an casadh: Walking Tour with Soil Savers Cork
As part of The Glucksman's offsite project an casadh for Cork Midsummer we are teaming up with Soil Savers for a walking tour that explores composting, interspecies kinship and visual art.
Beginning at TEST SITE in Kyrl's Quay, Aisling Kett of Soil Savers will give a hands-on introduction to urban composting. Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter, it is vital for maintaining healthy ecosystems by returning essential nutrients to the ground, improving water retention, and reducing harmful methane emissions in landfills. Together as a group we will look at some different methods such as vermicomposting (with worms), aerobic composting and Bokashi.
Following Aisling's introduction, we will walk through the city to Elizabeth Fort for a guided tour of artist Laura Ní Fhlaibhín's bio-sculptual installation an casadh. This installation features sculptural wormeries which, over the course of the Cork Midsummer Festival, will process organic waste into vermicompost. In their interconnected cocoons earthworms will turn over the soil to generate rich fertilizer, focusing attention on the ecological co-existence which occurs all around us. Ní Fhlaibhín draws upon personal experience of endometrial illness and the history of Elizabeth Fort through this sculptural assemblage and ritual to consider health, virility and restoration. This tour will be led by Glucksman curator Katie O'Grady and artist Laura Ní Fhlaibhín.
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TIMINGS
2PM - Introduction to Composting with Soil Savers at TEST SITE, Kyrl's quay (entrance across from the Bridewell Garda station)
3PM - Walk to Elizabeth Fort, Barrack Street (15 minute walk)
3.20PM - Tour of Laura Ní Fhlaibhín's installation an casadh
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PARTICIPANTS
Soil Savers is an urban composting project based on TEST SITE, Kyrl’s Quay in Cork city. TEST SITE is a creative, community space that is a meanwhile use space i.e. temporary use of a space that has no permanent use or is awaiting development. Soil Savers make compost and figure out zero-waste solutions for urban settings, challenging the notion of waste as they go.
Laura Ní Fhlaibhín is an artist from Wexford. She combines myth, personal recollection and oral histories through sculptural elements and writing. Her work often draws upon modes of care - of self and others, humans and animals, objects and materials.
an casadh is curated by Katie O’Grady, curator of Exhibitions and Projects at The Glucksman and has been developed with biologists at University College Cork’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, local community gardening initiatives through Cork City Council, intermittent land-use project TEST SITE and members of Cork Folklore Project. an casadh is funded by a project award from the the Arts Council of Ireland, and created for the Cork Midsummer Festival.
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ACCESSIBILITY
This walking tour and workshop will take place in person and involves traversing the city on foot. The beginning of the tour will be held at TEST SITE on Kyrl's Quay which has step free access but sometimes an uneven terrain. The tour at Elizabeth Fort and installation an casadh will be across the site and has moments of walking to view it fully. The majority of the installation is located with step-free access, however, one small sculpture is up a set of stairs. If you would like any further information please contact us at info@glucksman.org
