North 55

Dialogues was an explorative series of conversations between a wide range of partners drawn from the cultural, community, voluntary and statutory sectors. Spanning 2002 and 2003 six public forums were programmed in a range of cross-community and cross-border locations. In this way the programme acted as a catalyst for creative discourse supporting fluid interchanges between artists, communities and place. The Dialogues series investigated public space in the border region both as a subject and as a site for work from local, national and international perspectives.

Dialogue 1: Revealing the Region was an interactive forum which took place on board a chartered boat that made its way along the River Foyle from Derry into Donegal, thus circumnavigating the border. The programme combined audio-visual presentations with discussion groups. Over fifty participants took part in the event including curator Declan McGonagle, Mary McCarthy, National Sculpture Factory, Shauna McClenaghan, Inishowen Development Partnership, Ian Hunter, Littoral, Jenny Stuart, Peace and Reconciliation Programme and Martin Mularkey, The Nerve Centre.

Subsequent Dialogues events were carried out in collaboration with the International Conflict Research Centre (INCORE) University of Ulster, the Playhouse, Social Economy Agency, B.A. in Community Development (LYIT), and Inishowen Community Radio.

Dialogues enabled North-55 to solicit public input from an unusually broad set of perspectives, building on existing partnerships and creating new collaborative networks. The dialogues series also enabled North-55 to analyse and understand more precisely the various interests that converge when an invitation is extended to represent different 'visions' about art in public space.

COLLABORATORS: Inishowen Development Partnership, International Conflict Research Centre (INCORE) University of Ulster, the Nerve Centre, City Bridges, Social Economy Agency, the Playhouse, B.A. in Community Development (LYIT), and Inishowen Community Radio.