Visit the emerging SpiritStore website...

SpiritStore for Cork ArtTrail

We'll Keep You Posted!

For the moment our main plan is to tie up all the loose ends of this phase of the project, we are hoping to publish a book on the whole process and are considering the options for another run. First we're giving a little time for evaluation and reflection. And a little rest!! We'll keep you posted..!

The Project Celebration

The Cuckobox Bar hosted SpiritStore's project celebration night. Thanks to the Cuckobox, to all the people who came to chat, to support, to congratulate the SpiritStore gang, and to drink to the success of the project. It was a great party, and yes the guys were a bit camera shy!

Last Day at the SpiritStore / Sarsfield Bar

A Fantastic day, bookclub meeting, Stitch&Bitch.

In the evening we invited the 'regulars' who drank in the bar when it was under the care of Sean Hickey, the original owner of the bar, to come visit on the last night. Mary (Meme) La Touche, regular at the Sarsfield bar for seventeen years, had very fond memories of Sean Hickey , 'Sean loved us and we loved him' the respect people had for his opinion, his bar and his character was enormous. Sadly quiet a few of the original 'regulars' have passed on and Mary spoke of them and the warm community of people that had known each other because of that place.

Later, John Hickey (son of Sean Hickey) brought photo albums and stories of his father were told and memories celebrated. Coincidently, we discovered from John's old photos that we have returned the Sarsfield Bar / SpiritStore to the colour it had been before it was painted green.

...it was a lovely last day.

John Hickey (son of the original owner) locked the door on the last night.

Images by Neville Gawley (watermarked)

From digging Peotry to digging Bones

Tues 29th Sept Stuart Nealon, Poetry workshop, followed later by Brendan Wilkins, Archeology Talk -

'Recently Reported Road Deaths on the N6: 3500BC - 1500AD'

The talk gave an insight into some of the questions Archeologists are asking in current research, in Brendan's case, what were the ceremonies attached to the deaths that occurred in a particular region of Ireland (area defined by the archeology that took place alongside the development of the N6 roadway) over the period of time 3500BC-1500AD.

This talk is to be presented at the British Museum shortly, we were delighted to have a preview.

Breda Lynch - 'Song for the Siren'

Sunday 27th Sept Breda Lynch - Visual Artists Talk - Breda talks about her new solo exhibition 'Song to the Siren' .............

The exhibition 'Song to the Siren' is comprised of a body of new drawings and photographic works by Breda currently showing at the Galway Arts Centre. This solo show explores and draws inspiration from areas of the Gothic that examine gender identity within art, literature, film and more contemporary influences such as Goth street style, music and subculture. It also includes a specially made for Galway Arts Centre video/sound installation titled 'The Kiss', which is a collaborative piece by Breda Lynch and Cork based artists Not Abel.

Other art works presented in ‘Song to the Siren’ are a series of drawings that celebrate the appearance and strength of image of 70's Punk/Goth music icon Siouxsie Sioux to the street savvy girls in typical Goth, Post-Goth attire, which in turn describes a type of 'freakish' beauty or the display of physical appearance that assumes the position of 'outsider'. Indeed the Goth sub-culture has been based on making the badge outsiderdom a proud rejection of conventional society. This series of drawings amalgamate these current dialogues with more historical areas of Gothic literature referring to descriptions of young women caught up in stituations about unrequited love, forbidden love, or doomed love scenarios for example 'Carmilla' by La Fanu or 'Christabel' by ColeridgeLynch’s video/sound installation ‘The Kiss’ appropriates clips from the 1931 German b/w film 'Madchen in Uniform', which was deemed controversial at the time and was censored for various reasons. This inspired film based on a true story describes love that was considered dark or ill-advised - the 'love that dares not speak its name'

"Little Mama" from Seamus Fogarty live at the SpiritStore

Seamus Fogarty brought his guitar and banjo to SpiritStore on Saturday and made the night, here's a clip from the session...

SpiritStore Flicks for TWEAK

Tweak cinema day was held in SpiritStore Sat 26th Sept and for anyone who didn't manage to catch a poster or join in an event take a look - google it! Tweak is an interactive art and live electronic music festival that took place in Limerick City between the 21st and 26th of September 2009. This is an International Festival we were proud to be a small part off.
For a look at the Tweak cinema listing see...
http://www.tweak.ie/cinema.html
Image by Neville Gawley

Culture Night - Dialled in from the Future @ the SpiritStore

Culture Night at the SpiritStore Fri 25th Sept

Dialled in from the future

A tribute to Bambaataas Bronx . Video edit by Paul Tarpey. music compisition and performance by Djs Doobs and Deviant

