7. Clan Fulcadán Cats : Brown Mountain Diamond

7mins HD stereo

2020

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The Fulcadán Clan (Cats)

Carl Giffney, Brown Mountain Diamond, 2020.

Fulcadán = Bath

The first cat I named Fulcadán Guairneán, meaning Whirlpool Bath in Irish language / Gaeilge. In English she would be known as Whirly, and when the first two kittens arrived to the house she was then just known as Big Cat. This is the named engraved on the rocks that make up her grave in the garden by the four beech trees. She was called by other names by other owners. Lucky was a recent one. She outlived these owners and her given names and although we don’t know her age she lived many long lives. Her ninth life at Brown Mountain Diamond was a good one. Fulcadán Guairneán / Big Cat now lies in the ground. Her legacy lives on with the new generations of kittens that she taught with the local ways while she was with us. RIP forever Big Cat. The first kittens arrived aged 8 weeks from Waterford. The brother and sister were named Fulcadán Éan / Bird Bath and Fulcadán Fola / Blood Bath. The pair would be known for short as Birdy and Bloodsy.The names do not come from the cannon of Irish, European or World names. Fulcadán / Bath operates as a preceding surname. All cats are named Bath, the individual cats being Whirlpool, Bird, Blood and Red. The names do not come from figure heads from the past, not from Irish political history not from Western mythology or from folklore. The names look forward not back and do not carry with them tradition. I first came across Turbo Sculpture, and also Turbo Culture / Turbo Architecture / Turbo Folk, in Eastern Europe. In the countries that made up the Yugoslavian state, in a climate of recent conflict, post-war rebuilding and addressing acts of local atrocity, genocide and corrupt politics, in Serbia, in Slovenia, in Bosnia and Herzegovina Turbo sculpture emerged as a cultural phenomenon that instead of glorifying the figureheads of the Yugoslavian regime, the national poets, the military etc, it immortalises figures of global and post-national status. These people are often fictional or pop characters that have in their stories overcome hard circumstances and odds in areas like film / sport / culture, in Bosnia Herzegovina a public sculpture of Bruce Lee stands in Mostar, one of Rocky Balboa, stands in Žitište and around Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tarzan, Tupac and Bob Marley can be found in the form of public sculpture. “It is commonly argued that the rejection of the traditional regional/political context of civic monuments (leading to the turbo sculpture age) is a condition of the post-traumatic recalibration of identity and ideology that occurred following the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s’” (Turbo Sculpture, Aleksandra Domanović, 2011.) The next kitten to arrive came on his own, Fulcadán Rua / Red Bath or Roy, a little boy from Co. Wexford. He was followed by Capín Snámha / Swimming Cap. Capín Snámha is long haired and is known for short as Cappa. She came from the Blackstairs Mountain Carlow. With our last arrival Stáisiún Cumhachta / Power Station / Cucu, five cats currently live at The Brown Mountain Diamond and all efforts will be made to keep five healthy happy cats at the premise as time goes on. Five is a good number and is one of the social, of the dynamic, of building, and ongoingly of The Fulcadán Clan Cats.

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1min HD stereo

2020

Names:

Fulcadán Guairneán / Whirlpool Bath / Big Cat (RIP forever)

Fulcadán Fola / Blood Bath / Bloodsy

Fulcadán Éan / Bird Bath / Birdy

Fulcadán Rua / Red Bath / Roy

Capín Snámha / Swimming Cap / Cappa

Stáisiún Cumhachta / Power Station / Cucu

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1min HD stereo

2021

. . .

1min HD stereo

2020

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Brown Mountain Diamond