INISHOWEN is taking part in a major cross-border
public art project that will use the beautiful Lough
Foyle waterway and its inhabitants as a living,
lasting canvas.
The Tuns Project, is a PEACE III-funded project that
aims to animate the Foyle as a public space that
connects people to each other, to their land and
ultimately to a shared, peaceful future. The Tuns,
off the coast of Inishowen Head, is where the Foyle
meets the North Atlantic.
The ambitious floating project is the brainchild of
leading Boston artist, Michael Dowling, who runs
Medicine Wheel Productions and Medicine Wheel
Ireland.
A regular visitor to Moville, Dowling has been
captivated over the years by the enduring, artistic
possibilities of the Foyle and the 300,000 people
who live along its shores.
Dowling flew back to the US yesterday after a
month-long series of workshops in communities around
Inishowen, other parts of Co Donegal, Derry and
Strabane.
Boston artist, Michael Dowling,
seated centre, pictured with members of Moville
Rowing Club during a recent workshop as part of the
Tuns/Tonnes Project. Included in photo are, from
left, Jackie Kelly, Olwyn Kelly, Kate McLaughlin,
Hugh Kelly, Cahir Kelly, Kathleen McGonagle, Robert
Kelly, Tracy Cullen and her daughter Thi Lana.
"The project invokes
the myths, history, and energy of the border area
encompassing Strabane, Derry and Donegal, from the
source of the Foyle to the North Atlantic.
"The project invites the 300,000 people who live in
this area to engage in the creation of a work of art
in the community and to create a shared future
history," he said.
The Tuns Project directly or indirectly addresses
the Peace and Reconciliation objectives. "It is not
about shedding the past but about looking to the
future," added Dowling. The project involves four
phases: 'Bearing Witness'; 'Physical Witness';
'Testimony - Giving Voice' and 'The Tuns - A Meeting
of the Waters'.
The first phase involves the creation of 300
handmade slate-covered books, inviting participants
to create a collection of the different, and often
conflicting, truths of a people, a place, and a
time.
Click on play above to find out more
about the Tuns Project.
Phase Two involves
transcribing and engraving the words from the books
onto stones. Community groups will also be invited
to build cairns from these stones on specific sites
within their communities, which later will be
transported to a floating sculptural installation
built on a vessel that will travel down the Foyle
from its source at Strabane all the way to the Tuns.
The testimonial phase involves the rendition of an
epic poem as the Tuns vessel is launched. The vessel
itself will be a square barge with its middle open
to the water of the river. The artist added: "We
believe this project has an artistic resonance with
the urban regeneration of key river front sites. The
Tuns/Tonnes project will animate the body of water
that divides Waterside from Cityside and the North
from the Republic.
“The active presence of the barge as it moves along
its route will be a visible reminder of its purpose.
We hope to find ways to keep the barge on the river
in the years following the initial project, and to
use it as a venue for arts events such as high
quality performance of dance, drama, video, music,
and visual arts," he said.
