21 – 24th September 2023

EARTH RISING is a four-day festival of free events and experiences aimed at addressing the climate crisis and inspiring collective action towards a sustainable and hopeful future. Taking place across the IMMA site, EARTH RISING promises an unforgettable experience that seeks to provoke, inspire, and empower audiences to become agents of change.

Michelle Boyle presents ‘Conversations from the fountain’ to encourage people to think about the living agency of freshwater in the landscape and if water would speak what would it say to us ?

Water stories – In response to a public call out by the artist, people wrote about the freshwater of their locality and collected water samples from diverse sources including wells, rivers and lakes from across Ireland. Waters from the Laune and Bruskey rivers, St Kieran’s Holy Well and Glenade Lake, the Royal Canal and Bradogue alongside other sources, encircled the IMMA fountain in a visual presentation of the local and interconnectivity of water in the landscape. The accompanying stories express the particular knowledge and emotional attachment contributors hold for their local water but also a concern for the damage they see being done through human actions and inactions. Contributors include fishermen, swimmers, employed water custodians, poets and local residents.

The installation of poems at the fountain gives creative expression to the concerns facing water in Ireland.

‘LIFFEY SWIM’ Nell Regan

from ‘INCHICORE HAIKU’ Michael Hartnett (with kind permission of the author’s Estate and Gallery Press)

‘AT THE FIRST SIGN’ Liam O Meara

‘THE WATER THAT DOES NOT CHOOSE ITS OWN PATH’ Christine Mc Gearty

‘THE BRADOG SPEAKS’ Christy Grogan

‘THE BLACKWATER’ Michelle Boyle

”BLOODWATER’ Michelle Boyle

Gerry Cremin, President of the Irish Society of Water Diviners presented a water dowsing demonstration, an ancient practice which continues to be used today in many cultures, including Ireland as a method to locate underground water. It holds a curious place in society on the margins and intersections of superstition/ science/ belief and tradition . For Michelle Boyle , who is an amateur practitioner, water divining contains an interesting combination of elements from embodied performance art and eco consciousness.

Water Stories –

The Liffey- contribution by Edel Reilly
It has been my constant companion now for almost 30 years. Sure, I have had momentary breaks here and there but since moving from the depts of rural Longford at the age of 17, I have lived by its side almost all my adult life. Both sides north and south. I have walked by its side finding joy in its beauty, I have rowed on its waters all the way to the port. The love I have for the Liffey knows no bounds, it has seen me at my worst at 2 in the morning and at my best as I row its forceful waters on a windy day. I have often thought of what it has seen over the centuries, Dublin humanity in all its sticky complicated mess. I am part of that now. It says to me “I need you to take care of me just as I have taken care of you”.

Click on link to order print booklet of water stories

If you would like to contribute your story to this ongoing project please message via the contact page