Cilliní: (Re)addressing the past in the present | Intellect Skip to content
1981
Performance and Ireland
  • ISSN: 2044-3714
  • E-ISSN: 2044-3722

Abstract

This article examines the ‘Cilliní’ project’s interdisciplinary approach of research and filmmaking practice to explore the phenomena of . The project has created artwork that investigates and visualizes landscapes and provides a spatial narrative on the subject of , which were historic sites in Ireland used for the burial of ‘unfortunates’, principally stillborn and unbaptized infants. The article draws on the material created and experiences involved in making the short film and creating a virtual reality installation, , which, respectively, employ the technologies and approaches of drone and 360° camera filmmaking. As the article combines the perspectives of digital storytelling, cultural memory and a consideration of the ethics of undertaking such a project, it is written in the form of a triptych. This article addresses how the (re)visitings and difficult enquiries of arts-based research in the ‘Cilliní’ project contribute to an ongoing social, political and ethical reappraisal of and the implications of (re)addressing the past in the present.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00031_1
2020-12-01
2024-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. antenna_research ( 2015;), ‘ Keen for a Dead Child [disquiet0172-daconflater]. ’, 19 April, https://soundcloud.com/antenna_research/keen-for-a-dead-child-disquiet0172-daconflater. Accessed 31 May 2020.
  2. Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) (Sites and Monuments Record [SMR]) ( n.d;), ‘ The National Monuments Service. ’, https://www.archaeology.ie/archaeological-survey-database. Accessed 31 May 2020.
  3. Assmann, Aleida. ( 2011), Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Assmann, Aleida. ( 2012), Introduction to Cultural Studies: Topics, Concepts, Issues, Berlin:: Erich Schmidt Verlag;.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Assmann, Jan. ( 1995;), ‘ Collective memory and cultural identity. ’ (trans. J. Czaplicka.), New German Critique, 65, pp. 12533.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Assmann, Jan. ( 2010;), ‘ Communicative and cultural memory. ’, in A. Erll, and A. Nünning. (eds), A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, Berlin and New York:: De Gruyter;, pp. 10918.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Barber, John, and Finlay, Nylee. ( n.d;), ‘ The unwanted dead: prehistoric evidence for infanticide. ’, unpublished paper .
  8. Bartlett, Thomas. ( 2020), Cambridge History of Ireland: Volume 4, 1880 to the Present, Cambridge and New York:: Cambridge University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bloch, Marc. ( 2011;), ‘ Mémoire collective, tradition et coutume: a propos d’un livre recent. ’ (‘Collective memory, custom, and tradition: About a recent book’) , in J. K. Olick,, V. Vinitzky-Seroussi, and D. D. Levy. (eds), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 15055.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bosch, Hieronymus. ( 1504), The Garden of Earthly Delights, Madrid:: Museo del Prado;.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Carr, Marina. ( 1995), The Mai, Meath:: Gallery Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Carr, Marina. ( 1998), By the Bog of Cats, Meath:: Gallery Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Caruth, Cathy. (ed.) ( 1995), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, Baltimore and London:: Johns Hopkins University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Casey, William. ( 2014;), ‘ The Cilliní of Aughadown and Kilcoe parishes. ’, Skibbereen and District Historical Society Journal, 10, n.pag.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Cecil, Rosanne. ( 1996), The Anthropology of Pregnancy Loss: Comparative Studies in Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Neonatal Death, Oxford and Washington, DC:: Berg Publishers;.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Dahl, Victoria. ( 2019), Hidden Cillín.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Dixon, Carl. ( 2012;), ‘ Cradle to the grave. ’, The Irish Examiner, 15 August.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Dolan, Jill. ( 2005), Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater, Ann Arbor, MI:: The University of Michigan Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Donnelly, Colm J., and Murphy, Eileen M.. ( 2008a;), ‘ The origins of Cilliní. ’, Archaeology Ireland, 22:3, pp. 2629.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Donnelly, Colm J., and Murphy, Eileen M. ( 2008b;), ‘ The origins of Cilliní in Ireland. ’, in M. Murphy Eileen. (ed), Deviant Burial in the Archaeological Record, Oxford, UK and Oakville, USA:: Oxbow Books;, pp. 191223.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Donnelly, Seamus,, Donnelly, Colm, and Murphy, Eileen. ( 1999;), ‘ The forgotten dead: The cilliní and disused burial grounds of Ballintoy, County Antrim. ’, Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 58, pp. 10913.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Duffy, Joe. ( 2018a), The Lament, https://vimeo.com/322287175. Accessed 31 May 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Duffy, Joe. ( 2018b;), ‘ Cillini 3 minute promotional video. ’, in-person interview, Vimeo , https://vimeo.com/324667286. Accessed 31 May 2020.
  24. Duffy, Joe, and Myers, Keith. ( 2019;), ‘ 10s 5.3k convert to 4k with LUT and Title Holders. ’, test material for ‘Cilliní Tales’ Virtual Reality installation, Vimeo , https://vimeo.com/359052779/244842d234?fbclid=IwAR2nr2fMa5Oyije9d-6QgvBA2b3fIBahlJ1eJeCk37IYqEH3fPMmA34QfkA. Accessed 31 May 2020.
