• Brilliant Corners 2020

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    A remarkably consistent, ever-rewarding peak of the Irish festival calendar over the last eight years, Brilliant Corners can lay claim to being the island’s most carefully-curated jazz festival. Packing out (all being well) a mélange of Belfast’s finest venues and bars – both big and small – from February 27 to March 8, this year’s bill is a suitably essential affair. Curated, as ever, by the clued-in heads at Moving on Music, acts and events as mottled as the Mercury Prize-nominated Dinosaur, Athens, Georgia trailblazers Kenosha Kid, the always compelling Joseph Leighton Quartet, Wood River and the downright unmissable Parker/Niblock/Sanders will take over the likes…

  • Music Photography Exhbition @ Bloody Mary’s, Dublin

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    Opening tonight in Dublin’s Blood Mary’s is a new exhibition featuring the works of four Irish Music Photographers: Leah Carroll, Kieran Frost, Colm Kelly and James Murray. Titled What We Did in The Shadows, the show will feature work by the four photographers over the last ten years of live music in Ireland, taking in gigs of all sizes from local venues through to international festivals. Artists featured include The Fall, The Strokes, Green Day and Billie Eliish, as well as native acts such as The Murder Capital, Lankum, U2 and The Undertones. Tonight’s launch kicks off from 7 pm running until…

  • the arts column: February 27th

    February 27, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on a host of new exhibitions opening around the country from Dublin, Sligo and Cork; as well as details on artists’ talks taking place, an open call for a series of studio spaces and residencies and a public art commission. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Open Call | The Walker Plinth, Derry VOID Derry have announced details fro an open call that is seeking work to appear on The Walker Plinth in Derry which has been funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs…

  • Other Voices Ballina 2020

    February 10, 2020 - By 

    With just over three weeks to go, the final acts for this year’s Other Voices Ballina have been announced. Returning to the Co. Mayo town across February 28-29, the festival will welcome David Gray, Kildare’s JYellowl, Soda Blonde, JC Stewart and The Howl & The Hum. Joining the likes of previously announced acts including Elbow and Jesca Hoop, the acts will perform within the 225-year-old walls of St. Michael’s Church over the two days and nights. Beyond the church is the Other Voices Ballina music trail, featuring Irish acts including Joel Harkin, Murli, Shookrah, The Mary Wallopers and Squarehead. Check out…

  • High Rise | Low Rise: Gross Net & Blue Whale @ Rosemary Masonic Hall, Belfast

    February 1, 2020 - By 

    On Saturday, February 1st, Belfast Film Festival will host a one-off event exploring utopian and dystopian urban visions of Northern Ireland. Taking place at the former Masonic Hall on Rosemary Street – a three-storey stone building designed by Young & Mackenzie that was officially opened in 1956 – High Rise | Low Rise promises a playful, in-depth look at how modernist architecture and urban design was presented in media through the 1950s to the 1980s in Northern Ireland. Bringing that to life are two of Belfast’s best musical propositions: Blue Whale (above) and Philip Quinn aka Gross Net, who will be providing live soundtracks to…

  • the arts column: February 6th

    February 6, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on a number of new exhibitions opening, a pair of artists’ talks, an artist in residency programme as well as the launches of some yearly artistic programmes all happening in events across Cork, Dublin, Sligo, and Carlow. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Exhibition Closing| Backwater Artists Group, Cork Today and tomorrow are your last chances to see Cara Farnan’s work in Cork’s Backwater Artists Group. The exhibition, which is Farnan’s first solo show, is titled Sometimes the river flows backwards – drawn from the…

  • the arts column: January 29th

    January 29, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on a pair of new exhibitions opening in Dublin, one closing in Belfast, an artist talk in Cork, and a pair of open calls for artworks and papers. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Exhibition Opening| Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin This coming Thursday, January 30th, sees the opening of two next exhibitions in Dublin’s Douglas Hyde Gallery. In the gallery’s main space sees the first solo exhibition in Ireland by Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri, who presents: spending static to save gas – an exhibition addressing…

  • A Night for Daniel Johnston @ The Duncairn, Belfast

    January 22, 2020 - By 

    Four months on from his passing at 58, several Irish musicians will come together on Wednesday, January 22 (aka Hi, How Are You day) to pay tribute to the late, great Daniel Johnston. A towering figure of lo-fi, the songwriter and visual artist, Johnston’s music and legacy will be celebrated at the event from 7.30pm at the Duncairn in Belfast. Performing on the night – which will raise funds for PIPS Suicide and Self Harm prevention – are Aaron Shanley, Junk Drawer, Buí, Chris Ryan of Robocobra Quartet and Jealous of the Birds. Tickets are £10 on the door (or £8.50…

  • the arts column: January 22nd

    January 22, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on tours, open calls, submission deadlines, exhibitions and more. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Quiz | Basic Space @ Temple Bar Gallery + Studios Next Wednesday, January 29th, sees the second iteration of David Fagan and John Waid’s Self-Improvement Quiz. The duo, in conjunction with Basic Space, have created a unique quiz that consists of “a series of questions, and tasks, most requiring no general knowledge.” The quiz will be hosted by Temple Bar Gallery + Studios in their Studio…

  • the arts column: January 14th

    January 14, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on some talks, tours, open calls and last calls for exhibitions around the country. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Exhibition & Talk | Turner @ National Gallery of Ireland Historically, January is Turner Month at the National Gallery of Ireland and 2020 is no different. Continuing the trend over the last few years Turner’s work will be shown alongside other artists, with a selection gleaned from both his contemporaries and those he influenced. Turner’s watercolours, and those of Paul Cézanne, John Singer Sargent…