Youth arts project walking on AiR

WE ARE fundamentally a warm, open, inviting, friendly, communicative people.” Sonya Keogh is attempting to explain the fascination Irish culture holds on the international stage.

Keogh is the director and designer of AiR: an Atmospheric Irish Recital, the multimedia youth arts installation which was recently shown at the Milan World Expo.

Keogh, the founding director of ArtLifeCulture, a collaborative youth arts initiative, was overwhelmed by the response to their submission to the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. When it comes to Irish cultural exports, Keogh says, “There’s an immediate desire to want to listen. The Irish personality is of explorer, adventurer, communicator with a big heart. That really resonates with people from other cultures.”

Part choral arrangement, part contemporary dance and incorporating cinematography, photography and electro-acoustic composition, AiR has been two years in the making and was born out of a shared artist-in-residence process in Cill Rialaig Artists’ Retreat Centre in Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry.

“I asked the young people to ask themselves: how do we communicate ourselves as the world’s most precious resource?” Kelly says.

The former opera singer started working with children’s choirs for Cork Capital of Culture 2005 and found her true calling in working with young people, and is at the forefront of the hugely popular Summer Sing events in the city.

“This is about empowering and entitling a youth arts voice,” she says.

The seven-minute film which provides the backdrop for the live element of AiR is a stand-alone creation, shot over five days in five locations on the Wild Atlantic Way. Shot by cinematographer Shane Cronin, AiR works will have its Irish premiere at Cork Film Festival (Nov 8-15) and will have its Irish premiere at the festival in November.

The film portrays an almost mythical view of the Irish landscape, all lush greens and atmospheric mist, but Keogh says the live aspects of the installation involve the performers stepping out of the myth.

Irish designer Emma Manley designed the performers’ costumes using natural fibres.

The Atmospheric Irish Recital, which features a score by Peter Power of the Cork-based collaborative music group Eat My Noise, was designed for the informal audiences of the Irish pavilion in Milan, where viewers were transient.

But Keogh views AiR as a work in progress. The World Expo was used as the next filming site. “I’m spotting locations for the next development of this. This is just the starting point.”

Are there plans to develop the recital into a more traditional show? Is AiR the next Riverdance? Keogh smiles. “It’s certainly the start of something. AiR is going to grow and grow, but it’s not a commercial machine; it’s a cumulative body of work. It has enormous potential.”

AiR’s potential is evident by its selection for performance at the Lincoln Centre in New York City for the Patrick’s Day 2016 celebrations.

The 14 members of Irish International Youth choir are thrilled a by AiR’s success, but not surprised: “All the way through the devising, filming and rehearsing, they all felt we were making something special. There was a real sense of ‘This is our moment and we’re due it’.”

Ellie O’Byrne

AiR will show as part of the Irish Shorts 3 at Cork Film Festival on Nov 12 at the Gate cinema