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Midland Arts and Culture Magazine | SUMMER 2012Collaborate?Pontificate?Man-I-Pulate?UNIQUE TO OFFALY, MAN-I-PULATE IS A PERFORMATIVE INTERFACE, EMERGING IN ACURIOUSLY SPONTANEOUS MANNER FROM THE BOG BEFORE RETURNING TO IT.The group consists of a highlyincongruous jazz outfit ‘Miles ‘O BogEnsemble’ (Joachim Hein), a ratherunlikely farmer’s son from Cloghan;(Ronan Coughlan) and an out of jointcontemporary dancer (Nick Bryson) wholoathes being described as ‘from acommunity’ in Northern Ireland, yet whosecretly permits himself to be describedas an ‘interpretive dancer’.The only question we are concernedwith is “who is manipulating who?” –as ever. And it does all come down tolanguage and vocabulary; powerfulpeople are powerful because theyoccupy the vocabulary of power.As well the founding fathers, Man-I-pulateconsists of the highly skilled andmotivated musicians Anne Mcghee (flute),Connor Hein (guitar) and Dave Cashen(drums).This crowd of Sunday Miscellanies hasperformed equally bizarrely to a crowd ofdance aficionados at last year’s AbsolutDublin Fringe in what was a ratherargumentative pub Sweeney’s on Dublin’sDame Street as they launched a tiradeagainst the arts establishmentjuxtaposed with some arabesque in anattempt to placate the bewilderedaudience. This manifesto and bluster,counter culture and countering counterculture, posturing and provoking, is astrange thrashing about for an identity.So how is this collaboration translating?Bryson says: “I regularly shout these daysin my performance work ‘I am not scaredto live in Offaly!’”Describing what inspired his involvement,Coughlan would say: “Two fine gentlemenfrom different countries to me. One is aNordie and the other is a Kraut. Now don’tbe so easily offended they do not play upto their stereotypes, these two men are ofInternational mind. Pablo Picasso saidthat “a great artist has no nationality”.“I am a firm believer that a great artisthas no borders or boundaries and cansee national identity as a farce in itself.Every artist knows that, right? Maybe not.So we decided to try and put on a touringshow of what it’s like being a male artistin Offaly. It was a simple plan and webegan, talking that is. We decided to callourselves Man-I-Pulate. We were threemen of different generations trying tomake pulate a verb. Our shtick was thatof the rural avengers, I wanted to letpeople know that we are HERE! LISTENUP, we are artists from Offaly and we wantpeople to realise that it’s OK to be anartist from the countryside. I have put upwith years of stick over being an artistfrom my contemporaries but I don’t give as**t what anyone thinks of me, I wouldprefer if they had an opinion, position orangle, but ultimately begrudgery does notkeep me awake at night.“Audiences don’t know what to think ofus. People act like they know what ishappening; like they have figured it outwhen they haven’t... this is calledpretending. Like so many shows after, Ithink people find it hard to talk orapproach us because they think we aresome sort of manic assholes who hasmore time than sense and chip on ourshoulder that you could deem‘considerable’. But sometimes whathappens in an art space makes no senseat all.“I regularlyshout thesedays in myperformancework ‘I am notscared to live inOffaly!’”“Edmund Burke, the Irish philosopherstated that ‘evil prevails when good mendo nothing‘. Or in this case bulls**tprevails when Great men do nothing.Joachim, Nick, Dave, Connor and Anneare all brilliant at what they do, we havehad plenty of praise along the way and wework together to try and challengethe status quo.”Joachim Hein, a bassist and composer, isa musician who grew up with Miles Davis,Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and the prospectof working with Man-I-Pulate as themusical “founding father” was andremains beyond his wildest dreams.He describes his input as “about creating,through free form improvisation, thesoundtrack to the spoken word anddance performance, responding to subtlechanges in dynamics or mood,sometimes prodding the guys on to reacheven further, dig deeper, or search moreintensely. It is such a challenge every timeand in so many different ways, that I donot think a creative musician could askfor much more.“With this amount of complete creativefreedom comes a bundle ofresponsibilities, such as never overpowerthe performance of the front men, nor letthem down when they are reaching fortheir respective heights or, worst offence,just bore the socks off everybody. Like abinding circle that is permanentlychallenged until it bursts and then youhurry back to create a new, perhaps biggerbut certainly different form. I try to tame asubtle chaos only to unleash it again untilthe performance eventually comes to itsend. As a player in a collective of likeminds, yet individually inclined to bringtheir very own creative juices to the pot, Ibelieve this is as close as you can get toheaven this side of the coffin and I wouldnot want to miss it for the world. Long mayit continue!,” he concluded. M16
