https://michaeldignam.com michaeldignam Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:30:17 +0000 https://michaeldignam.com en https://michaeldignam.com/Slideshow Tue, 26 Oct 2021 18:19:00 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Slideshow https://michaeldignam.com/Selected-Works Tue, 26 Oct 2021 18:19:02 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Selected-Works Selected Works 2011 — 2023 https://michaeldignam.com/About Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:15:33 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/About Michael Dignam is a visual artist and filmmaker. His practice explores shifting ideas of class, labour, and belonging, often responding to fractured histories and speculative futures. Through layered, research-led projects, he examines how identities are shaped by changing dynamics of space, power, and collective memory. Working across film, installation, performance, and archival reconstruction, he uses layering, material experimentation, and collaboration to explore the slippages between memory, politics, and place. His work is grounded in lived experience and place-based research, often beginning from personal or local histories and expanding outward to engage with broader social, political, and economic structures. <img width="709" height="394" width_o="709" height_o="394" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ff515a9b88eca716e9696799f095037e2e88c6ff692988cd7f7f297755e49789/Logo_SDCC_Colour.jpg" data-mid="129265566" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/709/i/ff515a9b88eca716e9696799f095037e2e88c6ff692988cd7f7f297755e49789/Logo_SDCC_Colour.jpg" /> <img width="500" height="500" width_o="500" height_o="500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8a66c3c425a0a5edc87055d934a2eb88dd36b8b89505dfb6b87ddd7314949a78/arts-council-logo-white.png" data-mid="129263741" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/500/i/8a66c3c425a0a5edc87055d934a2eb88dd36b8b89505dfb6b87ddd7314949a78/arts-council-logo-white.png" /> <img width="510" height="454" width_o="510" height_o="454" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d29b51968835991aa84e039488777b3cbd53c8bb6eacf342047e99f76c8ff05c/VAI-membership-logo.jpg" data-mid="122877825" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/510/i/d29b51968835991aa84e039488777b3cbd53c8bb6eacf342047e99f76c8ff05c/VAI-membership-logo.jpg" /> https://michaeldignam.com/Instagram-1 Fri, 29 Oct 2021 15:45:23 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Instagram-1 ︎ https://michaeldignam.com/Divisive Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:30:17 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Divisive Divisive2023 I was invited along with three other international artists to participate in the second edition of Anthropozänta which included an artist residency and an exhibition. The aim was to develop new works inspired by the local narratives of history, politics, and industrial heritage as well as ecology and natural space. During my stay in the region, I visited multiple sites of industry dotted around the vast landscape of rolling hills and green mountains. These industries were all defined by this landscape either by the crops grown on it (beer and textile) or by the precious minerals contained within it such the old porcelain factory and the numerous stone quarries I visited, now abandoned, and being reclaimed by nature. There was a thriving textile industry in this region producing and supplying high quality garments both locally and globally, which still exists today, be it on a smaller scale. I also visited the neighbouring town of Modulareuth, which was unfortunately split in half by the iron curtain. I was amazed at the sheer scale, the layers of fortification and the effort put into to making this divide impenetrable. It consists of a concrete wall, a metal fence and a large buffer zone monitored by various lookout posts and checkpoints. This got me thinking about boundaries, barriers, borders, migration, and restriction of movement, and how that relates to the current geopolitical climate. It brought up questions about class, division, and the lack of equity within society today, what causes such issues and why? Many barriers still exist today, some not as physical, imposing, or apparent as a fortified castle or the iron curtain, but still as restrictive for certain people within society. For the exhibition I decided to make my a temporary disruptive intervention in the space, which was previously a Thomas Cook travel agency in the centre of the town. The curtain opens and closes at fifteen-minute intervals and temporally obstructs the view, creating a semi-transparent boundary in the space, while restricting the movement of the