Lighthouse
Fergal McCarthy (IE)
Installation, 2015
The Northbank Lighthouse sits at the entrance to Dublin, at the mouth of the Liffey and has been guiding travellers home since 1882. It’s an incredibly beautiful structure, resembling a giant mailbox on stilts and one that has fascinated artist Fergal McCarthy for several years.
For HOME\SICK he has created a seven metre high replica of the lighthouse within Science Gallery Dublin, complete with a flashing green light casting a beam across Pearse Street every night from dusk until midnight. The lighthouse is accessible via a ladder and inside it is furnished as a working studio for visitors to interact with and make work exploring the theme of home.
About the artist:
Fergal McCarthy was originally a painter but in recent years he has developed an interest in public art installations, film and sculpture. In 2010 he moored a floating housing estate of red and green Monopoly style houses on the River Liffey and the following year he lived on a desert island in the middle of the river for a week. The Swimmer, a thirty minute film inspired by the eponymous John Cheever short story was exhibited at Science Gallery Dublin in 2012 as part of SURFACE TENSION and at the Worlds Science Festival in New York, and documented a journey across Dublin’s swimming pools and waterways. Fergal has worked on a proposal to develop the River Liffey’s quays as a linear park and first presented this idea at a TEDxDublin event presented by Science Gallery Dublin.