Cathy Fitzgerald.ie http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie Cathy Fitzgerald.ie Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:23:47 +0000 http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie en hedgerow project calendar Crann http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/hedgerow-project-calendar-Crann http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/hedgerow-project-calendar-Crann Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:23:47 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1890887 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.01.36.png" border="0" width="670" height="473" width_o="796" height_o="563" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.01.36_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.01.52.png" border="0" width="670" height="467" width_o="800" height_o="558" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.01.52_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.02.png" border="0" width="670" height="468" width_o="801" height_o="560" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.02_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.13.png" border="0" width="670" height="472" width_o="803" height_o="566" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.13_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.23.png" border="0" width="670" height="475" width_o="803" height_o="570" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.23_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.33.png" border="0" width="670" height="468" width_o="803" height_o="561" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.33_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.45.png" border="0" width="670" height="464" width_o="805" height_o="558" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.02.45_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.02.png" border="0" width="670" height="465" width_o="801" height_o="557" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.02_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.22.png" border="0" width="670" height="463" width_o="802" height_o="555" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.22_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.34.png" border="0" width="670" height="463" width_o="805" height_o="557" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.34_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.45.png" border="0" width="670" height="473" width_o="804" height_o="568" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.45_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.55.png" border="0" width="670" height="464" width_o="803" height_o="557" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.03.55_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.07.png" border="0" width="606" height="416" width_o="606" height_o="416" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.07_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.15.png" border="0" width="670" height="465" width_o="808" height_o="561" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.15_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.27.png" border="0" width="670" height="455" width_o="803" height_o="546" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.27_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.45.png" border="0" width="670" height="471" width_o="806" height_o="567" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.45_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.57.png" border="0" width="670" height="464" width_o="804" height_o="557" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1890887/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.04.57_o.png" align="left" /> New to Ireland in1996, my first art project came from my work at the Crann Leitrim office, in Mohill, Co. Leitrim. In 1997 I wrote the text and completed original illustrations of rare Irish native hedgerow shrubs and trees for a Crann (releafing Ireland) Hedgerow Awareness project I was working on with Noel Kieran, Neil Foulkes and John Matthews. Co-author and forester, Noel Kiernan's knowledge of Irish forests played an enormous part in bring this calender project together as well as collecting the specimens. All illustrations were in ball point pen, and the calendar proved so popular that it went into a second edition. I've never lost my interest in forests and trees since this project - somehow its my link to the forests I miss back in Aoetearoa/New Zealand. _____________ Note the cover illustrations are not mine but are from very old childrens' Ladybird books. In 1997 I was awarded an ESB Environmental Endeavour award for my work on this project it's hard to imagine http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/it-s-hard-to-imagine http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/it-s-hard-to-imagine Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:05:58 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839933 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.24.png" border="0" width="490" height="268" width_o="490" height_o="268" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.24_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.32.png" border="0" width="544" height="415" width_o="544" height_o="415" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.32_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.42.png" border="0" width="466" height="414" width_o="466" height_o="414" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.42_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.58.png" border="0" width="500" height="413" width_o="500" height_o="413" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.47.58_o.png" align="left" /> While examining biological material in a medical research laboratory on a residency at St James' hospital, I observed the beauty and strangeness of life at a cellular level. By using different media, both simple charcoal drawings and a short video piece I tried to respond to and capture the wonder, fragility and power of living beings. I also aimed to visualise and question more problematic ideas; that in our consumer culture we increasingly view and reduce embryonic and genetic material to a patentable commodity, a way of thinking which directly imitates corporate materialism but often fails to address ethical, spiritual or ecological values. installation
 This work was first exhibited at rotor2 gallery, Valand, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2001. 
It has since been exhibited in the Zoology dept, Trinity College (2004) and Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (2004) The installation consisted of large charcoal wall drawings, biological photos and a looped 3 min. video projection set in adjoining room Artworks drawings
 notes on drawings: using charcoal I responded to labelled diagrams of the early stages of chick embryo development. The works resist easy definition but I tried to look at these embryos in a manner different to that of the objective, rational view offered by science. The following quote may suggest the limitation of a singular rational view - 'having labeled a thing, you no longer see that thing, you see its label instead.' Untitled (after observing chick embryos forming)(2001 )
charcoal on paper 5x7ft, one of series of 2 large wall drawings: 
price €1200 each <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.48.17.png" border="0" width="487" height="285" width_o="487" height_o="285" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.48.17_o.png" align="left" /> Image: Irish Times, 2005 Drawings at Trinity College Dulbin, BA Festival of Sicence Drawings exhibited at Trinity College Dublin, Zoology Dept and at British Festival of Science, 2005, Dublin   video 
'it's hard to imagine...' (2001) 3 min. loop Genetic material can now be patented as an invention, inventions are property, vulnerable to human desires... this almost silent video was projected up large in a small, unlit room in Valand, Gothenburg Art college gallery, surrounding the viewer, the audio at times coming from various parts of the room. spoken text 

