The decision to live and work in Ireland, as writers, artists, and cultural producers, is one which we have made consciously or unconsciously – or perhaps we never made it. Perhaps things just turned out that way.
The degree to which, if at all, we address Ireland and concomitant ideas of Irishness, of belonging, of exile, out outsider status and insider status, as oppositional, as black sheep or members of a tradition, differs from artist to artist and project to project. Gender effects this; ethnicity effects this; experience effects this.
Where do you work? Do you have a place to work? How does this impact on your practice, your existential relationship to you work, your sense of connection/disconnection, fidelity/infidelity, to place, space, or imagined community?
Do you consider your practice to be driven by any ethical imperatives? Is your practice a vehicle for interrogating or deconstructing your identity? Is this identity located – does it have feet of clay, or is it pixelated?
Do you belong? Have you ever belonged? Do you want to belong? What does belonging consist in?
Space, Place, Obligation will be a one-day conference hosting presentations and conversations about art and Irishness with a number of writers, artists, academics, and cultural producers working in Ireland today. It is open to student, academics, artists, writers, and anyone interested in the intersection between creativity and identity.
Space, Place Obligation is supported and funded by the Irish Research Council.
Speakers:
Plenaries
Dr Garrett Carr, Queen's University Belfast; Dr Catherine Morris, NUI Galway
Dr Julie Bates, Kevin Breathneach, Sean Borodale, Seán Ó Dálaigh, Nathan O'Donnell, Paul Gaffney, Laura Fitzgerald, Katie Watchorn, Rouzbeh Rashidi, Mollie King, Kerry Guinan, Kate Heffernan, Selina Guinness, and Christodoulos Makris