viewers. <img width="4500" height="3000" width_o="4500" height_o="3000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a850b8616bbce6bf84d234657525fabd87363f1ee96cdec663592ffb0e0b4edc/20231031154029_DJ_0114.jpg" data-mid="198530551" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a850b8616bbce6bf84d234657525fabd87363f1ee96cdec663592ffb0e0b4edc/20231031154029_DJ_0114.jpg" /> The white cotton curtain meanders through the room, dividing the space in two. It meets up with an image on the wall of a giant stone boulder situated in a forest on the top of a mountain, the stone is scarred with a dotted line, remnants of an unsuccessful stone splitting technique, normally used to prise away large slabs of stone. The location of this rock suggests that it was destined to be used for the fortification of a nearby castle. <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42369c4b356ffd1c50ff9c1a28e4dcbe42b510491c9272971052029dec1835da/IMG_1570.JPG" data-mid="196109450" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/42369c4b356ffd1c50ff9c1a28e4dcbe42b510491c9272971052029dec1835da/IMG_1570.JPG" /> A projector sits on top of a beer crate from a local brewery and beams a silent grainy super 8 film onto the wall. The film is shot in the town of Modulareth with imagery of the heavily fortified border wall and fence which previous divided East and West Germany and split the town in two. There are also images of the Greenway that runs nearly the whole length of the country which used to be part of the iron curtain. After an interval of fifteen minutes the curtain returns to its starting position. <img width="3435" height="1503" width_o="3435" height_o="1503" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9bd2f63f53284794e2ca11854561e617126fc5a2d309d2ea8e2cafb6769fb4a7/Hof-super-8-screenshots.jpg" data-mid="219383694" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9bd2f63f53284794e2ca11854561e617126fc5a2d309d2ea8e2cafb6769fb4a7/Hof-super-8-screenshots.jpg" /> The cotton material of the curtain was sourced from a local textile factory. A leftover biproduct produced during the Covid pandemic to make cotton masks which were no longer required due to the government’s insistence on specific medical grade masks only. The material was sown together by three women from a local sewing group to create the curtain. The motor and the automated track and rail system were manufactured in China. <img width="4032" height="2268" width_o="4032" height_o="2268" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/342c8db31b0830e31c01578c0a134854c16b8f8f0f46616e82bd962d14cc8b7b/20230807_140116_probably_also_Fringe_turning_machine.jpg" data-mid="219376692" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/342c8db31b0830e31c01578c0a134854c16b8f8f0f46616e82bd962d14cc8b7b/20230807_140116_probably_also_Fringe_turning_machine.jpg" /> <img width="1600" height="900" width_o="1600" height_o="900" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/15a5bd063acfee1155f9078b883b611493c85c331fbbb10cf9390ca775eac9ab/IMG-20231011-WA0002.jpg" data-mid="219376839" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/15a5bd063acfee1155f9078b883b611493c85c331fbbb10cf9390ca775eac9ab/IMG-20231011-WA0002.jpg" /> <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbba3d2bc9c77fba3268bc8e0935266a057192b07bef617cef242b9c3eace664/IMG_1608.JPG" data-mid="196110775" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dbba3d2bc9c77fba3268bc8e0935266a057192b07bef617cef242b9c3eace664/IMG_1608.JPG" /> Photograph 1 - Dirk John It’s material recycled, re-used in a different format in a different time and in a different space. Barriers, boundaries, and borders change over time, but they still function in the same way, dividing a space and dividing people. The curtain is semi-transparent, it flows, and although automated, it can be overridden and opened and closed by the viewer with a gentle tug, should they choose to use their privilege to do so. There’s a contrast between the material in the photograph, the film, and the material of the curtain in the space. The film and the photograph serve as memories of man-made lines / scars dotted across the landscape, fragments of the past. These are juxtaposed with the curtain in the space, and together they act as a timeline of man-made interventions on the landscape. https://michaeldignam.com/Unleavened Thu, 31 Aug 2023 08:03:41 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Unleavened Unleavened2023 <img width="6539" height="4359" width_o="6539" height_o="4359" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c9bf9770e1af42e8486cdff0b88c46849eab984b98820b7e06b0de5bf98af46/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland35.jpg" data-mid="189377210" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6c9bf9770e1af42e8486cdff0b88c46849eab984b98820b7e06b0de5bf98af46/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland35.jpg" /> Unleavened