DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

08/11/2022

Dublin Docklands is an area of the city of Dublin, Ireland, on both sides of the River Liffey, roughly from Talbot Memorial Bridge eastwards to the 3Arena. It mainly falls within the city's D01 and D02  postal districts but includes some of the urban fringes of the D04 district on its southernmost side.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the docklands area was regenerated as an extension of the business hub of Dublin's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). By 2008 the area had over 599 enterprises. While growth slowed considerably due to the post-2008 Irish economic downturn, since 2014, property values and development activity has made a recovery.

New infrastructure, built in the area in the 21st century, has included the Samuel Beckett Bridge and the LUAS Docklands extension. Venues, including the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, the refurbished 3Arena and the Convention Centre Dublin are also in the area.

IRISH VOLUNTEER MONUMENT IN PHIBSBOROUGH

07/11/2022

A colourful bench has been added since my last visit, or maybe I failed to notice it back then,

John Blaquiere ( 1732 – 1812) was a distinguished British soldier, diplomat and politician of French Huguenot descent. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1772 and 1777. Blacquiere was instrumental in founding the Catholic Committee, with Lord Trimleston and others. Apparently he was known as “Queerblack” in satirical works of the time. The bridge on the Royal Canal at Phibsborough was named after him (Blacquiere Bridge).

Dublin City Council refer to this as the ‘Irish Volunteer Monument in Phibsboro’.

As this monument was not included on Google Maps I recently added a pin so that you can locate it if you ever nearby.

For many years I could not gain full access to this memorial because the gates were usually locked which I assumed was to protect against anti-social behaviour. The monument was vandalised in the 1970’s, and the Volunteer stood for many years with no rifle in his hand, until his restoration in 1991.  However it would now appear that Dublin City Council are adopting a different approach and are now leaving gates open twenty four hours per day and from what I seen so far indicates that vandalism has reduced … all that is needed now is a reduction in litter.

It was only recently that I noticed that this monument was originally build as a fountain but the water supply must have been removed as is often the case in Dublin.

The Irish Volunteer Monument commemorates members of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers who fought and died during the Easter Rising (1916) and the War of Independence (1919-21). The monument depicts a soldier and below the soldier scenes from Irish mythology and ancient Irish history: the arrival of the Milesians (the first inhabitants of Ireland), Cuchulainn fighting at the ford and the death of King Brian Boru at Clontarf in 1014.

The limestone monument was created by Leo Broe (1899–1966) who himself had been a member of the Volunteers. It was unveiled on 19 February 1939.

I WALKED THROUGH GLASNEVIN CEMETERY

07/11/2022

The stories of 1.5 million people are faithfully preserved at Ireland’s largest burial place. Visitors of all ages and identities are invited to explore and connect with their history through the stories of those buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Dublin Cemeteries Trust is a registered charity and the largest provider of funeral services in Ireland. The Trust operates five working cemeteries at Dardistown, Glasnevin, Goldenbridge, Newlands Cross and Palmerstown, and a visitor experience and historic archive at Glasnevin, Ireland’s National Cemetery. 

Services in burials, cremations and monument works, and in heritage, conservation and education, are delivered by a team of over 60 professionals.

ORMOND SQUARE AND NEARBY

03/11/2022

Michael John "Johnny" Giles (born 6 November 1940, in Ormond Square, Dublin, Ireland) is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. Since retirement he has served as "the Senior Analyst" on RTÉ Sport's coverage of association football.

Giles grew up in Ormond Square, a working-class area of inner-city Dublin, where he developed much of the skills that would aid him in becoming a professional footballer. He was encouraged to enter the game through his father Christy who played for Bohemians in the 1920s and managed Drumcondra during the 1940s.

Ormond Place, which I though was named Ormond Lane, is a laneway connecting Ormond Square to Arran Street and, via a narrow alleyway, to Ormond Quay.

TRINITY COLLEGE IN DUBLIN CITY CENTRE

30/10/2022

Widely considered one of Europe's elite institutions, Trinity is Ireland's most prestigious university, in part due to its long and distinguished history. 

Academically, it is divided into three faculties comprising 23 schools, offering degree and diploma courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The admission procedure is based exclusively on academic merit, with the college being particularly acclaimed in law, literature and humanities.

It also carries out extensive research in nanotechnology, information technology, immunology, mathematics, engineering, psychology, politics and English. 

Trinity College was originally established outside Dublin's city walls in the buildings of the outlawed Catholic Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. It was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and as a result was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history.

