Offaly Arts Month - Architecture event

As part of Offaly Arts Month, there is an architecture exhibition planned to occur in Shannonbridge over the coming weeks. Details are below, if any persons or groups want to take part then please contact the organiser Mike Haslam on his email address - mike@solearth.com.

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Slowweave/Offaly Project Caelan Bristow & Michael Haslam
March - May 2011
As part of Engage - Architecture Month May 2011
Offaly County Council/Arts Office
Introduction,
Project Concept: The Slowweave project expresses the fresh awareness of our surroundings that can happen when we tune in to our senses. We notice the elaborate tapestry in the way in which people and creatures inhabit the space surrounding & within architecture, layered with the effect of raindrops on the pavement or the shape of a shadow on a wall. We start to hear interesting sounds that tell us about whatʼs happening around us, informing of unseen activities happening at every moment.

Slowweave was developed by Caelan Bristow for the Slow Architecture & Place
exhbition 2010, which took place on a barge travelling along the Grand Canal from
Tullamore to Dublin during September & October 2010. Slowweave was inspired by previous projects on the gathering of site experience. George Perecʼs classic text “Tentative dʼepuisement dʼun lieu parisien“ (1974) conveys the infinite scope of sensory information we may experience in a place when we open our eyes, ears, etc. William H. Whyteʼs 10-year research produced a book and film entitled “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” (1980), a rich and colourful expression of the way we use public space, relevant even today. The Slowweave project was also influenced by “Learning to Love you More”, a web-based participatory art project developed by artists Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July in which thousands of participants completed and exchanged some 63 “assignments” on the website.

Project Outline: In Slowweave/Offaly, participating observers are invited to complete a series of exercises at a selected site. The exercises are generally space-related, and require the participant to record their observations in some way (using drawings, photography, film, audio recordings etc). Some exercises focus on observing people and some deal with the self within the space. Some focus on qualities of light and shadow. Some require creative thinking and some will require the observer to list a series of elements. The compiled exercises will provide an individualʼs interpretation of the given place.

1. Who can participate?
Everyone in the community. Individuals or groups of 2 recommended.

2. Where are the selected sites for completing the given exercises?
Shannonbridge visitor centre & bridge Village

3. Where is information about the project available?
Local libraries, tourist information offices, shops, and post offices will have maps & instructions available from mid-March. Instructions will be available in booklet format and on the project website.

4. What is the participant required to do?
The participating observers will have a list of exercises to complete with instructions (available from March 9th 2011). They may complete as many as they choose. Here are some examples of the exercises:
- draw or describe a shape
- photograph a reflection
- record fleeting voices, phrases, comments, exclamations, knocks, beeps, honks, tweets, etc
- write a very short story about something you see, smell, hear (less than a page)
- list all types of human industry evident


If anyone wants a full copy of the full information document send an email to kerrill@gmail.com