• RHA 187th Annual Exhibition 

    May 25, 2017 - By 

    Opening this week for its summer run is the RHA’s 187th Annual Exhibition. The exhibition, which is the largest open-submission show in Ireland, features a multitude of mediums and provides viewers with a broad synopsis of current styles, trends and directions within contemporary Irish art. As well as it’s open-submission platform the RHA invites artists each year to contribute to the discussion. This year includes a site-specific installation by Miranda Blennerhassett – which sees the Scottish born, Irish based artist transform the gallery’s staircase. Drawing on inspiration from an Iranian mosque, the work is a reflection on the human tradition of…

  • Via: Barvikha – Chengdu EP

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Belfast singer-songwriter Chris Leckey, aka Via: Barvikha releases debut EP, Chengdu, on June 16. The EP was written around a period of significant life change, as Leckey was uprooted to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – before coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the darkly raw places of yearning, conjured by of Jason Molina and other quintessentially authentic Steve Albini-produced folk. Following up on a short string of singles from 2015, Chengdu is released through Belfast indie label Abbreviated Records on June 16. It was recorded & produced by the titular…

  • The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse Irish Premiere @ Whelan’s

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    We will host the Irish premiere of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse at Whelan’s on Sunday, July 2. Following the screening of the documentary, which looks at the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous, a band of musicians – including Tom McShane, The Mad Dalton, Pixie Saytar, Heliopause and Jake Lennox – will play an hour-long set of material from the Sparklehorse songbook. Doors are at 7pm and tickets – priced €13.00 – are available to buy via Whelan’s, a venue which Sparklehorse performed at on a handful of occasions.  

  • Exhibition: School Portraits @ Draíocht

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    School Portraits, an exhibition which presented the work of four artists who have submerged themselves within the environments of Irish schools, opens tonight in Blanchardstown’s Draíocht. The show features the work of John Ahearn, Mandy O’Neill, Blaise Smith and Kilian Waters. Each has approached the topic with a different medium – photography, video, sculpture and paint, with Ahearn’s 1994 piece St Francis Street Boys on loan from the IMMA collection. School Portraits promises to be a fascinating look at life in Irish schools and will also help engage children in visual arts from a young age and spark discourses across generations. With that in…

  • Exhibition: Parc du Souvenir @ Sirius

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    © Stephen Brandes – Parc du Souvenir Stephen Brandes’ Parc du Souvenir is due to end its run in Cobh’s Sirius Arts Centre later this week. The British born artist has lived in Cork since the early 1990’s. In Parc du Souvenir Brandes uses a number of materials, including lino to create the large format print shown above. At the heart of the show is a film featuring the thoughts and adventures of the fictional and fantastic Alfred Sitzfleisch – you can read a full review of the show from it’s earlier run in Dublin’s Oonagh Young Gallery here. Parc du Souvenir closes this…

  • Exhibition: Set in Time @ Glucksman

    June 21, 2017 - By 

    Founded in 1909 by Russian ballet and art impresario Sergei Diaghilev, Ballets Russes is recognised as a pivotal organistaion in the establishment and promotion of performative dance in the early decades of the 20th Century. As well as being home to some of the greatest ballet dancers of its time, including Nijinsky and Pavlova, Ballets Russes also saw Diaghilev commission pieces from contemporary artists, such as Picasso and Matisse, as well as costume designs from Coco Channel and compositional pieces from Stravinsky – who Diaghilev would eventually be buried near in Venice. In 1921, while only 16, Serge Liar was spotted by Diaghilev and he became his…

  • Picture This: The Recount of Conflict @ Pallas Projects

    May 11, 2017 - By 

    © Jasper Bastian – Across The River What: The Recount of Conflict Where: Pallas Studios, Dublin When: 4th to 14th May {Recount: noun, An act or instance of giving an account of an event or experience. Conflict: noun, A serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one; a state of mind in which a person experiences a clash of opposing feelings or needs.} It is the collation, and subsequent narrative extraction, that solidifies The Recount of Conflict as both a successful exhibition, in terms of expression and discourse, and as an introductory platform for seven artists. On initial surface value, the imagery…

  • Exhibition: Showing Off @ VOID

    May 16, 2017 - By 

    This week is the last to see Showing Off in Derry’s Void gallery. The show, which has been curated by Mhairi Sutherland, has seen screenings from the New York initiative Women Make Movies’ archive. Void’s Gallery 2 has a rotation of feature film’s, with a fixed series of shorter films in the gallery’s other spaces. For this final week it’s Barbara Miller’s 2012 film Forbidden Voices: How to Start a Revolution with a Computer – which looks at female bloggers in Cuba, China and Iran as they document their countries’ regimes. This film will be shown daily at 11am and 1pm, with the shorter films, including…

  • PhotoIreland Festival Launch

    May 4, 2017 - By 

    Having moved from its traditional July slot to the start of Summer, the PhotoIreland Festival launches tonight in Dublin’s Tara Building from 7pm. Previous incarnations of the month long arts festival have seen artists being invited to respond to a specific theme, this year sees a shift in that practice as the invitation has been to respond to a specific place – Marsh’s Library, the 18th Century library nestled in St. Patrick’s Close adjacent to the cathedral.  As well as this main brief there are looks at the Hispanic World as well as bodies of work by Michal Iwanowski and Steven Nestor, with the…

  • Exhibition: And Europe Will Be Stunned @ Golden Thread

    May 9, 2017 - By 

    This week is the last to see Yael Bartana’s video trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned in Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery. The Israeli artists trilogy of video pieces are broken into three works: Mary Koszmary (Nightmares), Mur i wieża (Wall and Tower) and Zamach (Assassination), which were released in 2007, 2009 and 2011 respectively. Bartana’s work explores propaganda, the migration of people and the longing and desires of people. Her output sees the a disassociation between fiction and reality hard to navigate, a process that increases the impact of the work. And Europe Will Be Stunned continues until May 13th, with full details about…