"...'it's hard to imagine.... 
i'm somewhere in here...
and you are too...
gene sequence, patent no. BR14Q..." video visuals: video footage of moving human cells magnified under microscope. Footage recorded at St James Hospital, Dublin. background information in article, 'life in the round' : <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.48.08.png" border="0" width="584" height="415" width_o="584" height_o="415" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839933/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.48.08_o.png" align="left" /> the local project http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/the-local-project http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/the-local-project Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:49:01 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839939 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.15.png" border="0" width="487" height="349" width_o="487" height_o="349" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.15_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.48.png" border="0" width="501" height="344" width_o="501" height_o="344" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.48_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.59.png" border="0" width="501" height="344" width_o="501" height_o="344" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.35.59_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.10.png" border="0" width="503" height="347" width_o="503" height_o="347" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.10_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.23.png" border="0" width="661" height="474" width_o="661" height_o="474" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.23_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.44.png" border="0" width="501" height="346" width_o="501" height_o="346" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.36.44_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.18.png" border="0" width="502" height="349" width_o="502" height_o="349" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.18_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.35.png" border="0" width="502" height="347" width_o="502" height_o="347" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.35_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.46.png" border="0" width="500" height="345" width_o="500" height_o="345" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.46_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.56.png" border="0" width="500" height="349" width_o="500" height_o="349" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.37.56_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.12.png" border="0" width="502" height="348" width_o="502" height_o="348" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.12_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.20.png" border="0" width="502" height="348" width_o="502" height_o="348" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.20_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.32.png" border="0" width="505" height="349" width_o="505" height_o="349" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.38.32_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.00.png" border="0" width="503" height="348" width_o="503" height_o="348" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.00_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.13.png" border="0" width="670" height="445" width_o="711" height_o="473" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.13_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.28.png" border="0" width="504" height="348" width_o="504" height_o="348" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.39.28_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.05.png" border="0" width="670" height="447" width_o="710" height_o="474" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.05_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.16.png" border="0" width="670" height="444" width_o="712" height_o="472" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.16_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.32.png" border="0" width="501" height="347" width_o="501" height_o="347" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839939/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.40.32_o.png" align="left" /> The 'local project' film can be seen at www.youtube.com/cathnarnia   A solo exhibition and film by Cathy Fitzgerald with Jan Alexander and Leitrim woodland owners, commissioned by The Dock and Crann for the 20th anniversary of Crann. In 1993 the Forest Service funded a Crann (an Irish tree NGO) project, in which local people from 13 farms, comprising of over 300 acres, planted broadleaf woodlands across Co. Leitrim, Ireland. This pioneering model of community forestry to initiate a local wood culture of this scale has been little recognised. Yet  in Ireland which has the best tree growing conditions in Europe and a need for self-sufficiency in fuel, whilst responding to biodiversity and climate change issues, a return to locally produced fuels will be inevitable. Ireland has only a very recent history in forestry, having lost its native woodlands centuries ago. In the last 30 years, huge areas have been reforested but in the main it embraced the quick return/cash crop/clear felling forestry that involves conifer monocultures.  Moves towards permanent,  sustainable forestry are coming, the 'local project' gives some picture of what permanent forestry in Ireland in the future will look like. The artist and the exhibition: “It seems to me that there is a new type of forestry emerging in Ireland, involving local communities and broadleaf trees; it's the beginning of a return to a sustainable Irish wood culture.” C. Fitzgerald 06 While my earlier art projects have focused on my interest in science, particularly biology, I have continued to develop my involvement in environmental concerns. In my practice I combine research along with my desire to work alongside people in the creative process to make the artwork. In March 2005 I initiated a proposal which was jointly supported by Crann and The Dock, to reassess the 'local project'. In this exhibition I brought together the voices and images of local people who volunteered to plant broadleaf woodlands 10-12 years ago in an innovative Crann Project in South Leitrim, Ireland. The Crann ‘local project' was an opportunity for people to act at a local level in addressing issues about international deforestation and Ireland's almost total dependence on imported tropical woods. The film and photographs document the growing of a new local wood culture in Leitrim that is both sustainable and suitable for transferring to other areas in Ireland. 
*
See review in the Irish Times Ticket here
*
Read recent Irish Times article on Jan Alexander here read press release here read Crann Dec O6 review here for full
background to the project and the exhibition Previous work with Crann: I am originally from New Zealand, and have lived in Ireland for the past 14 years and have a background in science. My first few summers were spent in South Leitrim working on a Crann Hedgerow awareness project and I was involved in setting up a small Crann craft and information shop in Mohill in Leitrim - at that time I met many of the people involved in the 'local project'. Some of the crafts people from that time now exhibit their woodcrafts in The Leitrim Design House. I received an ESB Environmental Endeavour Award for my work on this project and created an illustrated rare trees and shrubs of Irish Hedgerows calendar in 1997. I was accepted into the National College of Art and Design for a fine art degree course in 1996. heteroptera http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/heteroptera http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/heteroptera Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:27:37 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839904 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839904/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.32.png" border="0" width="577" height="418" width_o="577" height_o="418" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839904/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.32_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839904/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.43.png" border="0" width="561" height="394" width_o="561" height_o="394" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839904/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.43_o.png" align="left" /> Visualise Carlow Presents 

