Leisure Centre
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| Artist Name(s) | Desperate Optimists |
| Artwork title | Leisure Centre |
| Context/Background | |
| Description | Leisure Centre is an 18-minute film, shot in the new leisure centre situated on Main Street, Ballymun, and features a cast of local residents. It was commissioned by Breaking Ground, the Per Cent for Art Programme for Ballymun Regeneration Limited. Leisure Centre, scripted and performed by local actors and writers, was six months in development with participants from BRYR and Roundabout youth groups in Ballymun. It filmed over two days in the new swimming pool and leisure complex in Ballymun. It is comprised of three separate long takes with the intention of looking as if it is one single take. Over a period of nine months and through a series of public meetings and subsequent focused encounters with the residents of Ballymun, that the content of Leisure Centre was created collaboratively by the youth groups and the filmmakers. The central theme is one of optimism - a focus on new beginnings, the sustenance afforded by civic society and a sense of community and how a new born baby, despite the hardships of parenting, can give us a chance to start over. Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Desperate Optimists) became convinced that the film should inhabit the speculative. It should look to the future, not as a way of erasing the past of the old Ballymun, but as an attempt to conjure up a hopeful and optimistic vision of a life that is there for the taking, merely requiring an act of faith in oneself and the community of people one is part of. |
| Mediation | A Catalogue/DVD were produced, with an essay by Val Connor. The film is part of the Civic Life series of films by the Desperate Optimists. |
| Biographies | A full biography and past projects can be found at the artists website |
| Commission Type | Local Authority,Regeneration Agency |
| Commissioner Name | Curator - Aisling Prior for Breaking Ground |
| Commissioning process | Limited competition |
| Project commission dates | April 30, 2005 - August 31, 2005 |
| Public Presentation dates | February 27, 2006 - January 1, 1970 |
| Partners | Roundabout Theatre, Ballymun Active Living Group, Ballymun BRYR Youth services, Ballymun The British Council Project Arts |
| Artform | Film,Visual Arts,Theatre |
| Art Practice | Arts Participation |
| Percent for art | Yes |
| Budget Range | 10000 - 30000 euro |
| Project commission start date | 30/04/2005 |
| Project commission end date | 31/08/2005 |
| Location | Leisure Centre, Main Street, Ballymun |
| County | Dublin |
| Town | Ballymun |
| Street Address | Main Street, Ballymun |
| Google Map Insert | View this projects location |
| Content contributor(s) | Denise Reddy |
| Relationship to project | Project Manager, Breaking Ground |
| Public engagement | On 27 February, 2006 the film had its world premiere at Cineworld, Parnell Street, Dublin 1. On 26 August, 2008 Leisure Centre was screened at the National Gallery as part of the Truth or Dare Film Season. Other associates include residents of Ballymun who participated in the film as members of the cast, or as production assistants including Dorothea Ondrejova, Louise Lowe and actors from Roundabout Youth Theatre, Rhoda Smith and her baby Layla Smith. |
