WHAT’S LEFT US THEN

A film by: Yvonne mc Guinness

2023 / Ireland / Art, Architecture

A thought provoking, often funny reflection on the development of modern Ireland through the lens of rural concrete structures, their ruin, repair and intrinsic maleness mediated by a female narrator.

World Premiere

Pálás cinema Sunday 08 October, 12pm

Commissioned as part of the Engaging with Architecture programme funded by the Arts Council of Ireland. 

DOP: Michael Kelly 

Editor: John Murphy

Sound Design: Guillaume Beauron

Grade and finishing: Michael Higgins

Yvonne Mc Guinness is an Irish artist based in Dublin. Her research interests explore art as a social and relational practice and the critical and contextual debates that evolve from this area of study. With an emphasis on collaboration and ethnographic approaches she is particularly interested in our sense of belonging, embodied experience of place and the spectator as active participant. Mc Guinness’ work involves a variety of media: film, performance, collage, sculptural and textile elements, sound and writing.

Film Shorts

Premiere of short 3 min films produced during the past week from participants at the AATE/ CAFx film + architecture workshop, 2023

Time: 16:30pm – 18:00pm / 45min screening + 45min Q&A

Date: Saturday 07 October, 2023

Location: Screen 3 - Pálás Cinema, 15 Merchants Road Lower, Galway H91 F6DF 

FREE but prebook is advised as places are limited.

Architecture at the Edge and Copenhagen Architecture Festival partnered up to organize a film & architecture workshop in response to the AATE23 thematic provocation of ‘re-mapping’, focusing on filmmaking and environmentally conscious, socially inclusive design, architecture and urban planning. This is the result!

A series of 3min film shorts made in and about Galway City.

About

During the one-week program, through lectures, group exercises and guided explorations of Galway, we invited participants to response to the AATE23 thematic provocation of ‘re-mapping’. Participants were introduced to practices of investigative observation, archival research, and new ways of mapping the city - interrogating issues of land ownership, material extraction, environmental, ecological and physical qualities of the landscape but as well considering the human interactions, the convivial strategies of resistance created by citizens, and apply this knowledge to create your own short film documenting or addressing design solutions found in the built, grown and/or planned environment of Galway city.

Supported by Screen Ireland

Note: Spots are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else

Groundwork: A Short Film

Date:  Saturday 07th October

Time:  4pm - 4:30pm

Location: Screen 3 - Pálás Cinema, 15 Merchants Road Lower, Galway H91 F6DF

FREE but prebook is advised as places are limited  

Note: Spots are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else.

Summary

A collage of drawing, field recording, image, score and word, GROUNDWORK: A Short Film presents a drawn journey along an imagined section line cut through the town and hinterland of Ballinasloe.

About

A collaborative work led by architectural graduate Dominic Daly and filmmaker Josh Meany, GROUNDWORK: A Short Film presents a drawn journey along an imagined section line cut through the town and hinterland of Ballinasloe, County Galway. The film presents a collage of drawing, field recording, image, score and word, reflecting on fieldwork gathered by Daly for his dispersed exhibition in the town as part of AATE’s 2022 edition. A study of identity, place and material culture, in the context of a wider reconsidering of the place and potential of towns in contemporary Ireland. Entirely of this community, the film features the voice, crafts, texture and people of Ballinasloe. Architectural tools become a means to reimagine local identities, through understanding the nuanced personality of what is already there.

Dominic Daly explores materiality, process and identity through drawing, design and photography. Currently working for TAKA Architects, he was awarded a masters in architecture from UCD in 2022 receiving the Bruce Shortt Award and RIBA President’s Medal nomination. Dominic’s solo works have featured in publications including: Making Belfield (UCD Press); Foreign Exchange (Story, Building), Architecture Ireland (RIAI Journal). He has previously worked for African Futures Institute (La Biennale 2023); LAN Paris; Architecture at the Edge.

The living and lost heritage of Clonfert

Dr Christy Cunniffe

Time, 15.00pm, Duration approx.1.5 hours

Date(s) Saturday 07 October, 2023

Location, Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co.Galway H53 W8X0

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Summary

“Paper Maps to Photogrammetry different approaches to recording the living and lost heritage of Clonfert” with Dr Christy Cunniffe.

