#ciara moore

[villagedog]

In 1871 a ship, carrying a cargo of ivory tusks, left San Francisco bound for Liverpool. The ship ran into bad weather and sank off the Irish coast at Hook Head.  [One resident] described how, in stormy conditions and for years afterwards, elephant tusks were washed up onto the rocks and collected by locals. The ivory tusks were driven between the rocks of stonewalls and stables in the area and used to hang fishing nets... Further research revealed that the cargo was in fact walrus tusks.

Ciara Moore on The Ivory Tower Project

[villagedog]

Ciara Moore, Underbelly, part of The Ivory Tower Project installation

In Underbelly the soundtrack included low frequency sound used by elephants to communicate but were inaudible to the viewer. [In the installation] a subwoofer speaker was placed in the room and a seismometer was positioned between this and the projection screen. The seismometer detected the infrasonic sound waves of the elephant calls and these inaudible vibrations were transmitted via a cable running the length of a narrow corridor into another room. The cable was connected to an oscilloscope placed in the next room of the exhibition where the unheard warning calls of the elephant were represented visually on the oscilloscope.