Or so I’m told: (some Dublin nicknames) 2006

south dublin county council offices
curated by michael dempsey as part of obscured by architecture project

'Or so I’m told: (some Dublin nicknames)' consists of a collection of contemporary Dublin place nicknames, the type of names that are used locally but which do not appear on official street signs or city maps. The work takes the form of a video which shows the nickname, along with the place’s official name, as a scrolling list. Official and unofficial place names are placed side by side, much like film credits.

The work is concerned with contemporary, unofficial information about urban places. I work with this type of information, as I believe it reveals much about the politics of place, and how people describe their locality and use local knowledge to navigate the urban environment.

Installation shot, South Dublin Co. Council Offices