Promised Land

‘When Joyce was writing, and when I was a kid, the only place you could really see the whole of Dublin from was the top of Nelson’s Pillar. Joyce imagined it as being like the mountaintop in the Bible from which Moses can see the promised land. I had never before seen the city from a vantage point so high. It was like you owned the place, like, at that moment, the city really belonged to you and you to it.’

Curated by Fintan O’Toole in collaboration with filmmaker Viko Nikci, and launched on Culture Night 2022, Promised Land is a unique VR experience, exploring themes of memory, commemoration and the abandoned promises of a brighter future. Hosted in the public office of the GPO, once the heart of the city, Promised Land gives members of the Dublin public the rare opportunity to travel back in time and above the rooftops, to witness Joyce’s Dublin of 1904 from the top of the long-since destroyed Nelson’s Pillar. 

10am-1pm / 2-5pm, Monday - Saturday

Free admission, no booking necessary

Creative Team

Curated by Fintan O'Toole

VR Creation by Viko Nikci, Sean Burns and Jonny Garvey

Sound design: Josh Wilkinson

Digital Producer: Hugh Farrell