heteroptera - 
images of a mutating world
 an exhibition by 
Cornelia Hesse-Honegger curated by Cathy Fitzgerald

 11 - 27th August 2005 

 Opened 11 August 2005, 6.30pm in Shaw Room, Carlow Library followed by public talk by the artist in Cobden Hall, St Patrick's College, Carlow
 Artist-led Workshop, 13-14 August, Askea Parish Centre, Carlow

 An exhibition of mutations in insects, painstakingly recorded by internationally acclaimed Swiss artist and former scientific illustrator, Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, is a startling and thought–provoking vision of the effects of low level radiation emitted by nuclear power plants and will be on display in Carlow this August. Cornelia's work came to international attention in the late 1980s when her artworks indicated that low level radiation, from the fallout of the Chernobyl disaster but also from the normal workings of nuclear power plants, contrary to nuclear scientists' views, was and continues to have an effect on the environment. Cornelia, a well respected and trained zoological illustrator of 25 years, who had incidentally worked at visually recording laboratory-induced insect mutations, is in a unique position to highlight this issue. Cornelia's detailed watercolour artworks and supporting data, showcased in this exhibition, highlight a significant international career that spans the last two decades in which she has endeavoured to engage people and scientists to look again at this issue. Her series of artworks are instantly intriguing, one can only marvel at the technical execution of her watercolours, skills that are rarely seen in contemporary art practice. Yet it is her subject matter and her on-going research into the effects of low-level radiation on flora and fauna that makes this work highly compelling. Cornelia's artistic investigations have taken her to Sellafield, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island as well as the nuclear plants in her native Switzerland and across Europe . Of particular interest to an Irish audience will be some of the artworks that she composed during a stay in the Sellafield area in 1989. And in a wider context, viewing Cornelia's work raises questions against a debate that is rising again, that nuclear energy may be an answer to the imminent fuel crisis. 

Cornelia's work is also interesting in that is combines both an artistic practice and ongoing scientific investigations. Of personal interest to her is the need to re-examine how artistic practice is often sidelined in favour of intellectual, rational endeavours. “Artistic work has become prey to anyone needing to decorate a wall, a building or for tourism. We don't consider artwork to be a form of research…in schools, painting has become a nice distraction instead of a method of learning and to see what is.” As part of Cornelia's visit to Carlow she led a two day workshop in which she endeavoured to teach people, not just artists, drawing and painting skills, so that individuals will have the ability to quickly and accurately record their natural environment.

 This project is a Visualise Carlow event, one of a series of advanced programmes to VISUAL-The National Centre for Contemporary Art in Ireland which opened in 2009. VISUALISE Carlow is now recognised as one of the most exciting public art programmes in the country. Further detailed information about Cornelia's work can be found in a CIRCA article, Science and the Eclipse of the Earth, 2001.