was a live performance as part of the Uprooting Tallaght Performance Art Festival. It took place in the main gallery in Rua Red and incorporated found objects, live audio, and fragments of the soundscape from a previous video work titled Suburban Cookie Collector (2018). Composed by the late Al Keegan, local music producer, DJ, and friend of the artist, the soundscape was used as a point of departure, layering, and interweaving the artist’s personal experience growing up in Tallaght with the social, labour, and music histories of the local communities. It explored Tallaght's lost industrial past, from Urney’s Chocolate factory, and the Jacobs Biscuit factory, to the car part manufacturer Packard Electric. Much of this history has been replaced by present-day data centres that now occupy a large area of the very same landscape. <img width="6500" height="4333" width_o="6500" height_o="4333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/833e4a314ff3918075d7e4e916b01180a83f74136b27d8b5a520b1c34d193cae/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland39.jpg" data-mid="189377205" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/833e4a314ff3918075d7e4e916b01180a83f74136b27d8b5a520b1c34d193cae/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland39.jpg" /> Uprooting Tallaght was the first series of live performance art commissioned by Rua Red. From August 1st to 5th Pauline Cummins and Lauren Kelly curated a week-long series of performances with artists Elvira Santamaria Torres, Day Magee, The Ljilja, Francis Fay, Michael Dignam, Sinéad O’Donnell, Paul Regan, and Frances Mezzetti. Pauline Cummins’ performance and video work examines the human condition from a feminist perspective. Research-driven themes of the political body, activism, human rights, and gender are often explored in the artist's practice. Lauren Kelly's work speaks about oppressed states of the body and body politics using the unlimited landscape of performance art. Her subject matters are rooted in history, politics and her own personal experiences and she works closely with researchers, archivists and activists. They invited a group of artists along with themselves to create a series of performances that responds to the theme of displacement and belonging with an emphasis placed on locational context. The resultant work from each artist is personal and individually telling of their own experiences with and relationship to their surroundings. This included performances taking place in Rua Red, as well as at historically significant locations across Tallaght such as Bohernabreena, St. Mary's Priory, and St. Maelruain's Monastery. The week culminated in a panel event in Rua Red Gallery with curators Cummins and Kelly and rapporteur Kate Antosik Parsons, where they reflected on the week of performance and the wider context of performance in Ireland. This was followed by an improvisational performance jam by the participating artists to celebrate the conclusion of Tallaght's first Performance Art Festival. "Tallaght is a historical place that is rich in a history dating back earlier than the Bronze Age. All around Tallaght there are traces of archaeological history to be found. The name Tallaght comes from the words támh-leacht, meaning a plague and burial place. The earliest mention of Tallaght is the account of Parthalon in the Annals of the Four Masters. Parthalon the Greek was one of the early invaders of Ireland. A plague killed 9,000 of his followers in one week and they were buried in Tallaght and its environs and so the place came to be named Taimleach Muintire Parthalon. And so Tallaght has stood through the centuries, through settlements and invasions, times of plenty, and times of ruin. Further out toward the mountains is Bohernabreena reservoir, a place many people in Tallaght walk to for leisure. In ancient times, along the roads of Ireland were public houses of hospitality called Bruideans. Of the most famous of these was the Bruidean Da Dearga in what is now Bohernabreena, or ‘the road of the hostel’. But as we researched the sites we found locks on gates over and over again. As artists this raises for us questions around the idea of ‘Belonging’, and what it means to be part of a place? As land becomes more off limits, Uprooting Tallaght naturally kneels to open the gates for site responsive performances. Some of the artists selected have origins in Tallaght and some have moved to Ireland a number of years ago. For Uprooting Tallaght we have selected performance artists that range in age, culture and performative approaches. We came together in agreement