An innovative monument to Irish emigrants was unveiled on Cork's Penrose Quay on September 9th. "Listening Posts", designed by sculptor Daphne Wright and writer Johnny Hanrahan, consists of four sleek metal posts positioned at the traditional point of departure for emigrant ships. The City Council's press release explains,
While striking in themselves, these 'posts' function primarily as vessels for four multi-faceted sound scores. Using interviews with emigrants, their descendants, those they left behind, those who worked on the ship, those wishing to return and those who are glad they got away combined with marine, industrial, musical and abstract sound elements, Wright, Hanrahan and leading sound designer Dan Jones have built up rich, layered soundscapes each of which has its own internal logic and also contributes to the overall experience afforded by listening to all four posts.
The scores blend fragmented narratives embedded in emotionally intense soundworlds, musical clichés, Irish jokes and a range of instrumental and archival vocal gestures which have been manipulated to create a constantly fluctuating range of emotional tones.
The piece is firmly rooted in the history of emigration from Cork, but uses the specifics of that collective experience to explore broad themes of migration, displacement and self-re-invention. In this way it does justice to its commemorative function while also acting as an urgent, poetic commentary on the global issue of long-term migration.
See the press release on Cork City Council's website.
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