More important than the design of our cities is the design of their decay. Only through a revolutionary process of erasure and the establishment of ‘liberty zones,’ and conceptual nevadas, where all laws of architecture are suspended, will some of the inherent tortures of urban life — the friction between programme and containment, be suspended. —Rem Koolhaus and Bru Man, “Imagining Nothingness”
I was born and raised in inner-city Dublin. My practice transverses many different media; ranging from sculpture, performance, intervention, collaborative, participatory, site responsive and public projects.
My research processes for the Master of Fine Art analyses the physical spatiality of regenerative urban areas in Dublin. It looks closely at how the streets, roads and pathways are organized and used by different people. The architecture and design of the council housing, flat complexes and that of public institutional buildings (interior and exterior) informs my inquiry. The language of the building materials used in these buildings play an important part in informing my research project.
My research reveals a psychology of power and control embedded within the language of the architecture in these spaces. The psychological and behavioural effects that this urban architecture, has on the people who inhabit these places are of interest to my work. This project brings to the forefront marginal groups of people who live on the edge of our society. The marginal groups whom I refer to are people who are long-term unemployed and cycles of long-term un-employment within families. This piece explores the seemly power social welfare support systems have over the direction of these particular individuals lives. It investigates complete dependency on social welfare support systems in place by society, and the effect this has on the individuals’ sense of individuality, sense of self, role in society, and relationship to society. These systems help groups of people on the margins, though specific groups remain dependant, trapped, removed from society and lack guidance for creative thought and individual direction and expression in their lives.