Glenview Roundabout Sculpture Installation

The installation of the sculpture titled ‘Node 81 - a point becomes a line, a line becomes a way’ by Liam O’Callaghan has been completed on the Glenview Roundabout on the approach to Tallaght Village on the N81.

The public art commission complements SDCC’s N81 Landscape Improvement Scheme, along one of the county’s main transport corridors; connecting significant numbers of commuters with Dublin city centre and only a few minutes from the national motorway network. 

The procurement of the artwork followed the National Guidelines for the Commissioning of Public Art under the Per Cent For Art Scheme 2004.

The Artist's brief was drafted by SDCC’s Arts Office and Public Realm with Visual Artists Ireland. References and public contributions from the Part 8 for the N81 Landscape Improvement scheme were included in the brief. Artists were invited to submit responses. The tender was awarded to Liam O’Callaghan and Mark Clare. The successful response to the brief said:

“This large-scale, contemporary sculpture reflects both the Gothic spiked

roofline of the 8th century St.Maelruan’s church to more contemporary

developments of the 1970s and 1980s to the present day. The lines of the

sculpture also reflect an interlinked network of streets, which hold a

community connected by many points, this in turn mirroring the function of a

roundabout and the purpose of the N81 itself. Networks are brought to life by

those that engage with and live with in them. This process is reflected the

artwork.”

The site was chosen to mark a prominent gateway into Tallaght. There are a number examples across the country of artworks on roundabouts and on national roads including the Polestar Roundabout in Letterkenny and the Marker Tree on the N7 at Kingswood Interchange.

The sculpture was created by Liam O’Callaghan. Clifton Scannell Emerson Associates and Austen Landscape Architects carried out the planning and design work at the N81 and construction work was carried out by Clonmel Enterprises Ltd.

For further information contact Communications Unit, South Dublin County Council, County Hall, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on communications@sdublincoco.ie