Sclimpíní is a body of work exploring Irish folklore and the once commonly accepted belief in another parallel world that could directly impact our own.
Sclimpíní & léaspáin (dancing, coloured lights before the eyes).
Sclimpíní was created during my time at the Design West residency at ATU Connemara, in Letterfrack. The work researches the Irish culture of storytelling and reliance on folklore, in the not-so-distant past. My research highlighted how folklore was a tool for informing about our environment, and now provides even more insights into Irish culture and history, too. Accounts archived on dúchas.ie, our National Folklore Collection, largely inspired the project.
The piece aims to create a sense of presence, for the user to feel as if they are sharing the space with unseen and liminal forces. The main output of the project was the sculpture shown above, installed and photographed in Letterfrack Woods, before being moved back to the college campus for our pop-up exhibition. Sclimpíní has been my first work in immersive experiential and installation design, which I hope to make more of in the future.
In Ireland, we had a culture of believing that the unseen was as real as the seen. There was common acceptance of another, parallel, world which could directly impact our own.