'Liffeytown' and the Liffey are no more. On Saturday last we towed the houses down river to Ringsend where an enormous truck took them off to a storage unit in Rathcoole, Co Dublin. On Friday I went to my friends, Layla and Brian's wedding in Naas. On the way back into town after the ceremony we got an email explaining The NewYork Times had ran a piece about 'Liffeytown'. It was hugely exciting news, especially on the last day of the project's tenure. Since then newspapers in Brazil, Canada and Dubai have also ran the story.
On Friday night we met up again with Layla and Brian on the Ha'penny Bridge to toast their wedding (with jaegermeister, a Berlin newyear tradition) and the completion of 'Liffeytown'. It was beautiful night, watching the glowing houses bobbing around on the river and bumping into half of Dublin on the bridge. It felt like a gorgeous, fitting end to what had been a brilliant two weeks.
The most surreal event during 'Liffeytown's' tenure occurred on Arthur's Day, September 24 when Guinness celebrate their product annually by giving everybody a free pint. Overnight two enormous branded spheres appeared on the Liffey upriver from my installation. It seems Diageo hadn't applied for permission for the stunt and within a few hours they were removed.
"At one stage on Diageo Day, the Guinness gremlins lost the run of themselves and floated some advertising tat in the Liffey, which somewhat ruined the effect of Fergal McCarthy's Liffeytown installation. A few phonecalls from the Fringe office had it sorted. Fringe 1, beer peddlers 0."
The Irish Times Arts Blog 'Pursued by a Bear' September 27.
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