#TransitGateway - As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure.

Transit Gateway as an artistic mapping cartography shows the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” was created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer was added to the installation.

“Dublin Port 2017 / Flux” is the ninth and final seminar completing this series, and Silvia Loeffler has invited three fellow artists who have been working for lengthy amounts of time on documenting Dublin Port in their own very unique way, and who will present their personal port perspective. We hope that you are able to join us with this discussion of Dublin Port in its relation to contemporary arts practice and work that cares for our maritime environment.

Seminar Venue Information: The concluding free seminar take place this Friday, 20 October (18.00-21.00) at the LAB Gallery, Foley Street, Dublin 1 to book a place you must register through Eventbrite here. 

Please note: This seminar will include a coach trip down to  Ferryport Terminal 1 to launch the exhibition of Silvia’s completed Transit Gateway map installation.

The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register if you are absolutely certain that you will be attending, as we will have to book the coach depending on confirmed numbers. Participants will be brought back from the port to the city at approx. 21.00 as referred above.

Speaker panel:
Moira Sweeney (artist)
Sheelagh Broderick (artist)
Cliona Harmey (artist)

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

To read a bio on each of the speakers along with a link to register for the final seminar is repeated by clicking here.

#TransitGateway - As highlighted on Afloat was the penulimate semimar of Transit Gateway's Mapping of Dublin Port, a series which is part of the Port Perspectives programme of events.

Among them is the opportunity for the public to visit the latest Mapping Phase 8: Dublin Port from 1965 to 1986 which will be added to the installation of the Open Day: Saturday, 30 September for two hours between 15.00 - 17.00hrs. This will take place in the port's main ferry Terminal 1 (Irish Ferries) building.

This mapping series traces Dublin Port over the centuries and is collaboration with partners and the local community.

Silvia Loeffler's mapping of Dublin Port Company illustrates the changing connections of the city. In addition as to how the port is a gateway and a vital connection for the city with the wider world. So Why not join us?

For more information on Silvia’s project can be found here:

For the location of the exhibition venue, see map here

#TransitGateway - As part of “Port Perspectives”, the project Transit Gateway documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. The penultimate seminar takes place next week in The LAB, Foley Street in Dublin City centre on Wednesday, 27 Sept. 

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that shows the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Each month, a specific seminar, which is held in the LAB in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, accompanies a specific map layer.

“Dublin Port from 1965 to 1986/ Transition” is the eighth seminar in this series. This time period was marked by the building of two new bridges spanning the River Liffey: Talbot Memorial Bridge linking Custom House Quay on the Northside to City Quay on the Southside was completed in 1978, and the East Link (today its formal name is Tom Clarke Bridge) with its connecting toll bridge approach road opened in 1984 to bridge Ringsend to the North Wall.

Yet again, another significant amount of reclaimed lands opposite Clontarf added to the port expansion. Container terminals were added to the Southside at Poolbeg, and so was the Corporation Sludge Jetty, together with ESB Poolbeg Station and the ESB Tanker Jetty. On the Northside, B&I Freight Terminal, the first car ferry terminal and the deepwater No.5 Ro-ro berth were added. The Sealink Freight Terminal was built on the last stretch of the port’s heartland on the Northside.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of this particular era, when Dublin City saw throngs of people leave by boat for England for employment. The port became divided into zones, and the ships’ total cargo was now being carried in containers, a concept started in the 1950s and 60s. The total change from break-bulk to containerised cargo was regarded as revolutionary (comparable to the groundbreaking change from sail to steamships in the 1800s). We will elaborate on the meanings of “transition” in a socio-economic and urban context as well as in psychological terms. We will furthermore connect associations of container landscapes and port zones with everyday life experiences. What does it mean to be working in a port? What is it like to be travelling in and out of Dublin by sea on a regular basis?

Speaker panel:

Niamh Cherry Moore (geographer)
Michael McLoughlin (artist and researcher)
Derek McGauley (port security; Terminal 1)

Seminar Registration: This seminar is the eighth in a series of nine. The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register by clicking here. in addition for a bio of each of the speakers. 

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.
Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.
https://silvialoeffler.wordpress.com/

#TransitGateway - As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that shows the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Venue

Each month, a specific seminar, which is held in the LAB on Foley Street, in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, accompanies a specific map layer.

“Dublin Port from 1947 to 1964/ Reconstruction” is the seventh seminar in this series. This time period was marked by the rebuilding of Custom House Quay West, No. 2 Graving Dock, No. 2 Ro-ro berth, and the quay superstructure of Ocean Pier took place, so now gas (besides the main fuels coal and oil) could be safely transported into Dublin. The construction of a whole Oil Zone took place, with the East Oil jetty and the West Oil jetty now being faced by a Pilot Shore Station in the heart of the Port.