While Catholics were admitted from the college's foundation, for a period graduation required the taking of an oath that was objectionable to them. In 1793 this requirement was removed, but certain restrictions on membership of the college remained, as professorships, fellowships and scholarships were reserved for Protestants. 

An 1873 Act of Parliament lifted these remaining restrictions. While Catholics were not formally banned from attending Trinity from that time, Ireland's Catholic hierarchy discouraged it. Women were first admitted to the college as full members in 1904.

The Library of Trinity College is a legal deposit library for Ireland and Great Britain, containing around 7 million printed volumes and significant quantities of manuscripts, including the Book of Kells, which arrived at the college in 1661 for safekeeping after the Cromwellian raids on religious institutions. The collection housed in the Long Room includes a rare copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic and a 15th-century wooden harp, which is the model for the current emblem of Ireland. The library receives more than 500,000 visitors per year, making it the most important in Ireland.

I DO LIKE GULLS BUT THIS IS EXTREME

30/10/2022

When I was young I went to school yards away from St. Stephen's Green and during my lunch break I would go to the park to feed the ducks (I did not like the sandwiches that my mother made for me but the ducks did). Seagulls are now dominant it's much more likely that gulls will get most of the bread thrown in the lake as they are much more aggressive than the other birds.

NEOPETS SCULPTURES BY BUNNY ROGERS

29/10/2022

When I first saw these sculptures I thought that they had something do do with Halloween so I was described that they were made from metal.

Neopets is a virtual pet website. Users can own virtual pets and buy virtual items for them using one of two virtual currencies. One currency, called Neopoints, can be earned within the site, and the other, Neocash, can either be purchased with real-world money, or won by chance in-game

DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE 4 OCTOBER 2022:

Dublin City Council is delighted to partner with The Form Foundation and Société to bring the NEOPETS exhibition, by New York artist Bunny Rogers, to the streets of Dublin. This special 8-week exhibition is part of a new, collaborative effort, led by The Form Foundation, to bring a selection of the most talked-about pieces of contemporary art to Ireland - introducing internationally recognised painting, sculpture and installation art to local audiences and making it accessible to everyone. 

The Bunny Rogers NEOPETS exhibition takes place on Dublin’s Kildare Street, Dublin 2 for 8 weeks only, from the 5th of October – 5th December 2022. Three of these Neopets (Techo Statue, Shoyru Statue and Chia Statue) will be on display as part of this exhibition.  

The artist, Bunny Rogers takes inspiration from online gaming and digital identities from her youth, to create brilliant, bold sculptures for this show-stopping NEOPETS exhibition. Rogers’ towering bronze sculptures bear resemblance to ornate European gargoyles, but are brilliantly modernised in Rogers’ whimsical and bold artistic style. 

Speaking about the installation, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy said, “These NEOPETS sculptures by Bunny Rogers are not to be missed. I’m delighted to see them take up residence in Dublin as a playful animation. The exhibition is sure to be a great addition to our city’s conversation-starting public art scene.”

A major reference for Rogers is the world of online gaming and the malleable identities associated with role-playing and fantasy communities. This interest was not born out of purely conceptual or aesthetic considerations, but instead developed seamlessly from Rogers’ own fascination and involvement with these platforms in her youth. Her first forays into art can be traced to her experiments on the website Neopets.com: an immersive online universe popular in the early 2000s in which children created and tended to virtual pets. For Rogers, spending time on the internet as a child was equated with a freedom from isolation and her work thereby demonstrates an enchantment with online expressions of community. “My Neopets were real to me,” Rogers explains, “I wished that I could visit Neopia and didn’t understand why I couldn’t.” 

Rogers describes the process of logging into Neopets after school as “coming alive again.” The connection she felt with the game and its players alleviated the feelings of isolation and loneliness experienced away from the keyboard. “The participation in an online world made me aware of a bigger community,” Rogers says, “and (it) gave me hope that what I was doing wouldn’t always go unnoticed.”

By situating Rogers’ sculptures in the public domain, visitors can tap into an intimate space of memory, fantasy, and identity. The Neopets conceptually emphasise community, collaboration, cooperation, and the power of inventiveness and innovation. These sculptures will heighten observers’ awareness of these qualities, encompassing the ideals of living together as a community and making positive change in the world. 

