UNDERWAVE

CURATED BY CENTRE FOR CREATIVE PRACTICES

Exhibition Run: 16 - 25 August

Opening reception 15 August

Exhibition opening hours: Monday - Friday, 10 - 5pm.

Saturday (and Sunday 25 August) 12 - 5pm.

Underwave delves into the rich history of human arrivals in Sligo and the North West, tracing the journey from the earliest Neolithic settlers to the diverse modern multicultural society. This project features sculptures by Bettina Seitz, which were temporarily installed within the tidal zones of Sligo Bay. Videographer Fionn Rogers filmed these sculptures underwater and edited them with sound design by Joe Hunt and Patrick Hallinan. The footage was streamed over four days for the Tread Softly festival, showcasing the sculptures as they succumbed to and re-emerged from successive tides.

Underwave aims to foster a deeper, empathetic connection to the underwater environment—a realm often perceived as alien—highlighting its importance as a precious space that needs protection and care during this critical period of human history. The sculptures' placement in such a dynamic location symbolises the significant interplay between human presence and the landscape, our millennia-long dependence on the shoreline, and our shared vulnerability with the fragile coastal ecosystem.

The Sligo coastline, one of Ireland's earliest sites of human habitation, was settled from the sea following the last Ice Age. Underwave resonates with this historical context, illustrating how cultures continuously evolve with the arrival of new people who become part of the community. The project draws clear parallels with contemporary issues of global migration, emphasising the ongoing transformation and integration of cultures.

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Bettina Seitz is a German-born visual artist living in the North-West of Ireland. She works across sculpture, installation and collaborative film projects. Her practice is concerned with our connection to the ‘Other’ - how we relate as human beings to each other to how we relate to the ‘Other’ in the sense of our interconnections beyond space and time and the human realm. Recently she explores these through sculpture installations and short film projects in remote coastal locations engaging with landscape, history, and mythology. Using life-castings to create life-like hollow sculptures, the absence of the figure resonates a ghost-like human presence at the same time and evokes associations with the past and otherness. Seitz studied sculpture at the Freie Kunstakademie, Nürtingen, Germany and is a graduate of the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, Turin, Italy. She has exhibited her work widely and worked on many public and private art commissions both in Ireland and internationally. Her works are included in private and public collections.

Recent projects include Ancestors, broadcast by Tread Softly and RTE (2021); Underwave, broadcast by Tread Softly (2020); Public Art Commission for European Capital of Volunteering, Doorly Park, Sligo (2018); Ghosts, The Model & offsite, Sligo (2016); A Trembling Veil, with Patrick Hall & Nick Miller, Belgravia Gallery, London (2015). Awards include Platform 31 (Association of Local Authority Arts Offices (ALAAO) with the Arts Council of Ireland, 2022), Arts Council of Ireland Agility Awards (2021, 2022, 2023), Artist Bursary, Leitrim County Council (2021 & 2023), Creative Ireland Open Call (2021 & 2019).

https://www.bettinaseitz.com

Centre for Creative Practices (CFCP) is an award-winning, not-for-profit development and resource organisation for migrant and culturally diverse artists in Ireland. Migrant-centred and migrant-led, CFCP is acknowledged as a pioneer and catalyst for promoting cultural diversity, intercultural collaboration and exchange. Connecting creative talent from diverse communities and social groups and helping them to become agents of cultural and social development, CFCP provides a new model for integration.

CFCP is committed to professionally showcasing works by migrant and culturally diverse artists through curated programmes of multidisciplinary artistic events.

CFCP also effectively supports the talent development of migrant artists by offering tailored capacity-building opportunities, including mentoring, training, and providing resources. Finally, CFCP helps artists access the local arts scene and build professional networks and sustainable careers.

Since its inception in 2009, CFCP has presented over 1,500 multidisciplinary and participatory events, including exhibitions, concerts, performances, readings and screenings, promoting works by over 2,000 artists to over 50,000 audiences.

CFCP is an active member of various European networks of inclusive, intercultural, and socially engaged organisations and subscribes to the values of diversity, tolerance, inclusiveness, respect, care, hospitality and sustainability reflected in our programmes, curatorial approach and day-to day operations.

www.cfcp.ie