Back to the Future of Public Space – Postcards from 2020: Exhibition in Australia

May 7th, 2021

We were invited to contribute to an exhibition titled Back to the Future of Public Space – Postcards from 2020 in Deakin University in Australia. Our Postcard from Dun Laoghaire reworked our Microcinema project from 2011 for a post-covid world –

“In Ireland people are restricted to staying within a 5km radius of their homes as part of the measures to curb the coronavirus, and cinemas are shut. The government has prioritised walking and cycling over car traffic and local authorities have converted road space to make more cycleways and footpaths. The historic pier at the end of our street in Dun Laoghaire is a favourite place for people to stroll by the sea. Inspired by the film L’incredibile storia dell’Isola delle Rose (Rose Island) this project is for an open-air cinema on the pier where people can watch films safely. During the day the ticket booth sells ice-cream. Restricted from leaving the island of Ireland they can enjoy the freedom of travel through the medium of cinema and imagine themselves as characters in distant lands. The position of the structure on the pier lines up with the Martello tower across the bay where James Joyce’s novel Ulysses was set – an epic story of travel in Dublin.”

The exhibition is travelling to Testing Grounds in Melbourne on the 27th of May and to the Media Architecture Biennale (online) from Amsterdam from the 24th June to the 2nd July