The limits of Europe: Frontiers, borders and the limes romanus

published in A. Kakulya & Y. Minngard 2010 East of New Eden, Lars Muller Publishers, Baden.

Arteology

published in Graphic Archaeology: Newsletter of the Association of Archaeological Illustrators & Surveyors, Summer 2009

Contemporary artists are increasingly citing archaeology as a new and exciting influence on their work and to discuss this topic, Hugh Kavanagh talked to Ian Russell, curator of the 'Abhar agus Meon' art exhibitions which ran alongside the recent WAC conference in Dublin.

Iman: Finding Faith in Ireland

Catalogue essay for Iman: Photographs by Noel Bowler, 2009.

A short essay on Islam, Ireland's third largest faith and the recent photographic residency of artist Noel Bowler with the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, Dublin.

Camera obscura as processual space

Catalogue essay for 'Camera Obscura', National College of Art and Design Interim Exhibition 2009

'Camera obscura' was adopted as the curatorial theme for the 2009 National College of Art and Design Interim Exhibition which was held at the Light House Cinema in Dublin in April 2009. This essay explores the 'camera obscura' as a predisciplinary space for process, experimentation, mediation and meditation.

Images of the installations are available at:
www.cameraobscura.ie

and

www.coroflot.com/ianrussell/camera_obscura

'Art, archaeology & the contemporary: The Ábhar agus Meon exhibitions'

In the summer of 2008, I curated a series of contemporary art projects entitled Ábhar agus Meon as part of Ireland’s hosting of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress at University College Dublin. The projects were placed in the shared spaces between the contemporary arts, archaeology and heritage in Ireland. This article is a reflective statement and contextualization of the projects and their outcomes, exploring the relationships between contemporary art and archaeology. Full information and images of all the works are available at: www.amexhibition.com.

‘Visualizing Archaeologies: A Manifesto’

Is archaeology a science? Is archaeology a humanity? What are the politics of spectatorship and archaeological representation? These initial thoughts form the basis for our archaeological explorations. Within current archaeological discourse, there are a growing number of requests for expressions, which illuminate and expose the interpretive and artistic qualities of presentation and narration. Yet few scholars actively utilise expressive practice to explore these philosophical issues. As such, we feel that this is an opportune time to intervene in the visual and textual discourse by issuing a manifesto for our project, building upon our previous works (e.g. Cochrane and Russell 2007). We call for the development of a critically reflexive practice of visual archaeological expressionism, which seeks to contest traditional modes of thought and action.

'Estranged Lands: The art of the Peatlands'

A catalogue essay responding to the artists selected for the Peatlands exhibition, curated by Kevin O'Dwyer and Ruari O Cuiv. The exhibition was held on the occasion of Ireland's hosting of the International Peatlands Conference in the summer of 2008.

‘"Can you see me now?": Archaeological sensibility breaking the "fourth wall" of the analog:digital divide'

As the desert of cyberia expands and more families are  moving from communities into cyburbia, what can an archaeological sensibility offer in the form of reflexive criticism of the mediation of humanity? As the lines between
human and media are becoming blurred, a recent call has been made by some archaeologists to bring the discipline's sensibility to bear on the documentation and interpretation of human agency in digital lifeworlds. When we enter into digitised mediation, what are the politics of presence? Through the development and maintenance of dispersed communities bound together by the web of digital intra-relationships supported by analogical keystrokes and mouse-clicks, what new presences are rendered? Do they also result in new absences? Can archaeological interventions into the politics of absence/presence provide a more nuanced appreciation of the traces of human enmeshment and participation in mediated lifeworlds. Building on critical steps taken by Stanford Metamedia, this paper explores an archaeological intervention into UK theatre company Blast Theory's virtual game-space of 'Can you see me now?'
(http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_cysmn.html). This paper will question the assumption of the primacy of the visual in the graphic user interfaces (GUIs) of modern and post-modern media. When the virtual and digital-scapes of media are constructed through physical manipulation of plastics in order to render consumable, experience-able visuals, can digital lifeworlds be approached as purely visual composites, or is this only supporting an abstraction of (or an apprehension over) the practicable enmeshment of humans within the manifestation of digital and visual media?

‘Heritage, identity and roots: A critique of arborescent models of heritage and identity'

published in G. Smith, P. Messenger & H. Soderland (eds.) Heritage Values in Contemporary Society, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, 2009. (http://www.lcoastpress.com/book.php?id=279)

This papers explores the conception and definition of 'heritage' in contemporary society. It critiques the engrained tree-model for heritage relationships and suggests alternative ways of understanding the relational phenomenon of heritage in contemporary societies ripe with conflict and dissonance. It takes Irish heritage policy and the recent Tara-Skreen Valley conflict as a case study - exploring heritage policy, legal frameworks and philosophical assumptions involved.

'Images of the past: Archaeologies, modernities, crises & poetics'

‘Freud and Volkan: Psychoanalysis, Group Identities and Archaeology'

Social groupings create material cultures and material objects reflect and maintain group identities. The author explores the role of psychoanalysis in examining and explaining the origins and the need for these identities — and their material symbols — in the mind. He then shows that modern archaeology itself needs psychoanalysing: as a purveyor of culture, it is in the business of creating or reinforcing modern identities.

‘Objects and Agency: Some Obstacles and Opportunities of Modernity’

Objects from the ‘past’ are present all around us, everyday of our lives. It is through interaction with these objects that we glean an interpretation of ‘things which came before’. But we must ask – can artefacts act? Can they speak? A new field of study has been put forth by scholars at previous academic meetings discussing the theory of object agency; however, at the same time, it is admitted that archaeological artefacts are inanimate and mute. Julian Thomas described the urge to interpret an object’s existence in our present timeframe as evidence of previous human or sentient agency as the ‘archaeological imagination’. In psychological terms, the externalisation of individual and social expectations for ‘past’ and ‘meaning’ onto inanimate objects (artefacts) creates images of the past. However, we can argue that the interpretation of an object and the creation of images of the past are all aspects of the broader psychological function of perception. These modern perceptions are what are used to bridge the existential crisis of sentient beings – fulfilling the desire for a notion of purpose and continuity with a greater lineage of agency. However, to what extent do our own methods of structuring and constructing perceptions and rendering meanings through methods of science and humanistic interpretation simply reify systems of supposedly synonymous modern dichotomies and dualities and modern paradigms? This paper is designed to engage with how the concept of ‘object agency’ obscures the phenomenon of the construction of images of the past through the viewing, interpreting and rendering of artefacts and objects in the world we inhabit. It will also suggest some possible ways archaeology can move beyond modernity through an engagement with the world not as materials but as media.

'Tara: Re-routing the Debate'

It has become a touchstone for our guilt in eagerly seeking development while, at times, forsaking heritage. But the M3 controversy is only a symptom of much deeper-rooted issues. Three experts in the field offer their perspectives on how the debate should start to move on from the current entrenched positions

Arts funding a cheap and easy target

An article by Ken Foxe, '€75k for dancing at the crossroads' (News, 30 November), raised the critical issue of arts funding during a time of impending economic crisis. Foxe's article provides a factual account of the amount of funding received by renowned dancer and choreographer Fearghus Ó Conchúir as part of Dublin City Council's artist-in-residency scheme. What the article lacks is contextual awareness of the standing of arts funding in relation to other aspects of public expenditure and unfairly leaves room for the interpretation that Ó Conchúir's residency was something of a whimsical utilisation of public finance.