Cork Culture Night & Last Chance to See Fort Camden Commissions

This weekend is a busy one for the arts in Cork. Friday night, 23rd September, is Culture Night, the annual event where over 75 of the city's cultural venues are open late for one night only with hundreds of events happening for free. You can download the program here. At Backwater Artists Studios we will be having an open night with tours of the studios every half hour as well as tea & buns. I'll be giving the tour at 7.30 & 8pm and I'd love to see you there.

Also opening on Culture Night is Memento in the James Barry Exhibition Centre in CIT. This exhibition is a result of an international Erasmus project, exploring the notion of memory and recollection. This work emerged from intensive workshops delivered across various institutions in Europe. You might remember that I was involved in running workshops both here in Cork at the Crawford College of Art & Design and at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede, Holland. Its an exhibition worth seeing. You can see photos from the Memento exhibition in Holland here.

Fort Camden by Joleen Cronin via the Rescue Camden website

This weekend is also the last weekend to see the Cork County Council and Fort Camden art commissions at Fort Camden in Crosshaven. This includes my piece Document II, a site specific piece documenting the passing of time through the changing light. Fort Camden will also have a number of different events for all the family running this weekend including over 40 reenactors and the Barracks Street Band. Check out the Fort Camden Facebook page for more details.

Culture Night Website - Cork City
Cork City Council Culture Night Website
Cork City Arts Facebook Page

Rescue Camden Website
Fort Camden Facebook Page

Document II - Sketchbook Pages

Sketchbook page - a document, a photograph

Sketchbook Page - the making of Document II

Sketchbook Page - test photographs

Sketchbook Page - looking at presentation

Here are a few of the pages from my sketchbook during the time I was making Document II. Its always interesting to look back and see how the work developed.

You can see Document II at Fort Camden, Crosshaven until the end of September. The fort is open to the public every Saturday & Sunday from 12pm - 5pm. You can check out the Fort Camden Official Info Facebook Page to find out whats on.

Installing Document II - Camden Fort, Crosshaven

Document II - Public Art Commission for Fort Camden, Crosshaven

“It sees itself seeing.” - Maurice Merleau Ponty

This work is made following an invitation from Cork County Council and Rescue Camden to make a piece of work in response to the site that is Fort Camden.

I used a large format camera to record light as it was held on a piece of building material used in the renovation of Fort Camden, at intervals over the course of a day in May 2011. The changes are minimal as the holder of this light becomes a silent witness to the passage of time. The photographs have been printed directly onto metal and installed on the wall of the fort.

I want to thank the guys who helped me install this last week. It was a very windy day to be up on scaffolding and they were extremely helpful, nothing was a problem for them.

Fort Camden is open to the public every Saturday & Sunday from 12pm - 5pm. You can check out the Fort Camden Official Info Facebook Page to find out whats on. Its well worth a visit & I'm not just saying that because there's some pretty fabulous art on the wall! Document II will be at the fort until the end of September.

Current & Upcoming Projects

With all the excitement of winning the Alliance Francaise Award still whirling around me, I continue to be busy. I am currently working on a public art piece for Fort Camden in Crosshaven. I am looking at time passing, stillness and light within the fort, and the large scale abstract images will be shown on the outside of the building reflecting light back into Cork harbour. The piece will be shown from July when the fort will reopen to the public.

Work in progress at Camden Fort (Roseanne Lynch)

I am also preparing for a solo exhibition in Queen Street Studios in Belfast during Belfast Photo Festival, which is the 4th - 14th of August. I am really looking forward to this opportunity as it will be my first exhibition in the city. Its great to see all the new photo festivals, exhibitions and events that have begun to happen in Ireland over the last couple of years.

It will be a busy summer as I'm doing a 5x4 workshop in Paris in June, with Michael Smith and Paula Chamlee. I'm also going to New York for a few weeks in June & July both to soak up the culture and to make contacts with galleries and curators over there. If you have any recommendations for me either in terms of galleries/curators or things to see and do while I'm there, I'd love to hear them.

My 2 week residency in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris has been booked for November to coincide with Paris Photo, which I have a heard a lot about and am looking forward to experiencing it for myself. And I have also been invited to do a 2 week residency under the curation of Stephen McGlynn, at The Guest House in Shandon, early in September, when I plan to have a large format festival for myself!