Illumination/ Boiler House, Ballymun Estate, Dublin 2002/9

commissioned by Breaking Ground.

This project incorporated the floodlighting of the iconic Boiler House/ Power plant at the heart of the Ballymun housing estate in Dublin. This lighting installation was intended to look at the idea of new beginnings. The lighting produces a transformation of the old without changing any of the physical structures of the building complex.  By simply using the process of lighting, in a playful way, how then a building can be transformed from something quite mundane to something fantastical. This process encouraged spectators and audiences to reconsider their surroundings – to be more aware of how things that appear static or stable are in fact constantly changing. Red floodlights were used on the main part of the structure and directional magenta spots were positioned around the base of the chimney; these introduced a vertical strip to the red-lit linear power plant. A spot-lit motorised mirror ball was positioned in the internal spiral staircase to introduce a whimsical thread to the complex, playing on its perceived role within the centre of the community.

A project which was intended to be operational for just a couple of months, the installation was so well loved locally and by the staff of the Boiler House, that Breaking Ground maintained the work over seven years, timed to turn on over the Winter months, from 4.00 p.m to midnight. The warm pink red/glow at the centre of Ballymun was missed when it had to be finally dismantled in 2009.