Visualise Carlow is a series of advance projects to VISUAL – The National Centre for Contemporary Art Visualise Carlow is organised by Sinead Dowling, Arts Officer, Carlow Arts Office, Carlow County Council, Athy Road , Carlow , Ireland ;
 
 * see Cornelia's website here 

For further information on Cornelia's work read CIRCA article, see Science and the Eclipse of the Earth, a synopsis of a National College of Art & Design thesis, by Catherine Fitzgerald (2000) 

Other major publications of Cornelia Hesse-Honneger's work, detailing artworks in full colour and discussing her research and general comments on art and science (available for borrowing in Carlow Town Library)

 Hepteroptera -The beautiful and the other, images of a mutating world, Scalo, 2001, 310 pp., see www.scalo.com 

The Future's Mirror, Locus+, England, 1997 (not in press) a different language http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/a-different-language http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/a-different-language Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:21:56 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839876 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/embryo_news.jpg" border="0" width="489" height="268" width_o="489" height_o="268" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/embryo_news_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.11.51.png" border="0" width="670" height="324" width_o="800" height_o="388" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.11.51_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.02.png" border="0" width="670" height="325" width_o="798" height_o="388" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.02_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.22.png" border="0" width="670" height="326" width_o="793" height_o="387" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.22_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.31.png" border="0" width="670" height="318" width_o="796" height_o="378" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.31_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.43.png" border="0" width="670" height="327" width_o="797" height_o="390" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.12.43_o.png" align="left" /> {image 7<img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.09.png" border="0" width="670" height="325" width_o="797" height_o="387" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.09_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.21.png" border="0" width="670" height="325" width_o="796" height_o="387" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.21_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.29.png" border="0" width="670" height="339" width_o="812" height_o="411" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839876/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 19.13.29_o.png" align="left" /> A collaborative project by Zoology staff, students & Cathy Fitzgerald, TCD Zoology dept, Apr - Aug 30 05, an Irish Arts Council Residency project.
 
 First public exhibition: 
at the British Association Festival of Science Week, TCD Arts building 5-10 Sept 2005. Now on permanent display in the Zoology Dept, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Background to project:
 Art residency in Trinity College Dublin Zoology dept laboratories, Sept 04-Jan 05.
Having been granted an Irish Arts Council Residency award in June 04, I returned to Trinity College late Sept to Dec 2004 to work further with staff and students to create a new body of work.
Details of the project are outlined in article below ‘making room for poetry and curiosity on a daily basis’ 
(article by Cathy for AukTalk , TCD Zoology newsletter) ‘All artists are resident aliens’ states Irish poet Eamon Grennan. This was a comment I recently came across and I thought a fitting start to explain my presence as an artist in the Zoology Department over the last few months. You may be surprised to learn that there is a small but growing interest in science for some contemporary artists. Why is this? Well, from an artists’ perspective, it seems important to engage with science and technology, since science occupies a powerful role in how we understand ourselves and how we relate to our environment. Artists have often translated, reflected and questioned the new in society. In recent years amid a growing interest in interdisciplinary learning we can find artists that have sought to collaborate with scientists. Coincidentally, not so much in Ireland but overseas, the Wellcome Trust, and other international organisations, have in the last decade funded artists from all fields: visual artists, musicians, poets, actors and film makers, to engage with science. There appears to be a growing belief that artists can engage the public in science in a manner that is not currently available to scientists. Artists, as independent individuals or art groups, automatically use subjective means to grapple with new knowledge. Their personal, broader responses are something general audiences can more easily relate to, and are more engaging than the more ‘objective’ communication style employed by science. While not supporting specific art science projects, the Irish Arts Council through residencies and projects allows artists an uninterrupted period in which to research ideas for a new body of work. In my case, with a joint application from myself and Dr Paula Murphy of Trinity’s Zoology department, I was very fortunate to receive an unusual Arts Council residency award to undertake an art project in the Zoology Department for 3 months, September – December 2004. My main reason for working in the Zoology Department is a strong interest in biology, in particular genetics. This is a complex area, which has rapidly outstripped public understanding and challenged ethical thinking. Having worked in biological research for many years before attending Art College, ideas and questions about science drive the content of my art projects. It was during my art studies I felt the importance of gaining first hand knowledge from scientists rather than relying on popular (and often sensationalist) media. During my MA at the National College of Art and Design in 2001, I instigated a residency in Prof. Mark Lawler’s hematology lab at St Jame’s Hospital, Dublin. My initial contact with Trinity’s Zoology Department was in Dr. Paula Murphy’s 4th year developmental biology tutorial class in 2003. I’ve repeated the class again, not only because the material was complex, but because I feel it to be a rich source of balanced material for future ideas and work. For those of you not in the department, Dr. Murphy’s class involves students examining recent topical genetic research papers, which gives an exciting context for the student’s developmental biology knowledge. At the same time, students are presented with articles from newspapers covering the same research, and are expected to debate and think of the wider issues and misconceptions surrounding genetics. We’ve looked at transgenic animals as tools for research, cloning and stem cell research etc. Coming back this year I also made it a priority to attend a 3rd year Developmental Biology course and get a good understanding of this area. While my work tends to evolve slowly (much as in scientific research), I have also been very aware of the opportunity to introduce staff and students to aspects of contemporary art practice. Believing that direct interaction provides for greater understanding than reading or talking about art, I designed a project that asked staff and final year students for an image that was important to their work and a short description of why they chose it. Responses ranged from photographs, drawings, and diagrams created or selected by the scientists and students (one adventurous staff member even had me create a temporary tattoo of their image on their back!). Interestingly, while their comments alongside the images provided ideas about why the image was important to them, it also created a means to identify the person behind the science. In so doing, a visual, subjective and often very creative ‘conversation’ of the work undertaken by the Zoology Department took place; personal snapshots of what makes up this truly fascinating department. The project also introduced ideas for recognising the potential to communicate in new ways, creating an opportunity to those in science to value the ‘the poetic and the curious’ in their daily work. The work is now on display in the ground floor of the Zoology Department . However, the real aim of this project is to exhibit the project outside of the Department, thereby connecting and engaging a wider audience to the work and people of the Zoology Department. In fact, this project will be on display in a public area in Trinity College Dublin during the British Association Festival of Science week, during early September 2005. Given the public media response to my work, with interviews both on RTE Radio 1 and in the Irish Times, and interest from ENFO and a science communication research group from Dublin City University, I find both the public and educators are fascinated with science but have limited avenues to approach science directly. TV documentary programmes perhaps offer the most effective means of translating science to general audiences but further interdisciplinary interaction between artists and scientists may create other valuable approaches. Finally, a big thank you to Dr Paula Murphy and the staff and students in the Zoology Department for making me feel welcome, putting up with a lot of questions while willingly trying their hands at art-making. Cathy Fitzgerald, Feb 05   PREVIOUS WORK: art meeting science: exchanging glances 