Being a Hip Hop fan since the 80s there automatically comes with that territory an inherent affection for all things New York. Absorbing that first wave I instantly responded to the picturesque grit of the new world as glimpsed in videos such as Malcom McLarens ‘Buffalo Gals’ and Grandmaster Flash,s ‘The Message’.
I still dig out those videos of pre internet Big Apple visuals for use in backdropping Cheebah music Nights in Limerick. Vhs copies of seminal films such as Wildstyle and Black Ceasar get chopped up and looped as their saturated grainy feel is intended to add some visual spice to the post punk funk flavored sounds we and our similar guests like to Dj with. In this process we channel pre comodified classic urban imagery as an ongoing tribute to an inventive era. Well that,s what i like to think anyway, mostly it just looks properly funky.
My favorite example of the video collage / scratch aesthetic pioneered in the 80s was an example i saw only once on the Uks Channel 4 around 1986. The band Talking Heads (an essential modern reference to us art schoolled individuals) were at the height of their fusion of funk and electro afro sounds and the channel were dedicating a night to them. Watching it in a bar in Mayo that friday night it was indeed a big deal and great fun, absorbing New York at its coolest in emigration saturated Mayo.
Rather than showing concert or promo footage and interviews with the band, C4 instead presented a night of rhythmic visuals with the bands music pulsing underneath. The format of this art piece intercut distressed film of 30s African dance with 80s New York breakdance battles which were then combined with stock footage of ranting of Deep South Baptist preachers. All of this of course perfectly suited the Heads urgent psycho rhythms. It was a distinctive presentation and far removed from the compromised 3 minute clip one was accustomed to on Top of the Pops.
Later i found that this piece was a definitive representation of the New York craft of using video artists to compliment the underground sounds of the New York clubs of that era. The tentitive ‘out of the gallery’ practice by certain Artists who facilitated the clubs was an unintentional extension of the Psychedelic slide shows used in the early supperclubs / discos of the late 60s early 70s. Artists in this now expanded zone used the affordable video cameras and recorders new on the market to sync and pause edit their own footage combined with foraged stock imagery.
Video Artists like Dara Birnbaum for example pioneered a lot of the tropes associated with the practice. She used the space of both gallery and night club believing that her work could be inserted into different contexts and enviorments.
So downtown weekend dancers would design their moves on the floor while checking the wall for a manipulated visual of say Tvs top detective Kojak (as in her piece ‘Pop-Pop Video; Kojak / Wang’) and alternativley uptown Gallery patrons would regard the same piece in front of a Tv monitor. Birnbaum and her peers were against the idea of Art existing in limited editions speculated that with video the possibility existed for one to be able to buy or rent Artwork from a Video store. Pre Internet times indeed.
I never forgot that Talking Heads night but i also never met anyone else who saw it, nor can i find any trace of it on the net . I do remember all the sequences vividly and a couple of months ago while sorting through some tapes i wondered for old times sake, would it be possible to recreate the experiance of that night with a basic edit on I Movie.
Eventually i found some of the footage used on the C4 show and began to revisit my memory of that night. Bits were buried halfway through tapes and dvds and as i began to view them i thought it may be worthwhile to see what would happen if i constructed a stand alone Art piece rather than just a personal audio visual reference on material that i had an emotional attachment to.
I seemed to have collected a lot of tapes about about Ufo sightings - paranoia allways generates great clips - and as i balanced this footage against snipits of the 80s New York landscape, a digitised theme emerged.
i thought of the clash of technology and tribal rhythms that circled the then bankrupt city and the music and movies that were created in that timespace. John Carpenters ‘Escape from New York’ and Walter Hills ‘The Warriors’ suggested themselves and the beat up ex rental copy of Slava Tsukermans 1983 NY Space /drug film ‘Liquid Sky’ that i picked up in Moviedrome in Henry St became a major reference.
I didnt consider using any internet footage as the project was allways about about the act of physically locating old formats and working around the fixed parameters of the content within ‘An imagined New York’ brief ’.
Cutting and pasting I seemed to seek out grimy street shots more than any thing else at the start, piecing for a while different street scenes as seen from the Cadillacs of Superfly and Gene Hackman. Then for tone, I fast forwarded to find any loose stock footage that may have been popular for the scratch video artists in the 80s. These would crop up in 60s 70s shows or in the BBC 2 arts programes that covered Warhols active legacy. Eventually I developed an electronic palette for a timeline.
Recently in Wallpaper Magazine Jay McInerney, the author of ‘Bright Lights Big City’, remarked of a pre cleaned up Times Square. ‘There was a sense that the crazy people and criminals were more entitled to the streets than we were. There was an athmosphere of menace and that Talking Heads song ‘Life During Wartime’ was a perfect discription of the danger and paranoia.. .’ I could feel McInerney there alright but i was also aware that i had to be carefull not to fetishise and just replicate the content while still undertaking a straight edit as one would have done with two vcr machines on record and pause . A decision to play grimey street stuff against clips of the visionary jazz musician Sun Ra seem to take care of that concern which in turn led to calling the piece ‘Dialled in from the future’.
Still thinking about the technology clash i responded to the zone Douglas copeland decribed as ‘acellerated’ in the late 80s, the begining of the pre internet overload. He mentioned this in The Guardian lately describing the change to button phones instead of the rotary dial and the then amazement in realising that there were now 50 Tv stations demanding attention instead of 10. ‘Quaint observations now’ he remarked, but at the time there was a real sense of feeling the change directly through technology.
Focusing on the Bronx I mentally began to pay tribute to one larger than life figure, the Gang leader, community activist, Dj and producer Africa Bambaataa who developed his own futuristic agenda in the late 70s Bronx.
Bam was the visionary who discovered that Kraftwerk and James brown had transferable similarities for the late 70s Bronx and introduced the concept of a specific soundtrack to dance parties in the projects.
As crazy as it sounds now the music of classically trained European musicians with state of the art instruments was appropriated onto the record decks of The Leader of the Black Spades for change in a deprived urban environment. His motto was ‘This is an organization. We are not a gang. We are a family. Do not start trouble. Let trouble come to you, then fight like hell’. To soundtrack this defiant agenda he mixed the music of kraftwerks ‘Trans Europe Express’ with English psyche rock to deliver a template that promoted ‘ peace unity and havin fun’. Then in the studio he replayed and re-edited the above journey and in 1983 launched Electro hiphop with the record ‘Planet Rock’. This simultaniously impacted on both Manhattan and Mayo. Bambaataas intellectual music souces and community actions became an uncompromising social document and one whos lessons are still taught in the worldwide Hiphop community to this day under his Zulu Nation banner.
Once i had a rough edit, title and concept i discused the idea of soundtracking the short piece with Dj Johnny Doobs. Versed in Hip Hop and Electro acoustic disiplines- not to mention community work- he proposed an interpretation that pitted looped rhythms and manipulated sounds from thematic records interspersed with a few spoken word fragments associated with the subject.
The Audio Visual result would empasise the ‘Spaciness’ inherent in the sequencing and by preforming these manipulations live - instead of just recording it as a final edit on Dvd- the finished work would echo Bambaataas musical intentions if not mirror his own and his Dj Jazzy jay,s techniques. As the intro to one of Bams favorite songs by the Jimmy Castor bunch said ‘ what we gonna do is go back... way back.. back into time’
With the brief and research done and the link to The Tweak electronic festival established it was then down to fine tuning for a performance. I reconfigured my images and Doobs drafted in Dj Deviant from Galways Vince Mc Mahon Turntabilist crew to assist on scratch duties. Doobs requested that images of subway trains and space footage be placed at certain points for a type of chapter headings seperating the alternating images of a crumbling 80s Bronx and interstellar abstractions. He also flagged the images of Egyptian icons that had found their way into the mix as transitions that could position the piece as ‘A Trip’ in the classic cinematic sense. This storyboarding process allowed the Djs to formulate the timbre of the loops and concider their weight and position.
There were concerns on my part that for all the fun involved in getting this far the finished piece might not transend the familiar stance of ‘funky visuals with cool music in the background’ but this was not the case once the musicians began to translate the concept into sound. ‘Anyway we need raw stuff these days’ said Doobs
The final piece was timed at 16mins 55 seconds as we agreed that this would be the limit of a performance of intrest before it strayed into club teritory. Doobs and Deviant practiced with tone and textures using laptop triggered Serato combined with Vinyl and footpeddled loops vibing of the projected edit and mindfull of the time line.
The Audience on the day in the Spiritstore was nicely top heavy with Djs and electo acoustic practitioners. As i pressed the pause button to release the picture i heard Dj Code, using his serious voice, say ‘This better be good’.
And it was. Breaking down the video into about five sections Doobs and Deviant confidently presented an Aural trip teasing disembodied ‘out of head and body’ speeches with runs of scratch patterns. A quirky swing type section near the end was unexpected and unintentionaly well sinister as it led out of a sequence of projects being demolished. Glorious dark passages bookended images of a spaceman at the begining and a rocket at the end as the screen went dark. (The same footage i then realised afterwards opened Pink Floyds 70s film ‘Live in pompei’... theres that zone again).
The event was in the end all about the music. A truly original interpretation that highlighted the psychedelic qualities inherent in all of the clips. Doobs control of the audio eliminated any hint of nostalgia from the sequenced visuals and what began as a memory and a rummage in a box of video tapes ended as a contempoary psyche suite. The visuals became the conductors batton not the orchestra.
While it was a great moment in the environs of The SpiritStore it made me wish to experiance the 17 mins in a very dark room with big speakers. Any questions ? ‘Do it again’ says Code. We shall. The recording will not be put up on the net because that would compress and finish the adventure. It will remain as a grainy glitchy live thing with add ons for some other time.
Many, many, thanks to Doobs and Deviant, The Spiritstore, Tweak, all the djs and noise crews, Shane and Peter Cheebah, Phill Bannister for the gear and Adrian Byrne for the out of this world poster.
A Coda.
Doobs precise ending was thrown by the incoming static of the phone in his pocket. This unwaranted transmission cut the clock on his computer screen and left him to inpovise a minutely different ending for the video. In one of Kraftwerks earliest Parisian concerts - when they were still regarded as avant garde performers - the power surge from the change over to night time electricty used by the car plants that ringed the city interfered with the groups keyboard programming. ‘it was’, Ralf Hutter said ‘as if the machines were playing us’. I wonder,who dialled doobs and from what dimension?

