Mobile video festival opens on Dublin streets

VIDEO ART was brought to commuters at Dublin’s Connolly Station last night to open an international mobile video festival.

Almost 50 multimedia installations from Irish and international artists have been chosen to be projected on to public buildings, monuments and temporary structures.

Last night the multimedia equipment was pulled on a converted rickshaw between four locations in the Parnell Street and Talbot Street areas of Dublin city.

At Connolly Station Luas station, dozens of travellers stopped as images of a flowing river and street traffic were projected on to the canvas covers of the Luas stop.

Tonight the International Guerrilla Video Festival moves to the Rathmines area of south Dublin.

“The idea is to show people to take ownership of public space and to show art outside of a gallery,” said Fiona Whitty, artist and one of the organisers of the festival.

There were hundreds of submissions for the travelling festival which has previously been held in Florence and Milan and is due to go on to Shanghai.

“There are a lot of social, political and urban issues in the videos,” Ms Whitty said.

Some of the short videos are set in Dublin. One examines the idea of private property by showing redaction of James Joyce’s Ulysses while another traces the rise and fall of a Polish community centre in Dublin.

The project is part of the 2009 Open Spaces programme, which is being run by Dublin City Council to help artists to engage with the city’s public space.

Further projections will take place in the Rathmines area of the south city between 5pm and 9pm tonight.

Detailed information can be found at www.igvfest.com