Art, Memory & The Burren

Course details

This is a course exploring themes of place, memory and the potential of contemporary socially engaged, relational and community based art practices. It will be held within the unique context of the Burren - a dramatic and unique ecological environment, full of memories of mankind's history since earliest times. As part of this year's course, students will also have the opportunity to learn from regional experts about music and memory through ancient instruments inspired by local materials, history and place. The course is suitable for art students, independent artists, or interested researchers from adjacent fields within the humanities and natural sciences.

Instruction will be provided using the facilities of the art college and will be delivered through practical workshops, materials-based demonstrations, individual teaching and group discussion forums. Guidance will be tailored to suit each individual students interests with the aim of completing an extended portfolio of work. Facilities on campus and instruction are most suitable for art students with a Fine Art background (drawing, painting, photography, video, performance, 3D and mixed-media). Along with studio guidance, the course will include lectures on historical and theoretical issues relevant to each thematic assignment, supported by set readings.

The programme will also include a number of field-trips to local sites, archives and cultural events, to explore how knowledge from history, archaeology, ecological and environmental studies can inform and enrich contemporary art practice.

Burren College of Art Summer School offers a concentrated individual -centred course of focused and dedicated learning. Set in the historically rich and environmentally unique context of the Burren in the West of Ireland, this programme is designed to assist students develop a cohesive body of visual work. The programme is open to artists and art students, but may also be of interest to individual with knowledge in the fields of history, archaeology, anthropology, music, ecology or environmental science. Artistic practice and its creative methodologies will be used as a means to investigate interdisciplinary connections between certain sites and the historical, cultural, social and environmental narratives that frame them. Studio projects will emphasise engagement with assigned topics, with dedicated technical assistance appropriate to each students level and concentration provided.

Schedule

Week One

In week one students will explore ways in which visual media can be used to journey through and express a sense of place. We will look at approaches to the visual journalling, narrative building, mapping and the inter-relationships of image, text and story. The emphasis will be on field-work and direct engagement with sites within the immediate local context. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to work with renowned local musicians to learn about music, memory, and the Burren through recreating ancient instruments inspired by local materials, history and place.

• Presentations will focus on the history, memory and natural environment of place.
• Reading and discussion will centre on Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space” and psychogeography as a method of relating inner perceptions to outer observations of particular locations.

Week Two

In the second week we will travel to Charleville Forest Castle in Co. Offaly, a site of rich architectural and cultural heritage. During this project we will explore how to prepare, engage and complete a 24-hour on location assignment. We will examine how visual media can be used to research, uncover, record and archive contemporary experience in relation to individual or collective interpretations of a site of significant historical heritage.

• Presentations and discussions will examine ideas of the archive, memorial and historical testament, with particular emphasis on the changing role of a communities relationship to a site over time.

Week Three

In the third week we will turn our attention back towards the Burren and investigate the issue of Future Memory. We will look at how recent concerns such as changing rural identity, land and resource management, ecological and environmental concerns can be addressed by a visual practictioner. We will explore strategies of how artists research, interact, collaborate and publish material related to community contexts, with special attention to the possibilities offered by new-media platforms.

• Presentations will focus on techniques for collaborative, relational and community based practice.
• Reading and discussion will centre on the ideas of Bourriaud, Lacy and Grant H. Kester.

Week Four

Project Resolution and Presentation

Week four will consist of studio work on final project resolution, incuding discussion forums and descisions on potential presentation formats. Students will decide the most effective presentation modes for public exhibition, including learning about archival portfolios, artists-books, internet dissemination and multi-media installation options.

Credits and Evaluation Criteria

Students may earn up to six credits on successful completion of the summer school. Classes will run from 9.30am-4.30pm, Monday to Friday. Students will be expected to work additionally on field and library research and in the studio.

Evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

• Quality of participation and active engagement.
• Quality of primary and secondary research including journalling, sketchbooks, creative input, project planning and resolution.