Cork Harbour
1. No Escape from Within, 2006-2007, excerpt, double projection, 07'22", Fort Davis, Cork, Ireland
Sound: Mark Harrop and Timothy Didymus, Video edit: Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva and Elsa Pierry-Grammare, Valenciennes
2. Forbidden Entry, 2006-2008, excerpt, 360 degree projection, 07'13'', Fort Davis, Cork, Ireland
Sound: Mark Harrop and Timothy Didymus, Video edit: Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
3. Torture, 2006-2008, excerpt, 180 degree projection, 04'15"", Fort Davis, Cork, Ireland
Video edit: Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
The work was created at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Ireland where Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva was an artist in residency in October 2006.
The work draws ideas from the local history and the architecture of the Cork Harbour, which is the third largest natural harbour in the world. The work looks at the strategic importance of Cork - how the harbour became a naval anchorage, the defences that where built in the seventeenth century for the immediate protection of the city and the two-tiered forts at Cobh at the narrowest point to close the harbour entrance. Spike Island, a classic star-shaped fortress was built to enhance the fortification of the harbour in conjunction with Fort Camden and Fort Davis. This upgrading of defences followed the American and French revolutions, which strategically resulted in a perceived threat on the South Western approaches to Great Britain.