Making Dust

Making Dust is a portrait of a rupture: the demolition of Ireland’s second largest Catholic Church. The film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building’s dismantling, inviting viewers to pause and reflect alongside the community of the building. Informed by Ultimology, a practice of looking closely at endings, Making Dust invites audiences to think about the life cycles of materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather and what we value.

Fiona and Ellen

Fiona Hallinan is an artist, researcher, filmmaker and, alongside curator Kate Strain, co-founder of the Department of Ultimology, based between Brussels, Belgium and Cork, Ireland. Her work has been presented at IMMA, VISUAL Carlow, Kerlin Gallery and in 2024 she will present an exhibition at Kunsthal Ghent in Belgium. Ellen Rowley (PhD) is an architectural humanities teacher and writer on twentieth-century Irish architecture. She is Lecturer in Modern Irish Architecture in UCD’s School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, where she teaches architectural history and culture programmes.

Together they recently developed the film Making Dust, supported by the Irish Arts Council Project Award that looked at the demolition of Ireland’s second largest Catholic Church as an example of a rupture. Making Dust premiered at the IFI Documentary Festival, Dublin in 2023

Following the film, there will be a Q&A session with Fiona and Ellen.