Door: CONOR MCGARRIGLE
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032
“NAMAland is a mobile AR artwork, built on the Layar platform, 16 which uses Open Data and Augmented Reality to visualise and critique aspects of the Irish financial collapse, through an overlaying of the city of Dublin with a database driven data layer which identifies properties under the control of NAMA (The National Assets Management Agency). NAMA is an Irish Government Agency established in December 2009 to acquire bad property loans from Irish banks with the aim of removing them from the banks’ balance sheets as a bailout mechanism. The agency, which was controversial from the start, acquired properties worth €54 billion but failed in its stated aim of bailing out the banks, culminating in Ireland entering an IMF/EU bailout program in November 2010 due to the imminent collapse of the banking system.
Despite (or perhaps because of) its central role in the financial collapse NAMA was extremely secretive in its workings. Legally exempted from Freedom of Information requirements, the agency was intent on shielding its property portfolio, individuals and corporations involved, from public scrutiny under the guise of ‘commercial sensitivity.’ Building on Hans Haacke’s treatment of the Shapolsky real estate and New York City, it was obvious that mapping out NAMA’s property holdings was essential to gain an understanding of the organisation and events which led to its creation, in order to open it to critique and scrutiny.”
“NAMAland succeeded in capturing the popular imagination in Ireland. It was widely reported in the mainstream media including an interview and report on the Nine O’Clock News on RTE (the Irish national broadcaster), I have been frequently interviewed on radio, and it has featured in the print media on many occasions.
I’m regularly contacted by international journalists writing segments on the local reaction to the financial collapse. The title ‘NAMAland’ has even entered common usage as a descriptor for the post IMF bailout situation. In the midst of my extended 15 minutes, the project has more importantly succeeded in focusing attention on its subject matter where more traditional approaches failed. It overcame official attempts to limit information and discussion on the subject, and has acted as a conduit through which concerns over the lack of transparency inherent in NAMA which focused, and kick-started, the NAMA backlash which has yielded some positive results.”
