Cork In 50 Artworks, No 33: The Knitting Map for European Capital of Culture, 2005

Controversy raged around the project's price tag, threatening to overshadow the positive aspects of the installation 

 Jools Gilson with the Knitting Map when it went on display at the Glucksman Gallery, UCC, in 2015. Picture: Denis Scannell

Even now, sixteen years on, there's an opinion that Cork’s tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2005 promised much, and delivered little. But there was great excitement when, in 2002, it was first announced that Cork had won the designation. Staff were appointed the following year, and arts groups were duly invited to submit proposals for the programme.

Half/angel, an arts production company run by Jools Gilson and Richard Povall, were among the first to have their submission – for a project they called the Knitting Map - accepted. “We were commissioned very early on, in 2003,” says Gilson. “We actually made several proposals, and the Knitting Map was the one selected.”