Scim, Skip! (Ahh) Sclimpíní

Through the water systems of memory and migration, intersecting narratives are woven from stories of the land, storage of memory, and Irish mythology. The work takes its point of departure from Irish immigrants arriving malnourished and impoverished in c.1850 in New York City after the Famine, a manufactured starvation by Britain’s colonial ruling over Ireland; They attempted to treat themselves with bottles of soda water, a new commodity in a new country, because they believed the bubbles in the water to have healing properties.

You go to experience magic

Before Christianity in Ireland, natural springs were sites of spiritual and social importance in indigenous Irish culture. Spring water was commonly considered a remedy, containing ancient healing properties.

People would gather and worship at the water, because they believed that these springs were places of power, health and knowledge, as well as portals to the otherworld, to a parallel dimension—The understanding of reality was that it incorporated and accepted the idea of parallel universes—time would have been viewed as cyclical, rather than linear.

We are all ancient and young

During the 1991 excavation of the former Five Points neighbourhood in Manhattan,

New York City’s most notorious 19th-century slum, archaeologists uncovered substantial

soda water bottles deep underground in the dwellings of 19th-century Irish immigrants.

Soda water's characteristics acted upon the senses of Irish immigrants. Social rituals of soda water in Irish households would have been critical for the survival of most immigrants, constituting a kind of social medicine—providing some communal relief for the physical and emotional distress caused by emigration.

They straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and acreage.

Occasionally the river floods these places.

‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering.

Remembering where it used to be.

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Excerpts from ‘The Site of Memory by Toni Morrison

The sense of Irishness as a possibility of return was a key component of the Irish diasporic identity, described as an “excess of memory”.

The film is soundtracked by launeddas, a triple-pipe instrument originating in prehistoric civilisations that inhabited the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The launeddas’ have a strong history of migration throughout Europe, in form and sound; with unbroken oral transmission and cultural distinction for over 2500 years.

Keep your collective memory alive inside these pipes

Launeddas originated in Sardinia and may have reached Ireland and Britain via sea-trading links or Sardinian legionaries stationed in Britain during Roman occupation, where the triple-pipe enjoyed prestige between the 8th and 12th centuries. The continuous polyphonic drone, played through circular breathing method, is associated with bodily sensations and nostalgia.

Scim, Skip! (Ahh) Sclimpíní

2025

4K Video

Mixed media installation

Credits

Voice

Sallay Garnett

Music

Andrea Pisu (Launeddas)

Additional music and arrangements 

Lewis Rainsbury

Support musicians  

Paolo Tambaro

Alberto Piludu

Featuring (Film)

James Frecheville

Karen Theilade

Kyrone Oak

Lyn Gibson

Featuring (Text)

Dunya Kalantery

Hannah Regel

Tommy Calderbank

Poster & Title design

Paul Guinan

Sculpture

Luca George

Spatial Consultant

Diogo Passarinho

3D Artist

Jason Ramanah

Sound Mix

George Cassavetes

Technical support

Victor Jakeman

Reference Images

The Photographic Collection by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD

Special thanks

Honor Hellon

Thank you

Haf Gibson, Kyrone Oak, Vivian Wood, Nigel Wood, Sam Belinfante