There is never a boring day in UCD, that’s for sure! Last week was the culmination of the UCD Lake project, brought to life over the last few months by an artist highly inspired by water who chose to focus on the lake in UCD. The theme of the project was ‘What is a Lake?’, and was intended to make people think about the nature of lakes, what the loose definition of a lake encompasses, and how communities rely on and interact with lakes.
For those that don’t know the campus well, there are actually 4 lakes in UCD – one cryptically referred to as the ‘Secret Lake’ which I’ll leave you find yourselves. The main lake located in the middle of UCD is a great place to hang out with friends on a warm summer day, a convenient length of time to lap around during study breaks, and highly picturesque at all times of the year due to its fountains and resident swans and ducks. It was this lake that the project was focusing on.
Throughout the entire day, there were boat tours of the lake. Myself and a friend signed ourselves up for a boat ride in the afternoon, and were delighted when the great weather of the past few days held up. We were loaded onto the boat, and taken around the lake, up near the fountain. During the boat ride, we were given headphones to listen to, and listened to a composition of radio extracts about the UCD lake, where it was described as a feat of engineering, as it had no natural shoreline, nor natural river source. I learned more than I expected to, including the presence of giant eels in the underground pipes feeding into the lake!
In the afternoon, there were refreshments and a few speakers in the O’Brien Science Centre. The speakers had worked alongside the artist in bringing this project together, and were from a variety of faculties. The first focussed on miscroscopic flora and fauna in the lake, while the latter spoke of cleanliness standards of lakes and how people interact with them. This was followed by a musical performance of ‘I am a Lake’, written by one of UCD’s own music students, and inspired by the UCD Lake. The composition was performed by a multitude of UCD’s own talented musicians, many of whom were familiar faces form other performances in the university.
The day was highly enjoyable for all who came, and highly thought provoking. It was just one of the many events going on in UCD at any point in time, and great fun to get involved with!
