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  Arcadia Amongst the Ruins
Video projection, field samples and notes, fieldguide, 2008
 


‘Arcadia...’ looked at inherent issues of value, power and land management embedded within our ‘natural’ and built environments. As an in-depth exploration of place, the project engaged with micro-landscapes and related them to macro-communities: identity, belonging and diversity were alluded to via detailed botanical studies of two brownfield sites. Working with an ecologist, Jenni Roche, scientifically rigorous biodiversity surveys of the vegetation were conducted at the sites in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim. These interstitial sites such as gaps between buildings, untended gardens and post-industrial zones have escaped management strategies plaguing increasingly gentrified areas. Generically derided as ‘wasteland’, these spaces are often rich in biodiversity - kind of mini-Edens thriving behind chainlink fences. The project uncovered rich analogies between the area’s natural and cultural histories, revealing volatile connections between the broader homogenisation of our cultural and natural landscapes. A fieldguide was produced and distributed for free to the people of the town, inviting them to engage with the sites on their own terms.

Arcadia Amongst the Ruins was commissioned by Leitrim Sculpture Centre for 'New Sites – New Fields', Ireland, and continues to generate critical interest. The project has been included in exhibitions at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and The Architecture Centre, Bristol in 2009 and in the online project Arcade in 2010
(arcade-project.com/sacrifice).

Further information about the project is available at publicart.ie

 
  site survey Leitrimarcadia site 2, leitrimarcadia fieldguide