Irish Hunger Memorial Compilation

 Described as a 'little fragment of Ireland' sitting on top of a thin layer of concrete, Dorthea Basile describes the memorial, its features and the famine it commemorates. 

 Artist Brian Tolle won the competition to design the Hunger Memorial which was supposed to commemorate both the Irish Famine itself and address the larger issue of world hunger. Dorthea Basile tells the story behind the competition. 

 Artist Brian Tolle talks about adding inscriptions to the Memorial which was a requirement of the competition and how he elected to create strata infilled with pieces of glass where the text could be placed behind it or changed some time in the future. He also discussed the court cairns or tomb passages at the great court cairns as the inspiration for the passage he created beneath the hill. 

 Artist Brian Tolle describes the construction of the Memorial, beginning with how he decided to 'live' on the Jobsite. Because it was adjacent to the World Trade Center, he goes on to talk about what happened on September 11th and how it impacted the Memorial. 

 In a piece dedicated to hunger awareness, Artist Brian Tolle talks about his ongoing collaboration with sound artists, hunger organizations, historians and even poets to create changing audio content for the Passage. 

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on The Irish Hunger Memorial, located at the North End Avenue at Vesey Street. 

 David Piscuskas discusses the conception of the memorial, the significance of its site, and the way in which it commemorates the Great Irish Famine and continuing problem of global hunger worldwide. 

 Artist Brian Tolle describes the process of how he got the commission for the artwork and selected his team and began to conceptualize the design. 

 Artist Brian Tolle explains the design process behind the memorial beginning with a competition between the finalist artists. He felt that a figurative piece was not appropriate. Instead, he decided to create a sculpture where the emphasis is on the land itself in its natural state. He wanted to add an authentic historic structure so he began a search for a suitable farmhouse with a historian. He talks about how he was finally able to find a house built in 1820 which the family lived in through the 1960&rsquo;s in Attymass Parish (where the first official death from the Famine occurred). The house was given as a gift from the family that stayed in Ireland to the family that emigrated from Ireland. 

Irish Hunger Memorial Compilation

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