Cork city to be transformed into 'one giant gallery' during upcoming exhibition 

CORK city is set to be transformed into “one giant gallery” next month, with an exciting exhibition occupying 53 billboards spread across 16 locations.

Looking Glass is a new billboard project created by Dublin-based multidisciplinary artist Ror Conaty, supported by an Arts Council agility award and in collaboration with creative design and advertising studio, Notes to Cork.

Using infrared photography, the exhibition “exposes the beauty hidden just outside of our visual spectrum, giving people the unique opportunity to compare our waking reality with that which lies just beyond our senses, showing us the overlooked nature cohabiting our urban spaces and amplifying the endurance of the natural world”.

The exhibition takes its name from the Lewis Carroll novel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There where the protagonist Alice travelled through her mirror to a fantastical inversion of her world.

“Upon awakening from her dream, Alice bore a new perspective on her reality and the lens through which she views it.

“In this way, Looking Glass will present a vantage point into a greater reality to give viewers a new appreciation of the everyday spaces they inhabit,” a description of the exhibition says.

The exhibition hopes to leave audiences with the memory of this vantage point, “recalling it each time they travel through a location, recollecting the beauty they saw exposed through a conventional advertising space”.

Mr Conaty’s work comprises photography, print and film. During his career, he has worked with many leading companies and prominent people including U2, Denise Chaila, Dorothy Cross, Alice Maher, Adobe, Puma, Rubyworks Records, and Sargent House Records.

Looking Glass will take place across the city from August 20 until September 3.