The Digital Hub and NCAD continue collaboration with Turning Ground seminars
- Hybrid events to focus on urban ecologies launching on May 26th
- Talks and workshops to focus on local Dublin 8 community projects and international experiences
The Digital Hub and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) have once again partnered to explore important societal themes with the launch of a series of talks, titled Turning Ground. The hybrid series will launch on Thursday May 26th and will also be broadcast on NCAD’s YouTube channel. The series will focus on socio-ecological futures in urban environments and will include talks and workshops with international and national experts.
This is the second year of events co-curated by The Digital Hub and NCAD, following last year’s highly successful Digital Cultures webinar series.
The Turning Ground series aims to create a space that brings artists, local communities, activists and academics together to discuss how creative ecologies and socio-ecological futures can be supported in an urban environment, particularly focusing on the Dublin 8 area. The series is convened by The Digital Hub’s current Artist-in-Residence Seoidín O’Sullivan and NCAD lecturer and artist Gareth Kennedy.
Focusing on creative urban ecologies, the series of talks and workshops will focus on a range of topics including art and critical ecological practice, local Dublin 8 community ecological projects, urban city toolkits for climate justice, permacultures, and urban ecological mapping.
Turning Ground will bring a fresh perspective on issues such as local ecologies, climate and the environment, with international speakers including Panagiota Kotsila (Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability), Margaretha Haughwout (Colgate University), Sinead Mercier (UCD Sutherland School of Law), and Mojisola Adebayo (Queen Mary, University of London) & Nicole Wolf (Goldsmiths, University of London).
The first talk on May 26th will hear from The Digital Hub’s Artist in Residence, Seoidin O’Sullivan and NCAD’s Gareth Kennedy. They will be joined by Austin Campbell from Dublin 8’s Robert Emmet Community Development Project to discuss the importance of ecological projects in a local community setting. The talk will draw from themes including greening urban areas, gentrification and the housing crisis.
The series of events are free to attend and registration for events will be available on the NCAD and The Digital Hub websites.
Fiach Mac Conghail, CEO of The Digital Hub said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with NCAD for a second year with the Turning Ground series. The relationship we have with our environment and ecology surrounding us is an important consideration for future urban planning and sustainable communities. Our location in the heart of the Liberties offers us a strong focus on supporting ecological and community projects and in particular how artists can support this process. We have been able to further this through our current Artist-in-Residence, Seoidín O’Sullivan, along with the range of community initiatives we facilitate and take part in.”
Professor Sarah Glennie, Director, NCAD said:
“We are delighted to launch the Turning Ground series alongside The Digital Hub, in what is a continuation of last year’s Digital Cultures series. The partnership builds on stakeholder participation at the intersection of artistic and transdisciplinary practice, research and society. At a time when climate and the environment is critical to our futures, we look forward to hearing the divergent thoughts and discussions during the series that will have an impact on our attitudes towards ecological areas in urban environments.”
Turning Ground series information and dates:
Event Locations: National College of Art and Design (NCAD), 100 Thomas Street, Dublin D08 K521, Ireland and iD8 Studio, The Gatelodge, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8, D08 EY05.
Art and Critical Ecological Practice:
Date: Thursday, May 26th
Time: 5.30pm – 7pm
Location: NCAD Harry Clarke House Lecture Theatre
Hosts: Austin Campbell (RECDP), Seoidín O’Sullivan (The Digital Hub) and Gareth Kennedy (NCAD)
Reenchantment: Environmental Law and Ruderal Ecologies
Date: Thursday, June 2nd
Time: 5.30pm – 7pm
Location: Online via YouTube
Speakers: Margaretha Haughwout (Colgate University), Sinead Mercier (UCD Sutherland School of Law)
Moderators: Gareth Kennedy (NCAD) & Seoidín O’Sullivan (The Digital Hub)
Radicle Lab
Date: Thursday, June 9th
Time: 5.30-7pm
Location: Radicle Lab, The Digital Hub
Speaker: Panagiota Kotsila (the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability)
Moderators: Gareth Kennedy (NCAD) & Seoidín O’Sullivan (The Digital Hub)
Permaculture / Theatre of the Oppressed
Date: September – October 2022 Date TBC. Forthcoming on https://ncadinpublic.ie/
Time: 5.30-7PM
Location: NCAD Harry Clarke House Lecture Theatre
Hosts: Mojisola Adebayo (Queen Mary, University of London) & Nicole Wolf (Goldsmiths, University of London) Workshop & Talk.
