The first response I received (in written form)…
Hi David,
Celtworld opened in 1992, My husband’s job had moved to Tramore from Kilkenny a couple of years earlier, we had a 5 year old child and two much older (20/22) children who were both away studying. Tramore was a rather forlorn and worn-out town at that stage. Its hay-day as summer holiday destination for Dubs was past, it had the beach, the amusements and a rather dubious caravan park and that was about all. It was a tired backwater, pleasant enough place to live, but not much going for it.
So when word got out that a new attraction was to be built there was great interest. The curious round, white building went up and rumours abounded as to what was being done to the interior. As far as I recall (and this may be incorrect) they had an initial offer for locals to attend, I know I went at a very early stage. I remember being a bit underwhelmed at the talking tree. We sat in a ‘slice of pie’ shaped cinema type room and a show began, a mix of special effects, bits of video etc. I can’t remember it all that clearly, some of it was well done, some was laughably feeble. There was a film clip (I think, might have been a photograph) of a young girl – maybe 4 or 5 – dressed as some sort of fairy (she had wings and flowers in her hair), sitting on an unconvincingly decorated swing, local rumour was that she was granddaughter of one of the Directors or investors or whatever and had been included at his request. At around that time Dunnes Stores had started selling very pretty children’s dresses, and it appeared that it was a Dunnes dress that she was wearing, which caused more amusement. She looked as though she was in a commercial photographer’s set piece/dressed-up-child photograph, I don’t recall how she was supposed to fit into the story.
My memories are a bit confused between the ‘Celtic experience’ around the same time in the Museum of Treasures in Waterford, and the (much later) opening of the new Waterford Glass experience, I am trying to sift out the bits I am reasonably sure of.
I was vaguely aware that the seating moved in Celtworld, but it did not feel like that, it seemed as though it was the scenes that moved. Some of the scenes were cartoons on a screen and some were actors projected on a transparent screen with an environment behind. There was something a bit amateurish about it. Jim Fitzpatrick was very prominent at the time and his artwork was impressive, but it was not supported by the presentations, this is an impression as I can’t actually recall any visuals apart from the child on the swing. I think there was a roaring monster-man in one of the scenes, did it come out over the audience somehow? The visuals did not hang together, there was no cohesion. I vaguely recall a long bit of exposition by one character (a monk?) that was more like a museum presentation than an entertainment. The whole thing predated CGI and more sophisticated special effects. Was it generally impressive on the whole? I don’t recall being all that impressed, maybe it was just me. I really don’t recall anyone saying ‘that’s an amazing show, you should go and see it’.
Local consensus was that, while it was interesting, once you had seen it you would not be inclined to go again, there was a strong sense that it was a one-off show, and if the presentation was not going to change why would people go more than once? This turned out to be the case, people did go to see it, but the numbers were not great. We could never understand how it could be envisaged as an on-going attraction. I think we were also aware that the quality of the graphics did not really hold up as a long term proposition.
Most of the Tramore residents were aghast at how much it had cost to put together. A cost of 4m was bandied about and the general opinion was that, as with most things at that time, money had gone into pockets, whose pockets was not entirely clear. It was an extraordinary amount of money at the time and no-one could see where it had been spent. No-one was really surprised when it closed, but there was a lot of anger at the waste of money. Subsequently the building was used as a nightclub, South. It was never very convincing as a venue though and did not last long. I think there were a couple of inquiries/investigations, but as usual nothing came of it.
I think people were tired and cynical at the time, there was so much casual corruption and ‘cute hoors’ making a few bob out of anything and everything that no-one was really surprised at Celtworld’s appearance and speedy disappearance. Remarkably when the next big project, Splashworld came along, people were not put off by the Celtworld nonsense and many locals (including ourselves) contributed to the fundraising. It came across as an obviously better proposition as an attraction for the town, it is still going strong and has been a great benefit to the town.
Kind Regards,
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Explaining my project to this (very kind) participant, I stumbled upon a description which I believe does justice to the essence of my enquiry. I wrote that my process examines “commodified, kitsch forms [and that] Celtworld was, in some ways, a potent example of this – but also a very real place that may be remembered by very real people in very human ways. By digging for these stories, I’m hoping to connect to this human aspect and create something of a sincere letter to Ireland’s recent past.”
From here on my enquiry evolved to explore the forms we can use to tell such stories and how these relates to issues of value and taste. I chose to work within the mediums of merchandise, creating a fictional brand that exists somewhere between a fashion house and a tourist shop. Each piece was created using a combination of found imagery and AI-generated graphics, combined with text from interviews such as the one above.