-END-

Bunny Rogers (b. 1990, Houston) is a visual artist, poet, and performer based in New York. Her work has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions at venues including Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2020); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz (2020); Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2019); Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (2018); Whitney Museum of Art, New York (2017); De11 Lijnen (2016); and Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris (2015). She has participated in group exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2019); New Museum, New York (2019); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2018); OCAT Shanghai, Shanghai (2018); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek (2017); LUMA Westbau, Zurich (2017); The Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2016); Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris (2016); Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson (2016); and Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin (2015); The Jewish Museum, New York (2015); Luma Westbau, Zurich (2015); Queens Museum, New York (2015). She is the author of My Apologies Accepted (2014) and Cunny Poem Vol. 1 (2014).

Rogers has made a number of sculptural works inspired by the Neopets, which have become one of the most emblematic references in her artistic practice. Although previous works in this series were more modestly scaled, Rogers has recently begun to conceive of these works on a grand scale for public space. She created a towering Neopet sculpture for the 2021 edition of Art Basel Parcours. Enlarged to over three metres, these virtual creatures who left such an indelible mark on Rogers’ consciousness now assume an outsized physical form to meet us away from the keyboard. 

The Form Foundation is an organisation conceived to enrich Ireland’s public art offering. It has been established by Richard Bourke and Danielle Ryan. Danielle previously conceived of and founded Dublin’s national theatre academy, The Lir, partnering with Trinity College Dublin and RADA London. After years involved in the art industry, the couple has forged links with some of the world’s most influential galleries. The Form Foundation will collaborate with Irish institutions to bring a selection of the most talked-about pieces of contemporary art to Ireland. Supporting key projects in Dublin’s public galleries and museums, on its pavements and in its squares, it will introduce internationally recognised painting, sculpture and installation art to local audiences that is accessible to everyone.

MY NEW SONY FX-30 ARRIVED TODAY

26/10/2022

Location: Henrietta Street - Bolton Street area of Dublin

Today the new Sony A7RV was launched (Euro 4500) but I had already decided to go down a different path and purchase the Sony FX-30 which is a video-centric camera but unlike the A7RV it is not a full-frame camera and it does not have an Electronic View Finder. I must admit that I am a bit disappointed by the price of the A7RV.

The FX-30 arrived today but I discovered a problem in that Lightroom or Capture One could not process the RAW files, I have yet to use it as a video camera so cannot pass any comments.

It should be mentioned that ON1 and Luminar Neo both import the RAW files.

One thing that I needed to confirm that I could use my iPhone to Geo-Tag the images and I was  pleased to discover that were no issues.

The GP-VPT2BT wireless camera grip also works.

A GORDIAN KNOT IN SPACE BY FRANCIS QUINN

24/10/2022

"An impossible interlocking shape that can only exist in two dimensional space"

The Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great who is said to have cut the knot in 333 BC. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem (untying an impossibly tangled knot) solved easily by finding an approach to the problem that renders the perceived constraints of the problem moot ("cutting the Gordian knot").

COFFEE PALS BY ROBERT MIROLO

24/10/2022

This work at 66-80 Chancery Street has been replaced since I first photographed it back in 2016.

Robert Mirolo is a freelance Illustrator, Animator and Designer working and living in Dublin. His work can be mostly seen on concert posters, album covers, digital publications, scraps of loose paper and within the pages of trendy magazines.

A GUIDED TOUR ON A REALLY WET DAY

19/10/2022

This was one of my first sessions with my new, but very old, Canon 5D MkIII. My local dealer contacted me indicating that a customer had won a 5D body when it was launched back in 2012 but had put in on shelf and had forgotten about it. The body was available to me a good price if I was interested. I asked to borrow the camera for a day or two. As I had a number of Canon EF lenses I was more than interested providing I could get a suitable GPS unit. 

The GPS unit arrived and worked very well but it was not available for this session. However, I no longer have the funds to allow the purchase of the Sony A7RV which is due to be launched on the 26 October 2022. But I have the much less expensive FX3 cine-centric camera on order.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III is a professional-grade 22.3 megapixels full-frame digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera made by Canon. Succeeding the EOS 5D Mark II, the Mark III was announced on 2 March 2012. This date coincided with the 25th anniversary of the announcement of the first camera in the EOS line, the EOS 650, and was also Canon's 75th anniversary. The Mark III went on sale later in March with a retail price of $3,499 in the US, £2999 in the UK, and €3569 in the Eurozone. On 25 August 2016, Canon announced the camera's successor, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.

Before I switched to Sony I had the original 5D which was my favourite DSLR.

