Take Me to the River I — Cineál Research & Design

TAKE ME TO THE RIVER - PHASE I

‘Take Me to the River’ is a creative discursive project that began in 2024 with Solstice Arts Centre, exploring the preservation and shared custodianship of our waterways in Co. Meath. Immersing local communities in the life of our rivers through collaborative visual and sensory activities, Solstice and Swift Cultural Centres, in partnership with Cineál: Research and Design presented a series of public engagement workshops to encourage active public participation and awareness of the waterbodies across the county’s catchment areas. Workshops are facilitated with artists & environmental specialists at each site, encouraging scientific learning through creative process.

Cineál has played a key role in developing experimental practices that bring together artistic practice, ecological knowledge and community participation. Mapping-through-sound and observation-through-drawing are our tools for understanding these fragile river environments. Using in-situ collaborative drawings of the valley, we document biodiversity, atmosphere, weather, water quality and human impact while encouraging a spatial and collective understanding of the river landscape.

WATER_SOIL_SCULPTURE

The Nanny, Staffordstown House

Key Learning: Understanding of a sustainable cohabitation of nature and agriculture, observing the conditions that allow both to thrive in a mutually supportive way.

ECOLOGY_SOUND_WRITTEN WORD

The River Boyne, The Ramparts Navan

Key Learning: Identification of birds, their song, sounds, meaning and intent. Identification of Irish language names of plants, trees, animals, and fields, evocatively describing the local habitat and biodiversity of the watercourse.

ABOVE_ALONG_WITHIN

The Swift Wave, Trim

Key Learning: Study of the river’s ecology from the surface and above with shared expert knowledge of the species and habitats that are present and absent from the river

Creative Catchment Map: TMTTR exhibition for Swift Cultural Centre in Trim that displayed a large scale immersive engagement map of the river to facilitate new conversations with the local community.

Workshop Facilitation Credits:

Individuals: Artist Penelope Lacey, Emeritus Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Farmer Michael Monaghan, Inlands Fisheries Protection Officer Fionnuala McCabe, Actor/writer Grace Collender, Bird Watch Ireland Officer Terence Cassidy, Eimear Clowry Delaney (Wild about Navan), Artist Cosette Olohan, Artist/Videograohers, Jules Charlton + Ronan Concannon, Environmental Scientist Goska Wilkowska, Solstice Coordinator Deirdre Rogers, Solstice Director Belinda Quirke, Cineál Phoebe Brady, Sarah Doheny

Organisations: Boyne River Trust, Bird Watch Ireland, Wild About Navan, Inland Fisheries Ireland, River Basin Management Service (formerly LAWPRO)

All photography + film by Finn Richards