The Model

Despatches from Belfast

Limepie Theatre group and Touch the Sky meet again but in Belfast this time at the newly re-developed Crescent Arts Centre , University Road.

Here are some comments from participants and members of Touch the Sky Performance Group and Limepie Theatre.

Little did I know that our journey (Limepie’s) to Sligo to participate in a Collage Party with the wonderful Touch-The-Sky group would be a journey into facing underlying issues in my life and coming out the other end healed and free!

As one who lived on both sides, then Nursed people from all sides of our Political Troubles I never realised just how much helplessness, empathy and guilt I felt about the horrendous things I witnessed but could do nothing to change. As we explored devision, difference in the light of the North of Ireland’s Political Troubles inwardly my journey took me from – emotional trauma, realisation to freedom and healing. Who’d a thought eh? God really does move in mysterious ways eh?…:)”

Barbara, Limepie Theatre, Belfast

Touch the Sky’s visit to Belfast was very experiential, enhancing a previously abstract understanding of the troubles. National news became a reality as together Limepie and Touch the Sky ventured through Belfasts’ flashpoints, such as the Shankill and Falls roads. The peace wall proved thought provoking as the group read words from the walls authors, and saw pictoral representations of war and loss, scenes that Touch the Sky had addressed in their drama workshops. The two groups found common ground over the emotions and disbelief the Belfast tour brought to the surface, and these experiences helped feed and focus their participation in the drama workshop that followed. Members of Touch the Sky had the following to say:

It opened my eyes.
Very different than where we are from.
Very interesting experiencing it, normally you see it on the news. You hear about it [peace wall but you don’t see how high it is, how high the wires go. With closing the gates at night you think there is still fear of something happening.
I saw the biggest Celtic Cross on St Patricks church…We put our names on the wall [Peace wall] and I drew a Celtic Cross.
Good experience…Some of the things I touched [at the Peace wall] were very sad.

They were both shocked and intrigued by their visit and drew on what was disturbing to them and also the beauty in what they encountered. While some experienced fear at the thought of the visit, the group have said that they would like to return to Belfast in the future.

Sheena O’Neill, RehabCare

Thanks Lime Pie for a great couple of days.

Circus Aerialist Act Extraordinaire perform at The Model

The Barren Carrousels

Over 150 children turned up at The Model on Sunday to witness Ruby Two Shoes and Mizz Tulip Barren perform a comical theatrical and circus adventure in the new Model Theatre. On a wet and rainy Sunday afternoon it was certainly the place to be, as families were transported by burlesque style comedy and daring aerial trapeze acts.

The Barren Carrousels performed to a full house of children and adults and their slap-stick style of entertainment transported one and all to another era.

The Barren Carrousels are members of The Belfast Community Circus.

The Yeatsian Legacy Project is delivered by Sligo Arts Service, The Model & partners. The project is supported by the PEACE III Programme, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Sligo County Council on behalf of Sligo Peace & Reconciliation Partnership Committee.

Street Circus for Sligo this Sunday- watch the video

We’re very very excited to have the Barren Carrousel Street Circus troupe coming to The Model on Sunday to launch our Summer workshop programme. So excited in fact that we had to share this video so you can get excited too….

They’ll be doing a free show for all the kids in Sligo, at The Model from 1-3pm this Sunday 25th July to launch our free summer programme of weekend workshops for kids. Come and take a ride into the decrepit world of these bumbling crusaders that have peddled far and wide from the mountain tops of Siberia to the Glens of Antrim. Ruby Barren has devoted her life to perfecting her art form and setting impossibly high standards that only she can achieve. Her daughter Tulip, a child prodigy, desperately attempts to live up to her mother’s expectations only to be upstaged by her two left feet.

So come on Sunday to marvel at the:Death-Defying Trapeze, Back Cracking Contortion, Jaw Dropping Acrobatics, Fearless Aerial Feats, Giant Ball Juggling and Live Musical Mayhem…may all your days be circus days!

This performance takes place outside the new entrance of The Model on Connaughton Rd and all are welcome.

Summer launches this weekend

We’re launching our summer programme this weekend and hope you can join us on Saturday 24th from 6pm to say hello and find out more.

Duncan Campbell will be in attendance to see the irish premiere of his new work; Make It New John, and we’ll also be raising a glass to Jack B. Yeats who’s wonderful watercolours are on display for The Living Ginger. Then on Sunday we have a brilliant free trapeze show that will be a delighted for kids. It’s to launch the free summer workshop programme “Inside Out/Outside In”: http://themodel.ie/education/inside-out-outside

If you can’t make this weekend here’s what we have in store this summer, with great events for kids and adults alike.

