No Man’s Land | Island on the Liffey

No Man’s Land – Artist Fergal McCarthy’s desert island on the River Liffey, part of the ABSOLUT Fringe Festival 2011.

You may have noticed something a little bit strange out on the Liffey these last few days – Fergal McCarthy has built a desert island on the river and will live there for the duration of the ABSOLUT Fringe Festival…

We loved last year’s Liffeytown but this year McCarthy’s back with a new installation – a man-made island which he will stay on, David Blaine-stylie, during the festival.

Islands have always been potent spaces for the imagination. The idea of a desert island floating in the middle of the Liffey may seem intriguing but is it any less incongruous than those half-built edifices that rise alongside the riverbanks? Like Robinson Crusoe’s island, being stranded on the river could feel like paradise or prison. The artist’s temporary colonisation of an unsteady island on the Liffey reflects many aspects of Ireland’s current crisis of identity.

It also looks freakin’ cool. The island is is just west of the Samuel Beckett Bridge so go check it out or follow Fergal’s adventures on fergalmccarthy.blogspot.com.