A significant amount of reclaimed lands added to the port expansion. There were major changes on the Poolbeg Peninsula. The ESB experienced difficulty in obtaining coal supply for its old generating station at Pidgeon House, so they leased and converted an unused refinery boilerhouse to Ringsend No. 2 Station, which came into operation in 1955. A new wharf was constructed to enable tankers to discharge oil into the station’s storage tanks.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of this particular era, where modernisation of equipment and electro-hydraulic design shaped a sort of brave new world port landscape. On a more natural note, the smell of the Liffey and various forms of ‘unsightliness’ were more in the public eye than ever, and environmental issues became prevalent. We will elaborate on the meanings of “reconstruction” in a postwar as well as in a contemporary context, and we will connect associations of progress and automation with machine aesthetics and the human body.

Speaker panel:

tba (Liebherr port technology)
Aoife Desmond (interdisciplinary artist)
Conor McGarrigle (artist and researcher)

Seminar Registration

This seminar is the seventh in a series of nine. The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register by contacting Eventbrite here.

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.
Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.

For more about the work of Silvia click here in addition to a bio of each of the speakers click this link.

#TransitGateway - Transit Gateway A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port by Silvia Loeffler continues with the next seminar to take place on 26 July. 

The Transit Gateway project is at Mapping Phase 6: Dublin Port from 1930 to 1946 / Emergency

The event is to be held at the following time, date and location:
Wednesday, 26 July 2017 from 18:15 to 20:15  
The LAB Gallery
1 Foley Street, Dublin

As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that shows the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Each month, a specific seminar, which is held in the LAB on Foley Street, in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, accompanies a specific map layer.

“Dublin Port from 1930 to 1946/ Emergency” is the sixth seminar in this series. According to Lloyd’s Register, the average size steamship had worldwide increased by 60 % between 1900 and 1928, and berthing facilities for large vessels very incredibly expensive. We will refer to the port in Saorstat Eireann, where the tribunal report of 1930 stated that, “the public generally do not, we fear, appreciate the importance of our harbours as a vital part of the country’s economic structure […]”.

1932 was going to be a major challenge for the Port, as the Eucharistic Congress would be held in Dublin, with seven large ocean liners plus extra cross-channel passenger services from Liverpool and Glasgow coming in. Masses were held on board of the ships, and the transit shed at the Crossberth at the North Wall Extension, which had formerly housed gear to generate electricity, became equipped with temporary altars to provide service on land to the pilgrims.

60 years after Bindon Blood Stoney supervised the men in the Diving Bell excavating soil from the riverbed of the Liffey to make room for the first 350 ton concrete block, the North Wall Extension was finally completed in 1937, with the re-positioning of the North Wall Lighthouse at its extremity. By the end of 1938 more and more land was being reclaimed in the heartland of the port, and the work of two jetties had begun in order to accommodate the by now numerous oil tankers arriving, and to connect these jetties with a tank farm that would store crude oil before it was going into a planned refinery.

In 1939, these plans were abandoned, and as a result of the outbreak of WW II, restrictions and censorship were introduced by the Emergency Powers Order. All movement, public media correspondence, communications and supplies that concerned ships, aircraft and lighthouses were put under governmental control. The building of the Ocean Pier commenced, which may be seen as a continuation of Alexandra Quay, and a new warehouse – later known as Stack D – was designed. The Crossberth Shed that had been transformed into a place of service for the Eucharistic Congress in 1932 became a briquette manufacturing plant during the WW II years, as coal for dredging was once again difficult to obtain.

In September 1945, refugees who were mainly from the Baltic States arrived in small fishing vessels and yachts into Dublin Port, travelling the distance that would be the first stage of their journey into the New World.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of this particular era, where one of the largest eucharistic congresses of the 20th century was held in Dublin City. Within the historical time span of only 16 years, its Port adapted to the mass visit of celebrating pilgrims, and, on a more sombre level, to the emergency situations of war and evacuation. We will elaborate on the meanings of “emergency” in a historical as well as in a contemporary Irish maritime context, and we will connect associations of religious mission and migration with the wider world.

Speaker panel:
Joe Varley (maritime historian)
Fiona Loughnane (researcher in Visual Culture)
Annabel Konig (artist)

NOTE REGISTER TO BOOK: This seminar is the sixth in a series of nine. The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register here.