Paul Tarpey.

Robin Parmar gave us a street sound experiment connecting the US to Limerick friday afternoon...more to follow in due course....

Tonight we enjoyed a rehearsed reading of Impact Theatre Company’s of 'At A Loss', a short play by Ann Blake. (seen above on the right with Dr Marita Ryan) Ann just completed a Masters in Drama and Theatre Studies in NUI Galway. She wrote 'At A Loss' as part of her studies and it was first produced by Galway’s Fregoli Theatre Company in Muscailt Arts Festival 2009. The script won Ann the ‘Jerome Hynes Award for Best One-Act Play 2009’ while the performance won awards for ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Actor’.
Impact Theatre Company’s Niamh Bowen directed the rehearsed reading with a cast including Norma Lowney, Darren Maher and Aidan Crowe.

Following the reading was the discussion with the writer, director and actors chaired by Dr. Marita Ryan of Mary Immaculate College, opening the different processes that each contribute to the audience.

New Work

A new piece of work by playwright Darren Maher (seen here on the right outside SpiritStore) was given it's first public appearance this evening- "The Maltes e Falcon (may already be taken)'', was read at the SpiritStore by Ann Blake, Stefan Leszczynski, Liam O'Brien, Paul Eliot, Niamh Bowen and Jerry O'Mullane. It's a humorous self referential play, enjoyed, by the sound of the audiences laughter, by everyone tonight.

Artists Interview

Last night Michael Canning and Martin Healy were interview at SpiritStore by Eilish Tuite and Carla Burns - in a session entitled, 'Artists Experience of Working with Commercial Galleries'. Michael and Martin both use commercial galleries to manage, show, distribute and sell their work. Carla and Eilish are currently students of Fine Art at Limerick School of Art and Design.

Slack Spaces

Over the past few months we've been chatting with curator Annette Molloney about the phenomenon of 'Slack Spaces', we asked her to come and give an overview of this phenomenon that we are very much a part off...

Her introduction to the talk began,

Artists and creative practitioners are increasingly making use of vacant commercial units or 'slack spaces' to realise art projects, create pop-up or guerrilla galleries or to establish studio facilities...the discussion will explore a brief history of arts practice in shops and office buildings, while also addressing the issue of short term supports for contemporary art and artists and longer term sustainability.
Also contributing to the dialogue was Jessamyn Fiore, Director of thisisnotashop – who gave a presentation on an alternative, not for profit gallery, which she founded in Dublin in January 2006. This space is dedicated to supporting the work of emerging artists from both Ireland and abroad. (http://www.thisisnotashop.com/)

Colour Image courtesy of thisisnotashop

Traditional fiddle music

Joanne Ward brought Traditional Irish Music in the form of the Limerick Fiddle Workshop to liven up SpiritStore Sunday afternoon...it was lovely to hear that music in that space!

By the way did you notice the facelift the exterior of the bar has had....more about that later!

New Music Composition

On Sat night Kerry Hagan introduced four pieces of music she has composed over the past eight years. Kerry has a PhD from Stanford University and is currently course leader at the University of Limerick's, BSc in Music, Media & Performance Technology. Her talk, Experimental Music Composition - Time is Music, traced the process of composition for each of the four pieces we heard.
Thanks a million Kerry for dropping in a CD of your compositions today (Thurs 24th), we love them.

