Byrne rhona

Liffey Love is a public art project by artist Rhona Byrne created using waste plastic rescued from the River Liffey and returned to the Liffey quaysides in the form of two love seat sculptures ‘Restless‘; a new destination in the city. Commissioned by Dublin City Council in 2023 through the Dublin City Public Art Program which has three strands Public + Art + City.

Rhona has collaborated with the Irish Nautical trust on the Liffey Sweeper to collect plastic waste from the River Liffey and repurposed it into sheet material with Paltech Polymer engineers to create a social sculpture in the form of love seats with Billings Jackson Design and Steel Smith and placed on the North Campshires of the River on the North Wall Quays.

This will become a site for talks and events. Liffey Love is an art project that considers connection and what it means to love our city, rethink materials of everyday life and nurture a sense of collective civic engagement. This project is realised through the support of Dublin City Council Arts office and the artists collaborators Paltech, Green Generation, Irish Nautical Trust, Billings Jackson Design, Steel Smith and Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club.

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plastic objects rescued from the River Liffey

location of sculptures https://maps.app.goo.gl/fqn4KncAnt1QV4uQ6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Ruairí Ó Cuív / 2024

Love Liffey Love

Once in a while you come across a Per Cent for Art proposal that is utterly beguiling. Liffey Love by Rhona Byrne was one such proposal in that on first reading it was enchanting and seemingly simplistic. But beneath this simplicity lies layers of action, social engagement and symbolism. The premise of Liffey Love was to collect plastic discarded into the River Liffey and to return it to the Liffey quaysides in the form of two love seats. In what could be likened to the journey of the river from source to sea so is Byrne’s artistic process for Liffey Love.

There is evidence of human habitation on the Liffey estuary from the Late Mesolithic, approximately 8,000 years ago where hazel fish traps were found in excavations led by Melanie McQuade of Margaret Gowan & Co Ltd at Spencer Dock, North Wall Quay, Dublin. As an abundant natural resource and route from sea to land, it is not surprising that a major settlement would develop along the estuarine stretch of the river. From the time of the arrival of the Vikings in 841 AD Dublin emerged as the largest city on the island of Ireland. However, industrialisation and the rapid growth of the city since the 18th century gradually decayed the state of the Liffey to a point where as the band Bagatelle in their hit song of 1980 Summer in Dublin sang ‘the Liffey as it stank like hell’. Gradually, industrial and sewage pollution into the river has been addressed, and you no longer see the toxic discolouration of the water or level of dumping in the abundance which I witnessed many times. In fact, salmon, a fish which is highly sensitive to pollution, are once again making their way up the river course. However, plastic detritus still makes its way into this waterway. Rhona Byrne has a justifiable reputation for her socially engaged practice which is never formulaic and always context specific. Liffey Love is no exception. This proposal for the second Dublin City Public Art Programme was rooted in Byrne’s love and knowledge of the River Liffey but also her deep concern for the environment and belief in social interaction.

As a member of the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club from where she sails, she developed a connection with Jimmy Murray of the Irish Nautical Trust and his operation of the Liffey Sweeper which harvests waste including plastic discarded into the Liffey. This was the starting point for the commission. Dublin City Council as commissioner has been a key partner throughout the commissioning process. In addition to providing the funding, Rhona Byrne has been supported in promoting the commission and locating the artworks. The City Arts Officer, Ray Yeates has provided constant support and working closely with Rhona Byrne devised a strategy to promote public awareness of the commission. Dublin Docklands which is part of Dublin City Council have provided a most appropriate location for the sculptures on North Wall Quays facing south towards the confluence of the River Dodder and Grand Canal with the River Liffey. The location incidentally happens to be close to the site where the Mesolithic fish traps were discovered. As Public Art Officer working in the City Arts Office until the end of January 2024, I was privileged to witness key moments in the development of Liffey Love. A memorable trip on the Liffey Sweeper led me to better understand the process of harvesting the waste plastic while meetings with polymer engineers Paltech, who have reprocessed the plastic waste into a jewellike polymer, demonstrated the magic of the transformative aspect of the commission. The launch of the commission on Culture Night in September 2023 in Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club where Byrne curated an evening of trips on the Liffey Ferry and an exhibition about the process, proved the interest and fascination of the public in the commission.