an exhibition in zoology dept, TCD, jan-mar 30, 2004 
royal college of surgeons, sept-oct 2004 

 Background to my involvement with Zoology dept, TCD During Oct -Dec 03, I attended a series of developmental biology (genetics) tutorials at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, with final year students, led by Dr Paula Murphy. Due to my involvement with the department I exhibited my work in Trinity's Zoology department new cellular and molecular biology / parasitology research laboratories. I later exhibited the work at the Royal college of Surgeons, Dublin under the invitation of Dr Niamh Moran unwanted genes on a dna spiral http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/unwanted-genes-on-a-dna-spiral http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/unwanted-genes-on-a-dna-spiral Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:16:22 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839840 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839840/detail_unwantedgenes(weeds)onaDNAspiral.jpg" border="0" width="288" height="432" width_o="288" height_o="432" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839840/detail_unwantedgenes(weeds)onaDNAspiral_o.jpg" align="left" /> (detail) Title: Unwanted genes on a DNA spiral 18cm x1.5m materials: spruce twigs, wild weed flowers, copper wire

artwork Digital print, limited edition of 20, 18cm x1.5m, laminated on board, matt coated finish 
Limited edition of 20 only - edition sold. _________________________ It's over 50 years since the structure of DNA was first identified. 
How do we use this knowledge to view living systems today? 

Often scientific thought is mechanistic and reductive and DNA is seen merely as a code. 

We hear it likened to a computer code, a code that can be 'broken', 'edited', 'cut and pasted'.

 The living wildflower weed model offers an alternative metaphor.

