Fragments of Time and Space, 2023

 

 

commissioned by Laois County Council under The Per Cent for Art Scheme. 

 

As an artwork, it reflects on the physicality of sound in the built environment, creating an opportunity for participants to consider how sound informs our perception of public space. The large sculpture makes use of a parabolic disc to gather, reflect and amplify the surrounding sonic environment of Main Street in Portlaoise. 

 

Conceived as a listening point, a place to consider the fragmented sounds of activity that occupy the street, the artwork encourages you to develop a practice of listening, to develop a multi-sensory connection to your surroundings and discover new ways of being-in-the-world that addresses our everchanging role in the formation of place.

 

The curved bench includes an inscription from Laois born writer Pat Boran ‘listen: the streets still dreaming us’ that further extends this invitation to listen.

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Photography by Louis Haugh