About

This presentation will look at various ways that the Built, Archaeological and Landscape Heritage of Clonfert has been explored and recorded over the years. This will include techniques from simple sketches from memory of the grounds and gardens to dedicated geophysical survey of the broader landscape, to a measured drawn survey of Clonfert Romanesque Doorway. It will look at how digital modelling can enhance our understanding of a place. It will also raise the question for open debate as to how we should use that digital technology to plan for the long term conservation of the Romanesque Doorway.  

Supported by; Galway County Council

Paper Cities

Plattenbaustudio, Jennifer O’Donnell & Jonathan Janssens

Time 10:30am - 4:30pm, lunch break from 1:00 - 2:00pm

Date(s) Saturday 07 October,

Location The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid Lane, Galway H91 N5X9

FREE but prebook is essential as spaces are limited

Note: As spaces are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else.

This one-day workshop invites you to be part of a large-scale collective model-making exercise with the city centre streets as our focus. We will begin the day with a short talk about architectural drawing and model-making, after which we kick off the workshop with two rounds of urban sketching and modelling. No prior model-making experience necessary, we will use a system of templates and cut-outs to draw and piece together a 3D map of the city. You are invited to use the blank templates to call up fragments of the city as you once knew them, the city as observed today, and the city we dream of for the future- all of which will slot together to form one large-scale collective model of an alternative Galway. We will provide all materials, just bring yourself.

Event Organiser

Plattenbaustudio, Jennifer O’Donnell & Jonathan Janssens

plattenbaustudio is an architecture and drawing studio based between Berlin and Ireland. Alongside built projects the studio is active in the fields of architectural communication, exhibition and research, focusing on the realities of architecture in use and on the far-reaching consequences that our built environment has on human lives.

Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park

‘Bringing the Jungle back into our Urban Lives’

Date:  Saturday 07 October

Time: 9.30am, Duration approx. 2.5 hours

Meeting Point Woodquay Pitch

This event is FREE and open to the public. Pre-booking is advised as places are limited.

About

Enjoy a guided walk through a landscape of woods, meadows and wetlands in the heart of Galway city and find out why we need to integrate nature into our urban infrastructure. 

In an increasingly urbanised planet, humanity’s growing disconnect with the natural world has led to the climate and biodiversity catastrophe that threaten its very existence. Hence there is an urgent need now to redesign our cities in order to integrate nature into urban infrastructure. Brendan Smith will provide an informative walk along the banks of the River Corrib and into the Terryland Forest Park to show how this can be achieved. He will enlighten participants on the origins of Ireland’s largest community-local government urban woodland, on how since its inception in 2000 it has served as a 'carbon sink’, a wildlife sanctuary, an ecological corridor, an Outdoor Classroom and an outdoor passive recreational facility. Brendan will also talk about its built heritage, on how it can serve as a template for other cities but also about the threats that it faces and what needs to be done to enhance its future.

Founder of the Galway National Park City initiative, Brendan Smith has been a community and environmental activist for over four decades, involved in programmes to protect and enhance biodiversity in urban Galway. He spearheaded the campaign in 1995 that lead to the opening in 2000 of the council-owned Terryland Forest Park, an area of over 120 acres comprising wood, wetlands, waterways and pasture. Brendan is a member of the EcoEd4All team, which includes renowned environmentalist Duncan Stewart, that has developed the first Sustainability educational modular programme for Transition Year students in Ireland.

Tuatha of Terryland Forest Park, Galway National Park City

A Fragile Correspondence – Scotland + Venice 

Date: Friday 06 October 2023

Time: 18.00 - 20.00

Location: The Mick Lally Theatre, Druid ln.

FREE but prebook is essential as spaces are limited

Note: As spaces are limited, once the eventbrite fills up we encourage those interested to join a waitlist by emailing info@architectureattheedge.com. If you sign up and can no longer make it, please let us know so we can give the spot to someone else

Event Summary

A very special presentation of A Fragile Correspondence, Scotland's exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale.