Making Sense

Michael Cooke is a psychologist, who has worked in multidisciplinary research and design environments for over ten years. We challenged him to come and talk on 'Perception for Creative Practitioners' on Sat 19th Sept and the result was a clear introduction to how the language of 'perception' tries to explain some of the phenomena that artists encounter. The talk prompted a very interesting post talk discussion, ranging in topics from meaning making in particular contexts, to a definition of great thinkers!

Sound Mapping Limerick city

Mikael Fernstrom's talk -Secret Sounds of Limerick - Future Possiblities, introduced us to the world as he hears it. The tour of the his collaborative sound-focussed research and curiosities, set the scene for asking the audience to begin to archive sound clips from LIMERICK CITY and environs. Mikael proposes that the Limerick sounds are mapped on a google earth type interface and invites anyone with a recording device to contribute.

see. Mikael Fernstrom
http://barcelona.freesound.org/ and http://radio.freesound.org/

US NOW documentary

Today at the SpiritStore Cristiano Storni, introduced and screened the creative commons documentary ‘US NOW’ as an illustration of the political potential of new medias and of places like the SpiritStore.

''In his student flat in Colchester, Jack Howe is staring intently into his computer screen. He is picking the team for Ebbsfleet United's FA Trophy Semi-Final match against Aldershot . Around the world 35,000 other fans are doing the same thing, because together, they own and manage the football club. If distributed networks of people can run complex organisations such as football clubs, what else can they do?
Us Now takes a look at how this type of participation could transform the way that countries are governed. It tells the stories of the online networks whose radical self-organising structures threaten to change the fabric of government forever.'' http://banyak.co.uk/doc-usnow.php

From Modding to Activism

In the last week - Shane Curtain known to many by his work with Cheebah (http://cheebah.typepad.com/cheebah_hip_hop_reggae_fu/2009/06/i-love-limerick.html) spoke about Ellen street, in Limerick city.... more on his talk to come later....

Ellen St by Shane Curtin.
Cheebahs Shane was wearing his historians Hat for a talk on his chosen subject of Ellen St this evening. This is the street that bookends the SpiritStore with the neglected hulk of the Opera Centre, (so called) development in the Middle. Its a contemporary path in the City currently balancing a Garden centre, Sex Shop, kebab shop, Head Shop, and an Antique Shop yet it maintains an aura of backwardness about it, a resigned air, biding its time as it cowers under the crumbling shadow of ‘progress’.
Shane carefully outlined a series of events that had Ellen st in common. Quinns bar was one of Irelands first Gay friendly spaces. It also held a Market in its courtyard space on Saturdays that was the prime alternative / hang out spot for The citys Artists and Hipsters. The clothes Label HOBO started out here, and a Coffee area hosted an Art Gallery that gave many Limerick Artists a platform in the 80s including the Photographer Brian Cross.
The arrival of The adult shop Utopia in the 90s instigated a god fearing protest that read like a lost episode of Father Ted with the Owner eventually supporting the indignant local woman s run in the Local elections as she had given his Shop so much publicity.
There was a fix it space place held together with wires and dust that you could leave your radio and TV into be be repaired or rather transformed as Shane's description brought to mind something scripted by Terry Gilliam here.
The description of the Ellen st Pirate Radio Station was the main topic in this talk and it was delivered with Passion. Its Shane's personal interest and in setting the scene he outlined the duality of the broadcasting laws that operated in the 80s. How the Stations made money (Fianna Fail operating their own in election times while simultaneously campaigning to close them down). The Community service they served and the characters such as John the Man that live in the Cities consciousness to this day. Some amazing vernacular graphics were used to advertise the stations services and there were also photos of the mobile DJ vans that were the bread and butter of the scene.
Why Ellen St? Why not any of the other streets that also had Pirates and Gay friendly spots. Exactly, why not. That was the rhetorical conclusion that finished the presentation. There is History lodged in the streets of Limerick and its representation needs to be fought for. Even the act of investigation needs reminding.
Developers will not fund Historical studies and display the results in their generic Malls paying tribute to areas that have represent decades of social activity. And as the participants fade their stories and progressive achievements are erased under an anonymous unrealistic retail holding space.
Paul Tarpey.

'Games in the Information Society' a talk by Anders Sigfridsson, from the Interaction Design Centre, University of Limerick presented a history of games design, with focus on a move from games designed by games companies to gamer led design - 'modding' and user generated content.






Vertigo Smyth performing at The ARTiculate-Sessions in 2008.

The brilliant Vertigo Smyth came back!!!! And this time brought a double bass accompaniment. http://www.vertigosmyth.com/
http://www.myspace.com/vertigosmyth

Gavin Hogg illustrated his work process, studio practice, research and practical skill as a painter and print maker. Robin Parmar experimented with transistor radio generated sound interactions, John Bowker led a a group of twelve people in BAKA rainforest tribe polyphonic chant, creating for many a completely new experience of harmonic group singing.

Nancy Serrano brought representatives from The Galway Social Space http://www.myspace.com/galwayspace and from Seomra Spraoi the autonomous social centre in Dublin http://www.seomraspraoi.org:8080/Plone to the SpiritStore to open a discussion on Art and Activism. The conversation turned to comparisons in the structures and models used to set-up, run, manage, fund, and provide social spaces.

From a Facebook friend...Sunday 13th Sept

"I was very glad to have randomnly walked into SpiritStore yesterday to hear Mike Finn talk about how he writes plays. His little excerpts and stories were moving, entertaining and hilarious. I don't think I've watched a play in over 15 years and now I know what I'm missing I'll be down tomorrow if i can to the belltable as recommended (Language Unbecoming a Lady - from Miles Breen) Hope there are still tickets!"

Live Improvised Electronic Sound Performance - Brigadier JC and EndFinDead in the Spiritstore

Thanks to all the additional contributors to this blog for adding their voice and perspective...earlier we promised more on Brigadier JC and EndFinDead in the SpiritStore, here's a few lines from John Lillis...

