ireland and being Irish. Referenceing Irishi media and media about ireland. The sketch show will jump around history. Monks in early christian Ireland circa 500-800 a.d to 19th century protestant ruling class members to twentieth century revolutionaries and perhaps even further into the future.
The work is both satirical and speculative. I want to play with nnational folk heroes. People like St.Patrick, William of Orange & Ned Kelly. The title is a reference to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
The work will question national narratives, I will make some short sketches about museums in Ireland and how they construct a national narrative.
 
*'''''How'''''
 
Through short video sketches and simple sets & costume. Each sketch should not be more than five minutes and the entire exhibited body of work should not be more than 25 minutes. I need to write a script for each sketch, and design more sketches than I would actually need. I have written character outlines for several sketches and written the script for roughly two-three sketches. To develop the work I will engage in a process of improvisation as a for of character development. The process is based on play and having fun and letting my body loosen up and see where the character takes me.
 
*'''''Why'''''
This work was not a direction i intended to go but now that I have started the process I realise that this is perhaps the work I should have been making ages ago. It feels important and urgent to me and the process is rewarding and fun and I think there is great potential.
 
*''''''Timetable'''''
*Research more, it is an integral part of this artwork
*Write more scripts
*Low tech set and costume design
*Film Sketch - goal would be to have about three at least started before christmas
*Over the holidays I will be in ireland for 2 weeks I would like to do some filming there while I can. I am also considering going back in March for St.Patricks day
 
-----
'''''Bibliography'''''
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbO4Peh5sg&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=15
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbO4Peh5sg&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=15
''Documentary about the crumbling leftovers of the protestant ascendancy class in Ireland''
''Documentary about the crumbling leftovers of the protestant ascendancy class in Ireland''
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*https://www.seanlynchinfo.com/artworks.html
*https://www.seanlynchinfo.com/artworks.html
''Sean Lycnh, an Irish artist whose work I find very inspiring, though I think his work is of a drier nature, it is still quite humorous''
''Sean Lycnh, an Irish artist whose work I find very inspiring, though I think his work is of a drier nature, it is still quite humorous''
*https://www.eva.ie/artist/eimear-walshe/
''highly inspirational piece. Walshe's research seems very thorough and they present their work in an amusing yet to the point manner. would be interested in creating a dialogue with them.
*
*
*
-----
*
----
'''''HACKPACKT'''''
https://youtu.be/2tqfFAEKyco
[[File:A united Ireland under techno-feudalism .jpg|thumb]]

Latest revision as of 10:36, 29 November 2022

Project Propsal

Michael Collins’ Flying Column (working title)

Hackpackt.jpg

https://youtu.be/2tqfFAEKyco


What do you want to make?

I plan to make a collection of short videos that explore Irish identity through a postcolonial lens. The short videos or sketches will predominantly feature myself as a performer. I will act out scenarios from various points in Irish history, some may be fictional but take place within specific historical contexts. These performances intend to tackle the Irish condition from different historical standpoints. It is satirical. It is vaudeville. While the sketches and characters take place at different points in history, a common theme throughout is media, iconography and national narratives. This work speaks to the visual and verbal language of Irish media and colonial media. The format is directly related to the sketch shows like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, hence the title. The sketch show format allows me to play with short, vignette-like videos.


How do you plan to make it? I plan to make the majority of this work independently i.e I will be the cameraperson, the performer and the writer. This is a method that suits my way of working and informs the materiality of the work. I have made test shots in my bedroom using simple costume and set design and the low tech nature of the work speaks to a broader media context.

DeMimsey.jpg
Nelsons Pillar.jpg

The characters within the sketches are in the process of being designed and fleshed out already. I have been building a database of sorts that describes the characters, their contexts and their personalities. This character info then informs the script and the performance. You can see the character development and scripts here Character Traits & Scripts

What is your timetable? My plan is to amass this collection of sketches throughout the year building up a collection or archive that builds a wider world that my artwork exists in. I believe that I can make a lot of this work in the Netherlands. I am also considering shooting some scenarios in Ireland. Over the Christmas break I will be in Ireland and I hope to use that time to shoot site specific sketches. More specifically there are some dates and times in regards to production.

  • Before the 23rd of December

Have at least three sketches filmed. they do not have to be complete but must be fully thought out. in script and production.

  • 23rd of Dec - 9th of Jan

Film in location in Ireland. need to flesh out the dates and locations and scripts for this.

  • 9th of Jan - 17th of March

Finalise what has already been shot, edit, correct reshoot if needed and also prepare script and scenario for filming in Ireland for St.Patricks Day. The main reason for this excursion is to film on st.patricks day but can also be an opportunity to reshoot or correct for december's shoot


Why do you want to make it? I have often been asked through the course tutors and through application forms What is at stake in this artwork? Or What is the Urgency?Currently I would struggle to describe these answers in a condensed and clarified way but I can undoubtedly say that there is a lot at stake and a specific urgency within this work for me as an artist. This work of dissecting and satirising Irish folklore / pop culture / iconography feels to me as a method of understanding the Irish psyche and how intertwined it is with colonialism. I am finally drawing the parallels between what I previously thought were unconnected nodes of interest. I am boiling down my memory and the narratives and myths that I have grown up with, into a base of wider understanding of Ireland. I don’t know how big this work will be, perhaps it will grow into many characters and timelines. There must be a greater question at stake, an Irish question. One pervasive question that I am interested in is about the Irish narrative, the narrative that makes up the Irish identity and state. Our events, our landmarks, our blunders, our disgraces and our martyrs. How have these been synthesised into the Irish psyche and lens. There is a large disparity between Irish revolutionary ideology and what The Republic of Ireland actually became. Within this negative space are the subjects that I want to unpack.