Make It New John – 25 Jul. – 03 Oct.
The Model has co-commissioned Irish-born filmmaker Duncan Campbell’s new work Make It New John, which tells the story of the DeLorean car, its creator John DeLorean and the workers of the Belfast-based car plant who built it. read more>

Jack B. Yeats – The Living Ginger.
25 Jul. – 19 Sep.
Jack B. Yeats’ artistic output reveals a fascination with characters that lived on the margins of society – those who in his own words had “something of the living ginger of life in them.” Over a career spanning seven decades, Yeats repeatedly painted the tramps, travellers, circus performers, drunks, sailors and gypsies that populated his youth in Sligo

Free Children’s Workshops – 25 Jul. – 12 Sep. One for ArtTrap lovers, this exciting children’s programme, inspired by the Jack B Yeats exhibition The Living Ginger, starts on Sunday 25th July (1-3pm) with a magnificent free Trapeze performance from Circus troope Barren Carousels and then continues with art. music and dance workshops every weekend until September 12th, and it’s free!

In other news we’ve just announced a Bellx1 concert in November, a great new “youth programme”: http://themodel.ie/education/young-curators where you can select what goes on display in our Galleries, and we have Sligo Jazz Festival here all week with some brilliant concerts for you to check out.

If you want to check our listings on the go we’ve been included in a brilliant new listings site called Sligo.Me which is specially formatted to be easy-to-read on internet ready mobile phones. You can use it to check out listings, tide times, train times and cinema schedules, all thanks to a Sligo developer.

We hope to see you on Saturday for the opening or Sunday for the Circus, so enjoy the weekend!

Changes to Yeats Summer Programme

We have today announced the postponement of our planned Jack B. Yeats exhibition, The Outsider, which was set to open later this month. The exhibition, guest curated by Brian O’Doherty, will instead take place in the spring of 2011.

We will be proceeding with our planned irish premiere of Duncan Campbell’s award-winning new film installation Make It New John, which tells the story of the DeLorean car; its creator John DeLorean, and the workers of the Belfast-based car plant who built it. Campbell’s compelling 2003 work Falls Burns Malone Fiddles will also be shown as part of the exhibition.

Running alongside this, however, will be a new show, drawn from Yeats work within The Niland Collection. Entitled The Living Ginger: The Characters of Jack B. Yeats , this exhibition will run from 25th July to 17th October. As part of this show, a symposium, entitled ‘Sectarianism and Identity in Ireland Today’, will take place on 11th September. Chaired by Francis McKee, it will explore socio-political themes that arise from Jack B. Yeats’ work.

The postponement of ‘The Outsider’ arises from some minor problems with The Model’s new environmental system and, to this end, a decision has been taken not to run the exhibition until the conditions for exhibiting the sensitive and valuable Yeats works are optimal.

The Director of The Model, Séamus Kealy, said that the centre very much regretted having to postpone ‘The Outsider’, but that it would be irresponsible to proceed with exhibiting such valuable works if there was any potential risk to their integrity. “In spite of our regrettable decision, The Model’s summer programme – comprising film, featured works from the Niland Collection, music and children’s projects – still makes our spectacular, newly developed space an attractive and compelling place to visit over the coming months,” he said.

Jack B. Yeats – The Living Ginger, and associated tours, workshops and symposium are part of the Yeatsian Legacy Project which is delivered by Sligo Arts Service, The Model & partners. The project is supported by the PEACE III Programme, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Sligo County Council on behalf of Sligo Peace & Reconciliation Partnership Committee.

Young Model's Dublin Gallery Day

Aengus woke up this morning, ate a banana and a Weetabix and packed something for his lunch. He likes bananas. Linda soon came to get him in her snazzy Smartcar, as Aengus is pathologically unable to be on time. It’s really not his fault.

Arriving at Sligo Train Station, they were soon met by Andy and Carolyn to get the 9am train to Dublin; a research trip for the Young Model Delia boarded at Boyle and Aengus proudly (but modestly) displayed his banana holster. The others were suitably impressed by his practicality and ingenuity.

In the spirit of the moment, Delia reached under the table and pulled off one of her shoes. She explained to us how she had sat up all night carefully stitching the sole back onto the shoe and in the process stabbing herself in leg. She then put her shoe back under the table and never saw it again.

As we approached Connolly Station Delia, feeling a tingle in her toes, realised much to her annoyance that her shoe was missing and quickly alerted the authorities. Although they searched high and low the shoe was nowhere to be found.Everyone was very nice about it and the man sitting opposite us even commented on how nice her shoes were and how he thought they were Gucci.

Carolyn generously lent Delia a pair of socks due to the lack of a second shoe and Linda pulled out a spare pair of shoes, which she had conveniently packed that morning.