with the invited artists, including ourselves to create a series of performances that respond to this place. Each artist has a unique response to the location they have chosen and they have created work that is deeply meaningful. Uprooting Tallaght is about being uprooted, by choice or by circumstances. To be uprooted is to lose touch with your beginnings, a disturbing experience for individuals and for communities. Who is kept in and who is locked out." - Pauline Cummins and Lauren Kelly <img width="6695" height="4463" width_o="6695" height_o="4463" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dcd773d2f31be9aedefb8aa63b29dcf21bb5917212aa47370ba515e44edd32cb/Michael-Dignam---Juliette-Rowland-27.jpg" data-mid="219311949" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dcd773d2f31be9aedefb8aa63b29dcf21bb5917212aa47370ba515e44edd32cb/Michael-Dignam---Juliette-Rowland-27.jpg" /> <img width="6434" height="4289" width_o="6434" height_o="4289" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3246e3a27ab8c4f8e31c3abedb85a323c352a426b536821b6180f8faa660f813/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland37.jpg" data-mid="189377209" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3246e3a27ab8c4f8e31c3abedb85a323c352a426b536821b6180f8faa660f813/UprootingTallaght-JulietteRowland37.jpg" /> Photography - Juliette Rowland https://michaeldignam.com/Looking-for-Freedom Tue, 26 Oct 2021 18:19:03 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Looking-for-Freedom Looking for Freedom? 1989 — 2024 <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/824a7c794fa7af97e12957baf8fe201b3c0364c27c50baaf9ea909594f351503/Looking-for-Freedom--_Image_Michael-Dignam.png" data-mid="122808191" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/824a7c794fa7af97e12957baf8fe201b3c0364c27c50baaf9ea909594f351503/Looking-for-Freedom--_Image_Michael-Dignam.png" /> As I walked around Nicosia for the first time in the early hours of the morning, I was drawn to the barriers that weaved through the streets, slicing the city in half. A buffer zone dotted with military posts and lookouts separates the Greek Cypret side and the Turkish Cypret side of the city. I can't help but be reminded of the Berlin wall and the peace walls that separate parts of Belfast city. The border checkpoint which is situated on the main shopping street in Nicosia is closed to the public for the first time in years due to the onset of Covid-19 as most of the world goes into lockdown. The locals I talk to tell me it feels like stepping into the past, as it reminds them of the more conflicting times in Cyprus's recent history when it was impossible to cross the border. <img width="1920" height="1080" width_o="1920" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/48c3414413568d787403779513d19851aa9bbe3c2fc798ccdc28bce506df6a6e/Screenshot-2021-10-29-at-17.38.45.png" data-mid="123062987" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/48c3414413568d787403779513d19851aa9bbe3c2fc798ccdc28bce506df6a6e/Screenshot-2021-10-29-at-17.38.45.png" /> I thought about the American actor David Hasselhoff as he sang from a bucket crane beside the Brandenburg Gate on New Year's Eve in 1989, just two months after the Berlin wall collapsed. His song ‘Looking for Freedom’ topped the charts in Germany in the lead up to the walls collapse, himself personifying Western Capitalist culture. His song would resonate with the German population at that moment in time. The song itself was actually written by a German song writer and released in the German charts in 1978 in both English and German, which Hasselhoff then re-appropriated eleven years later. His cover version illustrating how Capitalism absorbs / distorts / recodes everything over time, especially such magnetized and charged ideas as ‘freedom, ‘truth’, ‘love’, ‘care’ etc., to the extent that the shells of words are the same, but the meaning is radically different. &nbsp;&nbsp; <img width="3588" height="2018" width_o="3588" height_o="2018" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4ea8b650508ee01f665ff8c91cefbb801c09afd4e349a952b78c310ddf4fb2e/Berlin-wall-kebab-house-no.2-cropped-copy.jpg" data-mid="125530499" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f4ea8b650508ee01f665ff8c91cefbb801c09afd4e349a952b78c310ddf4fb2e/Berlin-wall-kebab-house-no.2-cropped-copy.jpg" /> Looking for Freedom: The Online Buffering Zone, 6:07 mins I decided to re-appropriate this song again as the notion of freedom was brought to the forefront of discussion globally due to the ongoing Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions which continued around the world. The pandemic has laid bare the faults in the Neoliberal system, a system that has produced and reproduced inequality, instability and