Sparking Debate
An Alternative to Polarised Thinking. Curated by Theo Dorgan & Bridget Webster
Running in parallel with PALIMPSEST, SPARKING DEBATE was a ground breaking CoisCéim Broadreach initiative for and by over 100 young people to provoke dialogue around Irish identity, hospitality and sovereignty through the question “who do we want to be”. Its purpose – to provoke dialogue around Irish identity, hospitality and sovereignty to spark new thinking and tools for debate, particularly around the themes of conciliation and peace-making.
Co-curated by poet and writer Theo Dorgan, the project was artistically anchored in five poems from the island’s canon – one from each of the 4 physical provinces together with one from the 5th – the province of imagination – eloquently described by Mary Robinson in her 1990 presidential inauguration speech as: “not anywhere here or there, north or south, east or west. It is a place within each one of us – that place that is open to the other, that swinging door which allows us to venture out and others to venture in”.
The poems were chosen to “encourage people to think and feel on the slant – to allow the poems to stand to one side of the usual narratives and thus prompt fresh thinking, not just about who we want to be but about who we are and have been” [Theo Dorgan].
The provinces were represented as follows:
LEINSTER A Demonstration by Jessica Traynor
MUNSTER Full Moon Over The Refugee Centre by Thomas McCarthy
CONNACHT Occupation by Mary O’Malley
ULSTER Wrap The Green Flag Round Me by Ciaran Carson
5TH The Question by Theo Dorgan
Other key artistic catalysts included Eavan Boland’s poem Our Future Will Become The Past of Other Women, the President of Ireland’s Michael D. Higgins 2020 Address Of Centenaries and the Hospitality Necessary in Reflecting on Memory, History and Forgiveness and a picture of Ireland taken by a NASA satellite from space. This image visually connects the Irish diaspora to the local resident, its weather patterns a metaphor for the continual entrance and exit of peoples to and from the island – to stimulate ideas around hospitality and borders...and the concept of the past being the present being the future.
Spanning three months, the initiative brought together community participants and professional artists in two projects that sought to highlight the positive impact and outcomes that robust conversations can elicit when held in spaces of balanced equity and hospitality to all viewpoints – with provocations designed to be inclusive rather than to discriminate.
The two projects were:
– A creative dance project that brought together over 70 participants from four diverse community groups, each representing one of the four provinces, and collectively forming the fifth province. Embracing the spirit of Carnival, and an intense co-creation process, these young people collaborated closely with project leaders Olwyn Lyons and Aoife McAtamney, along with the design team, to devise, rehearse, and perform a vibrant Pageant for the 2024 St. Patrick’s Festival Parade. Each participant wore bespoke costumes and accessories, expressing their vision of “who we [as a nation] want to be.” The performance also featured specially designed and embellished art banners with extracts from the Sparking Debate poems.
– An artistic experiment that brought together 32 dancers to form crews and debate seven topics with and through the body – competitively, through instant dance compositions. This project was devised in close collaboration with Artistic Advisors Matt Szczerek and Jessie Thompson, with valuable input from Tobi Omoteso and the crew leaders. Held on the final day of the Festival at TU Dublin Grangegorman, the event also featured several members of the Palimpsest cast and creative team, and a visual link to the Pageant – through the displayed art banners. The debates, on motions derived from the Sparking Debate poems, were visceral, spontaneous physical conversations driven by the DJ, MC, dancers and audience. The crews articulated the diversity of perspectives that each topic provoked and were judged on skill, dynamism and creative response. The project underscored the unique capability of physical language to fully encompass a variety of opinions and explore pathways to compromise (or not) with honesty, ferocity and fearless expression.
SPARKING DEBATE was presented in partnership with St Patrick’s Festival, and delivered by CoisCéim Broadreach.
Events
Sparking Debate
Physical Debates
TU Dublin
18 March 2024
Sparking Debate
St Patrick’s Day Parade Pageant
Dublin City Centre
22 January - 17 March 2024
