Name and cost revealed of new Portlaoise library sculpture

The name, meaning and cost of the new disc shaped stone on Portlaoise Main Street has been revealed.

Laois County Council has revealed the story behind its sculpture commissioned to decorate the footpath outside the recently opened county library.

The sculpture which locals are likening to a pill or a silvermint, is a huge cast terrazzo stone by artist David Beattie.

It is called ‘Fragments of Time and Space’.

It cost €52,000 and was commissioned by open competition by Laois County Council under The Per Cent for Art scheme, which requires up to 1% of the cost of public infrastructure such as the new €7.5 million library, to be spent on art.

The sculpture is said to be "created in response to the musical tradition of Portlaoise and as part of the new Cultural Quarter and Library in the centre of Portlaoise".

"As an artwork, it reflects on the physicality of sound in the built environment, creating an opportunity for participants to consider how sound informs our perception of public space. The large sculpture makes use of a parabolic disc to gather, reflect and amplify the surrounding sonic environment of Main Street in Portlaoise.

"Conceived as a listening point, a place to consider the fragmented sounds of activity that occupy the street, the artwork encourages you to develop a practice of listening, to develop a multi-sensory connection to your surroundings and discover new ways of being-in-the-world that addresses our everchanging role in the formation of place," the council state.

The curved bench includes an inscription from Laois born writer Pat Boran;  ‘listen: the streets still dreaming us’ that further extends the invitation to listen. Mr Boran who grew up on the Main Street, composed a poem that he recited at the opening of the library. See it below.

WATCH: Music and poetry at launch of new Portlaoise library

An official launch of the sculpture will take place on Culture Night, Friday, September 22.

The artist will also lead a series of workshops that explore the practice of listening and these will be held in the new library in Autumn 2023.

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David Beattie is an artist and lecturer at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology and TU Dublin, Ireland. Beattie’s artistic practice explores the material world through experiential, physical engagements with objects and non-objects. Recent projects have focused on the social and environmental impact of digital technologies, agroecology and the politics of listening, psychoacoustics and the communal listening experience. He was awarded the Harpo Foundation Award in 2010 and was a recipient of the Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA collection 2016.

Beattie has been commissioned to produce a number of temporary and permanent public artworks including VOID Commissions, Derry (2021/22), Reflectors, Bray, Co.Wicklow and Patterns of Illumination, Griffith Barracks Multi-denominational School, Dublin. Exhibitions include The Glucksman (2019), Berlin Opticians (2018+2019) TULCA Art Festival, Galway (2017), CCA Derry-Londonderry (2017), Irish Museum of Modern Art (2017+2013), Rubicon Projects, Brussels (2013) All Humans Do, The Model Sligo and Whitebox, New York (2012), The Mattress Factory Art Museum, Pittsburgh (2010), Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2010). Current work includes Future Light from Distant Stars, the focal point of which is a large greenhouse which is utilised as a growing environment, a meeting place, and a workshop space. https://visualcarlow.ie/whats-on/davidbeattie

In the past number of years, Beattie’s practice has shifted from gallery production to a more collaborative, research focused practice that involves co-producing projects with engineers, artists, scientists, educators, food producers, architects, writers, and designers, producing work that has found form in exhibitions, printed publication, public art and temporary
public events. Increasingly, through these co-produced projects, Beattie is seeking an audience beyond an art audience, positioning the work and engagements as part of a wider discussion on social change and climate action.