crisis over its forty-five-year history. During the pandemic, we have witnessed insufficient health care systems and the private sector buckle, civil unrest, and what Jack Ramus describes as ‘The Great Strike of 2021’, where millions of un-unionised workers in America (and beyond) are refusing to return to work and ‘withholding their labour’ due to poor pay and inhumane working conditions. I wanted to mark this shift in Western Capitalist culture with a version of ‘Looking for Freedom’, much like Hasselhoff had done thirty-two years ago, and question does this shift have similarities to the fall of the Berlin wall, is it the declension of an era? In order to reflect the current use of social media platforms for information and mis-information the first part of the work manifested in the form of an ASMR* video with the intention of it being consumed online by the individual. <img width="1809" height="1018" width_o="1809" height_o="1018" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d983cc73ed14025bdb5b3642ee343b560148c8b8c7df418b0641e83ce6c1c614/Castle-residency-Limmasol.jpg" data-mid="127656246" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d983cc73ed14025bdb5b3642ee343b560148c8b8c7df418b0641e83ce6c1c614/Castle-residency-Limmasol.jpg" /> I returned to Cyprus for a second residency to develop this work further and investigate how Cyprus has changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall and how this relates to Ireland in a global context. The work during this period manifested in a series of performative interventions in the city of Limassol, a city in which finance capitalism is thriving. On the road into Limassol, you are bombarded with billboards advertising a luxury lifestyle in Limassol. A host of massive apartment blocks both newly built and under construction tower over the city along the seafront, the majority, if not all, of them speculative investment properties. The scale of the gentrification is stark at the newly developed Marina, which is filled with luxury yachts, designer shops, cafes and eateries. The architecture has a Disneyland quality to it as it attempts to reference historical Cypriot architecture, instead ending up as Frankenstein mismatch of styles. There are no public seating areas or toilets, you have to consume to avail of these basic amities. Towards the end of the marina sits several gated communities with the main focal point being the Castle residency, a large castle like apartment block with fortified features, it seems to be empty, a monument to speculative investment in this late Capitalism era. To the rear of this gated community is what I would describe as a semi-private beach, sectioned off with a barbed wire fence, which strangely mirrors the barriers at the buffer zone in Nicosia. The imported sand on the beach gives it a synthetic feel as it looks alien compared to the shoreline further down the coast. <img width="1064" height="1063" width_o="1064" height_o="1063" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9c9adb6b8bce0b1cb9364d17eef97820aa3460116a53019ea595c3721626f88/Limmasol-Marina-sign-square.jpg" data-mid="127556141" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9c9adb6b8bce0b1cb9364d17eef97820aa3460116a53019ea595c3721626f88/Limmasol-Marina-sign-square.jpg" /> <img width="684" height="1024" width_o="684" height_o="1024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/20769aa56d52de4f34fc7afc5cf277cf728f1aae789d03207a2f608806a20144/gettyimages-1060961054.jpg" data-mid="123060315" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/684/i/20769aa56d52de4f34fc7afc5cf277cf728f1aae789d03207a2f608806a20144/gettyimages-1060961054.jpg" /> <img width="3705" height="2084" width_o="3705" height_o="2084" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/210d3f7c0dbf31919abb3d131e50eadfa2fc0e901b34d881529fc4e08c1f4fc9/Freedom-crane-Limmasol-2021.jpg" data-mid="125527362" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/210d3f7c0dbf31919abb3d131e50eadfa2fc0e901b34d881529fc4e08c1f4fc9/Freedom-crane-Limmasol-2021.jpg" /> Referencing Hasselhoff’s Berlin Wall performance again, I asked some workers installing a Christmas tree at a closed trendy bar beside the semi-private beach to the rear of the marina if I could use their bucket crane. When we reached the maximum height myself and the worker accompanying me raised our fists in solidarity, gesturing towards the empty beach and the private Castle residency in the Marina. This re-staging of Hasselhoff’s gesture could not be addressed to the masses, as in Hasselhoff’s case, nor was it capitalistically charged, but rather critically discharged in contrast.