Deconstructing The Maze, a project by artist Dara McGrath was an extensive photographic survey of The Maze/Long Kesh Prison, which for over thirty years had been the symbol of the conflict or 'troubles' in Ireland.

Recently it was decided to demolish the former prison and to build a new national stadium on the 360-acre site. Through an extensive photographic survey of the prison during demolition, Dara McGrath explores what happens when space comes to the end of its life. This work was featured in The Lives of Spaces - Ireland's participation in 11th International Architecture Exhibition 2008.  

The project sought to investigate whether the process of deconstructing and destroying the architecture of containment succeeds in erasing memories, or whether such memories are intimately wedded to the space that is being left behind. Almost two years in the making, this project saw McGrath creating thousands of photographic images of an ever-changing site.

This work stemmed from a collaborative project between 10 architects and 10 artists called Two Minds. Ten of the region's leading architecture practices teamed with ten individual artists from Ireland, both North and South, and abroad. The initiative sought to involve artists in the very core of the architectural design process, with artistic products in the built environment. Participants Dara McGrath and John Reid identified the former Maze/ Long Kesh Prison as the most suitable site to explore the creative possibilities of partnership in a site of deconstruction.

Subsequently the artist/architect pairing evolved into a wider dialogue and collaborative relationship between lead artist Dara McGrath, architect John Reid, artist Conor McFeely, curator Marianne O'Kane Boal and writer Rachel Andrews.  The exhibition in its entirety was located in the former kitchen building of the Maze Prison in an architectural configuration designed by John Reid, with selection and placement curated by Marianne O'Kane Boal.

Two back projections integrated into the buildings structure show McGrath's slide shows of the process over the long period of demolition of the site. Five other back projections located within the kitchen buildings doorways show the doorways, gates, styles, cell doors and airlocks of the prison. The project also included a text by Rachel Andrews which interrogated the shifting nature of the former prison landscape and its effect on those working and living within the Maze.

Artist's websites:

Dara McGrath's website

Conor McFeely's website

The Lives of Spaces website

Two Minds website

A 160 page catalogue on the project was produced.

Creative writer Rachel Andrew's collaboration essay Topography of Demolition can be found on the artist's blog.

A 20 minute interview with BBC Northern Ireland 'NewsBeat' programme 

Artist Dara McGrath presented his photographs as part of the Irish representation at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2008. 

A two page feature spread in the Irish Arts Review was published as part of their Venice Biennale supplement, Autumn 2008

Dara McGrath’s lens based work centers on exploring the dialogue between the built environment, architecture and landscape undergoing transformation. Touching both the local and global, his work is rooted within historical context, while referencing contemporary sociological concerns. His photographical works are realised both within the context of the gallery and as site specific interventions/installations and collaborations.

Recent exhibitions/interventions include: The Lives of Spaces, Irish Pavilion, 11th International Architecture Biennale, Venice (2008), European Night, La Nuit de l’Année, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France (2008), Singapore International Photo Festival 2008, Home/Visitant, Priorat Centre d’Art, (2008) Barcelona, Beyond the Country, Lewis-Glucksman Gallery, Ireland (2007), Thru Irish Eyes, Beijing Institute of Art & Design, (China) 2007, Kaunas Photo Days 07, Lithuania, Idensitat (2007), Barcelona, E.U. Eyes on Japan, Iwate Museum of Modern Art, Japan (2006). Awards include: New Work Award, Arts Council of Ireland (2008), National Sculpture Factory Artists Bursary (2007) Ireland. ACNI Artist Bursary (2006) and a Travel Award, (2005). Pepenieres pour le Jeune Artistes du Europe, France (2004). McGrath is also the recipient of the AIB Arts Prize in 2003.

Marianne O’Kane Boal has been involved in arts and architecture in Ireland and Northern Ireland for seven years, working as curator, researcher, consultant, interviewer, critic, advisor, and lecturer. She holds a BA in History of Art and Architecture,  and English, an MA Hons Degree in American Literature. She was Curator at the Switch Room Galleries, Belfast, (March 2006 – March 2007). Presently she is manager of the RSUA , Two Minds Art + Architecture project. She is a contributor for the Irish Arts Review, Circa, Perspective, Living Design, HOUSE, Buyers Guide to Irish Art, Architecture Ireland, Contemporary and the Visual Artists Newssheet. She is director on the board of the Context Galleries, Derry and North West Correspondent for Perspective since 2002. Other work includes monographs on Brian Ballard, Helen Gaynor, John Philip Murray and Adrian O'Connell.

