Suchergebnisse

The Olympic Games are associated with sporting excellence, but Ireland's history of the Games is also full of moments of great political and cultural significance. From the first gold medal win to the Special Olympics being held in Ireland in 2003, here are some of the key moments in Ireland's Olympic history.

Over the coming months, government departments will collaborate with different stakeholders, including the National Archives, Creative Ireland and the Arts Council, to develop a programme of initiatives aimed at capturing the Covid-19 experience in Ireland.

County boundaries are recognised as complex structures that relate to how society is organised in political and geographical terms. The way Irish county boundaries have been interpreted has evolved and they are viewed differently by different groups. How did county boundaries come into existence in the first place - and how do they shape our everyday activities, identities and reference points?

From politicians using their relationships with celebrities to relate to a specific demographic to promoting their perceived similarities with a wide audience, notions of politics and celebrity have overlapped and interacted closely in recent years. How has President Michael D Higgins transformed into a celebrity politician?

The FAI, the Irish Football Association, the English FA, the Football Association of Wales, and the Scottish FA have confirmed plans for a five-association bid to host the World Cup tournament in 2030. Although this move has been welcomed by many, the motivation behind it is mainly political and is not in the best interests of Irish sport.

Garth Brooks is America's greatest selling solo artist of all time. His unprecedented impact on country music transferred to Ireland, but with both positive and negative outcomes. Sure, he wrote a song titled Ireland and released it on a multi-million selling album, but Brooks also caused a fiasco that prompted public protests, Oireachtas Committee hearings and changes to government legislation.

The events of Bloody Sunday, November 21st 1920, are regarded as having marked a decisive turning-point in the Irish War of Independence. Three separate but connected events occurred that day: the killings by Michael Collins's 'squad' of British Intelligence agents in their Dublin homes that morning; the killing by British forces of 14 civilians at Croke Park in the afternoon and the arrest and killing of two high-ranking Dublin IRA officers that night. In all, 30 people died within fifteen hours on that fateful day in Dublin. Like many events of historical importance, facts about Bloody Sunday have been coloured or clouded by political censorship, social biases and urban legends fueled by fictionalized accounts made popular in film and other media.

1920 was quite a year in Ireland. The War of Independence was ongoing throughout the country, Cork was devastated by a series of fires that swept through the centre of the city and the Government of Ireland Act was agreed. The GAA's playing fields staged their own dramatic episodes, with the Tipperary football team at the centre of it. As the team claimed the All-Ireland title of 1920, the county's footballers reached heights they have not been reached since.

The government's announcement of a ceremony at Dublin Castle on January 17th to commemorate those who served in the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police prior to independence has been met with much debate around the appropriateness of commemorating opposing sides in conflict.

There is a tradition of athletes using their playing fields as a platform to advocate for change. This activism can refer to systematic changes required within sport itself or it can relate to the wider need for political and social justice. Sport has always believed that it is a significant arena of fairness and justice and of advancement for minorities and all disempowered people.

Tangible traces of conflict in visual artefacts can take viewers uncomfortably close to the realities of war—violence, destruction and fatalities. This article questions the evidential force of objects associated with conflict and their eventual display in exhibitions. Through a study of the display of a brick in which is embedded a bullet that is said to have passed through the body of Francis Sheehy Skeffington when he was executed by firing squad during the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, this article explores the historical configuration of the brick and analyses its public display in the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). By examining the actions carried out by the NMI in collecting and archiving the object and analysing the narrative strategies of its display, this article considers how the visual aspects of exhibition displays can perpetuate a particular version of historic events and accredits objects with assumed authenticity.

The actions surrounding the display of images and artefacts in museums – collection, conservation, research and exhibition – are bound up with how the past is presented and remembered. These conditions and decisions relating to exhibitions are largely invisible to viewers who are confronted with the apparent completeness of an exhibition display. By conducting a historical and visual analysis of the bloodstained vest of political leader James Connolly, this article uncovers how this artefact has become a relic of historical violence due to the way in which particular aspects of its configuration, form and trajectory have been manipulated in order to elicit powerful emotional responses from the exhibition's viewers.

Objects derive their historical weight from the place where they are displayed and the authenticity surrounding them. An object which has received considerable media attention in the 'Proclaiming a Republic' exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland is a portion of a brick in which is embedded a bullet, which is said to have passed through the body of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington when he was executed by firing squad during the EasterRising in Dublin in 1916. In an effort to hide evidence that the execution had taken place, Sheehy- Skeffington's body was hastily buried by the British Army and all bricks from the wall where he was executed whichcontained bullets were removed and replaced. Some years later, the brick and an authenticating letter was sentto Sheehy- Skeffington's wife who subsequently donated the item to the National Museum of Ireland in 1937.With its display in the National Museum of Ireland's milestone exhibition which opened in 2016, the brick has become symbolic as a tangible link to the de ath of a principal activist in Ireland's political history. By examiningthis brick as example of acquisition, donation, preservation and exhibition, my paper demonstrates howordinary objects can make significant contributions to fostering understandings of history when they areauthenticated and mediated within museum environments. This paper investigates the range of actions whichtook place in order to render this ordinary object as valuable material evidence of significant moments inhistory. This paper examines further how objects associated with death are used as mediation devices whichcurators employ due to their historical significance, visual impact and emotional strength.

My doctoral research concerns the material and visual culture of modern Ireland with particular focus upon the role of exhibition display in commemoration and collective memory. Like many countries, Ireland has a chaotic past which results in challenges for museums in presenting history to satisfy the education and expectation of both national and transnational audiences. The Easter Rising of 1916 is the pivotal event in the creation of the modern Irish state and is widely recognised as a historical event upon which the cultural identity of Ireland is founded and consolidated. My research examines the challenges of displaying death and violence through images and artefacts in 1916 commemorative exhibition displays at three national cultural institutions in Ireland. My analysis to date has indicated that the images and artefacts in my case study commemorative exhibitions are displayed in a way which confronts the tensions and violence of the 1916 Rising which were overlooked in previous exhibitions. This is largely achieved through the display of ordinary objects with visible traces of use such as James Connolly's bloodstained vest which he wore during the rebellion. Such an artefact requires an examination of the actions carried out by the cultural institution in collecting and conserving the object; an analysis of how the visible traces of use authenticates the artefact as a tangible link to a nation's past; and an analysis of the narrative strategies of its display. My research project uses commemorative exhibitions to link together the three disciplines of visual culture, material culture and museology.

My doctoral research concerns the material and visual culture of modern Ireland with particular focus upon the role of exhibition display in commemoration and collective memory. Like many countries, Ireland has a chaotic past which results in challenges for museums in presenting history to satisfy the education and expectation of both national and transnational audiences. The Easter Rising of 1916 is the pivotal event in the creation of the modern Irish state and is widely recognised as a historical event upon which the cultural identity of Ireland is founded and consolidated. My research examines the challenges of displaying death and violence through images and artefacts in 1916 commemorative exhibition displays at three national cultural institutions in Ireland. My analysis to date has indicated that the images and artefacts in my case study commemorative exhibitions are displayed in a way which confronts the tensions and violence of the 1916 Rising which were overlooked in previous exhibitions. This is largely achieved through the display of ordinary objects with visible traces of use such as James Connolly's bloodstained vest which he wore during the rebellion. Such an artefact requires an examination of the actions carried out by the cultural institution in collecting and conserving the object; an analysis of how the visible traces of use authenticates the artefact as a tangible link to a nation's past; and an analysis of the narrative strategies of its display. My research project uses commemorative exhibitions to link together the three disciplines of visual culture, material culture and museology.