&nbsp; This was followed by a trip to a new luxury tower block development towards the center of Limassol. Under the guise of an investment consortium, we were given a full tour which included a viewing of the show apartment, an apartment for sale and an unfinished floor still under construction where the gym, sauna and swimming pool are going to be situated. The price of these luxury apartments ranged from 1.3 million euro to 8.5 million euro with the majority of them already being sold to Russian and Chinese investors. Supplied with hard hats, high-vis vests, steel toe capped boots and complimentary socks we set about the building site documenting it as we went along, wondering if this is the freedom money buys in which Hasselhoff alludes to in his song? The final part of this work will be a film made from footage gathered during my time in Cyprus featuring footage from both the Nicosia buffer zone and the Limassol investment zone. <img width="2625" height="1750" width_o="2625" height_o="1750" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7585cb3aa148312a9b728099c5ee044b4c239291e04bcbb38d38bfee598f76b5/Trilogy-A-6-.jpg" data-mid="127593977" border="0" data-scale="86" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7585cb3aa148312a9b728099c5ee044b4c239291e04bcbb38d38bfee598f76b5/Trilogy-A-6-.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1366" width_o="2048" height_o="1366" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3b0982eb0f3868f960c05cbe89b0dfddbd5371d172d5fb94449516ba40fa43ea/Trilogy--A-7.jpg" data-mid="127593965" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3b0982eb0f3868f960c05cbe89b0dfddbd5371d172d5fb94449516ba40fa43ea/Trilogy--A-7.jpg" /> <img width="2048" height="1365" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/baa8ec6d2bd53858f2687666581b2f880f0e28822e27542b4c8b482485641bdc/Trilogy-A-8.jpg" data-mid="127593978" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/baa8ec6d2bd53858f2687666581b2f880f0e28822e27542b4c8b482485641bdc/Trilogy-A-8.jpg" /> <img width="1591" height="1061" width_o="1591" height_o="1061" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0fdd30e4a015483deedc1060f7482eaa058723198e04cf55c91acc87bbccd7bc/Trilogy-A-5.jpg" data-mid="127593976" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0fdd30e4a015483deedc1060f7482eaa058723198e04cf55c91acc87bbccd7bc/Trilogy-A-5.jpg" /> <img width="1590" height="1060" width_o="1590" height_o="1060" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5949e8c1fb8c32a4d882055654bc2624c2e6ebc0d08f5c01297cfb633f7e50bf/Trilogy-A-4.jpg" data-mid="127593975" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5949e8c1fb8c32a4d882055654bc2624c2e6ebc0d08f5c01297cfb633f7e50bf/Trilogy-A-4.jpg" /> <img width="1605" height="1070" width_o="1605" height_o="1070" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a4c55511469d8dd00259e0349260716cda909b1ed105762c5c85a80d559dbf28/Trilogy-A-1.jpg" data-mid="127593968" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a4c55511469d8dd00259e0349260716cda909b1ed105762c5c85a80d559dbf28/Trilogy-A-1.jpg" /> <img width="3991" height="2661" width_o="3991" height_o="2661" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b42b067b67430b644ed3580781fa525286fdb4fdba4eefbbc7a98d293416b2e6/Trilogy-A-2.jpg" data-mid="127593973" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b42b067b67430b644ed3580781fa525286fdb4fdba4eefbbc7a98d293416b2e6/Trilogy-A-2.jpg" /> <img width="4032" height="2688" width_o="4032" height_o="2688" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a04139abb687c0d2283063adc94802ef508863a0dfa1b44386298d37c3cd6e0/Trilogy-A-10.jpg" data-mid="127594326" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a04139abb687c0d2283063adc94802ef508863a0dfa1b44386298d37c3cd6e0/Trilogy-A-10.jpg" /> <img width="4032" height="2688" width_o="4032" height_o="2688" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/efb83970521d10871917cf1f959c72802f1c6897c880707f6a6b0431f33845c9/Trilogy-A-9.jpg" data-mid="127594322" border="0" data-scale="66" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/efb83970521d10871917cf1f959c72802f1c6897c880707f6a6b0431f33845c9/Trilogy-A-9.jpg" /> *Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a pleasant and euphoric tingling sensation the occurs on the back of the scalp, neck and upper spine. It is triggered in some people in response to a stimulus, such as a gentle whisper or the soft crinkling of paper, and has a calming effect. The term was first coined in 2010 and a genre of videos intended to induce ASMR has since emerged online with over fifteen million videos now published on YouTube https://michaeldignam.com/Temporary-Tenant Wed, 01 Dec 2021 11:16:01 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Temporary-Tenant Temporary Tenant2020 - 2022 <img