Deep Mapping Book – Click here to download
Offaly County Council in partnership with Bord na Móna are delighted to announce the publication of a recently commissioned artist book titled, Deep Mapping: Lough Boora Sculpture Park – Reclaim | Rehabilitate | Restore | Regenerate by artists Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins. The artists were commissioned by Lough Boora Sculpture Park Management Committee, to develop a deep mapping project that would reveal a detailed depiction of place, people, buildings, objects, flora and fauna, exisiting within and surrounding the Parklands; as part of a process to consider a sustainable artistic vision that can inform the future development of Lough Boora Sculpture Park.
We believe that art does not fix things, solve problems, or predict change. It has a very particular kind of agency, one that creates space for comment and discussion, producing surprising changes to extant concepts and experiences. It is within this realm of human discourse, related to aesthetic perception and value, that art has its most inspirational and significant impact.
Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins
Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins, have spent the last year visiting the Parklands, consulting with local groups, individuals and ecologists, with local, national and international artists and arts organisations, including a public workshop held in November 2019 at the St Joseph’s Community Centre in Kilcormac; to develop what Jenny Haughton in the Foreword describes as a ‘conceptual review from an arts perspective’.
The Collins and Goto Studio have reviewed the history, sculpture and ecology of Lough Boora Sculpture Park and its wider discovery Park. They have considered the issues and opportunities that emerge across those contexts. Speaking of their work Tim and Reiko say ‘We were excited about the ecological and biodiversity aspects of the project, and the potential for new creative relationships working across the arts and science. We reflected on the potential scope and scale of a vision, supported with specific institutional case studies to inform thinking’.
Key issues raised by artists, curators and producers interviewed, working within this specific environment, was how these priorities would be supported and what that meant in terms of art of the present time. To understand the full complexity of the commission, the artists explained that they ‘…needed to return to the beginning, to understand the development of the Pollagh bog, Lough Boora and the historic Sculpture Park boundary; in order to grasp the impact of the social and political intent on landscape ecologies; and to consider the shifts that were occurring in European Union Policy, in order to understand the potential for future development.
It was from this foundation that the artist’s intent was ‘to contribute to the goal of agreeing an exceptional and sustainable artistic vision to inform the future development of the Land and Environmental Arts facility at Lough Boora Discovery Park.’
Funding for the project was made available through Offaly’s Creative Ireland Programme and the Arts Council of Ireland.
For further information on the project contact Offaly Arts Office, arts@offalycoco.ie or visit https://collinsandgoto.com/deep-mapping-lough-boora-sculpture-park/