ECO SHOWBOAT at Boyle

THE ECO SHOWBOAT EXPEDITION 2022

ARTISTS UNDERTAKE SOLAR POWERED EXPEDITION ON THE SHANNON TO SPARK CLIMATE ACTION THROUGH THE ARTS

The Eco Showboat Mayfly expedition is a four month arts voyage from Limerick to Enniskillen on the Mayfly, the flagship of the Eco Showboat project, and the first solar electric boat to make this journey.

On Sunday 24th July the Mayfly will dock at Boyle Harbour. You are invited to join us for this wonderful afternoon of art, workshops and talks.

14:30

Waterside conversation in the Pangolin Pavilion

Artist and speleology enthusiast Padraig Cunningham discusses his current project, Pulse of a Stone, which explores the Shannon Cave, through drawing, paintings, writing and digital ephemera. The Shannon Cave is a snaking underground passageway, 5.4 kilometers in length which crosses the border from County Fermanagh, to County Cavan. One section is called the Mayfly and consists of 55 ‘stations’ that draw the map. Padraig is also collaborating with artist Anna Macleod continuing research on Lough Key and the importance of the mayfly as an indicator species to the health of the lake along with the cultural significance of the species. The project is connecting two bodies of research, the Shannon cave and the mayfly, seemingly unrelated but connected physically and imaginatively by the River Shannon.

15:30

ARNEY CATCHMENT DYE TRACING DEMONSTRATION

Projection

A film about how dyes were recently used by a speleological group to explore an underground water course in the Arney Catchement along the Erne River.

4PM

WATERSCAPES AND WATERLINES

Poetry Reading

Mary Turley-McGrath grew up in Mount Talbot on the Galway / Roscommon border close to the River Suck. She now lives in Letterkenny. She has published four collections of poetry: New Grass under Snow (Summer Palace Press, 2003), Forget the Lake (2014), Other Routes (2016), After Image (2020) all from Arlen House. Many of Mary’s poems reflect her fascination with water, waterscape and landscape: rivers, lakes, the sea, in different seasons, settings and moods. Her poems for this reading, ‘Waterscapes and Waterlines’ are selected from across her collections.

5PM

SLOW LOOKING

Workshop with the Eco Showboat artists

Cleary and Connolly believe that learning begins with looking. Looking closely at things - for the purposes of observation and accurate documentation, or just for the simple pleasure of engaging your mind with the world - affords a deeper learning experience by fixing attention and setting up a remarkably complex and active investigation that begins with the eye and progressively engages the whole mind. The Slow Looking workshop invites you to use a range of simple viewing devices - bug boxes and magnifying glasses - to observe closely samples of biodiversity found on site, and to draw these using the materials provided, in a relaxed atmosphere conducive to conversation.

6PM

RIVER MOVIE - First Scenes

Screening

River Movie will record the first expedition of the Mayfly - a series of encounters with artists, activists and scientists as we travel upriver from Limerick to Enniskillen, discovering the beauty of the Shannon and the Erne waterways, exploring scientific and artistic ideas for how we can save this environment from everything that threatens it today - pollution, invasive and endangered species, climate change… Using a 4k drone, a 4k gimbal camera, an IR camera and other devices for macro-photography and sound recording, River Movie will document a unique collaboration of art and science addressing the great problem of our time.