BRIDGEFOOT STREET AND THE NEW PUBLIC PARK

17/10/2022

Bridgefoot Street Park, which opened to the public in May 2022, was designed by Dermot Foley Landscape Architects in collaboration with Dublin City Council’s Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services. Work on the project, delivered as part of the Liberties Greening Strategy, commenced in 2020 but was delayed by Covid-19 restrictions.

Together with nearby Weaver Park, access to public green space in the Liberties area of Dublin inner city has increased by more than 150% since 2015.

Unfortunately a fire blaze broke out at Weaver Park, off Cork Street, shortly before 6.30pm about a week ago . No injuries were reported but the playground sustained significant damage.

WHY DO BUSES ARRIVE IN GROUPS OF THREE

16/10/2022

Every time I go to my nearest bus stop I wait and wait and then three or four arrive at the same time.

Buses may be leaving the depot at regular intervals but people arrive at bus stops in drips and drabs. At some point a sudden burst of potential travellers will turn up, and when the bus arrives it will have to stop for longer than normal. That gives the bus behind time to close the gap between them. The second bus arrives at the stop soon after the previous bus left, when few people are waiting. So the trailing bus gains still more on the bus in front. This is a cumulative process. The bus behind will always travel faster than the one in front. Which means that, eventually it will catch up. The two buses will end up travelling together allowing a third bus behind them to catch up in turn. 

FOUR LEGS GOOD BY KATY GOODHUE

12/10/2022

I first came across Katy Goodhue's work in March 2008 when I visited Dillon's Park and a few years later I came across the following:

MEETING OF DÚN LAOGHAIRE AREA COMMITTEE 22 NOVEMBER 2010

Fixing of Goat sculptures in Dillon’s Park, Dalkey

Question: Councillor S. Fitzpatrick - “To ask the Manager to fix the damage to the goat sculptures in Dillon’s Park, Coliemore Road, Dalkey, and to ask the Manager to explore the feasibility of installing a more robust goat sculpture in replace of the concrete sculpture?”

Reply: In 2007, Dlr Arts Office engaged Jason Ellis, a sculpture conservator, to undertake a condition audit of the public sculptures in the County. It was noted that Katy Goodhue’s Goats, sited in Dillon’s Park, ‘would be hard to restore/conserve’.

In 2008, the Public Art Steering Group developed internal guidelines around the decommissioning of artworks sited in public places in the County. Deaccession is the complete removal of an artwork from public display and from the County Collection of public artwork and would only take place after a considered process. 

Certain conditions have to apply before an artwork would be considered for deaccession, for example, if the work has significantly deteriorated or if it requires a level of maintenance and/or conservation which constitutes an unsustainable expenditure level.

This sculpture is on the list of public artworks to be actioned over the course of the next arts strategy. Due to the poor condition of the sculpture, the Arts Office will be recommending that the work be decommissioned. At present, due to financial constraints, the commissioning and installation of a new sculpture at that location will not be feasible.

Contact: Kenneth Redmond, Arts Officer, Environment, Culture & Community

GOAT SCULPTURES BY KATY GOODHUE

12/10/2022

To the best of my knowledge Dillon's Park is named after a Miss Dillon who operated a tearoom. Also, the sculptures shown in my photographs may have been decommissioned.

Photographed 16 March 2008 which is more than 14 years ago and I used a Canon 1Ds MkIII and a 100-400mm lens. I no longer have the lens and back then I had lot of problems with the camera body as auto-focus was faulty. I no longer have the lens but I still use the camera but in manual mode. The images were re-processed in June 2017 (do not remember why).

I first came across Katy Goodhue's work in March 2008 when I visited Dillon's Park and a few years later I revisited the area and could not find the concrete goats and was somewhat confused. Later I was supplied with the following information:

MEETING OF DÚN LAOGHAIRE AREA COMMITTEE 22 NOVEMBER 2010

Fixing of Goat sculptures in Dillon’s Park, Dalkey

Question: Councillor S. Fitzpatrick - “To ask the Manager to fix the damage to the goat sculptures in Dillon’s Park, Coliemore Road, Dalkey, and to ask the Manager to explore the feasibility of installing a more robust goat sculpture in replace of the concrete sculpture?”

Reply: In 2007, Dlr Arts Office engaged Jason Ellis, a sculpture conservator, to undertake a condition audit of the public sculptures in the County. It was noted that Katy Goodhue’s Goats, sited in Dillon’s Park, ‘would be hard to restore/conserve’.

