Things To Do: Celebrate a gym, save the arts, and play cards with a couple of ghosts

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Save the Complex petition

Yesterday, the north inner-city’s arts community was dealt a devastating blow when both the Ormond Art Studios and The Complex arts centre announced that they will have to leave their respective homes in Dublin 1 and 7.

Ormond Studios confirmed via social media on Wednesday evening that, after 15 years, their lease on 4 Ormond Quay Lower is up. The Complex, at the same time, put out its own statement, saying they were being evicted from the warehouse on Arran Street East, which has been their home since September 2019.

While Ormond Studios hasn’t yet indicated when exactly they will need to vacate their quay-side location, they are currently on the look out for a new space and are welcoming any advice, which can be sent to Ormondartists@gmail.com.

The Complex’s social media account says that they will be leaving the warehouse on 14 January. But, in an effort to protect the venue and its studios, they have launched a petition, asking for the support of Dublin City Council, the Arts Council and elected representatives.

That petition can be signed here, and if you want to show support, they will be launching a new exhibition, Depots by Cillian Finnerty and Tim Furey, this evening at 6pm.

Depots will be open to the public until 19 December in the warehouse’s gallery. For more information, and to see what other events are planned in The Complex between now and mid-January, visit their website here.

 Art Book Fair, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios

This evening, the fifteenth edition of the Dublin Art Book fair will be opening in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.

Celebrating contemporary art books, and featuring limited edition publications made by artists and designers, this year’s fair has been guest curated by Dr Selina Guinness, Head of Teaching and Learning at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, and author of the 2012 memoir The Crocodile by the Door.

Inspired by the theme of “flock”, this edition of the fair will examine “all things pastoral: humans and beasts; the relational art of shepherding; and the impact of flocks on habitats”. There will be, over the course of the ten-day event, a series of book launches, workshops, panel discussions and tours, as well as a new Publishing Talks Series.

Among those set to feature in this new series are Tamara Sampey-Jawad, the associate publisher of Fitzcarraldo Editions, author Adania Shibli, PUBLICS artistic director Dr Paul O’Neill, editor Dr Gerrie van Noor, author and editor Eva Fotiadi, and author Renata Pękowska.

The fair opens this evening with the Curator’s Opening Talk at 5pm. There is currently a waiting list for this particular event, but if you’re feeling lucky, or want to see what else the fair has in store over the next week and a half, visit the Temple Bar Gallery + Studios website here.

Screenings at Connolly Books Live

Beginning on Friday, and continuing through December, Connolly Books will be holding a weekly series of experimental and underground films in its New Theatre.

Tomorrow evening, at 7pm, there is a double header of radical works that will be introduced by political geographer and cultural critic Rory Rowan. First up is the 1980 documentary No Japs at My Funeral. Directed by James Nares, and named after a provision in Lord Louis Mountbatten’s will, the film is a portrait of Northern Ireland’s liberation struggle as seen through the eyes of an IRA operative.

Afterwards, there will be a screening of the 2024 short film Very Gentle Work. Directed by Nate Lavey, the film essay uses fiction and documentary to examine acts of resistance and revolutionary struggle over the past century.

Tickets are available for tomorrow’s screenings here. For more information on the other films lined up between 5 and 19 December, visit the Connolly Books events page here.

Tolka Issue 10 launch

Alternatively, the Tolka literary journal will be launching its tenth issue tomorrow over at the Museum of Literature Ireland.

Starting at 6.30pm, author Tim Groenland will sit down with the editors of Tolka to discuss their experience running their “journal of formally promiscuous non-fiction”. Then, afterwards, at 7.30pm, they will launch the latest edition, with readings from featured writers, including Rob Doyle, Wendy Erskine, John Patrick McHugh and Hannah Sargeant.

The launch is part of MoLI’s monthly First Fridays series, in which the museum opens late and features a series of free events. And, among the other events on the docket, there will be the exhibition Happy Ever After: Falling in Love with Irish Romance Fiction, a creative writing workshop for adults with author Kevin McDermott, and a spoken word workshop for teenagers with poet Leon Dunne.

To reserve a seat at the Tolka launch, visit the MoLI website here.

The Gym, Brian Teeling

December is upon us, and with it comes the joyful chorus of others declaring that they’ve already completed their Christmas shopping.

If you’re stuck for ideas, fear not any more. The Things To Do newsletter is bringing back its annual tradition of gift recommendations, and this year, we’re suggesting the latest t-shirt by artist Brian Teeling.

The Gym is Teeling’s tribute to the now shuttered sauna of the same name, located on Dame Lane, and which, in the 1980s and '90s, served as a meeting space for queer men. An overlooked location in Ireland’s LGBTQ+ history, Teeling has commemorated the sauna by producing a limited-run of t-shirts that feature an advertisement for The Gym, created by graphic designer and AIDS activist Oliver Stanlay circa 1990.

Teeling will be taking orders until 12 December, with all the proceeds going to support the LGBTQ+ charity ShoutOut.

To order your t-shirt, visit Teeling’s page here.

Ghost Pub

On Monday evening over on Clanbrassil Street, Peadar Brown’s is finally set to be declared a "Ghost Pub" as artists Niamh Beirne and Helen Flanagan bring their ongoing collaborative project Spooky Beore to the Dublin 8 pub.

If you’ve ever wanted to play poker with a Púca, knock back some gin with a djinn, or do something else that is related to pubs and sounds similar to the name of a different type of ghost, then Peadar Brown’s is probably the only place that will cater to your unique needs.

Starting at that witching hour of 7pm, punters will be invited to play the card game Twenty Fives “with a pair of soupy spectres harbouring an ancestral grievance that they are working through by finally understanding how to play this fucking card game.”

And afterwards, attendees will be invited to share a ghost story or two, listen to some live trad music, and purchase a pint, or perhaps a spirit.

For more information, follow Spooky Beore over on their Instagram page here.

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FCC Sports Nominations Open

Fingal County Council is inviting nominations for the Sports Club Volunteer and Sports Clubs of the Year Awards.

The awards ceremony, which will be hosted by Fingal Sports Office, will take place on Monday, 26 January at the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport, and the public is now able to put forward nominees for the Volunteer and Club categories now.

Patient Labyrinth X Junk Ensemble

Patient Labyrinth, a new artwork and exhibition from Junk Ensemble in Rua Red Galleries, is both a maze and a labyrinth – exploring the delicate boundary between two worlds: the one in which we lose our way, and the one we try to find our way out of.

The exhibition opens on Friday, 12 December at 6pm, and will be open to the public until 7 February, with a performance by dance artist Róisín Harten on both 12 December and 16 January.

For more information, visit the Rua Red event page here.

F r e e d o m

Outlandish Theatre in collaboration with Ashtar Theatre, Palestine and Theater Antigone, Belgium invites their local audiences to meet online for the open access launch of F r e e d o m next week.

Described as an artistic act of solidarity, F r e e d o m is an experimental performance for radio, inspired by the Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, co-created by international artists Haider Al Timimi (Theater Antigone), Iman Aoun (Ashtar Theatre), Maud Hendricks (Outlandish Theatre) and eight Dublin-based chorus members.

The performance will be broadcast at 9pm on 10 December, Human Rights Day. For more information on how to hear the performance, follow Outlandish Theatre on Instagram here.