Place of Work: A Journey Through 175 Years of the Office of Public
Works, until August 10 at OPW Atrium, 51 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
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Architecture: Ros Kavanagh
Ros Kavanagh’s salute to 175 years of the Office of Public Works
celebrates the quiet geniuses who really built Ireland. By Shane O’Toole
As with slow food, there’s a lot to be said for slow photography.
Saturated by the sleek, glossy imagery of consumption, we are often
unable nowadays to appreciate many of the things that make a difference
to the quality of our lives: the unspectacular, utilitarian and
occasionally ugly infrastructure that makes living in this time and
place so comfortable.
That is the remarkable achievement of Place of Work, a modest exhibition
of photographs by the architectural photographer Ros Kavanagh, on
display in Dublin to mark the 175th anniversary of the Office of Public
Works (OPW). It makes the neglected visible once more.
When we think of the OPW, we immediately picture the official Ireland of
great public buildings, monuments and places for which it is
responsible, such as Dail Eireann, the Custom House, the Four Courts,
Dublin Castle, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Newgrange, Skellig
Michael, the Rock of Cashel, Phoenix Park and St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
....
He photographed four projects from each decade and then narrowed it down
to one or two per decade for the exhibition. This meant about 70
examples had to be selected. “I had no idea if the projects were still
extant or if they had been altered over the years, but I liked the
element of risk,” he says. There was always the possibility that a
project, long gone or demolished, might still make for a good image or
an interesting story.
“When the OPW saw my list it said: ‘Some of these don’t pass the John
Hinde test.’ But the OPW is involved with small things as well as large
things. It’s not all glamorous,” he says. Kavanagh was asked to add the
Rock of Cashel, Dublin airport and Farmleigh, among others, to his list.
Most are not in the exhibition, however.
....
cont'd....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2277744,00.html