Carolyn and the gang then stood at the Luas station while Linda and Andy bought tickets. Carolyn commented on how lovely the man on the train was. The plot requires that we hurry the story on a little so cutting forward a minute or 20…Carolyn has arrived at IMMA , The Irish Museum of Modern Art with the rest of the group in tow. Aengus requested some ‘jazzy’ exclamation marks, so here they are!!!!!! (even though Aoife will kill us for putting them in!!)

Aengus also entered the IMMA courtyard with mild fascination, as the building was a hospital in a previous life. Also he and the others were going to meet the sixth of their party, Colm who had traveled from Cork that morning to join us. Aengus discovered that Colm was from Waterford and numerous other facts concerning his life and cross-country devotion to art.

Carlos Garaicoa

They all entered the Irish Museum of Modern Art and proceeded to view the galleries. Aengus enjoyed the experience immensely taking in many exhibits, sculptures made from books by Carlos Garaicoa , Ferran Garcia Sevilla who dabbles in colourful circles, arrows, hands and feet, and some amazing drawing by Patrick Hall which were part of the Recent Acquisitions to the IMMA Collection . (YM interviewed Patrick a while ago and we’ll have his interview online soon)

Patrick Hall

Next on the agenda was a trip to The Project Arts Centre to see the KING RAT exhibition. Colm knew his way through Temple Bar like a fish in water and he and the others were soon entering the building.

The exhibit’s room was entirely covered in several layers of slippery black paper on which you would traverse to see the pieces; which included a tapestry of smoke (go figure), some strange geometrical shapes interspersed with shadowy faces, several sculptures of shiny dripping blackness – worth a look – and other tapestries and works on canvas. Colm was impressed by this exhibition, although some of the ideas were a little abstract for him to figure out. Carolyn, Delia and Aengus concurred.

After this Carolyn traipsed through the wet streets with the gang to arrive at the Exchange Dublin where we were met by Stephen, he told us about the exhibitions they’ve had, the ones they were having now, and future events. Today, Tuesday is Milk and Cookies night At 6:30 p.m. People would arrive and stories would be told. An acting troupe, who may or may not have been from Edinburgh, will be performing during the week and an exhibition from the photography festival was coming down. Carolyn saw saw many couches, a large amount of baked goods and a lot of tea. It seemed like a really great place for fun things to happen.

Exchange Dublin image from H.U.G.S.?Human Utopian Generation System

Delia was eager to get somewhere indoors after they left the Exchange. It was raining heavily and a little nippy so Linda and Andy left the kiddies to their own devices. (Delia detests being referred to in the diminutive, she’s touchy about her height).

The young of the Young Model traipsed to HMV for some relief from the rain; Colm and Aengus bought metal and jazz CDs respectively and for Delia some headphones. They then commenced the long and confusing walk back to the train station as there was not a Luas to be seen. The train back was consumed with listening to the Tommy and Hector podcast, inventing a Young Model app for iPhone, reading, bidding Delia farewell as she hobbled off shoeless into the sunset, and writing this blog.

As the train slowly whispered through the pancake flat fields of the Midlands and onwards towards Sligo, the Pirates at the other end of the coach grunted to themselves and twitched happily in their sleep. The ghost of Delia’s shoe crooned softly in the corner and the bogger announcement informed us; “beimid isteach i Muillean Cearr!”

Red Hand Soup

The Model has commissioned You’re Only Massive to create an audiodetour which launches next week. As we get ready to launch it we dug out an old blog they wrote for us in March as they were starting the project.

An audiodetour is a piece of site responsive live and audio art for two people. It is an mp3 audio walk which takes you on a separate but synchronised journey from Grattan Street to the Model, freshly painted. This piece layers choreography, soundscapes, songs and stories on top of the real Sligo and asks you to use everyday spaces with a playful sense of experimentation, exploration and adventure and to keep an ear out for the hidden histories of caregivers and bankers. Here’s a little about the project from Maebh Cheasty and David Murphy who have been visiting Sligo since the start of the year to research and plan the project.

Red Hand Soup

Let’s start walking. One leg upright like a pillar, the other leg like a pendulum swinging back and forth. And heel touching down. One step and then another. If you have a pair of legs it’s the most obvious thing in the world. You may know your way around here. You may know paths, shortcuts, maps, stories, meanders and commutes. Nonetheless keep your wits about you and always trust your own judgement.”

With these words we will begin walking the audiodetour, leading from O’ Connell Street in Sligo to The Model, newly painted. Along the way you will hear caregivers and National Treasures. You will also pass the Ulster Bank on Stephen Street, with its carvings of the Red Hand of Ulster in the keystones over the windows.