             'a weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered' 
   Emerson Collections: Held in Trinity College Dublin collection, Zoology Department, the Irish Royal College of Surgeons collection and in private collections This piece was: featured in Earth Explorers exhibition, The Ark, Temple Bar, Dublin, 21 Jun-15 Aug, 2009 pictured in Real People talk about science, Joule New Zealand, Sunday Star Times, Jan 29, 2006, p5 At The Nine Stones Artists group show, 27 Aug - 11 Sept 2005. featured in  the Irish Times in an interview with Cathy Fitzgerald 'An artist's eye in the Laboratory, 2004' by Cormac Sheridan, SEE BELOW selected for curated international art-science show 'Tomorrow', in the New York Hall of Science, Sept -Dec 20004 selected for the cover of new Canadian EcoHealth magazine in Sept 04 selected for the Eigse Open 2004 exhibition, curated by Peter Fitzgerald, June 04 Read short online 04 review article at Genome News Network, click here Exhibited at DNA: art & science - the double helix at the Contemporary Art Museum Tampa, Florida, Jan 04. _____________________________ An artist's eye in the laboratory Former microbiologist Catherine Fitzgerald is to take up a residency at Trinity College Dublin - as an artist. She hopes her work will open up a debate, she tells Cormac Sheridan © IRISH TIMES 16 Sept, 2004 This autumn artist Catherine Fitzgerald is going back to college. She plans to take up a three-month residency in the zoology department of Trinity College Dublin, a visit funded by the Arts Council. It may seem strange to bring an artist into a science environment, but the lab is anything but foreign territory for this particular artist. Before entering the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, in 1996, Fitzgerald spent almost 10 years studying and working as a microbiologist in her native New Zealand. She specialised in chemical methods of preventing microbial growth in meat and she co-authored a number of technical papers on the topic. Her work as an artist was initially inspired by the abstract forms suggested by the images of bacterial cells viewed through a microscope.This led to a series of delicately worked paintings, a true fusion of art and science. Her residency will culminate in some as yet undetermined artwork or exhibition that will reflect the developmental genetics research underway in the lab, hosted by Dr Paula Murphy. Fitzgerald's upcoming residency evolved from her participation last year in Murphy's weekly genetics tutorial classes for final-year students. Earlier this year, she exhibited, in the department's molecular parasitology labs with The Passion Survey, an ongoing, Internet-based investigation into the nature of passion and joy. Next Thursday an exhibition of Fitzgerald's recent work, including the latest instalment of The Passion Survey, will open in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. While Fitzgerald draws inspiration from science, she herself has written of the danger for an artist of being in thrall to the "seductive" imagesthrown up by contemporary research. She aims to probe deeper, to examine and give visual expression to some of the underlying dilemmas engendered by science. The Last Frontier, a piece exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy gallery in 2000, encapsulates this more conceptual stance. It consists of a series of petri dishes containing images and objects, including apple seeds (which link scientific progress to the Tree of Knowledge metaphor) and a detail from Joseph Derby's intriguing 18th- century painting, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. This painting depicts a tableau of onlookers watching - with varying degrees of interest or alarm - as a travelling scientist slowly starves a cockatoo of oxygen in order to demonstrate the effects of a vacuum. The work has been interpreted as an effort to capture the varied responses of society to the advent of the scientific and industrial revolution.

 Fitzgerald identifies her own position with that of one of the onlookers.
"This girl is just looking on, not quite deciding; I suppose close to where 
I am," she says.

 Although influenced by ecologically concerned artists such as Cornelia Hesse-Honneger and Mark Dion, Fitzgerald has not adopted an explicitly condemnatory (or celebratory) position with respect to scientific research. Yet she doubts the value of the Frankenstein metaphor, which has been widely deployed as shorthand for expressing revulsion at biologists'
manipulations of life.
"It interests me, but I don't think you can go much beyond it really," she
says. "I want the debate to be a bit more opened up. My going back to a laboratory - I actually think that allows a discourse to happen. I'll be
 able to go in and bring information out. "

Her work can provide an oblique commentary on areas of scientific debate. For example, Unwanted Genes, a delicate, DNA-like spiral assembled from weeds, wild flowers, twigs and copper wire, offers a critique of the language of molecular biology, while also highlighting its conceptual shortcomings.

"Scientists often talk about splicing and editing and cutting and pasting
of code. Around 2000 they were talking a lot about junk DNA as if there was no function or quality to it that we should preserve. I just thought there was a slight arrogance there. I just thought we're being a bit hasty," she says.