PORTLAOISENATIVE TAKESSOJOURN TO THEPUBLICThe Arts Office, Laois County Council recently hosted anexhibition of paintings by Portlaoise native Christy Brown,entitled Sojourn. In association with the HSE, the exhibitionwas officially opened on Thursday, March 29 in Áras anChontae, Portlaoise by Kevin Kavanagh, Director of KevinKavanagh Gallery.About Christy BrowneChristy was born in 1954 and lived inBridge St, Portlaoise where his family rana General Merchants shop. The shoplater became a restaurant and takeaway,one of the very few in Portlaoise,which was a very different place at thattime. It is now Kelly’s butcher shop butthe Brown family remains synonymouswith the business fabric of the town.Christy’s first dalliance with the art wasin primary school with the Sisters ofCharity and this interest followed throughto secondary school in the CBS where hedid Irish dancing and played tin whistle.Christy lost his dad at an early age and atthis point he came into possession of aguitar, his first love and went on tobecome very proficient at it, the mouthorgan and blues harp.In the mid 70s he then indulged inperforming arts, busking firstly in Londonand then eventually in Portlaoise wherehis regular pitch was the archway atMarshes Lane. He also busked inTullamore and indeed was the subject ofan article in the Leinster Express with theheadline Laoisman becomes Tullamore‘s Troubadour.His musical leanings were folk andballad with nationalistic tendencies and,so, It was a natural progression that hejoined Amnesty International.Christy suffered a stroke in 2008 whichimpinged on his guitar playing and ledhim to be more involved in the visualarts. He describes his influences fromboth performance and visual arts as NeilYoung and Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylanand Christy Moore and also working withSeamus Morton.Health and artFrom the late 70’s Christy encounteredmental health problems needinghospitalisation in St Fintan’s Hospital andit was there that Christy really becameinvolved in art, collaborating with otherartists, but with no formal training. In thepast five years Christy has attended theLink activity centre in St Fintan’s campus.Under the guidance of Angela DelaneyCNS in Art Therapy intervention his artbegan to flourish and he won a nationalcompetition last year at an exhibitionentitled Art against Stigma in FarmleighEstate, Pheonix Park.Since 2010 Christy has lived in ErkinaHouse, Rathdowney, where his artcontinues to flourish and where he hashis own studio, beside fellow artistSeamus Morton. He is also attendingAbbeyleix Further Education Centre,completing an art course under MaryDelaney, Arts Teacher.To say that Christy has been on a longsojourn with art is putting it mildly.Christy’s journey has been greatlyassisted by the Arts Office at LaoisCounty Council culminating in his veryfirst solo exhibition.This wonderful exhibition ran from March29 until April 20 open to the public inÁras an Chontae, Portlaoise fromMonday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.The Arts Office acknowledges thefinancial support of the Arts Council inmaking the Arts Programme possible.For more details contact: The ArtsOffice, Laois County Council, Áras anChontae, Portlaoise. Tel: 0578674342/44 or email:artsoff@laoiscoco.ie MAdult Education Programme:Junior CertificateLeaving CertificateCraft - FETAC Level 3 & 4 (major award)Creative Craft - FETAC Level 5 (major award)Art, Craft & Design - FETAC Level 5(major award)Art & Business - FETAC Level 6(major award)Nursing Studies - FETAC Level 5 (major award)Community Care - FETAC Level 5 (major award)Business Studies withECDL – FETAC Level 5 (major award)Business Management nt - FETAC Level 6(major award)How to applyApplication forms areavailable from the Centreor on our website057 8731127www.abbeyleixfec.ieAbbeyleixFurtherEducationCentreMountrath Road,Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.T. 057 873 1127F. 057 873 1864E.info@abbeyleixfec.ie fec.ieW.www.abbeyleixfec.ie17
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