width="921" height="647" width_o="921" height_o="647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0651f85d6b7c6f583c8b6bb64c8a54f123be7a335d4cbabc3378e6b51672c0ae/Dublin-postcard-prototype-1-fadded.jpg" data-mid="129263085" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/921/i/0651f85d6b7c6f583c8b6bb64c8a54f123be7a335d4cbabc3378e6b51672c0ae/Dublin-postcard-prototype-1-fadded.jpg" /> &nbsp; Having moved back to Dublin at the start of the pandemic after a five-year stint in London I found myself quarantined in an apartment. During my daily lockdown walks I soon realised that my grandparents and great grandparents grew up and lived in buildings within my 2K walking zone, all of which are now long gone, demolished, lost to gentrification and the rezoning of the city in the 1940s. I felt a huge sense of belonging in Dublin, yet a huge sense of distance and loss. Many of the venues which I used to DJ and socialise in, the places where I met most of my friends, are now also gone, lost to the continuous onslaught of greedy developers who are replacing all of the city's cultural spaces with hotels and office blocks. Rents have sky-rocketed in recent years forcing many out of the city and making it unattainable for Artists to remain. I started to film my daily walks during the Covid-19 lockdown as Dublin became an eerie place due to a lack of people on its streets. With all the pubs, clubs and restaurants closed it became a shell of city, and laid bare how much it’s geared towards the tourist, the consumer and the temporary tenant. Had the pandemic given us a glimpse into the city of the not-so-distant future, one void of residents and culture? I began watching old 1920’s films about cities, a genre known as City Symphonies. Generally, these films celebrated the splendours of modernity and presented the city as the film’s protagonist rather than just a setting for actors. They combined both documentary and narrative film practices with experimental techniques, using the latest film technologies to simulate the fast pace and life of a bustling city. Similar in structure to that of a musical symphony, they often used montage featuring machinery, cars and people to project the daily rhythm of urban industrial life.&nbsp; Dziga Vertov’s ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night. The city is Vertov’s film is made up of footage collected over three years in three different cities in the Soviet Union. By not using a single city and instead choosing to make it a mixture of three different cities, it demonstrates a Soviet ideology as it's a celebration of the Soviet state as a whole rather than an individual city. Vertov also chooses to open the film with an audience in a cinema watching the film, with shots later on of the editor editing the film and shots of himself filming the film throughout, making it not just about the city but also about the process of film making and editing, drawing attention to its own mode of production. I decided to make a new version of a city symphony using Dublin city as the protagonist, and use this remake of this 1920’s genre&nbsp;as&nbsp;a study into the history and materiality film and its relationship to the city. By contrasting the Soviet cities in&nbsp;Vertov's&nbsp;'Man with a Movie Camera' with the Neoliberal city of the now / near future, I question what Dublin city is becoming and who is it for? The film is scored by composer Tommy Brooks. Temporary Tenant, 14:40 mins (2:20 min excerpt)) &nbsp; <img width="864" height="280" width_o="864" height_o="280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0626c73246196703138af05cb58221960229f1ddc594af44d90378177f744ee8/ac-funding-visual-arts-se-white.png" data-mid="129264626" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/864/i/0626c73246196703138af05cb58221960229f1ddc594af44d90378177f744ee8/ac-funding-visual-arts-se-white.png" /> https://michaeldignam.com/Suburban-Cookie-Collector-1 Wed, 27 Oct 2021 15:05:36 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/Suburban-Cookie-Collector-1 Suburban Cookie Collector 2018 <img width="2362" height="1327" width_o="2362" height_o="1327" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d26dfe22553b87f8ebed09740c8a048cd9b4ab830e1dbaaf0b6153a439a0cf0/Michael-Dignam-Redline-ruared.jpg" data-mid="122839650" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d26dfe22553b87f8ebed09740c8a048cd9b4ab830e1dbaaf0b6153a439a0cf0/Michael-Dignam-Redline-ruared.jpg" /> "Suburban Cookie Collector" is an in-depth exploration of Tallaght, a South Dublin suburb, examining how it has been constructed, represented, and perceived over time. The work uses a rich tapestry of media, including digital moving images, Super 8 films, found VHS footage, photography, and soundscapes, to capture the multifaceted identity of Tallaght. Set against a backdrop of pulsating