• Exhibition: Signs and Ciphers @ Golden Thread

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    Described as less of a retrospective into his work and more of an investigation into certain prevailing themes and characteristics, Signs and Ciphers is a new dual location exhibition and features the work of Northern Irish artist Alistair Wilson. The first two parts to this four-part exhibition are on show in Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery and features newer work from Wilson. The remaining two parts open later this year in Portadown’s Millennium Court Arts Centre, and feature older works stretching back to the 1970’s. Wilson, who represented Northern Ireland at the 2005 Venice Biennale, is an investigative artist, exploring the materials he surrounds himself with,…

  • Exhibition: Observations @ Belfast Exposed

    August 31, 2017 - By 

    Celestograph by August Strindberg, 1894. Image kindly provided by the National Library of Sweden Outside of his native Sweden August Strindberg is predominantly known as a playwright and a poet, such was the high regard his was held in within these disciplines. Strindberg was in fact a polymath who explored painting (he was friends with Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin) and the photographic arts. It is the latter, and specifically his late 19th Century experiments in capturing he might sky, that severs as the departure point for Observations, the current show in Belfast Exposed. For his ‘Celestographs’, Strindberg placed sensitised plates…

  • Exhibition: Collected Shadows @ Void

    August 25, 2017 - By 

    Established twenty-five years ago, the original brief for the Archive of Modern Conflict was to collect and preserve materials relating to the First and Second World War – this saw the AMC primarily archive photographs but also manuscripts and materials. Over the course of the next quarter century this initial premise was expanded on and the AMC is now best viewed as an archive of the world, amassing photographs from multiple centuries on a wide variety of themes and topics. In conjunction with the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Touring, an initiative which organises touring exhibitions through the UK and NI, the AMC…

  • Exhibition: Concerning the Other @ Olivier Cornet

    September 8, 2017 - By 

    Opening this Sunday in the Olivier Cornet Gallery, on Dublin’s Great Denmark Street, is a new group exhibition titled Concerning the Other. The show has been curated by Olivier Cornet, Claire Halpin and Eoin Mac Lochlainn; and sees the artists involved respond to the themes of diversity and concern, in terms of refugees and minorities from areas of conflict. Recent and on-going struggles make this a vital discourse that requires a collective response, and this approach is echoed in the work created. Instead of submitting individual pieces the ten artists collaborated on works together, with each adding a layer upon the previous’ work. By…

  • Slow Place Like Home – When I See You…Ice Cream!

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home release their new album, When I See You…Ice Cream! on October 20. As with all Slow Place… material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Written between Knather Woods in Donegal’s Ballyshannon, and the Algarve in Portugal, it somehow bears a sun-kissed somnambulance to match the cartography. The second single, ‘Echoes‘, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy, and album artwork comes from Derry artist John Rooney. The album was mastered by Morr Music’s Antony Ryan…

  • So Much For The Sun – So Much For The Sun

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Lisburn doom-laden stoner rock/sludge trio So Much For The Sun have just released their debut album. Mastered by doom stalwart Brad Boatright, the album was recorded and mixed by Niall Doran at Start Together Studios – who has recently become the go-to guy for any production of noteworthy heft in NI. The band’s eponymous debut is a lengthy and dynamic affair, its samples and lyrics delving into sociopolitical commentary with a careful blend of clean and guttural vocals that’d see them sit well on any Desertfest billing. With the crushing low-end of post-metal & doom, its heaviness is framed within the midrange-bogarting fuzz of early…

  • Owlcrusher – Owlcrusher

    August 10, 2017 - By 

    One of the finest metal releases Ireland will see this year comes in the form of the long-awaited debut from Banbridge blackened sludge/doom trio Owlcrusher. Its three long songs – including the obligatory eponymous track – were recorded by Niall Doran at Start Together Studios in Belfast. The album came out on Seeing Red Records, and is available to order in a limited CD run, with vinyls in the works. A sprawling, funereal affair, it has harsh, distant, blackened vocals from guitarist Andrew Speir and evokes the crushing sorrow of the likes of Warning and low end devastation of Yob. Live, the band are a must-see. Owlcrusher…

  • Exhibition: The Core Project @ RUA RED

    August 22, 2017 - By 

    The Core Project is the latest exhibition from Irish artist Matthew Nevin, and is currently on show in Tallaght’s RUA RED creative hub. The work is one that Nevin has been developing since 2010 and sees the artist present over 150 videos of individuals in each sovereign state in the world. The participants are all responding to the same question: What is going to happen next? Nevin ensured each was ignorant to this question prior to filming their video, which results in a more visceral than calculated response being captured and documented. Modern life, and the art world included, is becoming more and more intertwined with technology…

  • Workshops & Exhibition: Cork Photo Gallery

    August 11, 2017 - By 

    Cork Photo Gallery have announced details of their forthcoming workshop series with events due to take place throughout September and into October. Workshops range from photography tutorials at dawn with Marcin Lewandowski (details available online here) to outdoor painting classes with Paul McKenna (details available online here). Running in conjunction with these more specific adult classes, Cork Photo Gallery have also released details of their forthcoming children’s workshops – with events for kids of all ages, with workshops even catering for 6 to 16 months. As well as these events, the gallery is currently showing In Print, an exhibition featuring the work of photographer…

  • Exhibition: And Creatures Dream…A New Language @ Wexford Arts Centre

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    This week is your last to see And Creatures Dream…A New Language as its due to close this Friday, August 25th. The exhibition, which is spread across both the Wexford Arts Centre and the Wexford County Council buildings, comments on the visual arts in the county, with a focus on painting. The exhibition’s title is taken from American poet Susan Stewart’s 2011 piece A Language and references the artists’ perception and memory as they create their work. The artists on show (which include Robert Armstrong, Eamonn Carter, Aileen Murphy, Breda Stacey and Michael Warren) explore and present the medium of painting in diverse and ever challenging…