Abstract Beaded Pattern & Central Bank of Ireland
Aisling McCoy, Ros Kavanagh, Mandy O'Neill
I commissioned three photographers to record aspects of a building built and occupied by the Central Bank of Ireland in Dublin city centre for almost forty years. Having sold the building, the Central Bank of Ireland moved to a new headquarters on North Wall Quay. Strands of documentary and conservation photography took place as staff prepared to leave the old premises. The sale of the city centre building marked the first change of use in the building's history and a change from public to private ownership.
The Central Bank of Ireland's buildings on Dame Street in Dublin were completed in 1980. They included a large new signature building known as 'the tower', as well as others converted for use, by the architects and industrial designers, Stephenson, Gibney & Associates. Abstract Beaded Pattern was a very large artwork commissioned from the artist Patrick Scott (1921-2014) by Stephenson Architects for the north facing glazing in the foyer of the tower. The artwork remained as installed ca. 1979 until it was taken down in 2017 to undergo conservation work and go into storage prior to the bank's move from the Dame Street building to a new address at North Wall Quay.
The Patrick Scott Archive is a collection of personal and professional material willed by the artist to the National Irish Visual Arts Library. This was an invaluable research resource informing the commissioning briefs, the conservation plan for the artwork and in establishing the artwork's provenance with the guidance of Clare Lymer, who catalogued Scott's donation, including letters that reveal the background to the artist's choice of Blindcraft in realising the finished work in plastic not metal.
The Central Bank of Ireland's buildings on Dame Street in Dublin were completed in 1980. They included a large new signature building known as 'the tower', as well as others converted for use, by the architects and industrial designers, Stephenson, Gibney & Associates. Abstract Beaded Pattern was a very large artwork commissioned from the artist Patrick Scott (1921-2014) by Stephenson Architects for the north facing glazing in the foyer of the tower. The artwork remained as installed ca. 1979 until it was taken down in 2017 to undergo conservation work and go into storage prior to the bank's move from the Dame Street building to a new address at North Wall Quay.
The Patrick Scott Archive is a collection of personal and professional material willed by the artist to the National Irish Visual Arts Library. This was an invaluable research resource informing the commissioning briefs, the conservation plan for the artwork and in establishing the artwork's provenance with the guidance of Clare Lymer, who catalogued Scott's donation, including letters that reveal the background to the artist's choice of Blindcraft in realising the finished work in plastic not metal.
Aisling McCoy photographed Scott's Abstract Beaded Pattern in situ in the weeks before the bank's relocation, documenting its changing hues and the movement of natural and artificial light and air through it. Returning after the staff had left, she worked with art conservator Lorna Barnes and Maurice Ward Art Handlers to do the conservation photography. Her photographs are the only complete record of the artwork as it appeared when hung as in its original setting. The photographs have now been accessioned into the archives of the Central Bank of Ireland and the artwork is in storage.
Photocopy. Sunday Business Post, n.d. Patrick Scott Archive at National Irish Visual Arts Library. Courtesy of NIVAL.
In an interview with Patrick Scott by Emmanuel Kehoe, on the occasion of a retrospective of the artist's work at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in 1982, the artist was prompted to reflect on his large scale works, saying: "I haven't made anything biggish for quite a long time - oh, but I have made the biggest bead curtains in the world - I'd better get onto the Guinness Book of Records". Kehoe notes that like the artist's tapestries the 'curtain' was "made by other hands, by the blind in fact, of coloured nylon tube".
Photograph by Aisling McCoy
Photograph by Aisling McCoy
Photograph by Ros Kavanagh
Ros Kavanagh photographed 'the tower' and its environs, including ancillary bank buildings on Dame Street. Urban views of its unique situation in the city taken from vantage points afforded by the height, curve or focus of nearby streets reveal the multiple approaches to the building that are familiar sights when on foot. Views through the tower's ceiling to floor windows, from inside across the city and vice versa, frequently include materials showing the affects of the climate both inside and out, especially the glazing.
Photograph by Ros Kavanagh
Photograph by Ros Kavanagh
Photograph by Ros Kavanagh
Photograph by Mandy O'Neill
Mandy O'Neill photographed staff at the Dame Street buildings, improvising with semi-formal studio and environmental portraiture techniques, inviting people to talk about the long view and reasons for making portraits as part of the documentation of the bank buildings. Many of the people who came forward to take part had started their working lives with the bank and spoke about how the organisation of space inside had changed over the years, not least in how social changes to the status quo outside the workplace changed the order and designation of workspaces in the building.
Photograph by Mandy O'Neill
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Photograph by Mandy O'Neill
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Contact Ross Higgins, Records Manager, Central Bank of Ireland or the relevant photographer Aisling McCoy, Ros Kavanagh, Mandy O'Neill
Contact Ross Higgins, Records Manager, Central Bank of Ireland or the relevant photographer Aisling McCoy, Ros Kavanagh, Mandy O'Neill