Who can help you and how? I am interested in exploring archive material and seeing how that can be sewn into the artwork. Dialogue will be an integral part of this artwork. I will be speaking to the camera in the majority of the sketches, and the audio is something I may need assistance with. Or at least I may need to consider it before I film rather than afterwards. Folklore and anecdotes will be used as a tool to introduce and engage with certain subjects and I may need to collect more of these stories from friends or strangers in Ireland.

Relation to previous practice The Property Ladder (2018) was a project made from the creative partnership of myself & friend Lorcan Rush. The project was a satirical reaction to the rapidly changing landscape of Dublin. We felt alienated by the massive developments of the city during an extreme housing crisis and hotelification. This work for me is the most comparable of my previous artworks. Though by contrast I think the research I am engaging now is more thorough and nuanced. The Property Ladder was born of reaction and of gut feeling towards a specific site. With this project I want to stop and investigate my reactions and gut feelings further, to deconstruct, to ask myself why do I feel this way and uncover the greater symbolism behind my points of interest. Relation to a larger context Iconography and Iconoclasm plays an important role in Ireland. We place much power upon the symbols that we surround ourselves with. The first act of the Irish Free State in 1922 was to repaint the post boxes or ‘red brit boxes’ to green.(Harrison, Irish Times, 2017) The Free State being the political equivalent of a premature infant could not afford to paint them all in one particular shade of green, so they were painted in a variety of shades, whatever was available.



Thesis Outline

My thesis will run parallel to my graduate project and research. In my artwork I am researching characters, icons and media. I am making a sketch show that satirises and speculates upon Ireland’s history and its potential future. Media and national narratives are themes I want to explore. How do Irish museums construct our collective identity? I want to place Irish history, folklore and art under a contemporary lens, finding specific nodes to unpack and creating new dialogues. My thesis shall have an essayistic mode of address.The tone will be personal and it is important that my voice come through the text. I am telling a story of my country, using the mythology and folklore that I have inherited from my friends, family and my own lived experience.

Here are some examples of the nodes that I would like to address and unpack within the thesis. Perhaps some of these examples will manifest into my practical artwork though I imagine not all will.

  • Paddington 2 (2017) is a film much loved by critics and audiences. Its appeal is bolstered by its cutesy British tone. There is an arc in the plot, where Paddington finds himself in prison and it’s all very funny and light hearted. The filming location is Kilmainham Gaol, an historic prison in Dublin where several of our revolutionary leaders were executed by British soldiers after the Easter Rising of 1916. James Connolly was badly injured in the failed revolution and as a result he could not stand for his execution by firing squad. He was tied to a chair, blindfolded and shot in Kilmainham Gaol. Did he die so a cute CGI bear can dance with Hugh Grant?
  • In Dublin Castle, a tourist attraction and landmark in the city centre is a very busy corner of the city. However in the basement of one of the old buildings is the little known Revenue Museum. The Revenue Museum has a collection ranging from postal stamps, bootleg football jerseys to a reproduction of the toilets used to examine the faeces of drug mules in Dublin Airport. Taxation, it’s an inevitability, what does The Revenue Museum omit in its collection if Ireland is a tax haven?
  • Another Example: Across Ireland there are towns with grand Georgian era districts. Well preserved and handsome, they are often preserved by Georgian Historical Societies. Some of these societies even go so far as to reenact aristocratic life in the Georgian period. Is this love of the Georgian era a fetishisation of our colonisers?

further notes of interest can be found in my Notes on Eire it is where I collect narratives to unpack..

I would like to get into contact with some of these organisations and institutions and create a dialogue, which would serve as primary research for the thesis. I do not know what the conclusion of this research will be. Though I think that the research may actually obfuscate rather than clarify, which, in a sense, illuminates how intricate and complex Britain’s colonisation of Ireland was and is.


Bibliography.

  • Darran Anderson. “Body of Evidence: A History of Irish Iconoclasm.” Architectural Review, 28 June 2019, www.architectural-review.com/essays/body-of-evidence-a-history-of-irish-iconoclasm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
  • Fallon, Donal. “Dispelling the Myths about the Bombing of Nelson’s Pillar.” TheJournal.ie, 22 Dec. 2016, www.thejournal.ie/nelsons-pillar-destruction-myths-2647389-Dec2016/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
  • “Frank McCourt v Gerry Hannan | Late Late Show 1999.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mb8Mb0p808&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=2. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.
  • Harrison, Bernice. “Design Moment: Green Post Box, C1922.” The Irish Times, 18 Mar. 2017, www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/interiors/design-moment-green-post-box-c1922-1.3004436.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfbO4Peh5sg&list=PLAZX52kq5sYpN7AY1eN5u7ON11dOHLERv&index=15

Documentary about the crumbling leftovers of the protestant ascendancy class in Ireland

An Irish poverty apologist attacks Frank McCourt for telling lies about Ireland

In 1985 Ireland experienced three different accounts of holy apparitions

19th Century Peasant faction fighting reenactment, I am interested in historical reenactments as this is essentially what some of my performances will be

Bone Setter, a quack for physical bodily ailments

Sean Lycnh, an Irish artist whose work I find very inspiring, though I think his work is of a drier nature, it is still quite humorous

highly inspirational piece. Walshe's research seems very thorough and they present their work in an amusing yet to the point manner. would be interested in creating a dialogue with them.

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