New ecologies between rural life and visual culture in the West of Ireland : history, context, position and art practice

Can a mode of trans-disciplinary visual inquiry, shifting and subjective, serve as an enquiry into location, an interrogation into the mechanics of belonging, and a reflection upon the relational connections between the local/rural and the national/global? This thesis provides a critical account of the role of a socially engaged 'activist' arts practice that seeks to address the tension between differing perspectives on place and space in the Burren, Co. Clare, in the West of Ireland. A body of work, Viscqueux, is a reflection upon my personal, psychological identification with the landscape of the region. This informed and underpinned two subsequent public artworks, Cross Land and X-PO. Both projects were catalytic actions that created or revived public space for exchange and collective interaction. Cross Land examined the agricultural and natural consequences of changes in landscape regulation and farming practices. X-PO is an interstitial space enabling new connections and social exchange between various 'publics' in the locality. It is a central argument of this thesis that expanded and inclusive definitions of arts practices play a key role in this new formation, producing new understandings of overlooked and often disregarded local knowledge. The research makes use of transdisciplinary and dialogical modes of visual inquiry as a reflexive enquiry into location, an interrogation of the mechanics of belonging and a reflection upon the relationship between the local/rural and the national/global. The thesis describes and sets this project within a particular context, one that reflects upon histories, circumstances, positions and socially engaged arts practices of both local and wider Significance. The physical demonstration of this body of work (the thesis) takes the form of exhibition documentation, video, photographic documentation of events, images and paintings together with a written text providing a critical account of/argument about the role of socially engaged 'activist' arts practice in a unique and specific site.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo