ECO Showboat at Ballinasloe! 8th to 11th June

Supported by the IWAI, River Suck branch.

Friday June 9th Venue, 2.30 - 4.00 pm - Ballinasloe Library
Society St, Townparks, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
Meet the EcoShowboat team and screening of the film The River Shiven.
 
Saturday 10th June, 2.30 am - 5 pm - Ballinasloe Harbour
Ballinasloe, County Galway
Launch of the Mayfly Musical Sustainable Energy Artwork and Meet the Invertebrates family workshop.
 
The Eco Showboat Mayfly - a vibrantly coloured solar powered boat touring Ireland's inland waterways for 2 years - will be moored in Ballinasloe Harbour from June 8th to 11th 2023. Join artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly for two fascinating events spread over two days.

On Friday June 9th join the team at Ballinasloe Library to hear about their journey and enjoy a screening of a short film about a little known but important river in East Galway. This is the story of the River Shiven, a Blue Dot river, as it makes its way from Cloonshivna to Muckanagh near Ballygar where it meets the River Suck. Blue Dot waters are our best quality waters, with the highest ecological quality and a greater diversity of species that are sensitive to pollution. The film is produced by the Artfarm Collective, a Non Profit Voluntary Arts & Ecology Group based in North County Galway.

On Saturday June 10th the team are at Ballinasloe Harbour to launch the new musical Mayfly art installation, hot off the press and never experienced by the public before. Working with Nicholas Ward, an engineer from UL, using sensors and arduino boards, the  artists have turned Mayfly into a sound artwork, emitting resonant sounds reminiscent of Tibetan singing bowls to respond to the energy outputs from solar and wind sources, giving people a better understanding of the power that is generated from both sources.

And right through the afternoon fresh water ecologist Rachel O’Malley introduces you to some of the little creatures that live in our waterways. These fascinating and endearing little creatures—the Caddisfly, the Mayfly Nymph and many others—are indispensable for the health of our waterways as well as important indicators of water quality. 

Anne Cleary, one of the founder's of the Eco Showboat project said:
"We are very grateful to Ballinasloe Library and the new River Suck branch of the IWAI for  welcoming us so warmly to Ballinasloe. The Eco Showboat aims to bring people together around ecology in a way that is enjoyable and fun, combining climate science with art to give people engaging moments where we can imagine solutions to the climate crisis together. The Ballinasloe Community has really bent over backwards to help us realise this vision in County Galway."

The Eco Showboat Journey to the East is a five month arts expedition from Askeaton to Dublin aboard the solar powered Mayfly, flagship of the Eco Showboat project. Brain child of artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly, the project is supported by the Arts Council, SFI, Creative Ireland, Waterways Ireland, and LAWPRO (full list of partners here).