A City + A Garden

A City + A Garden presented new works by some of Ireland’s most exciting writers, musicians, and voice artists. A state-of-the-art sonic experience that combined story, song and location, the project encouraged visitors to rediscover their urban environments through a series of site-informed stories accessed using GPS on their smartphones. There were four stories to be discovered, two in Cork City and two in the The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Dublin.

The project was dreamed up by Sounds from a Safe Harbour Director Mary Hickson during the 5km lockdown. Mary was looking for ways to change how she saw her locality, and considered how it could be creatively enhanced. A City + A Garden was a unique workaround to the problem of making and experiencing art and performance against the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis and its ongoing and varied levels of restriction.

We were asked to create the visual identity for the project, the WebApp user interface, social media promotional graphics, a way-finding system that guided visitors along the four trails, and a series of site-specific installations that were peppered throughout the routes.

Bold geometric shapes and symbols represent the natural and man-made elements of both locations. The identity system comes to life through the various combinations of elements, drawn from iconic landmarks and architectural features, the diverse flora in the Botanic Gardens, and the everyday elements that make up the fabric of both places. The colour palette has its roots in both cities heritage, using a vibrant hue of red to represent Cork and blue to represent Dublin.