Absolut’s limited edition bottles are always worth a look. Memorable editions for us include their appropriately glitzy Absolut Disco and the almost S&M-inspired Absolut Rock, complete with studs and leather. Their latest endeavour strips things back, almost back to their initial Absolut Warhol collaboration. Absolut Originality draws on the brand’s signature cobalt blue; a back-to-basics bottle with a minimalist streak tacitly infused into the glass. To celebrate the launch, Absolut will host an interactive exhibition in Mabos Art Space from the 30th October to the 2nd November, showcasing a host of Ireland’s most talented young artists. Curated by Aisling Farinella (Irish-based stylist with a plethora of worthy projects to her name including Thread Magazine), the exposition draws on separate and diverse areas of the arts, combining them to produce a finished product that is at once highly original and visually impressive.
Involving some of Ireland’s finest talent, Farinella has enlisted the expertise of fashion designer Danielle Romeril, videographer Jamie Delaney, illustrator Chrissie Abbott and lighting expert Brian Kenny. Romeril is to provide a dress onto which visitors can project their own designs using a combination of the artists’ techniques and a futuristic 3D technology system. An installation interactive in the most literal sense, the event plugs originality from all angles and is an impressive collaboration of some of Ireland’s most talented and dynamic creative types. We met curator, Aisling Farinella and artist Brian Kenny to find out more.
Let’s start with a bit of background to the event.
Aisling: So basically the event is launching the new limited edition bottle for Absolut, every year they do a specially designed bottle under a particular theme. They do big international campaigns but also focus on some regional projects, and they have always put a lot of support into the Irish project. I covered the event two years ago for Absolut Mode, a fashion-focused bottle. I’ve also been involved in other ones in smaller capacities. This year’s theme is Absolut Originality, so basically they’re celebrating everything original about the brand. All four artists create work in their separate fields inspired by the Absolut Originality cobalt blue theme, with each element combined to create the final piece.
What can you tell us about the production stages of the installation?
Aisling: At the moment I suppose you could classify it as a work in progress. It’s a site specific installation, developed with the location and the budget in mind. The main idea is a central projection mapping piece onto a background, instead of a building, that Brian might map onto, using Chrissie’s illustrations. Then there’s also the interactive element which uses leap sensor technology, [developed by Brian and Tom O’Dea] a special software where you literally kind of wave your hands around to create colours and patterns with the results mapped onto one of Danielle’s dresses.
Brian: So, I suppose, one element of the project is our design and the collaborative elements but the other idea is the involvement of the people there on the night. It should feel interactive and not something that you passively view.
A: The whole idea behind the campaign is that you add your own drop of originality. So with this, Brian, Danielle, Jamie and Chrissie are adding their own drop of originality and then you come along and, hopefully, add in your own!
Brian, tell us about your own skills and your involvement in the project.
B: Lightscape (an audio-visual collective of lighting experts and designers) has been going for about three or four years, starting off in Galway. We moved up to Dublin then in January and have worked on a variety of different projects, covering events like Electric Picnic, Body & Soul and concerts for Bell X1 and Mylo. Basically, my involvement came from a previous collaboration with Aisling as we’re both based in Dublin’s South Studios. It’s been a really interesting project to work on. Usually a lot of my work is either on my own or with other animators, so it was definitely a change. I think Aisling has been a very good medium, overseeing the whole project; she was able to translate what I was saying. I think sometimes I can be overly technical but I think Aisling got a good grasp of it early on!
A: I think Brian’s super technical and I’m super simple so you have to work around that, to break things down a little bit!
Aisling, how did you choose the other artists?
A: Well I guess I had worked with everybody at different stages. We took something which we did with Offset [Ireland’s premier design festival], combining Brian’s projection mapping, film work by Jamie Delaney, illustration by Chrissie Abbott, and the work of a different fashion designer. So we already had a group together and we kind of went back to the original team because we wanted to develop something that we had initiated and grow it into something bigger and better. We then brought in Danielle Romeril, a Dublin-based fashion designer, doing great stuff at the moment.
It’s clear from this event that there’s an abundance of Irish talent. How would you describe the current Dublin creative scene?
A: I love Dublin, I think there’s loads of good stuff going on here. But it’s not specifically just Irish creatives involved in project, Chrissie is from the UK and I think it’s important to say that everyone was chosen because their work is amazing and they really fit in with the whole Absolut brief and the brand itself. It was also really important that all the people involved worked well together, aesthetically and creatively. With projects of this scale it’s so important to think outside the box. Of course, it’s still very much about Irish talent and this is a great opportunity to promote Irish talent.
B: From my own experience, my time in Dublin has been extremely positive. There are so many good opportunities, with both commercial and creative projects. People seem to have time to help you out, if you need help with different aspects of projects. I think as well that the internet it makes it so much easier to stay connected with the rest of the world
A: There are advantages and disadvantages to living here. You get to do things here that you mightn’t be able to do elsewhere. Say for me, working as a stylist, if I were to work in the UK, I might never get to work on a project like this, there, you would need to be way more focused in the work that you want to do. Here you have more scope to work on various different projects.
How important is originality to you both?
A: It’s so important to be original, but it can also be very hard. I think it’s important not to think too much about it, to just let it flow. With this project, it’s really original, the combination of different areas (fashion, illustration and filming into projection mapping), was difficult to begin with, but is different to anything I’ve seen before.
B: Yeah definitely, for me it’s also been really interesting to see how other people view projection mapping, you see things in a different perspective. Others have different opinions on what it could be and what they see. Even stylistically, things Aisling has done and how she links that to projection mapping is quite interesting as well and really adds to the originality theme.
A: I think also the technology we’re using is very interesting; it hasn’t been used too often in Ireland.
B: I don’t think this type has been used in projection mapping at all. It’s great that people will be able to interactively create something truly original.
A: We really can’t wait to see it all come together. It’s such an exciting project and we’ve also been pulling in other people as we go along. Andrew Nudings has been doing some photography for us as we go along. We have some really great young photographers. The music for the launch event (by Simon Cullen aka Lasertom) will be synced with the projection mapping, which is a great element. Absolut have a lot of vision but are also really flexible to work with. We’ve been given a great deal of creative freedom, within reason!
Absolut Originality launches Wednesday the 30th of October at Mabos Art Space, Hanover Quay, running until November 2nd. For more, see www.absolutoriginality.ie
