Arts and Creativity Editor Violetta Kavanagh explores some of the public works of art that can be found around Dublin, giving a glimpse into where to find them and some of the meaning and purpose behind them.
Art can be found everywhere, in many different forms from many different places. When we think about different works of art and their locations, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a gallery, however artwork goes far beyond those walls. Oftentimes a lot of the most impactful pieces of artwork can come from simply being out in the public sphere. From murals on walls to sculptures on side streets, different types of art installations have become more public than ever.
In recent years, Ireland has greatly embraced public artworks as a way to present the country’s cultural identity and community expression. Various installations can be found almost anywhere, from the bustling streets of Dublin to the quieter landscapes of the rural countryside. Art in any format is not without meaning or purpose, and the ones that are found outside of galleries and museums are no different.
Take artist Rohona Byrne's Restless: Liffey Love for example, a public art project created by using waste taken from the river Liffey and then reused to create “Restless”, two love seat sculptures that can be found along the Liffey quayside. Commissioned by the Dublin City Council in 2023 through the Dublin City Art program, the project involved Byrne’s collaboration with the Irish Nautical trust on the Liffey Sweeper to collect the plastic waste that had gathered in the River Liffey and repurpose it.
According to Byrne’s website “Restless” is an art project that “considers connection and what it means to love our city” while simultaneously allowing us to perhaps rethink our use of materials in our everyday lives and the impact that they may be having on the world around us.
Some of the art installations that have a wider presence throughout the county are the artistic sculptures that are associated with a project known as The Elephant in the Room. Founded by Brent Pope and Eoin Byrne the purpose of this project is to spread awareness and normalise more open conversations about mental health with their mission to do so being visually represented throughout Ireland by a series of baby elephant sculptures placed in different schools, workplaces and communities.
Each Baby elephant or “Ellie” as each one is loveably known as, is created and decorated by a multitude of professional artists making every sculpture unique in its presentation and therefore entirely different from another. Some of the notable places where you many come across one include Blanchardstown Centre, Mantooth University, the University of Limerick and at the Dublin branch of the Samaritans.
Art can often bring about the more peaceful and joyous moments of life and that is what The Dandelion Clocks sculptures attempt to capture. Created by artist Remco de Fouw, they are a series of sculptures designed to look like fully bloomed dandelions, which fun fact are also known as clocks, hence the name of the sculptures.
They have been strategically placed in the entrances of Ireland’s new children's hospitals including CHI at Connally, Tallaght and the National Children’s Hospital of Ireland as a way to create an atmosphere of light, warmth and calm throughout each buildings and the surrounding area with every ray of sunlight that catches the their stainless steel stalk or any of the fifty prisms that make up a dandelion’s signature fully ball appearance.
Taking inspiration from the longstanding tradition of blowing dandelion seeds from the stalk and making a wish, The Dandelion Clocks serve as a way to bring some colour and positivity to the hospitals they are stationed at, providing an air of tranquillity and calm to the busy and clinical environment they are a part of.
Profound and impactful works of art are not solely limited to the spaces intended to house them. By being in a space that allows for more public engagement, they have the ability to transform those everyday spaces into its own form of a gallery that is just as impactful and engaging to its viewers.