UpStart answer Yeats.

Here are some little stories from Dublin at the moment which those outside the dear dirty city may not have heard. The first one is about UpStart, an association of artists and designers which began a campaign today to rival the usual slew of meaningless posters erected to influence the public as we roll into a General Election.

Today was the first day of campaigning and, although several of the lesser parties have broken the law by hanging posters before now[1], this is traditionally the day on which lampposts, front windows and gardens are bedecked with smiling sincerity and sloganeering from candidates from all rungs of this evolutionary ladder we call politics[2]. I’m not sure of the effect in such a media-saturated era of print advertising, not to mention repetitive and bland imagery, but someone more qualified than myself to comment might be able to crunch the numbers on name recognition and brand loyalty. We know that old-fashioned is the order of the day when it comes to politicing, we should add, so let’s trudge on like the soldiers of destiny would want us to.

UpStart aims to erect 1000 posters around Dublin to satirise the election process and comment on the hypocrisy thereof. Their website states their aim:

The objectives of UpStart are to encourage a debate on the role of the arts in this state. We hope to highlight the importance of creativity and ingenuity when society is in need of direction and solutions, and to emphasize the value of the arts to public life. We believe that the future development of the country requires a healthy cultivation of the Arts.

Government Buildings, 2-2-11. Photo by James Ward.

They’ve solicited contributions, some of which are outlandish and many of which are creative and funny, all with the aim of promoting the talent available in the creative arts in Dublin. At a time where austerity is actively promoted at the expense of services and help for those less well-off in our society, what hope has the artistic community got? These folks point out the talent and potential that cutbacks and economic stagnation stand to kill in the shell. They also make the salient point that any society needs art to function. They’re not going to sit by and watch three weeks of sloganeering, and they’re to be admired for that. A couple of their posters appear here (thanks James), many more hang around Dublin and their website is www.upstart.ie

RTE’s SixOne News ran a minute or so on this organisation today (2/2) as part of a piece that began with a feature on how much of a boon to the printing industry an election represents. A slow news day, apparently: the three major parties launching general election campaigns and fire in Cairo, but RTE still had time to show a few happy gentlemen with presses rolling. It was a strange juxtaposition, mixing an economic reality with a situationist prank aimed at drawing attention to how transient and meaningless these promotional materials are. The RTE attitude of ‘nice weather for ducks’ is akin to[3] the claim that chip-pan fires have been an absolute godsend in the development of new technologies in rhinoplasty, or that the country’s culture of alcohol abuse[4] is great for someone looking for good Turkish cuisine in the city centre late at night. True, perhaps[5], but a little vulgar to say out loud in the larger context. It’s an ill-wind indeed[6].

Claire Ryan, photographed by David Monahan.

A later item on the news tonight, once they’d finished interviewing three men picking over the corpse of Brian Cowen in Laois-Offaly,[7] showed a sadder reality to life in our failed state. Talk earlier in the broadcast, and in this post, of unemployed creative talent must include reference to emigration, and Irish photographer David Monahan has been documenting the latest Irish diaspora by taking photos of prospective emigrants around Dublin. There were some very striking pictures, not least one of a young family with a four year-old in yellow wellies. The majority looked like young graduates—ambitious and optimistic—but the news that 1000 people are leaving per week is quite sobering. Mr. Monahan commented on the loss of such talent, and in common with the earlier segment (about UpStart, not the printers or Egyptians) one was struck by the quality of worker now fusting unused in (or heading out of) our economy. While the photographs may smack a little of sentimentality, Monahan notes that their purpose is to humanise the issue:

Interestingly when I make contact with a sitter they send me to a location dear to them and in my mind I look for a stage[8].

Numbers of emigrants or percentages of unemployed are easy to process, as a result of which there is a long tradition of reportage to document the human faces of such issues. The RTE bit (which of course used background music from The XX[9]) might have ladled the sentimentality on a tad, but they are portraits, after all[10]. Monahan’s blog is at http://thelillipution.blogspot.com

I’ve never really felt that emigration is a scandal per se: there have been huge numbers of people in and out of Ireland over the years and few of them have lost their Irishness, or their pride in Ireland when someone dares to be negative about it on licensed premises[11]. The demographic with whom this writer is connected sees emigration as well-nigh essential in the financial, legal or creative arenas while retaining, however, a deep-seated urge to return (not to mention the wherewithal to be able to). In years gone by economic reasons were accompanied by reasons of scandal, pregnancy, homosexuality; much has changed. What makes emigration a horrible truth for Irish people though, now and in the past, is the denial of choice: a withdrawal of the potential to improve the country—to return to the country the benefits accrued from a fine education system—and an impotent silence to offers of initiative. We watch talented people move off and contribute to other nations with only a chance that those talents will ever benefit this country. Choice is obviously the issue, and if the only choice is for creative people to go abroad or sit around without any hope of success, it’s an unconscionable one.

UpStart’s iconoclasm reminds us of our indigenous sense of humour and eye for initiative; Monahan uses such creativity and initiative to document what it is we’re throwing away.

And on the subject of emigration here’s the Wolfe Tones‘ take on the issue, featuring the immortal line “So a thousand times adieu/We’ve got Bono and U2”. It’s enough to make you want to leave yourself, so it is, so it is. The audio is off a little but when you hear the song such technical grumbles fade into impalpability.

[1] There is anecdotal evidence, proudly promoted by the outgoing Green Party, that Dublin’s litter wardens have been removing and disposing of illegal early posters; the Greens inexplicably celebrate this as a victory despite the obvious paper wastage and consequent carbon footprint of the litter wardens’ craft.

[2] A new departure for the outgoing Fianna Fáil party is to minimise the name of the party on such posters: the name appears in the same approximate point size as did the Terms and Conditions of a fixed-rate mortgage on a second home in Westmeath on the advertising campaigns of property developers five years ago.

[3] Coded warning of an impending false analogy if I ever heard one.

[4] Can you fucking believe that the Labour Party launched their campaign in the Guinness Storehouse?

[5] …and at least RTE covered the campaign…

[6] Want an ill-wind story? The three-week earlier election will result in three thousand more people voting the government out of office.

[7] where, again for the uninitiated, the Taoiseach has announced his intention to retire from his seat and put his 17,000 first preference votes up for grabs. You should see the three shagsacks trying to call for change while trying not to offend the Friends of the Corpse.

[8] Quote taken from a response by Monahan to a comment on a post on thejournal.ie ( http://www.thejournal.ie/cbs-features-irish-photographers-portraits-of-emigrants-2011-01/#slide-slideshow2 )

[9] What did they use before the XX? Sigur Ros. Before that? Enya. Before that? Clannad. Before that? There was the troubles, so there was lots of news, so they didn’t need colour pieces to fill the 20 minutes before Charles Mitchell returned to the pub.

[10] Using the battered suitcase in every picture doesn’t help this argument….

[11] This is probably a good time to note that the emigrant vote issue is a bit of a red herring: firstly, if you want representation here you might also like to pay some tax, and secondly and more antidemocratically, I’d rather deny votes to emigrants than enfranchise several million pissed-off expats who would doubtlessly put Gerry Adams in the Vatican, let alone the Dáil. And can you imagine what election campaigns would be like if we allowed emigrant votes? It’s hard enough keeping some of our politicians out of the U.S. every Spring as it is.