Meeting The Lough On Its Own Terms

A partnership with Friends of the Earth, Digital Art Studios, Sonic Arts Research Centre and PS² (Belfast), and Banner Repeater (London) 

Our first project in our new space - PS³ - is a reflection on our ongoing work with artist Ami Clarke. Based in London, Ami has been coming to Northern Ireland since 2023 to work with Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland on an expansive project: Meeting the Lough on its own Terms, which explores ways of ‘sensing’ Lough Neagh at a microbial scale, from a multi-species perspective.

In the long hot summer of 2023, Lough Neagh became overwhelmed with algae blooms to such an extent that the vibrant green images of the blue green algae went viral, making international headlines. Once a site of great abundance, supplying (as it still does) 40% of all drinking water to NI, and fishing a-plenty, with eel fishing famously being passed down through generations over centuries. The complexity of how the Lough became eutrophic presents a textbook case in converging dynamics of power, influence, and conflicts of interest, that have also developed over decades, if not centuries, around Lough Neagh and the watershed. Algae blooms offer a symptom of the climate crisis that emphasises the interconnectedness of vulnerable ecosystems with man-made systems.

This introductory presentation supports a series of workshops, which, in turn, will inform an expansive exhibition which will take place over the summer months. 

Workshops

Meeting the Lough on its own Terms has been informed by a collectively written multi-species text over the last year, contributed to by many friends and associates of Friends of the Earth NI, concerned with the lough’s wellbeing.

This is an open invitation to join two further workshops on Saturday 31 May:

1pm - 3pm - collective writing with Friends of The Earth NI

Collective writing workshop thinking through the many stories that run through Lough Neagh, that settle like sediment, constantly shifting, only to settle again - from a multi-species perspective

3.15pm - 5.15pm - sonic ritual workshop with John D’Arcy and Hive Choir 

A polyphonic sonic ritual developed from the collective writing project, with John D’Arcy of HIVE Choir and QUB’s Sonic Arts Research Centre.

About the artist: 

Ami Clarke is a visual artist specialising in addressing the complexities of climate change through immersive and sensorial art forms. Their practice spans film, video, sculpture, and sound, often integrating game engines, VR, CGI, and 3D modelling to create multi-dimensional experiences in both real and virtual environments. Their work explores ways of living with complexity and uncertainty, drawing out interdependencies across finance, the environment, and ideological apparatus such as neoliberalism, from a critical xeno-feminist post-human position. What that means is there is an emphasis on grasping something of the complexity of the multi-temporalities and scales, cross-species contaminations and alliances, necessary to confront the environmental challenges ahead - within an evolving awareness of power relations, which necessarily take into account colonial histories as well as neo-colonial extractions of value. They have a long-held interest in the tensions to be found between code and language, DNA and bio-semiotics, with textual productions coming of assemblages that include humans, machine learning, AI and the planet, from a multi-species approach.

Read the Press Release for Meeting The Lough On Its Own Terms

PS² is supported by Belfast City Council and The National Lottery through Arts Council of Northern Ireland and project funding from Belfast City Council.