Urban Explorer (2015 - date)

Linked in with the Personal Development Group running at the Sutherland Centre and repeated the Glencurragh Wood walk

This Autumn why not consider participating in workshops to develop Walking Tours of Skibbereen. What would your walking tour look like? Whether you know Skibbereen as a native or not, there is always a different way of seeing what is around you. Each workshop is stand-alone and you are welcome to attend any or all of them. The first three are from 10am-1pm on 13th and 20th October and 2nd November at Skibbereen Town Hall. More dates will be announced … Read More

Gregory Sholette & Katherine Waugh at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre today. It was intense, provocative and rigorous. The live audio broadcast did not work – but we have the recording and will broadcast it as soon as possible.Apologies for any inconvenience.

Tomorrow’s talk is nearly booked out at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre. We will be doing a live audio broadcast from 2:30 – 4:30 courtesy of Clonlineradio.com. Gregory Sholette in conversation with Katherine Waugh should be more than interesting. A short video of What You Seek is Here will precede the discussion as well as a short introduction setting the context within the Urban Explorer Arts Project ongoing in Skibbereen.

Penultimate meeting of our spatially distributed reading group this morning discussing chapter 7 of Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture. In this chapter Sholette turns to the work of Tactical Media group Critical Art Ensemble to highlight practices that retool the everyday as sites of resistance. The Unnameable, as the chapter is titled, points to a people yet to come, the Dark Matter of the art world. Artist, academic, author and activist Gregory Sholette will be in conversation … Read More

Skibb Arts Festival Brochure is out.  Dark Matter: What’s missing in art and politics in an enterprise culture is scheduled. Greg Sholette in conversation with Katherien Waugh Weds 27 July at 2:30pm at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre

Drop in Community Arts Workshop in Skibbereen on Tues 21st June from 10am – 1pm at Skibbereen Community & Family Resource Centre, Heron Court (in Fields car park) We will make basic percussion and wind instruments for St Johns Eve parades to the Rock. Bring recycled cans, cardboard cylinders, bottles if you can. The workshop is free of charge, children are welcome but must be accompanied.

Michael Stephens made a great job of combining text & map into one comprehensible unit – lots of interest – hope the weather holds

Draft image & text Did you know that the motto for Skibbereen is What You Seek is Here? Quod Petit Hic Est. This is the inspiration for a community based, family friendly arts event. On St Johns Eve 23 June 2016 the ringing of the Town Hall bell at 7pm will signal the beginning of something new: a sound procession to animate the town of Skibbereen. People are invited to parade from different assembly points (see map) to the four … Read More

Meeting at the Town Hall on Friday were a group of brilliant musicians mashing Claptons Cocaine with the Pogues Irish Rover. Some of them already knew the Rock some didn’t – but all welcomed the opportunity to get involved in plans for 23 June – pending other life commitments.

Join a spatially distributed reading group via online communication platforms. We will start with Dark Matter: Art & Politics in the Age of Enterprise & Culture (2010) by Gregory Sholette. All you need is an Internet connection.

Exploring expanded art practices as redundancy or resistance? This reading group will meet weekly on Thursdays online beginning with work by artist and author Gregory Sholette who will be appearing at Skibbereen Arts Fesival this summer. Please contact me to get involved for more information click here

Clearing the right of way to the fourth entrance to the Rock on High St (lower) in dappled sunshine and great company.

Its not easy to get started again after the long break. Its fantastic to get the support of the artist in the community scheme, but in the intervening time between research phase and now we have got out of the habit of meeting. Summer brings with it lots of urgency to do things in the garden, in and on the sea and with other groups. So myself and Nick went to Lissard today to try out walking in procession singing/chanting … Read More

Core group participant biographies being collected ; Lorelie Tomko was born in New Jersey and raised in Seattle. She has lived in several US States also in Mexico, Kenya, Italy and Wales. While living in Wales she trained to be a spiritual healer and feels privileged to use this ability to help others. For over 25 years she has been active in theatre in Kenya, Italy, Wales, Washington and California. Now living in West Cork she is an avid hiker, … Read More

Reddy spent some time taking photos today as a resource to the project online. We have reserved the website domain urbanexplorerproject.com and the Facebook name Skibbereen Urban Explorer for use in the next phase

When is an event participatory and when is it not – when is an event like a conference and when is it not – lots of semantics this week and we struggle to make ourselves understood to ourselves and each other. Pictured above is one of the access points to the Rock, that needs clearing to open up the right of way again. With the help of some guerrilla gardeners we should be sorted.

Talking tech this week – Nick brought Ableton’s Push pad-based controller to create and perform music, with loads of instruments & effects, so hoping to develop somethings specific for the arts centre with this technology – discussed documentation and social media to capture participant experiences to be edited into a single short film – will establish a Facebook page to hold content and mediate work prior to the event – It’s hard to establish way of communicating in between meetings … Read More

Working as a group getting things down on paper is tough – so we projected the text onto the wall and took it apart moved cut and pasted until we were happy with the summary project description.

