An Idir Chontae (The In-Between County)/ (Still) The Enchanted Way

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An Idir Chontae (The In-between County)/ (Still) The Enchanted Way

An Idir Chontae refers to both an imaginary and mythological county, which exists only because county boundaries, property lines and borders of any kind occur (including natural boundaries such as river, stream and hedgerow). In this way it connects and makes its way throughout the whole island of Ireland and beyond. A part of it undoubtedly borders where you live.

It’s a dynamic and largely unknown space, ranging from the infinitesimal to the wider than you think. It’s a place which takes opportunities to creep deeper into the interior by expanding into undefined and unpopulated areas (it can also retreat as things develop). It can be any unobserved space where everything and nothing may be happening and different laws apply. Its exact dimensions are also unique for each individual, ebbing and flowing through differing states of mind and experience. While sometimes hard to deliberately locate it is obvious once you unexpectedly find yourself there.

As borders solidify they inevitable begin to fracture, the future leaking out from just these pressure points. Whether that be refugees massing on borders or unseen and overlooked forces from the absolute margins of society. Whenever truth eventually emerges from the shadows, lasting change takes place. If you can wait long enough the magic happens and you suddenly see what was always there.

For me it’s not only a place but an ancient route and one I’ve been exploring for some time. So come with me along the enchanted way as I explore and ascertain An Idir Chontae. The future awaits.

On 3rd March 2021 there was a special broadcast on Dublin Digital Radio, made up of strange transmissions thought to emanate from The Outer Station, located somewhere inside An Idir Chontae. You can listen at this link.

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An Idir Chontae (The In-between County): A Case Study

While exploring an abandoned railway line for Future Greenway I came across quite a large, wild, unspoilt and unpeopled area somewhere in Co. Sligo. This, like the line itself, is a good example of the type of in-between environment I am thinking about. You can see some photos of it in the slide show above. For me it’s perfection and somewhere I can disappear to and dream.

Once I cross its invisible borderline I feel like I could be at anytime in history. Time to some degree has stood still here. It’s an ideal place to explore, ramble and think or not to think at all. Inspiration and special quiet moments reveal themselves here more easily in seemingly small and big ways. Whether that be a change of light or wild deer running by. Obviously we need places such as these to recharge our mind and body, returning invigorated with new insights and answers. These in-between places also have a huge importance for wildlife, biodiversity and carbon collection. A place of hope, where our shared futures meet.

If you live in or near to the countryside you will not have far to go to find such a place but even in towns and cities they can be discovered in the most unlikely of forgotten and overlooked spaces. While I hope it can resonant uniquely for each person, at base this is all I am really trying to communicate with this project. Nature needs these places to exist and you may not need it now, but one day you might, when that time comes, it will be waiting.

This is not the first time I’ve tried to express my deep yearning for wild spaces, both near and far. Thanks for taking an interest in my latest love letter to the back of beyond.

Stephen Rennicks

Future Greenway at Hyde Bridge Gallery

This project was included in a group exhibition, Returning, at Sligo’s Hyde Bridge Gallery. The other artists were Laura Gallagher, Maura Gilligan and Dorothee Kolle and it was curated by Catherine Fanning. It was to run from 3rd – 27th Oct 2020 but due to Covid-19 restrictions the gallery was closed a few days after the opening. It did reopen for 9th – 19th Dec. I’ve put all 20 of my A3 prints into a slideshow, linked my video here and included the exhibition text below. My original 2019 post about the project can be read here and there is also an ongoing public Facebook album of images from the project here.

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Future Greenway

I qualified in Healthcare Support in 2017 and since then have been working full-time as a carer/PA for a home-care company in Co. Sligo. This position entails making visits to people with disabilities and healthcare needs. My duties can include helping clients getting up, personal care, dressing, feeding, light housework and putting them to bed.

This is the second year I was invited to take part in Sligo Co. Co. Arts & Health exhibition and I decided to use one of my photographs from last year’s work as my starting point. One of my clients had suggested I explore the disused and largely overgrown Collooney to Claremorris railway line (Western Rail Corridor) and in particular search for a river spanning metal bridge. This intrigued me and began my process of exploring the whole line from Collooney to currently just past Tubbercurry (approx 23 miles). This has given my client and I something of mutual interest to talk about on my visits.

The railway line was first opened in 1895 and closed in 1975. There is a local plan to turn it into a greenway and in 2020 some initial development funding has been granted. To help this effort and raise awareness of the project, since 2019 I have been sharing the photographs of my progress along the line on social media. If the route could be turned into a greenway, this would directly benefit my client as he could safely access this route by wheelchair and be a real game-changer regarding their independence. Of course it would also benefit all those who live locally and in the north-west as well as bringing tourists and prosperity for local businesses.

The title of my project work refers to my hopes for its future use and how it has already become a greenway in a sense, nature quickly takes over all of our abandoned or neglected sites. It stikes me that if we don’t begin to respect and find a way to live in harmony with nature, the ultimate future for our whole planet will be a greening that we will sadly never get to witness.

