It was a process of mapping, driving and happenstance that got me across various barriers and into the Dome itself. Supported by an award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, much of my summer of 2018 was spent photographing, drawing and filming in the landscape and in and around the architecture of the Trainer Dome, part of the former WW2 Limavady airfield and military estate. This summer I am revisiting the materials, getting ready for an exhibition in Artlink, Fort Dunree October 2019. My research hadn’t exactly pinpointed the location, but there was a general area that seemed accessible, and I was sure that it was around the next corner, or roundabout, or other side of something…it wasn’t. For such large and compelling sci-fi-like structure it is remarkably well concealed, and even more well defended against a casual visitor and or intruders. The building is located near Aghanloo, just outside Limavady, Northern Ireland and was originally built as a Trainer Dome, one of around 40 erected throughout the UK during the early 1940’s. They were the first architectures to be designed and built specifically for the projection of moving film for target practice by trainee anti-aircraft gunners, and as such are the concrete forerunners of Imax cinema, VR and gaming technologies. The circular dome surface allowed the projected aircraft to give an impression of real time flying across a day and night sky, with gunners operating a firing mechanism, guns minus live ammunition, from the ground area inside the Dome.
Trainer Dome, getting closer. (2017) Copyright the artist.