artbox

architect: reenie (karin) elliott
building type+location: dun laoghaire film festival, ‘artbox’ cork, ireland
invisible elements: generations of irish emigrants made their way to foreign shores from this site. accompanied by the the nostalgia of departure and feelings of loss for those they left behind was a sense of adventure in the anticipation of new cities to discover. the blue benches scattered along the lawn at the harbours edge appear as an empty waiting room, whose invisible occupants peer out to sea. they observe mailboats long since vanished, lighthouse beams washing across the water and tides of sailboats out for a race.  but also newer activities:             container lorries thundering along the road; booze cruisers on daytrips, and other routine cargo transportations. ‘celluloid cities’ attempts to revive the sense of adventure by creating a new illuminated event for them to watch: a festival of open air films viewed in 10 boats for 10 days. from the illuminated benches, you can embark on a tour of tokyo, paris, hollywood, berlin, rome, new york, moscow, copenhagen, london or Venice. the boats will screen films set in each city. these cities will be enjoyed via their celluloid counterparts, whose ghosts now haunt the contemporary cities. departure times, twilight and tides are calibrated to construct a screening schedule for these mini-ulyssean journeys.
client: ‘lumens’ public lighting proposal, dunlaoghaire rathdown county council / ‘artbox’ mobile exhibition space, cork

competition date: 2006