Image 1: Where We Gather. 2009. Two-channel projection with sound.  Image 2: Installation view, The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.  Slide 3: Watch film

Where We Gather looks at places where people gather and how these have evolved over time, it is a social history of Irish Culture through the activities communities engage in and how they socialise. The era of the social dances of the 1950’s – 1970’s have often been described as the hay day of Irish Social History and this period is attributed to being the turning point for creating a more liberal society, less governed by the church. Using an abandoned Ballroom in rural County Roscommon as the location, the work is reluctant to sentimentalise the small town culture of old as many of these towns were often locked in economic stagnation and cycles of emigration. These same towns and villages are now once again faced with the familiar local –

global dichotomy. The cultural juncture between old and new, global and local, traditional community and modern society are all questioned in this piece.

The piece was produced to be exhibited as part of “Notions of Capital” at The Dock, Co. Leitrim in September 2009.

The two projection screens are installed at an obtuse angle and floor mounted to create an architectural space that immerses the viewer in the image.

The projection on the right hand screen was shot in an abandoned Dance Hall in Castlrea, Co. Roscommon. Bella Hall, originally a landmark in the town of Castlerea, was one of the first custom built dance halls in the region as a response to the social demand for spaces large enough to hold dances for over 1000 people. Up to this time dances were held in parochial or parish halls, leading to an insurgence of developers responding to this demand building ballrooms and dance halls across the country. One such developer being the former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds who was responsible for “The 13 Lands” – each ballroom having the word “land” in the title: Cloudland, Fairyland, Meadowland…

The scene shows a local well known showband member, Patsy Haugh, playing trumpet alone on stage without the backing of his band to a hall devoid of an audience, all that remains in this hall is remnants of the owner’s life. Patsy’s appearance in the piece is relevant in that he played in the Bella Hall as a teenager and remembers it in all it’s former glory. The choice of tune to play was left entirely up to him and was decided by him without consultation. Given the fate of this hall which is being encroached upon by progress and developments and who’s days appear to be numbered, he aptly chose to perform ‘One more Sunrise’.

On the left hand screen the silhouette of a couple dancing appears for the duration of Patsy’s performance and fades as it draws to a close.