the monuments day off 

 

Concept:  To make visible the invisible and to make invisible the visible.

Proposal: To Wrap both the Molly Malone statue on Grafton Street and the Countess Markievicz statue in Stephen’s Green for a                     number of hours on May 3rd, 2012.

 

The wrapping of both the monuments is an homage to the rejected pavement wrapping proposal by Christo and Jeanne-Claude made for inclusion in the 1977 Rosc International Art Exhibition. By wrapping both these monuments I am also bringing attention to the only Female statues in the Grafton Street area.

There is a definite connection between the two statues, with Molly Malone looking up the busy pedestrian shopping street and Countess Markievicz glancing down from the leafy green. By giving them the ‘day off’, I am making a simple ephemeral gesture to both monuments by causing them to both disappear and reappear as something else for a short period of time.

I am also questioning the very nature of these permanent public art works, why for example is the most visited

monument/ statue, Molly Malone, positioned in such a cluttered and busy area, making her next to impossible to photograph for the many tourists who want a memorial picture of their own. Therefore the wrapping of the statue subtlety questions the tourists need to experience and consume another culture and for those who pass her daily to notice the familiar in an unfamiliar way.

This is in contrast to the Countess Markievicz monument, whom once dug trenches and fought for the Independence of Ireland, who was passionate about equality and woman’s rights and was the first woman in parliament but is hidden among the many men whom also reside forever in the green.