The Lovely Weather Art Project
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Lovely Weather Flyer
Recording with a hydrophone in Killybegs
Climate change is the issue of our times. The oceans are warming, glaciers are disappearing and the natural world is in sharp decline. Donegal County Council Public Art Office/Regional Cultural Centre in partnership with Leonardo/Olats has established a unique and ambitious initiative entitled ‘Lovely Weather – Art and Climate Change’ which fundamentally seeks to determine and present the role artists have to play in the Climate Change debate. Following an international competition five artists/scientists were selected to work in each of the five electoral areas of County Donegal, to explore on the ground, the effects of climate change and its modifications throughout the county.
The five selected artists are Peter d’Agostino (USA), Seema Goel (Can), The League of Imaginary Scientists (USA), Anthony Lyons (UK) and SoftDay (Ire). The Lovely Weather Projects have taken an interdisciplinary approach and have actively involved both local people and scientists.
The Lovely Weather Art and Climate Change Exhibition conference will take place at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal on 12th and 13th November 2010, and the exhibition will continue until 22nd January 2011. Please see donegalpublicart.ie for further details and on-line registration. For further information, please contact Ms. Terre Duffy, Public Art Manager on terre.duffy@donegalcoco.ie
‘Marbh Chrios’ (Dead Zone)
Ever wondered what’s really happening in the sea? A unique sound composition, created by computer software programmes, with data supplied from The Marine Institute of Ireland, Met Éireann and Aquafact Ltd., sonifying and vocalising data related to Dead Zone will be played live in concert with the Donegal Youth Orchestra, the Softday Céilí Band and St Catherine’s Marching Band Killybegs.
The Lovely Weather Donegal Artists Residencies, a ground breaking art and science project will examine the issues of climate change in County Donegal, Ireland. In 2008, Virginia Institute of Marine Science Professor Robert Diaz showed that the number of ‘dead zones’ – areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life – had increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. Diaz and collaborator Rutger Rosenberg of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden found that dead zones are now ‘the key stressor on marine ecosystems’ and ‘rank with over-fishing, habitat loss, and harmful algal blooms as global environmental problems’. The study, which appeared in the August 15, 2008 issue of the journal Science, tallied 405 dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles, about the size of New Zealand.
It is currently estimated that there are 20 such ‘dead zones’ in Ireland and two ‘contested dead zones’ were identified in the study at both Killybeg’s Harbour (1999) and Donegal Bay (2000). With a number of unique and purpose designed statistical algorithms and heuristics, Softday (visual artist Sean Taylor and Mikael Fernström, softday.ie) have translated the scientific/environmental data of the Dead Zones into abstract ‘live’ sound sonifications and vocalisations. On Saturday the 16th of October 2010, at 7pm, Softday will present the world premiere of Marbh Chrios (Dead Zone), a live performance of a unique multimedia sound art work, in Mooney’s Boatyard, Killybegs, County Donegal. The computer generated music composition that the Donegal Youth Orchestra and the Softday Céilí Band will perform, is constructed utilising eight years of related marine data. Admission to the event is free.
Please contact Terre Duffy at the Regional Culture Centre, Letterkenny for further information.
Email: terre.duffy@donegalcoco.ie
Mobile: 087 2508373
