• the arts column: December 18th

    In this week’s arts column we’re looking at shows that will be on over the festive period, featuring shows in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and Roscommon. Be sure to check out last week’s edition which details of two shows closing this week in Belfast and Dublin. [In]Visible: Irish Women Artists from the Archives @ The National Gallery of Ireland. Dublin 2018 was a year packed with anniversaries and centenaries, notably the 100-year anniversary of the end of ‘The Great War’. In Ireland it was also the centenary of the first time women were granted suffrage, in an election that also saw the begins…

  • Dublin Art Book Fair 2018: Art and Architecture

    Today sees the launch of this year’s Dublin Art Book Fair in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. This is the 8th edition of Ireland’s only art book fair and is supported by the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature initiative and the Arts Council of Ireland. The theme for the fair is ‘Art and Architecture’, with a special focus on ‘Uncovering Libraries and Collections’, highlighting the important role these institutions can play in our lives. As well as the fair itself, a series of events will take place during the week including children’s tours, craft making and guest speakers. The fair kicks off today and…

  • HALFTONE 2018 Launch

    Tonight sees the launch of the 2018 edition of HALFTONE print fair in The Library Project in Dublin’s Temple Bar. Running for just over two weeks, HALFTONE features over 70 artists with a mixture of photography, screen printing and multi-media works. There are pieces to suit a wide variety of budgets, and the works are from a broad range of emerging and established artists, including Shane Lynam, Roisin White and Jordan McQuaid. The fair kicks off tonight at 6pm and runs until November 18th, you can browse the artists featured online here.

  • PhotoIreland Festival Launch

     Laia Abril – On Abortion Today sees the launch of this year’s PhotoIreland Festival, with a number of events in and around Dublin to mark the occassion. The month long festival coincides with the Eighth Amendment referendum on May 25th, and this huge societal and political debate is refreshingly not absent from either the content or structure of the festival. For PhotoIreland’s duration the main hub of the foundation, The Library Project, will be taken over by the Together for Yes campaign. With this year’s main exhibitions including Laia Abril’s On Abortion and Sarah Cullen’s You Shall Have Exactly What You…

  • Exhibition: Like Me @ The Dock

    Alice Hanratty – Handsome Youth at Public Assembly I Carrick-on-Shannon’s The Dock is currently showing the work of three Irish artists: Alice Hanratty, Kian Benson Bailes and Eleanor McCaughey, in their latest show Like Me. This exhibition is the third in the gallery’s continuing series of group shows that feature artists at varying stages of their careers and practices. Hanratty, a member of Aosdána, has exhibited extensively both nationally and internally since the 1990’s and here presents etching work that reference here travels abroad; while Benson Bailes, whose has recently shown in Tulca, Galway and CCA Derry-Londonderry, presents work that interrogates the notion of queer identity in modern…

  • Critical Bastards Issue 15 Launch

    This Wednesday sees the launch of the new and 15th issue of Critical Bastards. This latest issue of the critical art magazine is titled Bilocation and features responses and reviews of shows in both Ireland and New York. Contributors include Suzanne Walsh, Adrian Duncan, Davey Moor and Jessamyn Fiore. The launch is at 6pm in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios on Wednesday in Studio 6, with a link to the Facebook event available here.

  • RD\DE\WRK @ Temple Bar Gallery + Studios

    Tonight sees the a one off event featuring the work of artists Sean Grimes and Cillian Finnerty. The duo are due to present RD\DE\WRK, which is their exploration into sound: ‘Performances move organically through phases. The music is squashed, expanded and often broken.‘ The event kicks off at 7pm tonight in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios as part of TBG+S’ Studio 6 Open Programme. Full details available online here.

  • Halftone Print Fair

    This week is the last chance to catch the Halftone print fair in The Library Project, which is due to close this coming Sunday. The fair features work from over 80 artists, who make use of a variety of print mediums including: linoprint, risography, illustration and screen printing. Prices for work range from €10 to €10,000 – appealing to both the collector and enthusiast. As well as being a commercial endeavour, Halftone also represents an exhibition that showcases a cross section of current printing techniques and styles, so is an important resource for any print maker. Halftone closes this Sunday, and is open daily until…

  • Exhibition: Let Us Eat Cake @ Belfast Exposed

    If you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Northern Ireland is the worst place to live, in terms of rights, in the whole of the UK or Ireland. Fundamental rights that exist throughout Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales do not exist in the North. Over the past decade homophobic hate crimes have increased year on year, and specific legislation for trans hate crimes is absence. When all of these are mixed in with the melting pot conservative ideologies, such as creationism, that still exist in Northern Ireland, it results in an atmosphere unconducive to the LGBTQ+ community. It is this community,…

  • Book Launch: The Giving Light

    Tonight sees the launch of a new book featuring the photographic work of writer Gavin Corbett. The photobook is a collation of images captured by Corbett during his travels to Dublin, London, San Francisco, New York and more. Titled The Giving Light, the works trace the writer’s mood through the locations which is emphasised by the accompanying text, which is intended to run parallel to the imagery rather than be a direct interpretation. The photobook is launched tonight in Dublin’s Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, where Corbett is their writer-in-residence for 2017, from 6:30pm in Studio 6. More details are…