Kilkenny-based Monkeyshine Theatre and the Create Our Future project

Nearly five hundred children and adults have come together to help make a piece of art called ‘Create The Future’ which celebrates our connections to each other and to the beautiful planet we call home.

Kilkenny-based Art and Theatre company Monkeyshine, who are behind the project, have been working with galleries, theatres, schools, universities, and festivals to create opportunities for children, young people, and adults to become part of the art.

Monkeyshine’s Co-Artistic Director and designer, James Jobson described how the project works.
“Each participant creates a circular transparent collage that celebrates their connection to a special place in nature. A place they love and want to protect. A place where they feel connected to the other more-than-human beings that we share the planet with.

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“Each piece becomes a fractal in an ever-growing celebration of connection. Small circles of work are held within larger willow circles which join together to create an entire dome. The dome itself becomes a place to gather, connect and celebrate.”

The Domes frame, designed by Jobson to echo the skeletal structure of a seed pod is built by Kilkenny-based carpenters and metal workers Harry and Joey Harris. It is covered in seventy willow hoops. Each one is made by hand with homegrown willow by craftspeople Klaus Hartmann and Heike Kahle of Baurnafea Crafts near Castlecomer.

Create The Future is part of a larger project ‘The Ministry for All Beings’ which aims to open up conversations and empower children and adults to creatively and playfully explore what it is to be part of a whole Earth Community. and encourages them to question how we might make changes that would allow us to create a harmonious, balanced and healthy future for all beings on Earth.

A talented team of facilitators have been working with children and young people in Kilkenny and around Ireland. These bright young minds have been using their voices to explore boundaries and ignite change toward a positive future for all.

Co-Artistic Director Kareen Pennefather explained that the project explores an ancient way of thinking.
“This project is an ongoing deep dive for us as artists, we have done a great deal of research and exploration of our own. We have been working under the mentorship of renowned author and Deep Ecologist Dr. Stephan Harding who has guided us into the world of Deep Ecology. The theory is that the Earth is an animate, intelligent living organism of which we are a part rather than a dead rock to be plundered for human resources or seen simply as a backdrop to be enjoyed. This way of thinking is both new and ancient. It is shared by indigenous cultures around the world and more and more modern science is aligning and supporting it.

“It has been an exciting journey to begin to distill these thoughts and theories and to find ways to communicate them so that children can engage in these important conversations and be a part of imagining a future that is based on respect, care, and equality. However, as artists it is not our task simply to communicate the thoughts and theories of others. Art is a subjective endeavor and we want to search for the essence, to discover what these thoughts and theories make us feel and to find parallels with others.

“By making space for communal exploration, response and expression we hope to spark energy, begin conversations and sew seeds of change. If art can allow us to see the world differently, even for a moment, then our imaginations can take flight and wonderful things can happen.”
Create The Future will be shown as part of The Earth Rising Festival at The Irish Museum of Modern Art on October 22 and 23.

The project is funded by The Arts Council and supported by The Watergate Theatre, The Butler Gallery and The Civic, Tallaght.