In 2008, the Public Art Steering Group developed internal guidelines around the decommissioning of artworks sited in public places in the County. Deaccession is the complete removal of an artwork from public display and from the County Collection of public artwork and would only take place after a considered process. 

Certain conditions have to apply before an artwork would be considered for deaccession, for example, if the work has significantly deteriorated or if it requires a level of maintenance and/or conservation which constitutes an unsustainable expenditure level.

This sculpture is on the list of public artworks to be actioned over the course of the next arts strategy. Due to the poor condition of the sculpture, the Arts Office will be recommending that the work be decommissioned. At present, due to financial constraints, the commissioning and installation of a new sculpture at that location will not be feasible.

There are several small harbours on the coast of Dalkey. Bulloch Harbour is the biggest; it is towards the northern part of Dalkey at Harbour Road and is a declared seal sanctuary. Coliemore Harbour is much smaller but very picturesque and is in the southern part of Dalkey at Coliemore Road. In the Middle Ages Coliemore was the main harbour for Dublin City. Bulloch Harbour is still a working harbour with boats that fish for lobster and crab. It is also used by locals and tourists who hire boats for nearby fishing, sightseeing and for getting to Dalkey Island.

RANELAGH ROAD

10/10/2022

There is not much that I can say about this street in Dublin.

The name Ranelagh applies to many geographical features. The stretch of road joining Sandford Road (which begins at the corner of Anna Villa) to Ranelagh Road (which begins at the railway bridge) is known as Ranelagh or Ranelagh Village. 

ÉIRE MEMORIAL BY JEROME CONNOR

03/10/2022

In 1928 Jerome Connor became involved in a proposal to create a memorial to the Kerry poets, which was to commemorate four leading Gaelic poets of the 17th and 18th centuries at Killarney. He chose a figure of Éire holding a harp seated on a rock, possibly inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem Old Ireland in Leaves of Grass (1861). The unstrung harp was based on the 1621 Cloyne harp in the National Museum. The work went as far as a full-scale replica in wax. Due to the limited funds available, Connor agreed to forego his artist’s fee and charge only the costs of production, indicative of a personal commitment to this project in his native country.

Despite its allegorical subject, it is a highly realistic piece of modelling but opponents of the scheme blocked payments in 1932 on the grounds that it was “pagan” and lacked religious symbolism – an instance of the narrow religious prejudices of the time. Payments to the sculptor ceased which precipitated his bankruptcy and subsequent poverty. The sculpture was not completed in his lifetime but was cast in 1974, funded by Downes bakery, and placed in Merrion Square, but without the planned pedestal and inscription.

Jerome Connor was a sculptor whose works are rooted, not in the Celtic Revival or Catholicism, but in the secular civic humanism of the USA. He celebrated the heroes of America’s past and subjects which resonated with the Irish-American community. His work in Ireland related to the struggle for independence and to national cultural ideals. Connor was a realist sculptor whose work was at its best when modelled from life as in the two fishermen of his Lusitania Memorial, Cobh, Co. Cork. After a National Gallery retrospective in 1993, a local initiative saw the lane next to his studio just off Infirmary Road, Dublin 7, renamed ‘Jerome Connor Place’, and a plaque erected, bearing his friend Patrick Kavanagh’s obituary poem: “He sits in a corner of my memory With his short pipe, holding it by the bowl, And his sharp eye and his knotty fingers And his laughing soul Shining through the gaps of his crusty wall”

CAPEL STREET IN OCTOBER

02/10/2022

Today I used a 12 year old Sony camcorder, the VG10E, combined with a Sony GM 70-200mm lens hoping the capture what the streets feel like on a typical Sunday at about lunch time. Most of the restaurants were open or in the process of opening.

The street affords a vista all the way from the junction with Bolton Street south through Parliament Street to Dublin's City Hall. Capel Street is notable for the remains of some "Dutch Billy" houses dating from the 18th century.

Note: Dublin’s Dutch Billys were reputedly named after William of Orange, and their arrival in Dublin is generally attributed to an influx of French Huguenots after 1685 and to Dutch and Flemish Protestants fleeing persecution after 1690 (Craig 1980, 86-87). However, it is clear from a number of excavations in Dublin including Smithfield (Directed by Franc Myles) and Newmarket (Directed by William Frazer) that this Anglo-Dutch building style was prevalent since at least the 1660s. The distinctive features of these buildings was that the roof-ridge ran at right angles to the street with the front gables, in the most characteristic examples, being masked by quadrants sweeping up to very flat curved or triangular pediments.