Working with industrial designer Eoin Billings and his team in Billings Jackson Design, Byrne has worked from tiny cardboard models using modular elements to the design of the full-scale wavelike sculptures. Even the steel fabrication, which stiches the polymer elements together, is closely linked to the Liffey, with engineer and fabricator Roger Smith of Steel Smith being a fellow sailor of Byrne’s. Byrne’s artistic process is much more than action-based production and there is important meaning to her commission. Liffey Love is concerned with the pressing and deeper issues of the need to develop ‘circular economies’ rather than a consumer-based habits with which we are all too familiar of ‘use and dispose’. She has a particular interest in plastic as an omnipresent material in our daily lives. The underlying meaning of the artworks and commissioning process will only truly come to life with the interaction of people sitting on the social sculptures, which are intriguingly designed to accommodate people who wish to sit, perch or lounge on them for a chat or to contemplate. The sociability of the artworks will be added to by a program of meet-ups at the sculptures inviting local schools and community. You can link to her website available through QR Codes located on site to learn more about the project.

Byrne, has titled the social sculptures Restless: Liffey Love. She explains, ‘Restless’ is about a sense of anxiety in the world and our city and an urge to take action to make change. It’s love as an action. ‘Restless’ is about our unsettled society that’s in a state of flux and the need for more civic pride and togetherness. It celebrates the labour of those that care and are doing things with civic pride. I see the sculptures as if they are in dynamic movement and have a sense of potential. A million bits of waste assembled together to create a new destination in the city. Making a million small actions possibly to create big change’.

Rhona Byrne’s Liffey Love is set to become a new landmark in Dublin, celebrating the city’s resilience and creativity. These colourful, tactile useful sculptures invite residents and visitors to sit, reflect, and connect with each other and the environment, fostering a deeper appreciation for the sustainable future we can build together.

About Dublin City Council Arts Office

The Dublin City Council Arts Office supports and promotes the development of the arts in Dublin, fostering creativity, innovation, and cultural engagement through various programs, projects, and partnerships.

About Rhona Byrne

Rhona is a visual and socially engaged artist who makes context specific projects that are often interdisciplinary and manifest in many forms, including objects, public sculpture, photography, installations, performance events which investigate materials, people and place. She has exhibited and has been commissioned extensively in Ireland and internationally and received a number of funding awards from the Arts Council of Ireland. Rhona’s work is in the collections of The Arts Council of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council, NUI Maynooth and several private collections. Rhona is a part-time lecturer at Limerick School of Art and Design Sculpture and Combined Media. Rhona also likes to sail and roller skate and she is a member of Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club.

www.rhonabyrne.com

The project team for Liffey Love brought together by artist Rhona Byrne involves local knowledge, community engagement and expertise in design, waste management, engineering and material production.

Irish Nautical Trust founded by CEO Jimmy Murray focused on preserving our nautical heritage, providing Maritime training, the Old Liffey Ferry and The Liffey Sweeper that continuously sweeps the river clean of waste debris with his team www.irishnauticaltrust.ie

Paltech and partners Green Generation R&D director Adrian Doyle and his team are a polymer engineering company with the mission of transforming waste plastics into high value products with a focus on products for construction, transport infrastructure and agriculture. www.paltech.ie

Billings Jackson Design, Eoin Billings and his team design urban public realm and transportation infrastructure projects in international cities on multiple continents, typically taking responsibility for the design of elements that include street furniture, shelters/kiosks, lighting elements and signage hardware. www.billingsjackson.com

Steel Smith Roger Smith and his team are an Irish based engineering and fabrication company who design, build and manage complex engineering projects in the industrial and commercial sectors. www.SteelSmith.ie

Malcolm Mc Gettigan photographer and videographer specialising in commercial, portrait, fashion and documentary photography. www.malcolmmcgettigan.format.com

Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club have been an ongoing support throughout the project www.poolbegmarina.ie

Meet the project team for Restless : Niels Denekamp Billings Jackson Design, Ray Yeates Dublin City Council Arts office,Malcolm McGettigan photographer, Oonagh Young graphic design, Adrian Doyle Paltech, Roger Smith Steel Smith , Haruka Sato, Billings Jackson Design, Jimmy Murray Liffey Sweeper Irish Nautical Trust, Rhona Byrne Artist, Eoin Billings Billings Jackson Design, Photograph by Mark Stedman

Collecting plastic on the Liffey Sweeper

Making recycled plastic sheets with Paltech