• Picture This: Reconstructing Memory @ The Model

    Cléa van der Grijn – Reconstructing Memory (Image Courtesy of Heike Thiele) What: Reconstructing Memory Where: The Model, Sligo When: 17th Decmber 2016 – 2nd April 2017 Words: Rebecca Kennedy Irish artist Cléa van der Grijn has spent nearly a decade meditating on our society’s response to death and loss. From 2008’s Momentos to her new show, Reconstructing Memory, in Sligo’s The Model, the artist has harbored a fixation with death and loss – a fixation that has nourished her creative process. Reconstructing Memory is an exhibition that examines the disparities between the cultural responses to death in both Ireland and Mexico. Irish culture has an…

  • EVA International 2018 Submission

    Ireland’s biennial international art extravaganza EVA International was a huge success last summer in Limerick, attracting over 100,000 – you can read our review of the festival here. Entitled Still (the) Barbarians and curated by Cameroon-born Koyo Kouoh, the biennial was a response to the year that saw Ireland celebrate and remember the centenary since The Rising. Submission for next year’s event, curated this time by Columbian Inti Guerrero, are open until January 31st – full details here. Only 15 months till we get to see what’s in store!

  • Turner Month @ The National Gallery

    To the benefit of both the National Gallery of Ireland and Irish art fans Henry Vaughan in 1900, despite having no connection to this island, donated his sizeable Turner collection to be split among the national galleries of Scotland and Ireland as well as the Victoria & Albert and Tate museums in London. A quirk of the Vaughan Bequest was a stipulation that the work only be shown in January – to both better preserve the works and enhance it in the lower light of January – and for it to be free of charge. Over a hundred years later the tradition is still being kept and…

  • The LP Belfast Launch Night

    In the first of a new listening party series, Belfast’s House Bar on Stranmillis will host the launch of The LP on Friday, January 27. The concept is simple: people show up, buy drinks and the organisers play a great album, uninterrupted, from start to finish. First up is Childish Gambino’s third studio album, “Awaken, My Love!”, released via Glassnote Records back in December. The album play will be followed by the LP DJ set, featuring funk, soul, hip-hop, disco, house and breaks. Entry for the launch is free and there’ll be some free good, as well as drink offers. Contact thelpbelfast@gmail.com…

  • #CorkLovesMusic

    Presented in association with First Music Contact, the inaugural #CorkLovesMusic will see a standalone series of free music industry clinics, talks and performance events kick off in Coughlan’s on Wednesday, February 22. Set to run throughout the year, the opening event will feature one-one-clinics with FMC CEO Angela Dorgan, talks featuring Young Wonder/aboveDat producer Ian Ring, venue promoter Joe Kelly and arts journalist Ellie O’Byrne, as well as performances from Sillk, The Sunshine Factory and Ghostking. Reserve your place at the launch here and keep ’em peeled more announcements throughout the year. Leaf EP by GHOSTKING IS DEAD

  • RHA Annual Exhibition Announced

    Details for this year’s RHA Annual Exhibition have been announced by the Dublin gallery. With last year’s showcase moved forward to accommodate centenary celebrations for The Rising, this year it will return to its traditional summer slot – running from May 23rd to August 12th. Applications for this the 187th edition of Ireland’s largest and oldest open submission exhibition are due to close on March 23rd, with full details on submissions and forms available here. As well as providing an unrivaled opportunity to view and purchase works by artists emerging and established, it also provides a timely cross-section or current…

  • Wanda: Feminism and Moving Image

    A four-day feminism and moving image event and the first of its kind in Belfast, Wanda will take place in various venues across the city from February 9-12. Featuring film screenings, talks, performances and panel discussions on subjects relating to feminist moving image practice and how feminism continues to inform and inspire moving image works of many forms, the mini-festival will include screenings of feature films such as Riddles of the Sphinx (still, above) at Beanbag Cinema and Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles at Queen’s Film Theatre, as well as shorts including Niamh McKenna’s Chasing the Birds and…

  • God’s Waiting Room Valentine’s Special

    Following on from a very memorable festive feast for senses in the company of Andrew Weatherall back in December, David Holmes‘ God’s Waiting Room will return to Belfast’s Maple Leaf Club on Saturday, February 11 for Valentine’s Day special. Headed by Montréal artist, producer and “detached crooner deep within a dystopian discotheque” Bernardino Femminielli, the night will also feature a 4 hour DJ set from Holmes and DIE HEXEN live, as well as Jeff Doherty and Mark Gilliland in Room 2 and films/visuals courtesy of Stephen Hackett and Jason Deadman. Set to be compered by Joe Lindsay, the first 200 through the…

  • The Thin Air and Moving On Music present: Damo Suzuki (CAN) with Blue Whale and Robocobra Quartet

    Presented by The Thin Air and Moving On Music, the legendary Damo Suzuki, vocalist of pioneering Krautrock group CAN, will return to Belfast for a fully improvised show with experimental rock maestros Blue Whale, and Californian improviser, sound artist, inventor and writer, Paul Stapleton. Support on the night comes from one of the country’s very best bands, Robocobra Quartet. This is set to be an unmissable event for anyone with even a passing interest in experimental and improvised music. Featuring “an assembly of sound carriers to communicate with each other and the audience”, Damo Suzuki has performed as ‘Damo Suzuki’s…

  • Exploding Eyes – Exploding Eyes

    Dublin progressive psychedelic garage-rock trio Exploding Eyes release their eponymous debut album through US label Big Neck Records on December 9. Exploding Eyes was produced by Jim Diamond, who has worked on sonic titans like Dirtbombs, White Stripes & The Sonics. The LP is launched upstairs at Whelan’s on February 3, with support from psych-doomsters Wild Rocket and nugazers Galants, More details here. Prior to this, the band released two singles on Bandcamp. Channelling the likes of Hawkwind, Love & Pentagram, check out the album’s lead single, ‘Something Critical‘.