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.
https://silvialoeffler.wordpress.com/

For more on the bio of each of the speakers, scroll down the page, click here.

#TransitGateway - A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port by Silvia Loeffler is at this stage of the Transit Gateway project approaching Mapping Phase 5: Dublin Port from 1898 to 1929 / Turbulent Times.

The next event is to be held at the following time, date and location:
Wednesday, 28 June 2017 from 18:15 to 20:15
The LAB Gallery,  1 Foley Street, Dublin 1 

NOTE: This free seminar is the fifth event in a series of nine, but places are limited so please make sure to register here.

As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. The changes of the port as a gateway to the city bring to mind the void of communication of the 18th century on the ships before Marconi, the forced emigrations of the 19th century, the modern context of maritime holiday migration that shaped the 20th century, and which now extends itself to the cruise business the 21st century, and how cargo volumes changed over the centuries in terms of goods, locations and quantity.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that will show the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Each month, a specific seminar, which will be held in the LAB on Foley Street, in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, will accompany the map layer.

“Dublin Port from 1898 to 1929/ Turbulent Times” is the fifth seminar in this series. We will refer to the port as a reflection of Dublin City as “Nighttown”, as Joyce would have it. Dublin’s red light district covering the inner city was situated around Faithful Place (on what is now Railway Street), the “World’s End Lane” that was part of Montgomory Street (now Foley Street, home of the LAB Gallery) and Mabbot Street (now James Joyce Street). The dark sides of frolicking and sexual disease were rampant in the Monto, which was conveniently bounded by Amien Street Station, Gardiner Street and Talbot Street, and the Port - with the Custom House, the docks and berthages for trading vessels from overseas only a stone’s throw away. The area was deprived, rent was cheap, and the inner city tenements were home to the numerous men working on the dockyards and quays along the Liffey and their families.

Alexandra Quay was often congested because cargo ships competed for berthage spaces, and shallow water in the river channel of the Liffey continued to be a major problem. Dutch firm was contracted to remove the sand from the bar with a suction dredger and to pump the vast amount ashore at the Graving Dock, which was situated on the newly reclaimed lands. Public lighting along the quays was put into place, the timber jetties used by Gouldings and the American Oil company were extended, the new electricity generating station replaced “animal power”, and the use of electric cranes and electric capstans became a common sight.

In 1913, labour disputes in the tenement areas put the inner city into paralysis, but works in the port, albeit under immense difficulty, carried on. At the outbreak of World War I, military forces took over the North Wall extension and Alexandra Quay, and when the Irish Free State came into existence in 1922, the Port urgently needed extra bonded transit sheds and warehouses, as imports from Britain were no longer exempt from customs regulations. In 1923, a labour dispute with seamen, dockers and port workers erupted and sea trade became seriously affected. The miner strike of 1926 in Britain challenged the import of coal into the port, which meant that the dredging programme was immensely difficult to keep up.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of this particular era where the cattle ban came in and Dublin City and Port were shaped by the turbulence of labour disputes, war years, and the thrall of Joycean “wisps and danger signals”.

Speaker panel: 
Gerry Kearns (health geographer)
Sheena Barrett (curator of the LAB Gallery)
Robert Nicholson (curator of the Joyce Tower)

For a bio of each speaker, click here and scroll down the page.

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.
https://silvialoeffler.wordpress.com/

#TransitGateway - As part of “Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. This months free seminar: Mapping Phase 4 Dublin Port 1867-1897 Frency & Excitement is detailed further below. 

The changes of the port as a gateway to the city bring to mind the void of communication of the 18th century on the ships before Marconi, the forced emigrations of the 19th century, the modern context of maritime holiday migration that shaped the 20th century, and which now extends itself to the cruise business the 21st century, and how cargo volumes changed over the centuries in terms of goods, locations and quantity.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that will show the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Each month, a specific seminar, which will be held in the Venue: LAB Gallery on 1 Foley Street, Dublin in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, will accompany the map layer.

This months free event: “Dublin Port from 1867 to 1897/ Frenzy and Excitement” is the fourth seminar in this series.

Date: Wednesday, 31 May

Time from 18:15 to 20:15 

To Register: The event is free, but places are limited.  So please make sure to register HERE and for more about each of the speakers. 

