Take Me to the River: The School of Looking – CATCHMENTS 2025
Creators of the Eco Showboat expeditions in 2022 and 2023, artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly (aka School of Looking), are collaborating with Solstice Arts Centre to promote awareness of fresh water along the Boyne River at Rossnaree Boyne Canal Walkway. Embedded within Take Me to The River, their project CATCHMENTS 2025 - The Boyne will engage young adults of Down Syndrome Louth/Meath, and adult learners of Louth/Meath ETB, along this important historical location with views of Newgrange across the river.
Inspired by artistic and scientific methods, this programme of engagements will include creative activities such as macrophotography, video and drawing. Becoming Citizen Scientists, participants findings and recordings will feed into the National Biodiversity Data Centre, project partners on this initiative.
Tailored for each diverse group, Down Syndrome Louth Meath participants will integrate their involvement into Fun with Nature, an 8-week art programme beginning in May at Solstice, with activity facilitator Cara Morgan and artist Iryna Senenuk.
Inspired by the myth of the Salmon of Knowledge, a Creative Writing & Story Telling programme lead by historian Anthony Murphy will take place in August within the community. Further information to follow.
For more information:
Structured Actions: STEAM and Citizen Science actions to introduce techniques of citizen led biodiversity sampling and hydromorphology mapping. Methods of documentation through varied media will be developed to share recordings.
Facilitators:
Paris based Irish artists Anne Cleary & Denis Connolly have exhibited worldwide, including the Pompidou Centre, the Barbican and the Tate Modern in Europe, SESC Pompeii in Sao Paolo, Brasil, and the Yokohama Triennale in Japan. Their work involves collaborations with scientists, artists and the public, taking many forms but focusing always on the act of looking, a conversation with the eye of the beholder. Since 2017 they have been practicing under the name “The School of Looking” to reflect this overarching programme of their work. Since 2022 Cleary & Connolly have been navigating on Ireland’s inland waterways meeting local artists, scientists and communities to spark climate action aboard a solar powered electric boat. The project called the Eco Showboat was aimed at raising awareness of the environment and climate change through the arts. Supported by the Arts Council, Research Ireland, Creative Ireland, LAWPRO, Waterways Ireland and local authorities across Ireland.
Dr Jonathan Turner is a Lecturer in Physical Geography and Sustainability in the School of Geography at UCD. His principal research interests lie in the fields of River Science and Environmental Change. He is currently leading a multi-disciplinary research programme funded by the EPA that aims to address the future responses of water and ecology to agents of change in Ireland. Recently completed projects include Reconnect (2016-2021) and SILTFLUX (2012-2016), which were funded by the EPA, INFER (2012-14), which was funded under the Marie Curie IEF scheme, and Source2Sink (2016-2018), which was funded by the EPA under the 2015 Climate Change call. Jonathon also teaches at UCD, coordinating modules on River Catchment Management and Risk, Resilience and Sustainability.
Anthony Murphy is the author of ten books about ancient Ireland, non-fiction and fiction. Scriptwriter and narrator for Lú Festival of Light - Drogheda 2022 & 2023, Anthony discovered 'Dronehenge', a Late Neolithic henge near Newgrange and several ancient dugout boats in the river Boyne. Contributor to TV programmes with National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Science, Channel 4, BBC, RTÉ and TG4, he has also found 300 previously unrecorded monuments using Google Earth and Apple Maps.
CATCHMENTS 2025 - The Boyne is supported by Research Ireland, the Department of Education, Meath County Council Arts Office, Solstice Arts Centre, Boyne Rivers Trust, The Arts Council, Meath County Council.