In 2006 she curated John Kindness: Retro.1986-2006 for the Switch Room Galleries. She also curated a number of major exhibitions including: Brian Ballard –Solo Exhibition: Group 91-15 Years On; Deborah Brown-Cast in Nature (2002) at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast; Building our Children’s Futures: Best Practice in School Design, five Northern Ireland venues and New Irish Painting (2005) featuring 25 students from NCAD at the Context Gallery. She has curated over 30 exhibitions at Cavanacor Gallery (1999-2007). She is also a member of the National Executive of AICA (International Assoc. of Art Critics). She has represented the A.C.N.I. on a number of public art selection panels. Working for the Department of the Environment in Derry in 1999, she was responsible for drafting Northern Ireland’s first Public Art Commissioning Strategy for Northern Ireland, and completed an Integrated Arts Strategy for Titanic Quarter, commissioned by Harcourt Developments. She has lectured for a number of years, and was Faculty Member and Adjunct Professor for Boston University Dublin Internship Programme (1999-2003), and Guest Lecturer for the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens in Belfast and North-Eastern University, Boston.

Robinson Mac Ilwaine Architects (RMI) is a Belfast based architectural practice. Robinson MacIlwaine have been actively engaged in the field of commercial architecture in Northern Ireland and abroad since 1963. Recently RMI relocated premises into the edge of Belfast's new Cathedral Quarter. The practice has set an example by carrying out a major regeneration project in the former Docklands area, and hopes this will act as a catalyst for further regeneration in and around and beyond the Cathedral Quarter.

Their most prominent projects to date include the Bar Library in Belfast, Waterfront Hall, Great Victoria Street Station, Belfast, Muckamore Abbey Hospital, Royal Courts of Justice, Fivemiletown High School, Foyle Street, Londonderry, Forge Square Glasgow, Clarendon House Belfast, Glenmachen Street Belfast and they are presently involved as lead architects in the new Titanic Quarter in the former Harland & Wolf shipyards. Awards include the Green Apple Award for the Built environment (2007), Arts and Business and Employers Award (2007), Liam McCormick Prize for Building of The Year (2004), RIBA National Award for Belfast Waterfront Hall (1997), RIAI Regional Award, Europa Bus National Award for the Waterfront Hall, (1997). Affiliated to the RIBA, RIAI, ARB Architects Registration Board, as well as the RSUA. Civic Trust Best Building in the Public Realm (2006), The New Bar Library Offices, Belfast (2004), Concrete Society.

RMI have also been actively involved in arts projects and actively promotes the inclusion of art in their buildings. Examples of which include the Waterfront Hall, featuring works by Rita Duffy, Catherine Harper and Eamonn O’Kane, The Bar Library in Belfast, which featured works by Feilim Egan and John Kindness at Muck more Abbey, among others. The Switch Room Galleries (Golden Thread Gallery) was established by them in September 2005 as a platform not just for the visual arts but an exhibition space to promote the crossover of art and architecture

Rachel Andrews is a lecturer in journalism at Griffith College, Cork. She also writes about arts and culture for magazines such as Magill magazine and Irish Theatre Magazine. Rachel is a regular contributor to RTE Radio and BBC Radio 4. She is a Critic Fellow of the O'Neill Theatre Centre, Connecticut. She worked for 4 years until 2005 as a lead architecture writer for The Sunday Tribune and as a senior theatre critic also until 2005. Recently she contributed to the O’Donnell+Twomey publication on the Lewis-Glucksman Gallery published by Gandon and to the Two Minds Artists/Architecture collaboration project.  In 2002 she was a laureate of the Journalistes d’Europe programme in Paris, and in 2005 she was short listed for a Fulbright Award. She has also received several ACI awards. Currently she is collaborating with McGrath on the project Peripheries, a long-term documentary study of the way architecture plays a role in the shaping of society with specific reference to the Banlieues of Paris.

Conor McFeely was born in Derry Northern Ireland, where he now lives and works. He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. His exhibitions include Disclaimer, Orchard Gallery, Derry (1997), (solo). Headfirst, OBG Gallery, Belfast (2003), (solo). The British Art Show 5, Hayward Gallery London, touring Edinburgh, Southampton, Cardiff and Birmingham (2000-2001). Small Steps, The Elipse Gallery, Washington DC (2001). Something Else, Contemporary Art from Ireland, touring Turku, Helsinki, Ouulu, Joensuu Finland, (2003). and Dogs Have No Religion, Czech Museum of Fine Art, Prague, (2006). He was a recipient of The Curated Visual Arts Award in 2007 (curated by Mike Nelson) resulting in two major solo shows of new work in The Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin (2007) and Void, Derry (2008). Conor McFeely's websit

His works have an emphasis on the manipulation of space and the idiosyncratic use of materials. The contexts for these works have been varied and include references to literature, cinema, art history and social contexts amongst others. He has been referred to by the Guardian newspaper as a ‘twenty first century electro-anarchist’.