FIS 2008
Famed TV producer and creative director of Liverpool Culture Company, Phil Redmond has welcomed a major Irish cultural event that will take place this summer as part of Liverpool's Capital of Culture Year.
Opening at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool's Baltic Triangle on the 24th July and running to 7th September, 'Fís 2008' will celebrate and examine the strong historic and cultural links between Ireland and Liverpool through a major contemporary art exhibition and a series of talks and films.
'Fís' which is the Gaelic for 'Vision' reflects the role of the Irish language in this event. The official launch of Fís 2008 will be in Irish and English and the films and documentaries to be shown have been made in Irish with English subtitles. Support for this event comes from Foras na Gaeilge in Ireland (the national agency for the promotion of the Irish language), the Contemporary Urban Centre, Liverpool and the 'Reel Ireland' programme of the Irish Film Institute.
The Visual Art exhibition will run daily from 10am to 6pm seven days a week from 25th July to 7th September. In the selection of this show works have been included that provide a wide contour of Irish art practice to include painting, photography and installation. In the past few years Irish art has undergone a renaissance confident enough to create an individual response to the world around it. There are twelve artists featured including Eamon Colman (Aosdána), Fiona Ní Mhaoilir, Raymond Watson, Mary Fitzpatrick, Pauline O'Connell, Rodney Dickson, Geraldine O'Neill, Martin Campbell, Elizabeth Cope, Derek Culley, Anna Marie Quinn and David Quinn.
Our series of films and talks will take place over two weekends starting at 2pm.
On Saturday 26th July, a talk by Dr Ian McKeane on how the Irish War of Independence impacted on Liverpool will be followed by the 1967 short documentary 'Fleá Ceoil'. On Sunday 27th July, Mary Clinton will speak on the role played by the Irish in the evolution of the Liverpool dialect - 'Scouse'. Mary's talk will be followed by an award winning Irish language documentary about homelessness in London, 'Idir Dhá Shaol', (Between Two Lives).
On Saturday 2nd August, 'Nead an Dreolín' (The Wren's Nest) and 'In the Days of Saint Patrick' will be shown back to back. ‘Nead an Dreoilín’ is a collection of short films exploring the poetry of six living Irish language poets. ‘In The Days of Saint Patrick' (1920) is a milestone in Irish cinema and will be accompanied by renowned Irish harpist Cormac de Barra who will play music specially composed for this silent film. On Sunday 3rd August Patrick Fitzgerald of The Centre For Migration Studies in Omagh will chronicle the history of migration between north west England and Ireland. This will be followed by the film 'Kings' starring Colm Meaney, adapted from Jimmy Murphy’s acclaimed play ‘The Kings of the Kilburn High Road’.
For more information on Fís 2008 please contact either Derek Culley on 01704569444 (funkypaddy@btinternet.com) or Martin Campbell on 07761562724 (campbellartist@gmail.com).