 That suspicion has since been borne out. Although the function of many
non-coding DNA sequences remains elusive, there is growing evidence that so-called "junk DNA" plays an important role in genetic regulation. The Passion Survey will also be shown from October 18th at Greyfriars Abbey, Waterford, as part of the Waterford Arts Festival. the last frontier http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/the-last-frontier http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/the-last-frontier Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:09:49 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1839229 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/RHA2.jpg" border="0" width="417" height="800" width_o="417" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/RHA2_o.jpg" align="left" caption="the last frontier installation: animation, apple trees in and outside the gallery, apples, drawings, paintings: RHA Gallager Gallery, Dublin Ireland, 2000"/> }<img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/ladders.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="265" width_o="1286" height_o="509" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/ladders_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/beans.jpg" border="0" width="452" height="133" width_o="452" height_o="133" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/beans_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/peasbeans.jpg" border="0" width="544" height="352" width_o="544" height_o="352" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/peasbeans_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/sp.jpg" border="0" width="500" height="906" width_o="500" height_o="906" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/sp_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/23.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="234" width_o="1000" height_o="350" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/23_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/thelastfrontier(2000).jpg" border="0" width="493" height="326" width_o="493" height_o="326" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/thelastfrontier(2000)_o.jpg" align="left" caption=" the last frontier - a response to Derby of Wright's 'An experiment with a bird an an air pump' : Trinity Collection, Trinity College Dublin"/> } <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/durerdish2.jpg" border="0" width="461" height="441" width_o="461" height_o="441" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/durerdish2_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/blue dna.jpg" border="0" width="504" height="316" width_o="504" height_o="316" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/blue dna_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/geneappledrawing.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="514" width_o="800" height_o="614" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/geneappledrawing_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/nature study2000.jpg" border="0" width="332" height="242" width_o="332" height_o="242" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/nature study2000_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/Screen shot 2011-08-09 at 17.20.55.png" border="0" width="638" height="422" width_o="638" height_o="422" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1839229/Screen shot 2011-08-09 at 17.20.55_o.png" align="left" /> In this installation an environment has been created that suggest contemporary biotechnology laboratories. By inserting old and new visual references to the natural world into such clean, clinical framework we may begin to appreciate the mechanics of the scientific gaze that has become the dominant means by which we understand nature in contemporary society. nature study 2000: continuing desires Using apples as a vehicle to convey these ideas served several purposes. It playfully links ideas between traditional and contemporary art practice, but it also suggests that new visions of nature affect us all. Further references pinpoint the dawning of genetic knowledge and visually contrast the new marriage between living objects and the technology being used to describe them. While the workings of the scientific community may seem distanced from everyday life, this work may remind us that our choices and desires continue to be projected onto, and influence, our wider relationship to nature. * Science and the eclipse of the earth was published in Circa 96, 2001 and in NCAD Thoughtlines, 2001 - taken from my thesis of the same name passion survey http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/passion-survey http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/passion-survey Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:44:35 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1838886 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.55.png" border="0" width="670" height="311" width_o="780" height_o="363" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.55_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.21.png" border="0" width="501" height="350" width_o="501" height_o="350" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.21_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.46.png" border="0" width="504" height="348" width_o="504" height_o="348" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.46_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.35.png" border="0" width="647" height="412" width_o="647" height_o="412" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.35_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.04.png" border="0" width="653" height="416" width_o="653" height_o="416" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.04_o.png" align="left" /> An ongoing, online passion survey, launched on Valentine's Day 2002, in the context of recent genetic knowledge, visualises ideas that surround the nature (we are little more than the product of our genes) versus nurture (we are a product of our environment / culture) debate. 

 The questions asked were:
 
what does passion mean to you?, 
where does passion come from? 
and is passion connected with finding joy?
 
 Participants responses formed the evolving artwork, the worldwide web enabling the ideas to spread to many different peoples and places. 

 A video piece shown when the passion survey was first exhibited was a visual response to the questions by the artist. 
While the premise for this artwork is absurd in terms of science, ideas from genetics are circulating in society and are fundamentally changing how we see ourselves and our living environment, although many refuse to reduce life to the lens of science. What do you think? This online project /installation, makes use of the internet to gather many viewpoints, presents a broader metaphor for 'knowing' life, visually allowing a space for tensions between art/life and science to be experienced and re-examined. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.12.png" border="0" width="638" height="411" width_o="638" height_o="411" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838886/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.46.12_o.png" align="left" /> The typed email responses from all over the world, as 'samples', were placed in different sized petri dishes, depending on the size of the response. The dish also contained a blood coloured gel that simulated a medical specimen, the red, also the colour associated with passion. Each 'sample' was placed with others on a wall, the end result created a wave of ideas that flowed across the exhibition space. When this work was first exhibited at the Hugh Lane gallery a small circular video, projected just above the floor. This was my visual response to the survey: it showed feet, learning the steps of tango. The feet, were filmed as if a scientist was examining them to discover where passion comes from. More details of the project can be read in life in the round article open window http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/open-window http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/open-window Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:26:47 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1838191 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.43.png" border="0" width="638" height="479" width_o="638" height_o="479" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.43_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.54.png" border="0" width="648" height="362" width_o="648" height_o="362" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.54_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.07.png" border="0" width="308" height="429" width_o="308" height_o="429" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.07_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.18.png" border="0" width="632" height="427" width_o="632" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.42.18_o.png" align="left" /> Open Window -

 an ambient virtual window for bolstering wellness and healing potential during a hospital stay
  I was invited to participate in the Open Window project earlier in 2007 by curator, Denis Roche. I had heard of the project from Drs. Sean and Brenda Moore-McCann over the last few years and also learned about the different people who had brought this project together at a presentation at SEED, an art and science group who met regularly in Dublin in 2005-6, prior to the new Science Gallery.   More on 'Open Window' by Human Connectedness research group: Cian Cullinan, Stefan Agamanolis (Human Connectedness group, Media Lab Europe); Denis Roche (Natural 5th Productions); Fran Hegarty (St. James Hospital, Dublin)

 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.54.png" border="0" width="648" height="362" width_o="648" height_o="362" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838191/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.41.54_o.png" align="left" /> Hospital patients often feel isolated from the outside world and disconnected from the people that love them, especially if an illness requires residing within a single room for an extended period. These factors can lead to depression and a reduced potential for healing. This project attempts to counteract these effects by creating an always-on ambient aural and visual portal from the patient's room to a familiar place or environment to which the patient feels a strong connection.

