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2 Channel Land

Frank Sweeney

2022 00:15:35 IrelandEnglishColorStereo4:3Video

Description

2 Channel Land is a north-western docu-fiction film exploring the history of analogue signals spilling across the borders of Ireland and Britain. Guided by a mysterious threshold deity, we take a journey through Ireland's borderlands in search of community.

The film is part of a series of works relating to cross-border media. The research included several new oral history interviews relating to illegal deflector systems (built to hijack UK television signals), country music pirate radio stations on the Irish border and the use of church bells as early forms of communication. Archival and research materials were presented in a radio installation at the Centre for Contemporary Art Derry in July 2022. The film emerged from this research through collaborations with artists from the Irish border region and included the commissioning of 3 original country music tracks.

Commissioned by aemi & SIRIUS Arts Centre.

Additional Funding from the Arts Council of Ireland.

About Frank Sweeney

Frank Sweeney is a research-based artist living in Dublin. He uses found material to approach questions of collective memory, experience and identity. Sweeney explores the historical relationship between media technologies and collective imaginaries, engaging with modes of community memory alongside footage from state archives. 

Sweeney's recent work includes Few Can See (winner of the Tiger Shorts Competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam, Special Mention at Filmadrid Awards, commissioned by EVA

International - Ireland’s Biennial), People enjoy my company (IMMA 2021-22, Transmediale Berlin, BFI Southbank LSFF 2022) and Made Ground (in collaboration with Eva Richardson McCrea, Temple Bar Gallery 2021, purchased for the Arts Council Collection in 2021). Sweeney's recent awards include Best Documentary at LUFF Switzerland, the Arts Council's Next Generation Award, aemi+Sirius Film Commission 2022 & a 3 Year Studio at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.