The engagment began with a daily blogging project called Narratives with Nature which encouraged a deep mapping of the park. The artist walked and explored across the long days of isolation an beyond the lock downs of the pandemic. Logging observations and more personal interactions with the place as the stories of the park began to reveal themselves through a deepening connection with the river, the park, its visitors, and inhabitants, old and new.
Narratives with Nature was supported by an Arts Council YPCE Bursary award for research in 2021.
Curious about other perspectives of the park and motivated to develop a multifacted response to the place that would incorporate both macro and micro views and approaches, Julie Forrester invited artists from all disciplines were invited to consider site-specific responses in any art form to the Glen River Park.
Gleann a’ Phúca acknowledges Cork City Council’s arts office for its kind support of the curatorial process via a project research award in 2022.
“The spirit of the project is for propositions, which will reveal themselves subtly to Glen Park walkers; which will inspire curiosity and wonder without interrupting the natural beauty of the park. Collaborative, performative, participatory responses, as well as those with a material or virtual element, are all welcome. This is a visionary project, and we welcome imaginative propositions”
Julie Forrester, Creator, Gleann a’ Phùca