Improvisation is always a muckier affair than your average polished, rehearsed event. Gone are the structured ideas and practised frameworks, replaced with Sun Ra's simple yet ingenious mantra of “make a mistake and do something right”. Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of improvised performances is the fact that the future is unwritten – any chord, squeal, pop or static can send the proceedings in a completely new trajectory. Its also a movement without sonic expectations or limitations, where sounds are explored equally for their consonance and dissonance.
Watching the performance by Brigadier JC and EndFinDead in the Spiritstore, one key theme that is evident in the way both musicians interact with the sound is the idea of reaction. Harnessing existing equipment but challenging it work in new ways, the two begin to construct their cacophony of bedlam, using everything from a standard guitar, a mobile phone, a rewired circuit board and a voluminous amount of effects peddles. Noisecore.
Both musicians are respectful towards the sounds the other person is creating, like the hesitancy between two strangers when they first begin a conversation. The process of watching them find a sonic common ground in real time is of course one of the most engaging aspects of this type of noise experimentation, and soon both artists are pushing and driving their conversing sounds to create a dense wall of piercing feedback and throbbing low end frequencies. Its refreshing to see how something so instantaneous and unplanned can be moulded and tweaked into a definite noise sculpture, but also that the noisicians involved understand the importance of momentum – allowing it all to melt away to nothing when the suitable time arrives.
John Lillis

SpiritStore Volunteers Perspective

Hi my name is Eilish and I am a volunteer in the SpiritStore Art Café.
This blog extract is about the favourite bits of my time in the space. I love hanging out in the SpiritStore, there is good tea and coffee and great conversation. I enjoy meeting the drop-in people and the characters of limerick city;
I have had conversation on diverse topics such as architecture, dreams, astronomy, limerick history, mathematics and art. I get a lot out of an honest conversation; one that happens naturally and I’ve had many of such conversation in the SpiritStore.

This space is relaxing, I feel that both the volunteers and punters alike feel like this place is a home of sorts. I would describe this project as a petridis where ideas mix and breed to curate a new beast, a hybrid.

The events have being wide ranging and interesting, from the Whitehouse Poets to developing Indian museums, from setting up Artists Collectives to the Alexander technique. I’ve been here when there was a packed house and small crowds but people have always engaged.
Eilish Tuite

SpiritStore BookClub have chosen next weeks book, its 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan

A review of The Road to follow...

Six Architectural Policies for Limerick

Grainne Hasset and Elizabeth Hatz form School of Architecture, University of Limerick
2 Talks - Six Architectural Policies for Limerick and Portrait of a City

A lively debate took place last night amongst the audience at the SpiritStore on the future development of Limerick City and surrounding. The debate was prompted by information gathered and recommendations made by the SAUL, Intelligence Unit at the School of Architecture at the University of limerick

Poxonit Guerrilla Filmmaking and Poetry

Poxonit presented Guerrilla Filmmaking and Poetry; two pieces illustrated the range of their work, the exaggerated theatrical performances reference hysteria and the infectious influence of television on an unwitting audience. An entertaining, funny and well written critique on how and what we watch on TV. The second piece of film was shot in several London locations among an unsuspecting public, we follow an East end psychic gangster, with questionable abilities, as he tries to prove his powers to a documentary maker, unravel the mysteries of the powerful Lock gang and their mind control techniques.
Stephen Neary

Watch at http://www.youtube.com/user/steveEbarry

White House Poets

We welcomed the Whitehouse Poets last Sunday, in all eleven Poets read from their collections, Brian Blarney presented the SpiritStore with a poem inspired by the The Sarsfield Bar/ 9 Spirit Store
Here's an exerpt,
'Forgive me, i should let you know
Where these roaming spirits go
The answers right above the door
The number's 9, the Spirit store
So when you hear a chiming clock
look around, take heed, don't mock
Matching time and your company
Tells the Spirits, you are free.

http://whitehousepoets.blogspot.com/

Puppet and Installation Theatre

Emma Fishers (Puppet and Installation Theatre) work explores ‘personal and cultural memories told through puppetry installation and found space’. Dark, imaginative and evoking a childlike curiosity, her work captivates the viewer through an original approach to movement, music and aesthetic. She combines puppetry, theatre and installation to create something fresh and engaging.
Stephen Neary

John Lillis

Video from Lillis to follow....

Mark Whelan Peot

One of Limericks best known peots, Mark Whelan, read from his collection.
For more info on Mark, or to hear him read visit The White House Poets blog...
http://whitehousepoets.blogspot.com/2009/08/listen-back-mark-whelan.html

Brigadier JC and Endfindead- Live Electronic Sound Performance

Brigadier JC and Endfindead, gave us live improvised electronic sound performance. More to follow in a later post...

SpiritStore BookClub update.

The SpiritStore book club is now heading for its 3rd active week and the book next week under discussion is Cormac mc Carthys ‘The Road’. The Club just finished a series of George Orwell’s essays collected in the book ‘Books v Cigarettes. The consensus was that Orwell’s concise moral and social outlines on imperialism; class and the range of tyrannies imposed by outside and inside societies remain still relevant today. ‘Why don’t more contemporary blogs on similar lines come to the fore particularly in these days?’ was a relevant comment at the table last week. Amongst the talk around this book of ideas was the balance between didacticism, polemic directions, reportage and the borderline fictional approach that the author took at times (for example in describing his Schooldays.)
The Book was recommended to the group by Dawn McCarthy of O Mahoney’s Bookshop who chose it on merit, price and availability. This was a factor new to the group all of who were fresh to the concept of a Book club and accompanying problems i.e. is the book available in some form to be read for next week? Can I physically get it? What happened then was that O Mahoney’s ended up being sold out of the Orwell book as it was being bought by those who heard it was under discussion but were not able to attend the club. Vice versa some were able to attend but were then not able to buy the book. These were in there own way positive aspects that were unseen and both were registered as such.
The Choice of ‘The Road’ was one that sought to avoid such logistical hiccups and since it was actually chosen while the Orwell book was being discussed and in that there arises an interesting overlap. Orwell warned in his essays of the attendant militaristic and fascist tendencies that circle modern democracy and hone the doomsday threat while Mc Carthy describes in postmodern biblical terms the apocalyptic results of an unnamed attack and the humanistic consequences on the notion of the spirit. Personally after reading the Road and having seen the reviews when it came out I was surprised that to my knowledge there is no existing commentary on the similarity in treatment of Mc Carthys book to JG Ballard’s 1966 novel ‘The Drought’. If anyone in book club would like to join me in ‘hang on a minute!’ Mode regarding these two books I would be happy to lend them the Ballard.
The presumably last book before the SpiritStore project ends has yet to be found but it was agreed it should foreground a female voice. The Book club takes place in the SpiritStore each Wednesday at 1-2.
Paul Tarpey