dance music, sprawling housing estates, and industrial factories, "Suburban Cookie Collector" not only documents the visual and sonic aspects of the suburb but also delves into the underlying conditions, historical events, and narratives that have shaped its evolution. It captures the complex interplay between economic forces and cultural identity, revealing how Tallaght has been both celebrated as a symbol of progress and stigmatised due to the challenges it faced. Scored by local DJ and producer Al Keegan, it investigates the suburb’s social and cultural landscape, focusing particularly on the transformative period of the 1990s, the prosperity during the Celtic Tiger era and its eventual collapse in the 2000s. <img width="1080" height="608" width_o="1080" height_o="608" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c1cdcfef5dcc753eccdcba4f809d4d1075387bd59b968fb2db6de4131814048/Instagram2Higher-contrast.jpg" data-mid="125526092" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8c1cdcfef5dcc753eccdcba4f809d4d1075387bd59b968fb2db6de4131814048/Instagram2Higher-contrast.jpg" /> <img width="3543" height="2365" width_o="3543" height_o="2365" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f71372f1f39a2a43d131bccd9ef67ab6ca7292bf44e351b0a539ceef4fdb8886/ARTLICK3_DSC_4916-SCC1smaller2.jpg" data-mid="125559685" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f71372f1f39a2a43d131bccd9ef67ab6ca7292bf44e351b0a539ceef4fdb8886/ARTLICK3_DSC_4916-SCC1smaller2.jpg" /> Single channel video installation, 17:24 mins (5 min excerpt) Full version of video: &nbsp;https://vimeo.com/320480692 <img width="709" height="394" width_o="709" height_o="394" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2a745afd7e63ffc2b1e0ca5332003e8aae900bf0fa5ac739fb510237f4a7ee9f/Logo_SDCC_Colour.jpg" data-mid="129265583" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/709/i/2a745afd7e63ffc2b1e0ca5332003e8aae900bf0fa5ac739fb510237f4a7ee9f/Logo_SDCC_Colour.jpg" /> <img width="770" height="430" width_o="770" height_o="430" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/005547eb3234e23e445c2370321c425078cae3ce87baaace23a7368235859b59/Creative-Ireland-logo.jpg" data-mid="129265580" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/770/i/005547eb3234e23e445c2370321c425078cae3ce87baaace23a7368235859b59/Creative-Ireland-logo.jpg" /> https://michaeldignam.com/The-Monotony-of-Space-Enhancement Sat, 09 Jul 2016 08:42:04 +0000 michaeldignam https://michaeldignam.com/The-Monotony-of-Space-Enhancement The Monotony of Space Enhancement 2016&nbsp; <img width="5000" height="3337" width_o="5000" height_o="3337" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/582f133e00b728687e487defdaf3a0851758109054f300d5bb12e0a8754ae344/_CSY7667-smaller_o.jpg" data-mid="88311956" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/582f133e00b728687e487defdaf3a0851758109054f300d5bb12e0a8754ae344/_CSY7667-smaller_o.jpg" /><img width="7116" height="4749" width_o="7116" height_o="4749" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/628dfb9db6fcf767621491bca2e9eb6d1ea556fe0d665f839684b932c7f6fdb2/_CSY7678.jpg" data-mid="123040847" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/628dfb9db6fcf767621491bca2e9eb6d1ea556fe0d665f839684b932c7f6fdb2/_CSY7678.jpg" /><img width="2592" height="1730" width_o="2592" height_o="1730" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/87cb7c7d16818d6f2d6eb08c1bade1eb8d0808d4ebec974b367120adf8cb352b/_CSY7623-copy-1.jpg" data-mid="88311955" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/87cb7c7d16818d6f2d6eb08c1bade1eb8d0808d4ebec974b367120adf8cb352b/_CSY7623-copy-1.jpg" /> 3 channel moving image installation, 21:50 min loop.&nbsp;Photography - Shih Yao Chen I walk slowly down the empty corridor toward the education department. I switch on all the lights, check the blubs, check the windows, check the blinds, then switch on the computer. I&nbsp;enter my name and password, log onto YouTube and play The Robots by Kraftwerk. As the&nbsp;crisp electronic sounds from 1978 resonate throughout the boring beige room I sign my&nbsp;name on the sheet on the wall before heading to the next room to do the exact same thing. This is the beginning of my daily shift, a repetitive shift, a shift where I work alone, doing the same things, in the same rooms, every evening. I feel like a robot, a machine programed to&nbsp;do repetitive tasks. No company, no socialization, just an iPad to report any faults via the&nbsp;internet. I find myself working in a lonely and monotonous job as a Space Enhancement&nbsp;Officer, a very flashy name for a very boring job. Even though&nbsp;there is a selection of rooms and spaces on my route, I can’t help but feel somewhat&nbsp;claustrophobic in this situation. (5 min excerpt)