Ulysses 2.2 is a large scale, cross-disciplinary collaborative project celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of Joyce’s Ulysses, comprising 18 individual artistic commissions across dance, visual arts, theatre, opera, music, tech, advertising, literature, youth engagement and traditional arts. These commissions happened across Dublin, throughout 2022 in theatres, online, as films, on social media, in the traditional news media, at MoLI Museum of Literature Ireland and in public spaces, both at home and abroad.

The project is a collaboration between MoLI and two of Ireland’s most prominent theatre companies, Landmark Productions and ANU Productions.

Inspired by the novel itself, these projects followed the structure of Ulysses where the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, with each project based on an episode of the book, 18 in total. The use of typography and colour were chosen with Ulysses in mind, the turquoise blue of the original first edition being the constant throughout each episode. The cover of the 1922 Shakespeare and Company Ulysses, featured Lyons Titling capitals designed by Louis Perrin in 1846. We chose Louize, a contemporary revival of Perrin’s Augustaux to work as the distinctive headline font.

Ulysses is set in the streets and alleyways of Dublin city and this urban grittiness is something we wanted to capture in this modern, 2.2 version. We were also influenced by Joyce himself, his stylistic interpretations and his meticulous attention to detail.

We set about creating 18 individually spray painted interpretations of each episode. Conceptualised first and then sprayed by hand outside our studio walls, each piece or poster works within a concise grid and template to create a consistency across all 18.

An absolute joy to work on, each episode is displayed and animated across the website and social media platforms. We hope Joyce himself would approve!