We will refer to the port in the late Victorian period, which was shaped by its chief engineer Bindon Blood Stoney. The Custom House Docks declined gradually, as the improvement of entrance locks proved to be too costly. (The warehouses were still used to store cargo, which was transported from the vessels that berthed at the deepwater section.) A tramway was built across reclaimed land to connect the jetty of the chemical firm W.H.M. Goulding, with their factory. The Port and Docks Act of 1869 recommended rebuilding works at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Great Britain Quay and suggested that Stoney’s project for the North Wall extension come to life. The sheer float and the diving bell were delivered in 1866, and when the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Dublin on 11 April 1885 to inspect the extension, they could view the spectacle of 6 men, who excavated soil from the river, emerge from the water in a diving bell. The adjoining basin was named Alexandra Basin after the princess.

Again, the Liffey was to be the connecting lifeline of the city with the port, the river’s bridges being the connecting points. Grattan Bridge at Capel Street was rebuilt in its present form in 1873-5. A new swivel bridge, Butt Bridge, opened in 1879 and was used for shipping cargo upriver until 1888. (In 1891, Butt Bridge became a ‘loopline’ railway bridge, and it was not possible for ships to pass underneath any longer.)

Carlisle Bridge, which was rebuilt and renamed O’Connell Bridge, opened in 1880. The three bridges, who are distinctive landmark features of the Dublin of today, were designed by Bindon Blood Stoney, who retired in 1898 because of poor health, after working for the port for almost forty-three years.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of Dublin Port of this particular era where steam boats offered ever more speed and comfort and engineering feats added to the frenzy and excitement of a a building boom in the city that continued on both sides of the river.

Speaker panel:
Seán ó’Laoire (architect / Diving Bell development)
Vanessa Daws (artist)
Fergal Mc Carthy (artist)

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.

https://silvialoeffler.wordpress.com/

#TransitGateway - As part of “Dublin Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. This will be third seminar so far of Transit Gateway Mapping project: Dublin Port from 1786-1866 that is to take place on Wednesday, 26 April. 

The free event (to register see below) is to be take place from 18:15 to 20:15 in the Dublin inner city venue of The LAB on Foley Street (off Talbot Street).

The changes of the port as a gateway to the city bring to mind the void of communication of the 18th century on the ships before Marconi, the forced emigrations of the 19th century, the modern context of maritime holiday migration that shaped the 20th century, and which now extends itself to the cruise business the 21st century, and how cargo volumes changed over the centuries in terms of goods, locations and quantity.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that will show the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

Each month, a specific seminar, which will be held in the LAB on Foley Street, in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’, will accompany the map layer.
“Dublin Port from 1786 to 1866 / Structures of Care” is the third seminar in this series. We will refer to the measures, which the newly formed Ballast Board undertook in their function as “the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin”. John Pidgeon’s House and late 18th century docklands’ everyday life was marked by illegal liquor sales at the South Wall, drunken behaviour at the Lighthouse, and ‘tours of inspection’ down the river. The 19th century became the era of packet and steam ships and the establishment of the port authority’s lifeboat service (1801-62). A multitude of new lighthouses (in 1810 there were ten, whereas in 1867 there were seventy-two) appeared and the construction of the North Bull Wall (1820/21 – 1825) took place, which would – eventually - lead to the appearance of Bull Island as we know it.

As Dublin grew in trade and commerce, additional bridges were built over the Liffey to connect North and South parts of the city to accommodate traffic. The quay walls required constant repair and maintenance, and, in psychological as much as in building terms, care and nurture were required to keep the port machinery operating in connection with the city and its dwellers.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of Dublin Port of this particular era, and how restoration, preservation and care are foundations of both environmental concerns and civic participation.
Speaker panel:
Rob Goodbody (built heritage specialist)
Sophia Meeres (landscape architect)
Tara Kennedy & Jo Anne Butler (artists / architects)

TO REGISTER: The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register by clicking here. This seminar is the third in a series of nine, held over the next months.

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

#TransitGateway - As part of “Dublin Port Perspectives”, Transit Gateway is a project that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure.

Following the recent introductory seminar of Transit Gateway, the second out of nine seminars, titled “Dublin Port from 1708 to 1785 / Walls of Protection” takes place on Wednesday 29 March in the LAB Gallery, Foley Street, Dublin (for times and to book tickets online see details below).

The changes of the port as a gateway to the city bring to mind the void of communication of the 18th century, the forced emigrations of the 19th century, the modern context of maritime holiday migration that shaped the 20th century, and which now extends itself to the cruise business the 21st century, and how cargo volumes changed over the centuries in terms of goods, locations and quantity.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that will show the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world. In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port ‘s transitional phases over a time period of 9 months.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” is currently being created, and the works are displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. Each month, a new map layer will be added to the installation.

As previously outlined, each month a specific seminar will be held in the LAB on Foley Street, in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’ which will accompany the map layer.

