On May 5th we have a very special Artist Breakfast Club with the collaborative duo Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty. The artists will be screening video pieces that have been inspired by their research that explores visions of progress through the history of the Irish State. They have curated a selection of four archival videos and you are invited to view them with the following questions in mind:

What are our understandings of ‘progress’ (technological, social, political or otherwise)?
Is our understanding tied up with our own cultural identities?
Is our relationship to specific infrastructures shaped through a cultural lens?
Do we always understand ‘progress’ as entropic? i.e. it cannot be undone; any damage cannot be reversed.

1. Inniu ’s Amarach (c.1975) Bord na Móna, Living History collection - 30 mins
   In this mid 1970s documentary-style film produced by Bord na Móna, sepia-tinted footage charts the peat industry's enourmous task of powering Ireland in the 20th century. Early this year the company announced an end to peat harvesting, 75 years since its establishment.
2. The Green Green Grass of Home (c.1970s-80s) IFI CIE Advertisement Collection - 20 seconds
   A 1970s/80s Córas Iompair Éireann, (Irish Transport System or CIÉ) advertisement presents an idyllic vision of rural Ireland through snapshot images.
3. The Great Train Robbery (1970s) IFI CIE Advertisement Collection - 30 seconds
   Another 1970s advertisement for the CIE Mainline Stations Sale, playfully titled 'Getaway on the Great Train Robbery', shows the enduring appeal of the Western genre in 70s Irish television.
4. Corrib Gas (2020) Scannal RTÉ - 24 mins
   This 2020 Irish language TV documentary investigates one of rural Ireland's longest running disputes - between Shell and the local people of North West Mayo, including details of the aftermath of this struggle.

For a lively discussion on this film series, please join us at the Artist Breakfast Club next Wednesday. See you there, Barry.

Ruth Clinton & Niamh Moriarty Biography

Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty are collaborative artists currently living and working remotely between Leitrim, and Sligo. They use performance, video, sound installation and storytelling, along with a detailed research process, to open up spaces of renewed reflection.

Ruth and Niamh's current practice is concerned with Ireland’s complicated relationship with its colonial past. In 2020-21, they critically examine our struggle for a sense of national identity as we move through times of great upheaval. The artists take a long view of the complex tensions between progress and nostalgia, optimism and fear, as they play out both in our immediate present and throughout our history and culture.

They have recently presented work for Solas Nua, Washington D.C.; the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, and Askeaton Contemporary Arts. This year Ruth and Niamh's work is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.