NCAD Field
NCAD FIELD was established in 2020 to facilitate face-to-face learning during the pandemic and introduce critical ecological thought and action into art and design students' learning experience, and to create a hospitable setting for art and design research to meet other forms of expertise in novel ecosystems.
NCAD FIELD, June 2023. Photo courtesy of Gareth Kennedy.
NCAD FIELD is a 0.4 hectare site directly beside the College which was ‘guerilla composted’ in the last decade and now is a wild and biodiverse haven in the inner city.
NCAD FIELD operates ‘rhizomatically’ serving staff and students across all College departments with established courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, while also interfacing with expanded communities of place and interest in Dublin city and beyond.
The FIELD site and coursework is unique within an Irish third level context and rare in a broader European context. The majority of course work is conducted outside with special emphasis on embodied, situated learning. The site is reframed in terms of being a Taskscape, which is to say the particular practices and projects exercised there model how the space changes and adapts. This is in contrast to the traditional idea of landscape, which privileges the visual and might also hold things to a particular design or aesthetic that must be stringently maintained.
The NCAD FIELD might also be described as an open source space and experiment in the Urban Commons: It is a space of responsible co-creation and usership with respect to human and more than human worlds.
Work and research conducted in the FIELD is towards reappraising the site from brown field or derelict site, to being a Novel Ecology used for nature-culture interaction and co-creation.
Partnerships
To date, NCAD FIELD has had numerous partnerships and collaborations, including The Digital Hub Enterprise development company; Dublin City Council; PROJECT Arts Centre; Trinity College Dublin; University College Dublin; EVA Biennial of Contemporary Art; as well as many local businesses of the Liberties, the Dublin neighbourhood in which the College is based.
NCAD FIELD has also hosted numerous professional artists as guests and collaborators. Other international collaborations and dialogues FIELD is currently a part of include: L’Internationale Museum of the Commons, the Horizon Europe SPACEX RISE research network, and a dialogue for a research collaboration with Al-Quds Bard College in Bethlehem on land-based cultural practices.
NCAD Field Artist/s Residency
NCAD Field offers residency opportunities for artists, presently on an annual basis with the support of funding from the Museum of the Commons, a Creative Europe-funded research project being conducted by L’Internationale confederation to which NCAD belongs. Artists in residence from Spring 24-Spring 25 are Gareth Kennedy and Seoidin O'Sullivan
Events
For details of NCAD Field events including talks and conferences, workshops and performances, please visit NCAD In Public.
CFA Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Ecology
As part of the Creative Futures Academy, a certificate followed by an option to proceed onto a Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Ecology is now run through NCAD Field. Learners with diverse backgrounds and professional experiences undertake course work plotted onto the seasons but also the unique context of the NCAD Field and the deep history of the Liberties. The course is coordinated by Gareth Kennedy, Seoidin O'Sullivan and Mark Clare and is scheduled to run in coming months. For more click here.
More Information
For an article on the ethos and plans of NCAD FIeld in Visual Arts Newsletter (August 2023, p. 16) by Gareth Kennedy click here