Small group today – focussing on translating ideas into words so that we can communicate with people who we hope will translate those words back into their own creative ideas – bit of a loop going on there.

Coming out of a closet near you soon

Week 8 and we had another walk through. The sun was shining this morning and there was nowhere better to be than at the top of the Rock looking out over the town across to the Uillinn Arts Centre and the surrounding hinterland. The area is so large we gave names to particular places to help identify them to ourselves when working out our plans. Doctors Hill, Telecom Lane and Windmill Lane are access points. Well Lane, Fire Pit, Famine Memorial, … Read More

Week 7 was important for us. We decided that we can continue to work together as a group after the research phase is complete. The experience of having spent 6 weeks meeting in different sites, discussing diverse artistic practices and processes gives us a shared field of reference and a language for discussing our artistic ambitions. Next week we will try and pin down those ambitions more specifically – a process that will be both iterative and generative. This week we … Read More

Getting gritty today. We went to see an exhibition by Suzy Cremers and the sets for her interactive performance Underworld.  Afterwards we had a very ‘disciplined’ discussion using Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process. It was a real pleasure to focus on the work of one member of the group. An intriguing, challenging, eye opening and brave day for all of us I think.

Finished off the Create performance resource today at Uillinn and reviewed some of the audio recordings made at the Rock during the Summer. Then went to see a plaque I had never noticed before on Bridge St. It commemorates the Clerke sisters who are described as astronomers, scientists and writers, an unusual occupation for their gender and times as they were born just before the famine in 1840 & 42. It was so easy being in the arts centre compared … Read More

We met in the Board Room on the top floor of the Sutherland Centre, currently the home of Cork ETB, formerly the site of West Cork Arts Centre & in previous times a Bank. Technology let me down and Michele O’Connor Connolly Digital Humanities Masters student & artist came to the rescue. Michele gave a presentation on Jesse Jones Prosperity Project. This was followed by a jaunt to the Rock via Doctors Lane (pictured above). Taking a break next week … Read More

Reddy took this photo while we were in Skibbereen Courthouse – looks like we are in a church. As well as going through material related to Context and Audience in the pack, Mary Jordan came in to talk about Tania Bruguera the artist that she had selected to contribute to the Urban Explorer archive of favourite artists. It was a very apt contribution given Brugueras interest in social justice and previous tangles with the law. We enjoyed exploring the space and … Read More

Great buzz today – there was a real sense of excitement and anticipation. The technology – mostly worked and the conversation flowed. This post responds to a request for references to the work we looked at & discussed …enjoy! Feidlim Cannon & Gary Keegan Brokentalkers & Sean Millar Silver Stars Louise Lowe ANU Productions Laundry Helene Hugel Helium Infant Imaginings Dylan Tighe Stomach Box Productions The Trailer of Bridget Dinnegan Bob Cilman & Jidith Sharpe Young@Heart Chorus The Road to Nowhere … Read More

*** MASONS HALL & SKIBBEREEN COURTHOUSE confirmed as venues *** Starting on 1st October there will be weekly discussion group to explore the possibilities for a community led arts project in Skibbereen next year. We will be considering contemporary art projects made by communities for communities. Each week we will meet in a different part of Skibbereen and discuss specific art projects.. We will talk about the very practical elements of making a community-led art project. The collaborative arts performance pack … Read More

Taking down the provisional archive today and packing up my stuff. Its been a great experience here. I can only say good things about the studio and the staff. I have lots to think about after 6 weeks of research. Urban Explorer is still a work in progress – lots more to do yet.

Day 5 and last day for contributions to the Urban Explorer archive of favourite living artists. Todays selection is diverse ; Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Charles Tyrell, Leonard Sheil, Andy Holden, Marie Cullen. Thanks to all the contributors, I enjoyed meeting you. The conversation we have started will continue … somehow, someplace, sometime.

Intense and lively conversations this morning and another 5 diverse living artists get added to the Urban Explorer archive; Carmel Madigan, Fujiko Nakaya, James Turrell, Peter Brook and Sarah Walker. Last day tomorrow 10am – 1pm in Studio 3 🙂

Day 3 brought all female artists to the Urban Explorer archive; Lee Bontecou, Camille Souter, Tania Bruguera, Marie Connolle, Catherine Weld and Alice Maher. Only two more days to complete archive contributions. Studio 3 is open from 10am – 1pm on Thursday 13th & Friday 14th August.

The archive is growing. Day 2 of the Open Studio brought discussion about Jesse Jones, Tracy Hanna, Damaris Lysaght, Banksy & Samy Molcho. We will do it all over again on Wednesday 12th August 10am – 1pm in Studio 3, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre