2003/4 Projects

Croon
Daphne Wright and Johnny Hanrahan

CROON, developed by Meridian Theatre Company and the National Sculpture Factory, is an inter-disciplinary work created through the artistic partnership of sculptor Daphne Wright and playwright Johnny Hanrahan. Presented promenade style and beginning at the Everyman Palace Theatre, MacCurtain Street, CROON ran from the 3rd to the 7th of February 2004.

Both the originators of CROON had complete freedom in developing the project, with neither an initial context nor a thematic starting point from which to begin the collaborative process. Both artists however, did commit themselves to a radical re-examination of their creative language and working methods, with a view to creating a common means of communication, capitalising on the strengths of both. The resulting work fuses the respective strengths of theatrical performance and visual art in a unique way.

CROON features large-scale sculptural installations in three different locations and at each site there was a performance lasting approximately 30 minutes. The audience moved from each site and, although each episode appeared to be radically different, there was an overall visual and dramatic logic which unified the experience as a whole.

The audience observed the bizarre cast of characters who populate the world of CROON. There was a melancholy crooner who was serenaded by a full choir encased in a huge vat; there was a stilt walker navigating his way through a maze of glistening pillars and there was a technician who works in a factory, long-abandoned.

Danielle Sheehy Residency
‘Memory of Water’



From 15 – 25 June, as part of Cork’s Midsummer Festival, artist Danielle Sheehy created a large scale chalk-based installation, placed directly onto the pedestrian pavement in Emmet Place in Cork city. The installation featured historical images of ships and fantastical sea creatures taken from old maps, which refer to the ancient shipping history and waterways of Cork. In particular it referenced the important role of Emmet place as the old commercial maritime heart of Cork City, housing the Customs House in what is now the Crawford Municipal Gallery.

For twelve months, artist Danielle Sheehy undertook a residency initiated by the National Sculpture Factory, supported by Cork County Council and Cork Institute of Technology and assisted by the Crawford Gallery, the Port of Cork and the Cork Midsummer Festival. The residency dealt with how the movements of people through time and space make an impact and leave their traces on the environment - themes demonstrated in her recent installation in The Crawford Gallery, 'Inscribed Landscape', (30 January - March 2, 2004). The Emmet place installation is the third and final part of this residency. The first component was located at the Cork Institute of Technology and involved the artist painting on a disused tennis court to create a major floor-based work in the cafeteria.

Danielle Sheehy is concerned with expressing the patterns we create and through which we move in the landscape and bringing back to light the lost waterway movement underlying the contemporary fabric of Cork City.

This exciting project was an interesting prelude to the Capital of Culture celebrations in 2005, reminding us of the unique and fascinating history of Cork City and County.

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