The second seminar “Dublin Port from 1708 to 1785 / Walls of Protection” takes place on Wednesday 29 March (18.15-20.00) in the LAB Gallery, Foley Street off Talbot Street, Dublin.        

The event is free, but places are limited. Please make sure to register by clicking HERE.

We will discuss the cultural meanings of Dublin’s port location and it’s long-running problem of silting and the mouth of the river Liffey by looking at the Ballast Office Act of 1708 to secure naval commerce. The Ballast Office Committee proposed a new direct channel for the river Liffey above Ringsend and to build retaining walls along the new river boundaries. Important features of 18th century city life and Dublin Port included the establishment of City Quay and Sir Rogerson’s Quay (1716-1720s) on the south bank of the river, and the erection Gandon’s Custom House, which commenced in 1781 on the north bank.

Dublin was considered as one of the most dangerous ports in Europe and severe tidal stress gave reason to the construction of the Great South Wall. The wall became a geographical landmark, and, in its architectural as well as in its psychological functions, a symbol of protection. This period in time also sees the building of the Poolbeg Lighthouse, the first lighthouse at the end of the great wall, which was operated by using candles in a huge lantern. On the evening of 29 September 1767, large crowds stood on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay to witness the first light shine out to Dublin Bay.

We hope that you are able to join us with the discussion of Dublin Port and the City of this particular era, which may be seen as evoking the early thrills and pains of a maritime metropolis.

Speaker panel:
Fiona McDonald (architect / artist)
Rob Goodbody (built heritage specialist)
Eamon McElroy (port engineer)

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery.

Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.

Dr. Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. This seminar series will continue until October 2017 and is part of Silvia's artistic cartography 'Transit Gateway: A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port'.

https://silvialoeffler.wordpress.com/

#TransitGateway – The introductory seminar phase of 'Transit Gateway- A Deep Mapping of Dublin Port' organised by Silvia Loeffler is to take place next week in the capital.

The project is part of “Dublin Port Perspectives 2017” that documents the transitional changes of the shape of Dublin Port from its medieval shoreline to its current infrastructure. The Speaker panel of this first seminar are Howard Clarke (medieval historian) Niall Brady (marine archaeologist) and Sheila Dooley (curator of Dublinia).

Due to popular demand tickets for the seminar, Mapping Phase 1: ‘The Medieval City as a Maritime Hub / A Shoreline of Anxiety’ have already been sold out. There will however be further opportunities to attend the mapping project seminar series, that in total will have run for nine months, in which Afloat will highlight.

Each specific seminar, which are free but have limited places, will likewise of next week’s introductory seminar are to be held in the LAB on Foley Street (off Talbot Street, Dublin 1).

On this occasion the speakers will among the topics discuss the earliest jetties to the south of modern Wood Quay and Merchant’s Quay which were important features of medieval city life, just like the 'fysshe slypp' at Fishamble Street and the socialising places on Winetavern Street.

The following Transport Gateway seminars will also explore the changes of the port as a gateway to the city bring to mind the void of communication of the 18th century, on the ships before Marconi, the forced emigrations of the 19th century, the modern context of maritime holiday migration that shaped the 20th century. In addition to where the port has extended itself to the cruise business of the 21st century, and how cargo volumes changed over the centuries in terms of goods, locations and quantity.

Transit Gateway is an artistic mapping cartography that will show the changing connections of the city and the port throughout the years, and how the port as a gateway creates a vital connection of the city with the wider world.

In collaboration with partners and the local community, the artist Silvia Loeffler has been commissioned by Dublin Port Company to create a social and collaborative artistic mapping project that looks at the port’s transitional phases over the nine month timeframe.

A large-scale installation series loosely based on the various maps used by H.A. Gilligan in his “History of the Port of Dublin” will be created, and the works will be displayed in the Terminal 1 Building in Dublin Port. As each month passes with the specific seminars, a new map layer will be added to the installation in order ‘to bring the port back into the city’.

The Transit Gateway seminars are part of a wider public engagement programme for Port Perspectives 2017. They are funded by Dublin Port Company and the LAB Gallery. 'Dublin Port's 2017 Port Perspectives / Engagement Programme has been developed in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, UCD School of Architecture, National College of Art and Design, Irish Architecture Foundation, Create [the National Collaborative Arts Agency] and Business to Arts.'

Dr. Silvia Loeffler is an artist, researcher and educator in Visual Culture. She is the organiser of the Transit Gateway seminars, funded by Dublin Port Company, and run in close collaboration with the LAB. The seminar series will continue until October 2017.