Maynooth University Department of Geography invites you to attend a conversation with Kildare Co. Weather Observers, artist Martina O’Brien, Dr Catherine O’Connell, Irish Peatlands Conservation Council, Dr Lisa Orme, Co-Director MSc Climate Change, Geography & ICARUS, Prof Karen Till, Geography, and Lucina Russell, Director, Kildare Co Council Arts Service
Weather observers play a significant, often unrecognised role, as citizen-scientists who collect important data that lead to new understandings weather and the formation of climate change models, all of which have been influential in affecting recent international and national policy. The Weather Observation Network in County Kildare is comprised of seven people who collect daily data for Met Éireann from privately installed Rainfall Stations on an ongoing basis, and whose members participated in a project with artist Martina O’Brien over the past two years. Tracing these hidden subjects and systems embedded within the landscape, O’Brien’s seven-channel video artwork Quotidian explores the cross-temporal and spatial relations of planetary scale centres of climate calculation, local off-grid and offline voluntary Weather Observers, as connected through embodied practices, computational technologies and copper.
Our special guest speaker is Dr Catherine O'Connell, Chief Executive of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council. Joining her will be: artist Martina O’Brien, Dr Lisa Orme, Co-Director MSc Climate Change, MU Geography and ICARUS, Lucina Russell, director Kildare County Council Arts Service, and Professor Karen Till, MU Geography and Director of the MA in Spatial Justice.