Organiser Architecture Fringe

About

A Fragile Correspondence is Scotland’s national contribution to this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. 

From the forests around Loch Ness, to the seashore of the Orkney archipelago and the industrialised remnants of the Ravenscraig steelworks, A Fragile Correspondence takes us on a journey through three Scottish landscapes; the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands. Highlighting cultures and languages that have a close affinity with the landscapes of Scotland, the work explores alternative perspectives and new approaches to the challenges of the worldwide climate emergency.  In response to Architecture At The Edge’s provocation of Re-Mapping, the curators of A Fragile Correspondence will present ideas on how we might deepen our correspondence with these landscapes, to renegotiate our perceptions of language, land and place. 

Presented by co-curators Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan, Mia Pinder Hussein, and Andy Summers 

Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice  
Aoife Bláithnaid Nolan is Editor-in-Chief and Founder of -ism architecture magazine. Her background in art and architecture has fed a continuous interest in language, tradition and architecture that responds to culture and climate. These are interrelated and isolated through her affection for designing, writing and graphical play.  

-ism magazine 
-ism is an independent architecture magazine that celebrates bold and critical reflections on the discipline. Initially established in 2019 during the Architecture Fringe, -ism most recently launched its fourth issue on the theme Land. With each launch, the magazine holds a discussion-centred event that invites relevant speakers to address the themes being explored while simultaneously celebrating the work of contributors through a self-curated exhibition. The nutrition of collaboration is central to the publication’s ethos.  
 
Mia Pinder Hussein, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice  
Mia Pinder Hussein (she/her) is a Co-Founder of /other. Through exploring the relationship between architecture, the arts and critical texts, her work seeks to challenge current architectural norms in both education and practice, centering the identities and cultures of those often pushed to the periphery.  

/other 
/other is a collective of POC creatives that started in 2019. Placed at the intersection of critical research and a contemporary culture of diverse expression, /other centres the marginalised individual within architectural discourse. /other considers itself a collective whose limits are in flux by constantly reaching out to its growing network of collaborators - peers, architects and creatives - in order to amplify the voices of the many. 
 
Andy Summers, Co-Curator Scotland + Venice 
Andy Summers (he/him) is a Glasgow-based architect, educator, curator, and public programmer specialising in architecture and the built environment. He is interested in developing and contributing to a pluralised, progressive culture of architecture which seeks to support a just common good. His work questions and explores the conditions within which architectural cultures emerge, often challenging existing structures and cultural norms. Andy is a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Architecture Fringe, a Studio Tutor at the Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh, and Co-Pilot for Stage 4 Architecture at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art.  

Architecture Fringe 
Founded in 2015, the Architecture Fringe is a self-initiated non-profit volunteer run organisation which explores architecture and its impact within our collective public life. Initiating and supporting a counter-culture, the Architecture Fringe seeks to pluralise architectural culture in Scotland and further afield. 

The Core Programme for the Architecture at the Edge Festival 2023 has been made possible through support from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Ahascragh Distillery

Date: Friday 06 October   

Time: Tours at 10:30am and 3pm

Location: Ahascragh Distillers Ltd. | Chapel Street, Ahascragh, Co. Galway

FREE but prebook is essential

Summary

Guided tour led by Liam Loughrey BE C Eng, Project Manager Construction.

About

Experience whiskey history in the making at Ahascragh Distillery, Ireland’s first zero-emissions whiskey and gin distillery.

Built within a restored nineteenth century mill in the village of Ahascragh, Co. Galway, tours of the state-of-the-art distillery include a journey through the history of the old mill and an exploration of whiskey and gin production from grain to glass. Located in the heart of the countryside village and steeped in history, the mill complex has been given a new lease of life. The eco-distillery is powered by renewable energy – wind, solar and coming soon, hydro, using heat pump technology and an energy efficient storage system. This is a first for the industry.

Now open for tours, Ahascragh Distillery is an authentic destination for whiskey and gin enthusiasts and anyone interested in history, tradition and craftsmanship.

Supported by;

ahascraghdistillery.com

Archaeological Investigation in Medieval Claregalway

Open Day Hosted by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd

Date: Friday 6 October

Tours will be offered in four time-slots: 9.30 am, 11.00 am, 1.30 pm and 3.00 pm. (Thus, two morning and two afternoon, each of max. 90 mins duration.)

