Emerging out of thin air

Cork 2005: This year of culture has produced some unlikely partnerships - on the face of it none more unexpected than that between performance-art evangelist Tony McLean-Fay of the Granary Theatre and the Rev Michael Burrows, Dean of Cork.

As the year progresses, St Fin Barre's cathedral is recognised more and more as a performance space in itself, and it was here that McLean-Fay introduced the site-specific installation Thin Air, commissioned by the Granary in association with Cork 2005.

Composed by Helen Ottaway and sound designer Alastair Goolden, this sensor-led work brings visitors on an aural journey through the ambulatory and chancel of the cathedral. The sound-beams set off fragments of music and speech from soloists and choirs of Salisbury Cathedral, Southwell Minster and St Fin Barre's, with the Dean included among the speakers.

Produced by Artmusic of Somerset in England, the work (continuing to May 28th) is a delightful way of appreciating the building, something which escaped Cork 2005 when it passed up on the opportunity to support an exhibition based on the work of its architect, William Burges.

However, Burges was evoked both by Mary McCarthy of Cork 2005 in her welcome for Artmusic and her gratitude to the cathedral staff for their "fantastic collaboration", and by Richard Wood, speaking on behalf of the Dean, who believes that the cathedral, because of its artistic completion, could be seen as static. Therefore a special responsibility rested on the modern users of the building "to fling open new theological windows, whether in liturgy, preaching or the planning of the many contemporary music events which take place within these walls".

There's more modern music at the public museum, where The Art of Sound, presented by the Contemporary Music Centre provides glimpses of how composers write. Wall panels (with photographs by Eugene Langan) range over 20 Irish composers from Seán Ó Riada to Kevin Volans, Deirdre Gribbin, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and Gerald Barry, with illustrations of their styles of notation through a couple of generations until the written staff symbolism almost disappears in graphic depiction. Letters and scores are also on display until the end of the month.