GALLARUS ORATORY
 

An intervention at the Culture Night Ireland 2023.

The Gallarus Oratory on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry which is believed to be over 1000 years old is the best preserved ancient church in Ireland. For the Culture Night Ireland on 22nd September 2023 Tim Schmelzer chose this special place for a light and sound production. This artistic projection and sound production takes reference refers to the surroundings and the architecture.
The poem "Áiféilín" written an spoken by Dr Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh opened the projection production. Rays of light break through the wall stones, a changing texture of the individual stone layers give the building a changing appearance. Wavelike movements of the stones, accompanied by the sound of the sea and whale songs, symbolise the proximity to the North Atlantic. The opening of the front side gives an insight into the use of the building at the time of its construction. To the rhythm of the music, effective animations run through the building. 

Scoil Mhaolcheadair

As part of this project, the local school "Scoil Mhaolcheadair" was also given the opportunity to design the facade using light projection. The students were given a detailed drawing template in advance, which they were free to colour in according to their own ideas. This drawings were then scanned and projected onto the building during the short breaks in the projection show.
The students were able to marvel at their own works of art on the historic building. Some of the works can be seen in the credits of the video documentary. 

This making-of video provides a brief insight into the approach to this work, the preparation and the important steps in its realisation.
For the content production, over 1800 stones of the outer walls of the Gallarus Oratory were digitally reconstructed to create an accurate 3D model. In the preparation phase, the content was projected from three sides onto a 1:12 model to test the three-dimensional effect and to define the exact spectator areas.  

Overall artistic concept and realisation by
Tim Schmelzer

Funded by
Culture Night Late 2023 Fund | Arts Council of Ireland
County Council Kerry
Ealaín na Gaeltachta

Supported by
OPW
Gallarus Oratory Visitor Centre
Local Link Kerry

Irish language curation
Rachel Holstead

Organisation support by
Neel Bellerby

Providet 3D scan Gallarus Oratory by
David A. Anderson
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
La Crosse, WI USA

Projection technology supported by
Lumine Projections
AV Pro Vienna

Sound technology
munstersound.ie

Electric power supply by
Gallarus Oratory Visitor Centre

Support 3D modelling and animation by
Patrick Kong
Dirk Pfeifer
Haselbusch
Alireza Mokarram

Sound production
Patrick Kong

Poem "Áiféilín" by
Dr Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh

Special thanks for support by 
Hannah Pinckheard
Arts Office | Creative Ireland Kerry Office
Kerry County Council

Seamus Kelliher
Gallarus Oratory Visitor Centre

Scoil Mhaolcheadair

David O Donoghue, Sabine Weibezahl, Phil Edwards
Burkhard Neumann und Astrid Weber, Ceann Sibeal Hotel, Aer Lingus