Carberry and Greenwood

Fixing sunset as the time that the SpiritStore closes lately seems to encourage the apperance of a late flamed Limerick sun spotlighting this corner of town and participants are now illuminated while engaging in a contemplative wind down viewing the days final event.
Illustrating this on Saturday the performer Mark Carberry presented himself as a sun god in transit. As he stood in the middle of the floor surrounded by nearly 50 people his bronze vinyl leggings and burnished tunic absorbed the summers last rays allmost encouraging him to anoint this temporary space for autumms arrival.
Carberry was working tonight with the composer John Greenwood showcasing two collaborative performance pieces. Here they reconstructed personal fragments and observations distilled from rants, ranting and all sorts of mental exfoliation into a performance workshop using the Spiritstore as a platform. The result is delivered for the space through the combined medium of electro acoustic sound design and body movement.
Lately, memories are being logged and reconstituted in the SpiritStore as both passersby and past patrons drop in to share stories of the Sarsfield Bars past. This week we heard that the space was a hub for (quote) ‘working girls’ in the 1930,s. This information- which if presented in the context of this evening- allows for another addition, one more possible twilight reimaging as the building silently offers past tales to the performer in its center tonight.
Carberry on the floor is now a figure of dull shined twists. We watch and follow his pointing finger. Our attention is drawn to the faded 30s era scraps of paper mummified by the walls plaster. He arches upwards as Greenwood triggers limbering audio shapes from a laptop. The deep green papered roof now appears church high as from the speakers an electronically treated voice talks abstractly of sonourous Sex.
Outlining this theme in movement the duo sought to present –as subject matter- the tension inherrent in the aspects of presentation that occur when you sexually set out your stall. This act is of course not compliant on gender or age and it is a subject as a performer Carberry has creatively visited before.
The words ‘Britney Spears’ is growled from Carberrys mask at one stage as he claws on the carpet towards what appears to be a pair of high heeled shoes deformed by white gaffa tape. (Note. One of the patron saints of music preformance, Kate Bush once laid out a similar agenda in her song ‘Suspended in gaffa’)
An imagined pattern occurs as we absorb the time and place. How much ranting occured when the Women of the 30s occupied this space? What tone did they adopt? How did they position themselves? Did they tailor their words and thoughts around these four walls also? Was their attire as confrontational as Carberrys tonight? (For purposes at the begining, a green table cloth was fashioned and powershouldered as a cape to offset his gaffa taped head.)
Greenwoods score was puncuated with silences filled by the cafes coffee machined hiss alternating with recognisable sampled urban noise treatments. These ocassionally stood apart from the activity on the floor but never so much as to assume a detrimental identidy compromising the piece.
The sound of train on an over head track stuttered from the speakers. Outside cars picked up in volume, their noise washing in as they began to ferry the weekend population into the city. A bronzed Mark turns and stands facing the wall to finish.
Before leaving both preformers explained the nature of their collaboration and how feedback from displays like tonight are integral to the work in progress. The shorter first piece of the two tonight was showcased intially as a finished work on the ‘Rants’ theme but most felt that the improv of the second movement was a stronger interpretation particularly after Greenwoods explanation of how the moodboards the duo used visually shaped the piece.
This work well worth following as a journey shaped through improv and focused through different Limerick spaces. Its particular sucess tonight in some small part due to the Spiritstore and the emotional static that circles its walls when the sun goes down.
Paul Tarpey.

Work in Progress

Later on Saturday night John Greenwood and Mark Carberry presented two collaborative performances in sound and movement. The pieces are part of an ongoing project; what we saw was a surreal and atmospheric work in progress. Both artists spoke about the process of collaboration in general and also specifically in relation to the work they presented. (More preambulations to come on this event from Paul Tarpey...)
The theme of collaboration continued into Sunday night when Myles Breen and Ciarda Tobin deliberated on their experience of writing their own plays based, in part, on personal experience. Collaboration in theatre practice emerged as a strong element in the process, as well as letting go of preconceived ideas, allowing characters to develop and change, being adaptable and so on. Ciarda described her experience of writing ‘The Fishermans Son’ staged earlier this summer in the Belltable Arts Centre and Myles talked about and read scenes from his current project 'Language Unbecoming a Lady', to be staged at the same venue on Sept 11th.

We took a passage by fish to Australia

Tim Evans storytelling in the Irish tradition of Seanachi, took us on a journey drawn out in ashes to New York city from a Kerry kitchen, we searched for black cows in the dead of night with drunken poets, agreed that a good hat on a mans head gave him authority and took a passage by fish to Australia. For sure, it’s not the first time that the inside walls of the old Sarsfield Bar have echoed the sound of a good tale, but we wonder have they ever been told so well as this Saturday afternoon.

I have a passion for pools

More from the voice of Dawn mcCarthy...

I have a passion for pools, this comes out every now and then at a strange time of night , often when a drink or two has been taken. John Galvin's piece - "...'till human voices wake us" often puts me in mind of a pool, a quiet pool bent over with trees. This would be my ultimate place to listen to this beautifully enigmatic piece, hand slipping over edge of lilo, anchored to centre for best sound appreciation. Obviously, The SpiritStore could not quite conjure up a pool but what did happen was equally sensational, a pool of people all sharing the centre floor in a loose circle for best sound appreciation, heads bent like hair dipping willows, eyelashes tipping cheeks, strangers forced into a closeness not easy shared. By the end of John's piece (a shorter version can be heard on his MySpace page) everyone seemed quite happy to stay on the floor and ask their various questions of the slight modest composer seated in the corner on his fold-away chair. Once again The SpiritStore exposed us all to something fresh, fragile and fascinating and John Galvin left us looking at ourselves through the lens of his composition, standing, as it were, at the edge of that quiet pool gazing, on a sunny Sunday morning.