 A collaboration with a cancer unit at a local hospital, the Open Window is particularly targeted to bone marrow transplant patients who must undergo a difficult chemotherapy program and are allowed only a limited number of visitors for several weeks while their immune systems recuperate. The rooms the patients inhabit are small and filled with various intimidating medical technologies. Most have only a small window with a very limited view of the outside world. The illness experienced during therapy often causes patients to have difficulty focusing on simple foreground mental tasks like reading a book or watching television. All of these factors contribute additional mental strain and feelings of isolation to an experience that is already very physically challenging. 

The Open Window prototype creates a projection on a wall of the patient's room that displays a live yet low frame-rate video stream from a place chosen by the patient, such as a window facing the patient's garden, a room in the patient's house, or a favorite hilltop view. These video images are captured with high quality web or mobile camera technologies set up in the desired places. Just like a real window, this virtual window to familiar place can be closed when desired and the projection space used for other purposes, such as commissioned audiovisual art pieces designed to sooth the senses.

The prototype aims for an ambient design that conveys an ongoing impression of the place while not drawing attention to itself and, most importantly, not overwhelming the patient's senses. The patient sees a single moderately static image projection that subtly updates itself once every few seconds or minutes. The hope is that the ongoing presence of this connection will have a positive and strengthening effect on the patient's mental state and healing potential. This hypothesis is being formally tested as part of the project.

Initial trials for the Open Window project are being undertaken in partnership with Professor Shaun McCann, Director of the Denis Burkitt Ward, St. James Hospital, Dublin.

 Publications and Links 

# Denis Roche, Fran Hegarty, Liz Higgins, Stefan Agamanolis, Cian Cullinan, and Shaun McCann, Open Window: a novel method of reducing isolation during Stem Cell Transplantation or treatment of Haematological Malignancies, Cancer 2004 UICC World Conference for Cancer Organisations, Dublin, 17 - 19 November 2004. (PDF) hollywood diaries http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/hollywood-diaries http://www.cathyfitzgerald.ie/following/cathyfitzgerald.ie/hollywood-diaries Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:14:54 +0000 Cathy Fitzgerald.ie 1838065 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.03.51.png" border="0" width="638" height="477" width_o="638" height_o="477" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.03.51_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.04.53.png" border="0" width="637" height="427" width_o="637" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.04.53_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.03.28.png" border="0" width="479" height="318" width_o="479" height_o="318" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.03.28_o.png" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.06.37.png" border="0" width="478" height="317" width_o="478" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/138299/1838065/Screen shot 2011-08-07 at 18.06.37_o.png" align="left" /> ONGOING since 2008 ongoing diary in images, short films & conversations between myself, close to nature foresters, our local community & online audiences, detailing an example of how we are turning our small (2 acre) 24 year old monoculture conifer plantation into an ecologically & economically sustainable real FOREST. Oct 2011: 'hollywood' is listed on the new Low Impact Silvaculture System Database (LISS) - Ireland's new database of forests been managed using close-to-nature permanent forest management systems I've used a blog www.ecoartnotebook.com   as a visual diary some of the short films created from this project so far include transformation aug 15, 2011 ash study 1, april 2011 once i counted birds (2009) burning bright (2008)
 The project so far: So since then I've organised a tree-marking day (April 2008) with two close to nature foresters and  interested members of my neighbourhood.  I made a small film 'burning bright' 2008 Sept 08 I went to Slovenia, the home of close to nature forestry with the Irish branch of Pro Silva Ireland field trip and toured the home of close to nature forestry - a country where 70% of the countryside and 70% of the economy is forest based has invested in long term, prosperity for biodiversity and their economy Jan 2009 we employed the newly formed, close to nature forestry company www.lightfootforestry.ie to thin our forest to start the conversion process. April 2009 Attended National Irish Forestry seminar in Portlaois - foresters wondering how to communicate the good news story of forestry to general public and Minister Sargent says 'the answer to climate chaos is trees'