This article is from page 127 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 127 JPG
THE appreciation of the GAA’s founder, Michael Cusack, whose leg- acy for so long had been air brushed by certain parts of the association, has never been as obvious. And par- ticularly so in Clare.
It comes as the latest innovation at the Michael Cusack brings with it a revolutionary multimedia experience illustrating his life and times.
Essentially, installation at the cen- tre uses unique, leading-edge com- puter controlled lighting, audio and visual technology to digitally resur- rect Cusack from the dead.
A unique mid-air holographic pro- jection, never seen before in Ireland, features a floating ghost-like image of Cusack who greets visitors to the 19th century Burren cottage.
The new multimedia “Cusack Ex- perience” was launched on Monday by Dr. Martin Mansergh, TD, Min- ister of State with responsibility for
the Office of Public Works and the Arts. This marks the latest phase in a €1.2 million project which has seen the restoration of the Cusack fam- ily cottage and the development of a new Visitor Centre.
Chairman of the Michael Cusack Centre Martin O’Loghlen said that while the superstructure of the Cot- tage was restored by November 2006, a long debate followed about what should be done with the interior of the building and how should it be presented to visitors.
“Although it is a 19th century cot- tage set in a superbly beautiful Bur- ren landscape, we came down in favour of a 21st century solution for a new generation. We enlisted the services of Multimedia Instructional Design from Waterford who have produced a hi-tech presentation that already has enthralled those who have seen it. They have created a bit of magic.”
In the kitchen of the old house, the
unique mid-air “holographic projec- tion” facilitates a face to face meet- ing with the ghost-like image of Cu- sack at his fireside. He tells what it was like to grow up in the Burren in the mid 19th century and how tough Tee bSe
Then he invites his audience to pick up some turf and take it to the “room behind the fire’ which is now pre- sented as a school classroom. Cusack remembers his life as a pupil of Car- ron National School, recounts how he became a teacher and eventually went on to found his own teaching academy.
The visitor is then invited to a third room which has been recreated as Hayes’ Commercial Hotel & Post- ing Establishment. The reconstruc- tion of the famous 1884 meeting in Thurles where the GAA was founded is followed by an old newsreel style projection retracing aspects of the organisation’s history from the be- ginning to the new Croke Park.
The idea to restore the cottage and develop a visitor centre was initiated by the Michael Cusack Develop- ment Company – a voluntary group – formed in November 2003 to restore the cottage, which had fallen into Otay ey-n0e
O’Loghlen said that with help of many great friends and benefactors, a quiet space has been created in a place of great beauty where visitors from home and abroad can reflect on the life and times of one of Ireland’s most influential figures.
‘Cusack was born in Carron in the bitter Famine year of 1847 and al- though he died over 100 years ago, we can still rejoice in his living leg- acy of hurling and football played with skill, excitement and passion in every part of Ireland,” he said.
And now, through innovation, it’s once more possible to see Cusack up close and personal. Who knows what the great man would have made of it re