Tramore Valley Park itself has been the site of great environmental change. Until 2009, this site was used as a landfill for the city. The area began opening up as a park in 2015 before fully opening in 2019 and has the capacity to harvest rain water and any gas produced by the former landfill to produce energy to power approximately 500 local homes.

A collaborative vision

The KinShip project will be led by Cork City Council along with a team of two artists in collaboration with the council, Marilyn Lennon and Sean Taylor. Both Marilyn and Sean’s respective practices are rooted in the notion of the site and in the process of collaboration. Other partners who will contribute to the Kinship Project include Cork Nature Network, Cork Healthy Cities, Cork’s UNESCO Learning City, MTU Clean Technology Lab, and UCC Environmental Research Institute.

Marilyn is a visual artist and lecturer whose work examines and reimagines both urban and rural social spaces. The outcomes of her practice are typically co-created artefacts, situations, actions, and sites of exchange exploring social use of spaces and the environment. 

For 25 years, Sean has been developing a practice and process based on the connection between audience and site, with a rigorous approach to the collection of data about both in the projects he has undertaken. The resulting artworks have taken many forms, including a number of sound installations.

Connecting the community and the park

The KinShip Project is a durational public artwork, developing a variety of socially engaged cultural initiatives at the park over the course of 15 months. The overall aim is to develop a real sense of connection between the community and its park. This kin-like connection is a civic goal, to have people to treat the park like part of their wider family. 

To achieve this, there will be a programme of artistic residencies, the design and building of a sustainable eco lab, and a series of creative exchanges and knowledge exchanges. All of these elements will put the the local community at the centre of the project.

Find out more about the Creative Climate Action Fund projects.