The legend of the red hand states that, during their first attacks on Ireland in the 8th century, the Vikings arrived from the harsh winters of Norway ready to “go berserk”. They leapt straight from the longboat filled with the excitement and anticipation of a thousand Christmas Eves. That said, they gave little respect to the Christian way of life, as monasteries were often the first places to be ransacked and plundered for gold and slaves.

This excitement lead to the premature beserking of one such Viking, Sigmund Vikernes. During an early raid, maddened by the eagerness to be the first ashore and commence slaughter, he chopped his own left hand off and flung it from the boat on to the beach. This commitment combined with madness didn’t go unremarked in Ireland, and today is commemorated on flags and buildings alike.

Pop beserker Bill Drummond was so impressed with this act of insane self-harm that, in 1992, just at the point when his group, the KLF’s raids on the top 10 had made them the most successful band of the era, he plotted to emulate it. The KLF were all set to headline the Brit awards, which was to be their coronation as the kings of pop. Drummond’s fraying mind had other ideas. He had planned to sanctify his groups domination of the pop world by chopping his left hand off and flinging it down on the red carpet. His sacrifice was only prevented when his wife confiscated his cleaver from him.

In 2003 Bill Drummond began making soup for people along a line he drew across a map of the British Isles. “You can lose yourself in making soup,” Drummond wrote in his book “45”. “The imagination can start to spiral into uncharted regions; reality can become bearable, even enjoyable. You can find yourself as well.”

Perhaps our Viking could have benefited from sitting down to a nice pot of warming, nourishing soup, which is why we would like to dedicate this recipe to him, as his severed hand plays an important part in our upcoming audiodetour. It is also dedicated to Bill Drummond for discovering for himself the hidden magic of what is basically a bucket of smashed up vegetables mixed with salty water. And we will dedicate it to you, because we hope that you will take our audiodetour and discover the pleasure of losing and enjoying yourself in spaces that are private and public, everyday and ordinary, mythical and imaginary.

You’re Only Massive’s Red Hand Soup:

Ingredients:
One can of tomatoes,
One tube of tomato pureé
2-3 red peppers
1 pumpkin
1kg of carrots
1 onion (red)
1/4 bottle wine (red)
2 litres of stock

Peel the carrots, peel and deseed the pumpkin and boil them together in a pot.
Chop the onion and fry it in a pan with some butter until they turn deep red.
Chop up and deseed the peppers and add them to the onions, but only for a minute, if at all.
We like our soup smooth so we cheat by putting everything together with the tinned tomatoes in a blender after they are boiled, but mashing them together in a big pot is also good.
Next add the wine, stock and pureé to the pot and give it a good stir.
Let it simmer, never boil, for 15 minutes, then serve.
The first few bowls will be quite thick, but after that you can add more stock or wine to thin it out.
You should have enough soup to feed a whole band of marauders.
Enjoy!

Duncan Campbell - Influenced by...

Duncan Campbell, who’s newest work Make It New John has been co-commissioned by the Model and is exhibited here from July 25th – October 3rd, has given some great interviews over the last few years that you might like a read of.

First up is A Life in Film a series from Frieze Magazine that asks filmmakers and artists to list the films that have influenced their practice

Next up is an interview with Stuart Comer, curator of film at Tate Modern, London, who speaks with Campbell about Make It New John and his earlier body of work. Read it here

and we’ve posted a video interview from this year over on another blog post here

Let us know in the comments if you find any more good ones?

Duncan Campbell video interview

Tramway (one of the co-comissioners of Make It New John) have put a two part video of an artists talk with Duncan Campbell up on youtube. Presented in collaboration between Tramway and Glasgow Film Festival 2010, Duncan is in conversation with screenwriter and filmmaker Eleanor Yule.

Discussing his latest exhibition Make It New John, about John DeLorean, Duncan Campbell gives us an illuminating insight into his artistic practice, influences and previous body of work. He talks about the inspiration for the film, his reasons for making it and the stylistic shifts in the film.

Part 1

Part 2

Read The Scotsman’s review of Make It New John

Young Model interviews FASTWURMS and Factotum

This is our last interview in the DORM series. With DORM closing this Sunday young model would like to offer you an insight into another two collectives, FASTWÜRMS and Factotum who are two fascinating collectives with some very humorous members….

FASTWÜRMS

Factotum

Young Model would like to take this opportunity to thank all the collectives who gave very generously of their time just before Dorm opened on May 1st. Young Model had a great time meeting such a varied and knowledgeable group and I feel this opportunity has shown us all that there are no limits to what art can be, and that it doesn’t always need to be too serious.

Young Model will be interviewing artist and legend Brian O’Doherty this month. Imagine!!

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