Once in a lifetime audio installation for Cloughoughter Castle
Taking place on Friday and Saturday, September 8-9, The Waking Walls is a caoineadh of ecological and climate grief. A once in a lifetime audio installation, The Waking Walls has been developed by Cavan-born environmental artist AlanJames Burns in collaboration with writer Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, NYAH (Cross Border Collective of Traditional Arts Musicians), Cavan County Council Arts Office, Irish Hospice Foundation and Cavan Adventure Centre.
The iconic national monument of Cloughoughter Castle, sitting on its tiny island in the heart of Cavan’s lakelands, will soon reverberate with the stirring cries of an Irish caoineadh. The Waking Walls is a new collaborative, theatrical artwork that reawakens and equips us with age-old methods of coping with loss. Together, gathered on boats and at the lakeside, we absorb this iconic monument’s lament for the environmental and biodiversity losses the castle has witnessed over its lifetime.
Booking is essential through Townhall Cavan’s online booking system www.townhallcavan.com or by calling 049-4380494. Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.
Alan James Burns, the artist behind the projects says: “Climate change affects everyone and everything. Consciously or subconsciously, many people are mourning ecologies and futures we thought were guaranteed. I started creating ‘The Waking Walls’ as an artistic encounter with our grief around the losses people are anticipating or have suffered, and the changes society must make as the world navigates uncharted waters.”
The Waking Walls connects the mourning artforms of past generations with contemporary emotions of ecological grief. These mourning traditions have strong connections to the heritage of Ireland’s border region, bringing together keening rituals, oral traditions, and storytelling. Through this site-specific event, people are given an extraordinary chance to explore traditional ways of mourning to better understand and process contemporary ecological grief brought about by the climate emergency, all against the backdrop of this symbolic and awe-inspiring national monument.
The Waking Walls is funded and supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon Traditional Arts Project Award, Creative Ireland, Co-operation with Northern Ireland Scheme, Office of Public Works, the Deptartment of Housing Local Government and Heritage, Cavan County Council Arts Office, Irish Hospice Foundation, Townhall Cavan, Cavan Adventure Centre, One Resilient Earth, Caoineadh expert Marian Caulfield, Architect Jessica Lange, and Cavan heritage and biodiversity experts Heather Bothwell and Fergal Connolly.