Ireland’s presentation at the Venice Biennale of Architecture is In Search of Hy-Brasil, which references a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Above: Minister Catherine Martin with the architects curating Ireland’s entry at the Venice Biennale.
Ireland’s presentation at the Venice Biennale of Architecture is In Search of Hy-Brasil, which references a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean. The name signals a sense of adventure as well as a regard for sites and communities off the west coast of Ireland.
Occupying a generous space deep within the Arsenale, Venice’s former naval workshop, the project gathers a family of evocative new objects portraying aspects of life on islands – in particular, Skellig Michael, Inishmaan and Clare Island.
The exhibition is curated by a team of five – Peter Carroll, Peter Cody, Elizabeth Hatz, Mary Laheen and Joseph Mackey – architects who also teach in Irish schools of architecture. The installation is a rich assembly of 2D and 3D objects analysing and honouring island culture. They open up discussions about the extent and potential of Ireland as a maritime state, with its seabed stretching as far as Rockall.
The middle of the Venice installation is allocated to a Skellig-like outcrop made from Galway black wool. It shares the floor with three large models of the key islands, made in Kilkenny stone; two long benches of sacks fabricated from rope ‘harvested’ from the sea; and a lone object labelled ‘The Crucible’, in which visitors can touch sea coral. A long tapestry showing Ireland in its vast marine zone hangs on the wall alongside a screen showing a film of daily life on Inishmaan. There is also a graphite drawing of Pangaea – the world’s consolidated mass before continental drift – in which, according to curator Peter Carroll, ‘Ireland kisses Africa’. Carroll continues that this year’s team ‘wants to shape policy on the future role of islands’.
In Search of Hy-Brasil is showing at Venice until 26 November and will be exhibited in Ireland next year. Architecture could thus prompt a more considered response to our natural resources and Irish governmental strategy.
Raymund Ryan
Castletown House, Ireland’s largest and finest Palladian mansion, has lain closed to the public since last September – all because of a dispute about access and parking.
At the 42nd Annual General Assembly of Aosdána, the organisation whose members are honoured for their contribution to the arts in Ireland, Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh was the sole visual artist to join the ranks.
Representing Ireland at the 60th Venice Biennale, Eimear Walshe (they/them) presents Romantic Ireland, curated by Sara Greavu with Project Arts Centre, Dublin.