Location Meet Claregalway Castle

FREE but prebook is essential
*Registration online is required for this event (morning and afternoon tours).

About

The Norman invasion of Connacht in the 1230s was led by Richard de Burgo (afterwards Clanricarde). The Norman barons and knights who supported de Burgo were rewarded with grants of land. The conquered territory was soon consolidated by castles and fortified manor villages. Many of the military monuments of this period of conquest and consolidation survive, in the form of motte mounds, moated earthwork enclosures and masonry castles. But what was the character of daily life for the incomers? And how did things change for the native Irish?  An ongoing archaeological excavation in Claregalway, on an island in the River Clare that was fortified and settled by John de Cogan, is offering some answers.

Open Day Hosted by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd

The elements of the Open Day will be a) a slideshow and b) finds show and c) excavation visit.

Special Thanks to Mr Eamon O’Donoghue for use of meeting room at Claregalway Castle.

The excavation was commissioned by Galway County Council and is funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland. 

Note; There will be no parking at the excavation site by IAC Ltd personnel or visitors on the day.

Presentation by Conor O’Dowd, CEO Port Of Galway.

The Galway Harbour Project represents a once-in-a generation opportunity to develop a new and sustainable urban quarter in Galway city. Together with the proposed Port extension, there is an opportunity to expand our City to the water’s edge, future proof the port as a transport and renewable energy hub and support employment in the short, medium and long term. 

Central to the vision is a transformative public realm strategy which pledges to give the people of Galway a renewed sense of place by delivering approximately 22,300 sq metres (5.5 acres) of new public spaces for the city and repurposing the Inner Dock basin for marine recreation.

The Plan also aims to deliver:

• a sustainable mixed-use urban quarter; 

• the development of a cultural space on the iconic Centre Pier site;

• a realignment of the city to the sea.

About the speaker;

Conor was appointed as CEO at the Port of Galway in November 2018. A Chartered Accountant, Conor worked with KPMG in their Dublin and Galway offices prior to joining the Port.

As CEO, Conor is responsible for managing the Port’s day to day operating activities and for implementing the Port’s strategic objectives. These objectives include the proposed new Port and the inner dock regeneration project which will be facilitated by the relocated and expanded new Port facility. Conor also has responsibility for the Port’s efforts to play a key role in the renewable energy transition in the short, medium and long term.

Conor is a past President of Galway Chamber of Commerce and a founding and current director of the Galway City Innovation District (“ the GCID”). The GCID is the company responsible for the PorterShed innovation hub in the heart of Galway City.

Zoë will be delivering an online lecture as part of the film + architecture workshop on Monday 02 October at 2pm. Whilst this is event is designed to inform the workshop participants, anyone with an interest in progressive future for architecture is welcome to join the audience in the Mick Lally Theatre for this event!

Zoë Berman is an architect, university lecturer and founder of Part W – an action group founded in 2018 that campaigns for gender equality across the built environment sector.

Part W is driven by a desire to see places and spaces designed and delivered in a manner that is fair and beneficial to all. In 2019, the group launched a campaign raising awareness of the disparity in global architecture prizes, which are disproportionately awarded to male designers. That campaign led to a key moment of change, and featured in press including The Guardian, The Observer and Dezeen. Zoë has been a guest on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and lectured extensively on design and equity, and has written for the RIBA Journal, Blueprint magazine and Architecture Today. Zoë is writing a book profiling women who are shaping the design of cities.

Part W launched their Women's Work mapping project on International Women's Day 2022, encouraging others to highlight projects individually and collectively designed, built and influenced by women. The resulting map won the won the inaugural Prize for Research in Gender and Architecture 2023. Zoë will be talking about why Part W launched this project, and why highlighting a diversity of built projects is of value for practitioners and future generations.

Zoë is director of Studio Berman, which operates as a network of designers, makers and engineers who work collaboratively on a project-by-project basis, on installations and cultural and educational projects. She advocates design as a tool to engender positive social, political and economic change.