Sensory Walk
with architect Jenny O’Leary, choreographer Aoife McAtamney, artist Jackson Byrne, and curator Kate Strain.
22 JULY 2023
CoisCéim Broadreach was delighted to support the SUPPOSE A STONE Sensory Walk in Aughrim, County Wicklow. This 2-hour-long walk was designed to connect participants with the ‘Granite City’ through the sounds, smells, tastes and sensations of Aughrim. A series of exercises explored the different ways that people experience the same physical space. This event was facilitated by architect Jenny O’Leary of Howff, choreographer Aoife McAtamney, artist Jackson Byrne, and curator Kate Strain.
FROM AOIFE:
The SUPPOSE A STONE Sensory Walk was a sensuous workshop that awoke us to our senses, rebuilding a relationship to our townland environment through them. We worked with the 5 senses in 3 different locations of Aughrim town, experiencing these everyday familiar spaces anew. A highlight was our our taste section where we shared our awareness and experience of flavour, with local foods like wild garlic pesto & Aughrim’s homegrown honey and a blindfolded walk through its river glen, the Sean Linehan Walk. The activities the workshop proposed created peaceful conversation, engagement with our bodies and deepened our relationship to our environment.
ABOUT | SUPPOSE A STONE
SUPPOSE A STONE is a collaboration between Kunstverein Aughrim, Aughrim Tidy Towns CLG, Aughrim Active Retirement Group and architect Jenny O’Leary of Howff. Together they are undertaking an all-ages, interspecies accessibility study of the town of Aughrim County Wicklow, known locally as ‘The Granite City’. This community project was launched as part of Aughrim’s St Patrick’s Day Parade, throughout the drizzly morning and early afternoon of Friday 17 March 2023. Visitors to Kunstverein Aughrim were invited to complete a worksheet, aimed at discovering and uncovering some of the successes and challenges of Aughrim’s built environment. Based on these findings a series of participatory workshops aimed at approaching specific issues or themes is being devised, in the hope of identifying issues, then developing and testing potential solutions. SUPPOSE A STONE prioritises accessibility through creativity and inclusivity, with a long-term vision of radical hospitality for all. Find out more about Kunstverein’s hospitality policy at kunstverein.ie
ABOUT | CHOREOGRAPHER AOIFE MCATAMNEY
Aoife McAtamney is a dancer/choreographer, musician, actor and teacher based in Dublin. She is currently part of CoisCéim’s CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS artist-led residency project. See coisceim.com/choreography-connects/ for details.
Aoife began a career as a dancer and choreographer producing work locally and internationally and since 2019, she has been touring with Oona Doherty as a vocalist and dancer for the performance ‘Lady Magma’ and dancing with choreographer Emma Martin in ‘Night Dances’. As an actor, Aoife can be seen in Paula Keohos TV documentary ‘The Devils In her’ and also alongside Olwen Fouéré for BBCNI and TG4.
As a choreographer, she has been the recipient of numerous prizes and bursaries from the Arts Council and Culture Ireland and was Irelands first female lgbtq+ Aerowaves artist as part of the cohort of 2014 with her first solo Softer Swells – that subsequently toured internationally including to La Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine and the Instances festival in Chalon-sur-Saône.
Her movement practice evolved to music, songwriting and soundscapes for performances and in early 2020 Aoife graduated with an MA (1st) in songwriting at the University of Limerick. Alongside their work in dance and choreography, Aoife coaches dancers and teaches workshops in vocal movement and cultivates a community arts practice developing investigations of gender, ancestry and nature. From 2020 – 2022 Aoife was the lead movement artist for Dublin City Council Culture Company and participation practice credits with ageing bodies of culture include CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s Broadreach and now with Macushla Dance Group.
For more information about the Suppose A Stone project and participating artists please see kunstverein.ie
