Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries

James Curran 

BA [Hons] Visual Communication Design

Hi, I’m James and I’m excited to be showing my work alongside my classmates. I love image making, photography, typography and all things print. I enjoy not just the process of coming up with ideas but the logistics of how to bring ideas to life. I have experience working as a graphic designer on film productions, and enjoy the collaborative and fast paced nature of this work. During my time at IADT I’ve come to really appreciate how design can subvert expectations and change perceptions.

Project Description

The Society for the Preservation of Past futures is a speculative future organisation that collects and reimagines fragments 20th century modernity. The society views the modernist structures of the late 20th century as representing the high point of humanity's ambition, progress and domination over the earth.
To the society, many of these structures also represent the ideas using the power of the state to improve peoples lives through modernist design, an idea very much outdated in an increasingly privatised and environmentally conscious society.
While acknowledging the flaws of the culture these structures represented, the group yearns for another age of progress and belief in the future. In its absence, the group looks in wonder to the last time it existed and celebrates the remnants of this age.


Texas to Tallaght

My dissertation looks at the phenomenon of Americana in Ireland, focusing on the late 20th century when it was at its peak. It examines the origins of Ireland's links with America and how Ireland's Affinity with America developed throughout the 19th and 20th century and what Americana in Ireland can reveal about national identity. It also examines at Irish country music and how Americana in a rural context can have a different meaning to it in urban areas.