The CATA Conference
River Shannon worker and riparian owner. Pat Lysaght has lived all of his life on the banks of the river Shannon. He currently works part time for Waterways Ireland and Limerick City Council.
We Love Plassey Riverbank (Miriam Lohan, Gabriela Avram) is an initiative that brings together people who use the old towpath between Limerick City and the University of Limerick.
Documentary Maker Muireann de Barra is an independent documentary maker and educator based in Limerick. Her documentary work focuses on social justice issues and her most recent film ‘Water Rising’ (2012) documents water privatisation struggles in Bolivia.
Waterways Historian Brian J Goggin emigrated from Dublin to Castleconnell twenty-five years ago. He writes extensively about Irish waterways past and present and maintains a website below:
Artist Anna Macleod is a visual artist based in Co. Leitrim, Ireland. Recent projects have focused on the socio political and cultural issues surrounding water.
Sinead Mc Donnell - Environment Awareness Officer, Limerick City Council. Sinead works with groups, communities and schools across the city on a range of environmental issues.
Purpose of event
For eva International ALL presented an afternoon series of talks by multiple speakers on the subject of water and the River Shannon in Limerick City. The afternoon included a variety of informative presentations followed by an open dialogue session between the audience and speakers. The aim of these of talks was to encourage people to learn about water and the River Shannon, network with others involved in the River, and to discuss the past, the present and the potential of the River Shannon and water in Limerick City.
CATA - Come and Talk About brought together the community of people that ALL encountered throughout their research process of this project. These ranged from local individuals, artists, community organisations and riparian dwellers to industrial, maintenance and government departments. Through the amalgamation of these people ALL sought to encourage the promotion of dialogue, information sharing, and networking with an aim to provoke interest, ownership and pride in the River Shannon within public, economic and cultural communities of interest.
The conference was a continuation of ALL’s process of public engagement and serves as a dialogical dissemination of ALL’s previous work on the subject of the river Shannon. The result of this event was open dialogue prompting new connections and communication networks within an expansive community of interest. This allowed individuals to discuss their public and private issues regarding our relationship with water in the City, and to discover common ground upon which future projects may be built.
The event itself comprised of a series of presentations from invited speakers on the subject of water and the river Shannon. Click on the invited speakers below.
As a part of eva International 2012 ALL were selected to create a public event as part of this ongoing socially engaged project. The CATA Conference took place on May 26th 2012 in The Shannon Rowing Club in Limerick City.
Images courtesy of Anthony Furlong