Walking the line, even in its overgrown state has left me feeling reconnected with nature and the seasons. I am always blown away by the spectacular views and the quiet of places far from the road. While there are stretches that are quite clear, in some places it is something of a challenge and adventure.

I hope someday soon the public can reclaim this natural resource. Until then, the line and nature itself will continue to await us.

Stephen Rennicks

Future Greenway at Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo (Oct ’20)

Leitrim Coastline: A Place In Which To Dream

Since 2012 I have been a regular visitor to the rarely visited and strangely elusive Co. Leitrim Coastline (2.5-3km). It has inspired a number of works for various projects of mine (linked below). I first created a public Facebook album about it to help raise awareness and let people know how best to access it (there is no road access and little signage). While there is no beach, only rock and boulder, it has a rugged and desolate beauty. The best place to gain entry (walking only) is along the Co. Leitrim side of the Bunduff river (park at bridge on N15). It can also be partly accessed from Tullaghan or by permission of landowners along the road (some fields are sign-posted as ‘no entry’ so please respect). I have marked it on Googlemaps here under ‘Leitrim Coastline walking access point’.

I have (so far) used it for two posts in A Guide To Here Nor There (2012-2013), one, two.

Annual Public Sculpture series (No. 1 from 2012)

The Leitrim coastline features in this post I wrote for Abstract Analogue in 2014.

Strange Attractor (2015) and again in the same project here.

Searching For The White Room (2016)

 

Remote Artist Residency

I’ve decided to float the idea of what I call a Remote Artist Residency. This is only partly due to the current lack of travel, both national and international, as a result of COVID-19 as I see it as a good strategy for creating new work in faraway places long after this threat has receded.

My original idea dates back to when I was collaborating with Isabel Löfgren on A Guide To Here Nor There: An Affectionate Tour of Co. Leitrim (2012-2013). When she had returned home to Sweden we kept in touch via email and suggested having a ‘Unicorn Trail’ in our guide. I thought about this and remembered I’d found an official walking route sign on a pathway which I’d brought home. I simply painted ‘The Unicorn Trail’ onto it and went to an unnamed canal walk I knew in the county. I attached it to a gate post and hey presto The Unicorn Trail was born. It stayed there for quite a few years and to my knowledge might still be in place.

It was at this time that the potential for remote artistic actions occurred to me. If an artist wanted to do something in another country but for some reason couldn’t get there, they could either directly contact a fellow artist who lived there or make an appeal for a local person to help them. They could then discuss what it was they wanted to do and instruct them how to carry it out and document it etc. Ideally they would be willing to return the favour or do the same thing for someone else.  I did think about formalising it at this time and possibly setting up an online way for people to connect with each other and publicise their actions etc but as with many of my ideas I never got around to it. Today I would think that existing social media platforms would be sufficient to put people in touch with each other and to publicise the work and method.

The next time I thought it was suitable to propose using this concept was when I was offered a two week artist residency in 2019 (before the world changed). By then I was working full-time as a PA/carer and would not have been in a position to take that much additional time off work. I came up with a proposal of visiting the residency for the first and last weekend and setting up a Geo Cache project (having researched likely locations in advance on Google Streetview). Although it would also have been possible for me to do this completely remotely by simply sending instructions and posting whatever was needed to the organisers and have them or a local artist install and monitor the caches for me.  In the end the curator didn’t take me up on the idea as the nature of this particular residency was more about the artist being fully present and directly engaging with the community. I understood and accepted this and mention it now as another example of what could be accomplished in this way.

I’m sure there are many other artists in my position that for various reasons (financial, disabled, too busy etc) would like to participate in projects such as this but are not available to be there in person. A Remote Artist Residency would suit them and curators too would benefit if they were on a tight budget or wanted to explore working with artists in this way. I imagine it would be a great way for artists to learn from each other as they collaborate and interact online. If the communication between participants is good, the artist on the ground can give valuable insights to the remote artist but each experience would be unique of course. There is not a lot more to add as the idea is quite simple really and could be adapted in any number of ways.

Previous to this I have come up with two other artist residency based projects/models, Secret Residency (2004) and One Minute Residency (2011).

Stephen Rennicks

Uncertain Times: In The Electric Mist

Uncertain Times/ In The Electric Mist (part 1)

‘Something strange is stirring deep in the electric mist, obscure and rarely visited sites are being sought, from which a new and mysterious force is coming to life. Somewhere an artist struggles to realise what might be their final project in these uncertain times.’

This is a three part project that on one level follows the broad early stages of my current artistic process with 30 standalone images for the viewer to piece together in their own way. ‘In The Electric Mist’ looks at the many potential starting points for new work that come from my everyday life. ‘Off-Map’ then visits an in-between landscape where anything is possible. In ‘Secret Knowledge’ things begin to mysteriously fit into place (or not) and this gradually brings the promise of new work from uncertain beginnings. I make mistakes too.

Off-Map (part 2)

Secret Knowledge (part 3)

Stephen Rennicks