Seeing August Out - Graffiti, Technology, Print, Sound and Comedy

So far this week at SpiritStore, Choke Comedy Improv, Printmaker - Sercan Sahin, Interaction Designer -Luigina Ciolfi, Composer - John Galvin, Tweak Festival organiser - Nora O'Murchu and Promoter/Photographer/RecordSpinner -Paul Tarpey have occupied the space with a variety of events.

Brian and Eileen Coates having been travelling back and forth to India for the last six years, at first to lecture in cultural studies and later to participate in a Museum Project. Their description of the politics and sensitivities involved in naming, acknowledging, protecting and preserving one ethnic group in that vast continent by means of the construction of a local museum, broadened our horizons last Saturday afternoon.

A day later Choke Comedy Improv, a Limerick based improvisation group, crafted scenarios out of suggestions from the audience, written notes, and interaction strategies. Their joint theatrical experience, as actors, playwrights, directors came through as they tickled the SpiritStore audience on Sunday night with their ingenuity. (See Alan Crowley's stop-motion film in the post below for the action)
On Tuesday afternoon we hosted Sercan Sahin, a working artist living in Limerick. Speaking about Print as a medium, Sercan gave his audience an insight into the subject material that has inspired his work over the past 15yrs. He moved back and forth from technique to content to provide us with a clear idea of his ongoing practice.

Later the same day, Dr Luigina Ciolfi, from the Interaction Design Centre (IDC), at the University of Limerick, spoke about designing interactive technologies for public places. She began by contextualising her research, first as an approach that emphasises the importance of understanding people and context at the outset of a design project, and second by giving us her philosophical stand on ‘space and place’. Her presentation exemplified this design approach with a number of Limerick based project examples.

(Papers on this subject and examples of Interaction Design research carried out by the IDC here at home as well as europe-wide are available on the IDC website at http://www.idc.ul.ie/ )

Wednesday night, John Galvin, gathered his audience into a comfortable cluster in the middle of the SpiritStore and surrounded us with a set of five speakers that expelled the sound of his 12min sound piece based on states of sleep.
It was a wonderfully intimate sound experience that triggered questions on brainwave patterns, rythmn, waverates, surround-sound and interpretation.
And today, Nora O'Murchu introduced Limericks, TWEAK festival.

‘Tweak is an interactive art and live electronic music festival taking place in Limerick City between the 21st and 26th of September 2009. Its aim is to promote understanding of the use of technology within our culture and to explore contemporary issues (social, economic, psychological, aesthetic and functional).’ http://www.tweak.ie/

Limerick is hosting an international interactive art and live electronic music festival, with artists or artists work, arriving from the US and from all over Europe. SpiritStore will host the TWEAK cinema day on 24th of Sept, workshops on open source programming or digital object hacking that would normally cost 150 euros are available at a tenth of that price, (to very limited numbers, so be prepared to fight for a place) Nights of digital sound performances and expert presentations will run for 5days.

What emerged from todays talk is the sheer hard work that has gone into organising TWEAK, thanks Nora!

Finally, tonight Paul Tarpeys commentry and images of city graffiti defied any narrow interpretation of the form. Questions were put to the audience without judgement, on the activity, as a mark, an artform, a political or social statement, as a genre, a sub-culture, and in the end, on what future form might the activity and the graffitists take.

Calender is Almost Full!

There's been an amazing response to the call for events, so much so, that the calender is almost full....you can see it here, in the post below and at the bottom of the page for a longer view (click on the Agenda tab, almost visible at the top right corner of the calender, it gives you a list view for all the events to come).
A huge thanks to everyone who has participated so far and for those who have offered to join the SpiritStore in the coming weeks.


In the meantime, Alan Crowley's stop-motion film gives a flavour for anyone who can't manage a visit yet...

Calender

You can see a month view at the bottom of this page....click on event for more details

Vertigo Smyth, his Ukulele, his Guitar and his Banjo

http://www.myspace.com/vertigosmyth

http://www.vertigosmyth.com/

Thanks to Vertigo Smyth for his beautiful tunes on Friday night, he's agreed to come back, we're already looking forward it.

From The QuietClub to Mathematics

The Quiet Club was formed early in 2006 by Danny Mc Carthy and Mick O'Shea, two of Ireland's foremost sound artists as an outlet for their own work and that of other artists.

Danny Mc Carthy, Mick O'Shea and Harry Moore were kind enough to come up from Cork to treat a SpiritStore audience to an improvised sound performance. Organic in structure and involving electroacoustic instruments and distortion hardware, the three artists worked reciprocally to create a unique composition Though well used to improvising and playing together on a regular basis, each sound artists brought with them a unique approach to sound composition. Danny used combinations of amplified and modified objects (stones, wire brushes,etc) as well as theremin, and modified childrens electronic toys. Mick used home made synthasisers and modified musical/altered instruments Harry used combinations of therenim, distortion effects and modified microphones and string intruments. The combination of all three sound artists playing together resulted in an improvisation that was both engaging and transandental.

http://www.dannymccarthy.ie/index.phpoption=com_content&task=blogsection&id=10&Itemid=36

Talking Maths/Art collaborations was Alexis Clancy, we've asked Dawn McCarthy to write a small piece for this item in our blog, which will follow.......................... and here it is, thanks Dawn!

I drank in the Spirit Store on many a wet winter night a long time ago, when the gloom of the place snuggled in around you and Sean stopped serving pints to hear the latest from the lips of ol' Gaybo. It was dark, dreary, dank and totally heavenly.

So when I heard that Marilyn Lennon had gone after the place, like a terrier down a rabbit hole, for the preferred premises of her brainchild SpiritStore Art Cafe, I waited with breath held still. And as we all know the little terrier emerged from a well dug hole triumphant if a little smudged around the eyes from lack of sleep, to give us, along with the help of her dynamic SpiritStore pack, a jam-packed schedule of mind-indulgent playtime for big people, one of whom being, Alexis Clancy, a well known local super-hero with a glorious mathematically inclined mind.