  25. Erll, Astrid. ( 2011), Memory in Culture, Basingstoke and New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Erll, Astrid, and Nünning, Ansgar. (eds) ( 2010), A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, Berlin and New York:: De Gruyter;.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Erll, Astrid, and Rigney, Ann. (eds) ( 2009), Mediation, Remediation, and the Dynamics of Cultural Memory, Berlin: and New York:: Walter de Gruyter;.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Eyerman, Ron. ( 2011;), ‘ The past in the present: Culture and the transmission of memory. ’, in J. K. Olick,, V. Vinitzky-Seroussi, and D. D. Levy. (eds), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 3046.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Finlay, Nylee. ( 2000;), ‘ Outside of life: Traditions of infant burial in Ireland from cillín to cist. ’, World Archaeology, 31:3, pp. 40722.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Fry, Susan Leigh. ( 1999), Burial in Medieval Ireland 900–1500: A Review of the Written Sources, Dublin:: Four Courts Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Gallagher, Kitty. ( 1953;), ‘ Keen for a Dead Child. ’ (trad.), The Alan Lomax Library archive, recorded Letterkenny, Ireland, 5th February 1951 .
  32. Gladwin, Derek. ( 2011;), ‘ Staging the trauma of the bog in Marina Carr’s. ’, By the Bog of Cats’, Irish Studies Review, 19:4, pp. 387400.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Grønstad, Asbjørn. ( 2016), Film and the Ethical Imagination, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Halbwachs, Maurice. ( 2011;), ‘ The collective memory. ’, in J. K. Olick,, V. Vinitzky-Seroussi, and D. D. Levy. (eds), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 13949.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Hurley, Vincent. ( 1982;), ‘ The early church in the south-west of Ireland: Settlement and organisation. ’, in S. Pearce. (ed.), The Early Church in Western Britain and Ireland: Studies presented to C. A. Ralegh Radford, BAR British Series 102, Oxford:: BAR Publishing;, pp. 297332.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Laub, Dori. ( 1995;), ‘ Truth and testimony: The process and the struggle. ’, in C. Caruth. (ed.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, Baltimore, MD and London:: Johns Hopkins University Press;, pp. 6175.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Leeney, Cathy. ( 2008;), ‘ Marina Carr: Violence and destruction: Language, space and landscape. ’, in M. Luckhurst. (ed.), A Companion to Modern British and Irish Drama 1880–2005, Oxford:: Blackwell;, pp. 50918.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Maazaoui, Abbes. ( 2016), The Arts of Memory and the Poetics of Remembering, Newcastle upon Tyne:: Cambridge Scholars Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Murphy, Eileen M.. ( 2008), Deviant Burial in the Archaeological Record, Oxford:: Oxbow;.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Murphy, Eileen M.. ( 2011;), ‘ Children’s burial grounds in Ireland (Cilliní) and parental emotions toward infant death. ’, International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 15:3, pp. 40928.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Murphy, Eileen M., and Le Roy, Mélie. (eds) ( 2017), Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological Discourses, Oxford and Philadelphia, PA:: Oxbow Books;.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Nora, Pierre. ( 1989;), ‘ Between Memory and History: Les lieux de mémoire. Representations: Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, 26 (Spring), pp. 724.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Nora, Pierre. ( 2011;), ‘ Reasons for the current upsurge in memory. ’, in J. K. Olick,, V. Vinitzky-Seroussi, and D. D. Levy. (eds), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 43741.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ( 1969), Folktales of Ireland (ed. and trans. S. O’Sullivan.), third impression, London:: Routledge and Kegan Paul;.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Olick, Jeffery K.,, Vinitzky-Seroussi, Vered, and Levy, Daniel. (eds) ( 2011), The Collective Memory Reader, Oxford and New York:: Oxford University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Parry-Jones, Clare. ( 2018;), ‘ Performative ritual of loss: Marking the intangible. ’, in M. Pinchbeck, and A. Westerside. (eds), Staging Loss: Performance as Commemoration, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;, pp. 21530.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Pearce, Susan M.. (ed.) ( 1982), The Early Church in Western Britain and Ireland: Studies presented to C. A. Ralegh Radford, BAR British Series 102, Oxford:: BAR Publishing;.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Rovit, Rebecca, and Goldfarb, Alvin. ( 1999), Theatrical Performance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs, Baltimore, MD and London:: Johns Hopkins University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Shaughnessy, Nicola. ( 2015), Applying Performance: Live Art, Socially Engaged Theatre and Affective Practice, Basingstoke and New York:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Sihra, Melissa. ( 2003;), ‘ Landscapes, voices and corporealities of excess in the theatre of Marina Carr. ’, Ph.D. thesis, Dublin:: Trinity College Dublin;.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Simon, Roger I.,, Rosenberg, Sharon, and Eppert, Claudia. (eds) ( 2000), Between Hope and Despair: Pedagogy and the Remembrance of Historical Trauma, Lanham, MD and Oxford:: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers;.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Stuart-Fisher, Amanda, and James, Thompson. ( 2020), Performing Care: New Perspectives on Socially Engaged Performance, Manchester, UK:: Manchester University Press;.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Thompson, James. ( 2011), Performance Affects: Applied Theatre and the End of Effect, Basingstoke:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Thompson, James. ( 2015;), ‘ Towards an aesthetics of care. ’, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 20:4, pp. 43041.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Thompson, James,, Hughes, Jenny, and Balfour, Michael. ( 2009), Performance in Place of War, London:: Seagull;.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Whitehead, Anne. ( 2008), Memory (The New Critical Idiom), London and New York:: Routledge;.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Allen, Victoria,, Duffy, Joe, and Scally, Garret. ( 2020;), ‘ Cilliní: (Re)addressing the past in the present. ’, Scene, 8:1-2, pp. 175193, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00031_1
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00031_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/scene_00031_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error