research projects at gradcam

 

 

2010 film project funding

 

Dr. Lisa Godson (NCAD Fellow at GradCAM ) is a member of a team that have been commissioned by the Arts Council to make a feature-length documentary for cinematic release ‘Building Something Modern: the legacy of Irish Architects in Africa.’ This was through successful competition for funding from the ‘reel art’ funding strand. The film will premiere at the Dublin Film Festival in February 2011.‘Building Something Modern’ addresses the unknown history of Irish Modernism, focusing on hundreds of churches designed by Irish architects, and built not in Ireland, but in Africa.

 

Irish Architecture in the 1960's was sharply divided between the traditional and the Modern, with many architects inspired by the Modernist movement, but unable to find clients willing to pay for their designs. Within this context however, a group of Dublin architects succeeded in designing and constructing hundreds of Modernist buildings, none of which were ever built in Ireland. Rather, these buildings were all constructed in Africa - Modernist churches designed in Ireland for the newly converted abroad. Designs were sent to Nigeria, to South Africa, to Kenya, and built by locals. ‘Building Something Modern’ examines this legacy of Irish architecture in Africa. Beginning with the original designs, the film goes on to examine the cultural impact of buildings designed in one country and built in another under the direction of two often antithetical ideologies; the traditions of Catholicism, and the rigorous claims of Modernism. Within a cinematic framework rooted in the experimental, the film presents the events and ideas that describe this little known chapter of Irish Modernism. From stories of architects flying bishops to France to witness the feats of Le Corbusier, to reactions from locals in Africa to the buildings then and now, the film documents this unique era in the history of Irish Modernism, and explores the often impossible gap between artistic vision and end result.

 

Researcher/Writer: Lisa Godson
Directors: Paul Rowley and Nicky Gogan
Producer: Maya Derrington
Sound Design: Dennis McNulty

 

launch of 'curating and the eductaional turn' spring 2010

 

Developed by GradCAM in association with Open Editions London, and De Appel, Amsterdam, the new volume Curating and the Educational Turn (Paul O'Neill and Mick Wilson, eds.), will be launched at a series of discursive events in Europe and America, including De Appel/Free University Amsterdam on 31/3/2010 and at the Conference: Deschooling Society in London 29&30/4/2010

 

"You Talkin' to Me? Why are Artists and Curators Turning to Education?"
Book Launch, 31 March, 8 pm
Location: VU University, De Boelelaan 1105

 

Following the critically acclaimed reader "Curating Subjects" (2007) Open Editions and de Appel arts centre (2007) publish the companian volume: "Curating and the Educational Turn". Ed. by Paul O'Neill & Mick Wilson. In recent years there has been increased debate about the incorporation of pedagogy into art and curatorial practice –what has been termed 'the educational turn'. In this publication artists, curators, critics and academics respond to this widely recognised sense of art's paradigmatic re-orientation towards the educational.

 

With text contributions by: 16 Beaver Group, Peio Aguirre, Dave Beech, David Blamey & Alex Coles, Daniel Buren & Wouter Davidts, Cornford & Cross, Charles Esche, Annie Fletcher & Sarah Pierce, Liam Gillick, Janna Graham, Tom Holert, William Kaizen, Hassan Khan, Annette Krauss, Emily Pethick, & Marina Vishmidt, Stewart Martin, Ute Meta Bauer, Marion von Osten & Eva Egermann, Andrea Phillips, Raqs Media Collective, Irit Rogoff, Edgar Schmitz, Simon Sheikh, Sally Tallant, Jan Verwoert, Anton Vidokle, Tirdad Zolghadr

 

Published by Open Editions (London) & de Appel (Amsterdam)
ISBN: 978-0-949004-18-5
Designed by Jonathan Hares
Soft board cover with dust jacket
215 x 115 x 25mm
348pp English
For BOOK ORDERS UK and worldwide: http://www.openeditions.com, email: orders(at)openeditions.com
For the Netherlands http://www.deappel.nl, email: bookshop(at)deappel.nl

 

2009/10 project funding

 

In Autumn 2009, an application under the Enterprise Ireland FP7 Coordinator Proposal Preparation Support Scheme was approved by Enterprise Ireland’s Industrial Research and Commercialisation Committee (IRCC) for Nollaig Ó Fiongháile to develop a European wide training network in traditional and improvised music. €18,690 was awarded to facilitate development of content and networking activity between universities active in traditional musics in the EU.

 

In Spring 2009, through the development initiative of Nollaig O'Fionghaile, Development Manager, consortium members achieved new project funding for:

  • "Artist As Citizen: European Publics and the European City"

    EC-EAC (European Commission Education, AudioVisual & Culture Executive Agency) Strand 2 - lead partner NCAD 52,800 euro. This project will showcase, examine and compare methods and approaches of artists and cultural theorists working in Europe, on questions concerning art in public involving artists, curators and now a professional network of partners through the European Arts Research Network (EARN). This is a mobility project on aspects of artistic research and the public sphere.

  • "Creative Policies for the Creative City"

    EC-EAC (European Commission Education, AudioVisual & Culture Executive Agency) Strand 2 - lead partner IADT 90,000.0 euro. The Creative Policies for the Creative City is a project to develop cultural solutions that address scenarios reflecting current issues within each of our regions such as 'developing a multi-cultural civic life for the historical centre of Toledo in Castilla - La Mancha; facilitating the engagement of marginalised and disadvantaged groups in society in formulating urban solutions for Newcastle-Gateshead; and addressing a suburban centres civic life outside of office hours for Dún Laoghaire. The Creative Policies for the Creative Cities consortium developed from an informal creative industries network between partners IADT- GradCAM (Ireland), Creativity, Culture & Education/ Creative Partnerships (UK) and Simetrías Fundación Internacional (Spain)

current research projects

 

Researchers participating in the school's core programme are actively progressing a variety of research projects across creative arts and media. Many of these research projects are premised on the direct production of creative works and the realisation of practical or performative outputs, while some conform to a standard humanities text production model or experiment within a broad strand of critical textual practice. Thus, several research projects current in the School operate primarily or solely on the basis of written work.

 

The School is keen to support researchers working across a wide spectrum of research modalities and topics within the broad remit of creative arts and media. These projects reflect and build upon the diversity of research traditions across the collaborating institutions and their different centres and units. We believe that over time, and as we pursue our strategic goals, the breadth of disciplinary-mix and the diversity of research projects will grow even further. Unlike a dedicated research centre our purpose is not exclusive specialisation but rather general enhancement of the researchers active across the broadly conceived domain of creative arts and media.

 

Balancing this broad agenda for research development and the pro-active enhancement of the individual researcher, the School has adopted a variety of thematic strands to orient its work. These themes co-ordinate meaningful and challenging interactions between diverse researchers and discipline experts. They provide a framework for an emergent and diverse programme of enquiry. For more details on these themes, and on our overall programme of researcher education, see our programme overview.

 

collaborative research projects emerging from programme and seminar groups include

 

 

some projects conducted by researchers availing of the school's programme include