Moderators: Gareth Kennedy (NCAD) & Seoidín O’Sullivan (The Digital Hub)
Events in the series are free to attend. For more information and to register attendance, please visit: https://ncadinpublic.ie/
ENDS.
For more information:
Andrew Smith | Murray | asmith@murraygroup.ie | 083 076 5717
Rachel Power | Murray | rpower@murraygroup.ie | 087 939 9605
About The Digital Hub
Based in the historic Liberties area of Dublin city centre, The Digital Hub is an enterprise cluster for growing technology companies. Thirty-two established businesses operate in The Digital Hub. Together these businesses employ just under 300 people.
The Digital Hub is the largest cluster of digital media, technology and internet businesses in Ireland, providing a space for indigenous enterprises such as Akara Robotics, Bizimply, Good Travel Software and Neuromod to scale and grow. Major global companies like Lonely Planet are also based in The Digital Hub. along with industry organisations like PhotoIreland.
Since the project’s inception, over 400 companies have progressed through the enterprise cluster at The Digital Hub, generating thousands of skilled jobs. Some well-established alumni include Amazon, Athena Media, Black Shamrock, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Distilled Media Group (Daft.ie), eMaint, Etsy, Havok, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Riverdeep), Kavaleer, Lincor, MTT, patientMpower, Slack, Software AG, Silicon Republic, Square1, Stripe, TIBCO, VSware and Wachsman.
The Digital Hub is a supportive partner of the local community, by running several learning initiatives for people of all ages. Community learning programmes are run with local partners. For example, the Future Creators Cadets is delivered by H2 Learning and supported by National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and The Liber8 Music Project is run with BIMM Institute Dublin. The Digital Hub also works with community groups and organisations such as the Robert Emmet Community Development Project and Pocket Forests amongst others. The Digital Hub is one of three lead partners on the Smart D8 initiative which aims to improve and sustain the health and wellbeing of Dublin 8 citizens through innovation and collaboration.
The Digital Hub Development Agency is the Irish state agency that manages The Digital Hub. The Agency was established by the Irish Government under the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Environment.
In March 2021, the Government decided to dissolve the Digital Hub Development Agency and close The Digital Hub. The Agency will now embark upon an orderly winddown process which will see the transfer of lands to the Land Development Agency. All operations at The Digital Hub, including various community initiatives and partnerships, will continue as normal up until the closure date.
The Digital Hub is in a position to offer leases for new and existing companies up until 2025 following an agreement with the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Environment.
Further information is available at: www.thedigitalhub.com or on Twitter: @TheDigitalHub.
About NCAD
The National College of Art and Design occupies a unique position in art and design education in Ireland, offering the widest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Many of the most important Irish artists, designers and art teachers have studied or taught in the College. It has long been the central and most important art and design educational institution in Ireland.
The origins of the College date from 1746 when Robert West had a private drawing school in George’s Lane, Dublin, which was taken over by the Dublin Society (later the RDS). Throughout the eighteenth century the college was home to three schools: Figure Drawing, Landscape and Ornamental Drawing and Architectural Drawing. The School of Modelling was added in 1811. From 1854 the institution was controlled by the Department of Science and Art, London. In 1877 it was renamed The Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. The Department of Education took control in 1924, and twelve years later it became the National College of Art. In 1971 the National College of Art and Design was established by act of an tOireachtas and is now governed by a board (An Bord) appointed by the Minister for Education and Science.
The College’s campus is situated in Thomas Street, in the historic Liberties area of Dublin. In 1998 the College opened its new wing, the School of Design for Industry, and now houses all of its activities on the Thomas Street campus or nearby.
The College has conferred honorary associateships on Sybil Connolly, Dr. James White, Patrick Scott, Jan de Fouw, Sonja Landweer, Conor Fallon, Dr. Seamus Buachalla, Leonora Curry, Paul Costelloe, Prof. Anne Crookshank, Charles J. Haughey, Dr. Patrick Moriarty, Dr. Edward Walsh, Professor George Dawson, Michael Farrell, Paul Hogan, William Walsh, Mealla C. Gibbons, Bro. Joseph McNally, Juan O’Callahan and Anthony Cronin.
The College has 1,300 full time students and a further 700 hundred students who are taking evening courses. Those who know the College, and those who have attended the Open Day, the annual exhibitions and fashion show, will be aware of the very high standards that are achieved.
The College has four Schools; Design, Education, Fine Art and Visual Culture.