Askeaton Ballysteen Natural Heritage, 2022

Creators of the Eco Showboat expeditions in 2022 and 2023, Artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly aka School of Looking, collaborating with Cork Traveller Visibility Group, invite you to join them this summer at the Lee Fields in Cork City. The project, called Catchments 2025, has received a Research Ireland Discover Award and aims to increase awareness and understanding of fresh water biodiversity along this rich waterway. The artists will spend 2 days at the Lee Fields engaging in citizen science activities and making art with children and teens from the traveller community.

MORNING

Anne and Denis are on location at the Lee Fields to walk, talk and learn with Irene Ní Shúilleabháin, Greenshoots Coordinator at University College Cork, as well as local heritage experts. These conversations will result in a film to be screened later in the programme. 


AFTERNOON

Site visit to the Old Cork Waterworks and Lee Fields with Cork Traveller Visibility Group.  

15 MAY

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME 

JULY

*Exact date to be decided

19

SEPTEMBER

CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland* Discover Award, Creative Ireland, The Department of Education, Cork City Council Arts Office and the UCD Earth Institute.

*Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland is the new national research and innovation funding agency, established on the 1st August 2024 through the amalgamation of the activities and functions of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).


CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported  by the Creative Ireland Programme, an all-of-government five-year initiative, from 2023 to 2027, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Further information from creativeireland.gov.ie.

The seven bodies of water we are studying in CATCHMENTS 2025:

  1. •The Liffey Head Bog in County Wicklow

  2. •The Dodder River in South Dublin County

  3. •The Boyne River in County Meath

  4. •Lough Muckno in County Monaghan

  5. •The ‘old’ River Shannon at University of Limerick

  6. •The Ballymacraven River at Ennistymon, Co. Clare

  7. •The Lee Fields by the Weir and the Old Cork Waterworks in Cork City

JULY

Writing, Poetry and Spoken Word

with RAPHAEL OLYMPIO

Workshop series


Olympio is a Cork-based rapper born in Lomé, Togo, West Africa during a time of post-civil war. Olympio and his family fled to Ireland seeking asylum, spending almost 2 years in Direct Provision. He would consider himself to be a rapper/spoken word artist, depending on the message.

*Exact programme and dates to be decided

A DAY OUT ON THE LEE FIELDS

In collaboration with Cork Traveller Visibility Group 

A full day on site monitoring biodiversity and making art with children from the traveller community. As part of the project the children will be making the wooden quadrats for surveying the site during a woodwork class, facilitated by Cork Traveller Visibility Group. 


Workshops to include:

Anne Cleary, Denis Connolly and Irene Ní Shúilleabháin visit Lee Fields with Cork Travellers Visibility Group, 15 May 2025

Cork Traveller Visibility Group 

Culture Night (detailed programme tbc)

CATCHMENTS SHOWCASE EVENT IN CORK

Old Cork Waterworks

Finale event including presentations/readings by participating children, scientific talks and screening of short film.

Anne & Denis discuss their winter 'recce' of seven water bodies across Ireland for CATCHMENTS 2025

 

Anne Cleary and Irene Ní Shúilleabháin record birdsong at Lee Fields, 15 May 2025

  1. HAVE YOU SEEN THESE LADIES?*

  2. A nature walk and “treasure hunt” with Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly. 

  3. The National Biodiversity Data Centre are compiling a Ladybird Atlas 2025, gathering sightings of ladybirds all over Ireland to address a gap in our knowledge in the status of this important species. Native species are threatened by an invasive species, the Harlequin. During this relaxed walk join the artists in spotting and identifying ladybirds of all kinds, taking amazing macro photographs of these gorgeous creatures, and submitting the data to the NBDC to contribute to the important ongoing survey.  

 

  1. The biodiversity workshops will depend on seasonal, meteorological and site specific circumstances. They may include:


  3. BEE COUNTED!*

  4. Flower-Insect Timed Counts (FIT Counts) are a really useful way that people can help environmentalists monitor pollinators and contribute to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 

  5. Using the same quadrats from Nature Squared, the team will count, photograph and video pollinators while recording the sounds of the different insects to create a “pollinator symphony” sound recording that will accompany the visual artworks. Data gathered will be submitted to national pollinator monitoring scheme.

NATURE SQUARED

A combined nature survey and macrophotography workshop, “Nature Squared” uses a simple surveying tool known as a “quadrat”. This is a square frame that can be placed on site to delineate a small area to survey (ie. to investigate the abundance of plants and/or animals in a habitat). Cleary and Connolly will be working with participants to survey important species, document findings and contribute to important nature monitoring programmes by submitting data to the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Framing is also of essential importance to the art of photography and the same quadrat will be central to the macrophotography workshop studying biodiversity through the lens.

Raphael Olympio performs a rap for Cork Travellers Visibility Group at Lee Fields, 15 May 2025