Alexis spoke eloquently for the bones of 2 hours on his present and past work and on various collaborations that he is or has worked on. Sometimes everything would make blind mind-melting sense and sometimes not, but most importantly, to me anyway, was that Alexis, in his own amazing way, did always make some form of sense to me.

As I listened to him and watched his self-selected slip show, which sometimes shone over and around him seeming to weave him into the very fabric of the maths that he was talking about, I felt calm, safe and strangely loved.

It was a great moment both simple and complicated like the man himself. Check out the SpiritStore, as the man Alexis himself so rightly put it -"There is space for us all". - Dawn McCarthy.

BookClub, Artist Collectives, Film Script Writing...

The first meeting of the the SpiritStore BookClub was a place to pitch books and nominate titles. The club have decided to put a list together of (reasonably priced) books that they know are available in town, and to meet every Wed lunchtime. This weeks title hasnt been announced, we'll keep you posted...

Ok this weeks book is Books V's Cigarettes by George Orwell

Next meeting is Wed 26th at SpiritStore 1 - 2pm

Sean Taylor's talk on Artists Collectives had our biggest turn out so far. He referenced the artistic, social and political circumstances that have bred Ireland's artists collectives, from Art & Research Exchange (ARE) in Belfast to the Cork Artists Collective and beyond. Given his involvement in up to five collectives, he is well placed to recommend strategies, and to pinpoint pitfalls when setting up and maintaining a group.

We can email his presentation to anyone at the talk you'd like a copy.

Last evenings slot (Wed 19th Aug) Ailbhe Keogans honest portrayal of the writing journey was an inspiration. From Molly and the Cyclops to her current film script, her talk ultimately brought an understanding of the creative, mental, physical and structural, nature of her writing.

For anyone in the audience interested, she can be contacted through SpiritStore.

Finally a word of appreciation for all those who have offered to participate, and/or who have filled out our submission form. So far we have been programming through our own contacts to get the show on the road, but it is very heartening to receive offers. In the four days since we've opened we've had five offers, so thank you very much!

The programme is almost full to the end of August, we're starting to look at September.

If you feel you'd like to contribute please email, contact us through facebook, this blog, or drop by and chat. Our aim is to accommodate as much as we are physically able to, in the time we have.

Doors are Open

Thanks to everyone who has been in to visit so far or sent words of congratulations and encouragement. Opening day Sunday last was fantastic, Reuban Shortt showed two Skateboard films that gave us his perspective on a vibrant Limerick sub-culture. We discovered the All Ireland Skateboard Champions are being held in Limerick next weekend. Did you know that? we didn't but we do now and we're hosting a cup of tea and a space for debate for the Skateboarders next Sat night before they party.

The Shannonside Astronomers Club were out of this world, ouch bad pun, but seriously they were entertaining, informative, open to the continuous line of questioning and in fairness brave considering they had no idea how they'd be received, being the first day. More of this kind of thing please, they were great!

On Sunday night, Carla Burns opened up an evening conversation on the demise of cinema in Limerick city centre with an introduction to her DIY Guerilla Cinema. She invited Jack Burke who ran The City Theatre and Tom English, who ran The Savoy, later in the evening each related tales from their experience to the SpiritStore. Wonderful images emerged - usherettes selling sweets, spot-lighted as they moved about the dark womb of the theatres amongst the audience, film reels taken from the train and delivered to the cinema by handcart. We were told that Limerick had the largest cinema going population in the world pro-rata at one stage, that altogether there have been twelve city centre cinemas, we were told that there was only one copy of a film in the country at a time, and that up to 2000 film-goers would pour in and out of cinemas in limerick city centre in a single night. We didn't need to be told that here is no limerick city centre cinema now.

Todays hightlights were FRESH films, more to come..

And Tadgh Kellehers research on the connectedness of brainwaves and soundwaves. A small audience debated, asked questions, disagreed, agreed and picked his brain in true Café Voltaire style... more of this too please!

http://www.limerickleader.ie/features/Creative-Spirit-inhabits-Limerick-landmark.5553077.jp

Welcome to the SpiritStore

The SpiritStore Art Cafe presents a collection of diverse cultural activities over the months of August and September to be hosted in the unique environment of a Limerick landmark,The Sarsfield Bar. In the coming weeks The SpiritStore project seeks to infuse this reclaimed space with an busy collection of talks, performances, debates / discussions, screenings, readings, meetings and chance encounters with musicians, writers, visual artists, film makers, collectives, as well as varied clubs and societies.This inclusive experiment is an open invitation for all of Limerick to experience, absorb and creatively contribute to an exciting project. The Sarsfield Bar is located on the corner of Rutland St and Bank Place directly across from the Hunt Museum. The Sprit Store Art Cafe opens on the 9th of August until the 30th of September with a preview on August 8th at 5.00pm .Opening times are 12.00 til sunset Tuesday to Sunday inclusive.
(Coffee will be served free or with a donation but no food will be prepared or served in the space.)

A link too download our SUBMISSION FORM...

http://apps.facebook.com/files/shared/nlp8u4hv1q

Our timetable for August, so far...

For any other information we can be contacted by e-mail ( spiritstorelimerick@gmail.com )

SpiritStore is...

Marilyn Lennon - Project Leader
Paul Tarpy - Public Relations
Anna Donegan - Security and Health and Safety
Catherine O'Brien - Volunteer Coordinator
Anna Donegan & Catherine O'Brien - Volunteer Handbook
Chris Boland & Derrek O'Sullivan - Buildings Managers
Aidan Kelleher - Set up and Tech Support
Eilish Tuite - Estates Manager
Alina O'Shaughnessy & David Morris - Treasury
Marilyn Lennon & Ciarda Tobin - Programme Coordinators

Also on the SpiritStore management team

Sarah Bulger
Stephen Neary
Tony Hassett
Cian O Donoghue
Carla Burns
Barry Kennedy
Orlagh Spain
Tadgh MacCullagh
Alan Crowley
Clive Moloney
Mike O Brien
Matthew Quain
Patricia Stapleton

Joanne Walsh