Things To Do: Discuss the future of the arts, acquire merch, study the ethnographer’s gaze

Our Picks

Our recommendations – no sponsored content, or adverts, just stuff we like.

The Complex Public Meeting

After The Complex arts centre announced last week that they were being evicted, the venue and studio space received waves of support, with a petition addressed to the Arts Council and Dublin City Council gathering more than 13,400 signatures in seven days.

On Tuesday, Green Party Councillor Janet Horner suggested that, were the venue unable to remain in its current building, there may be a suitable alternative in the council-owned auction house around the corner at 114 to 116 Capel Street. And later today (Thursday, 11 December) the venue’s board and its CEO Vanessa Fielding will be hosting a public meeting to discuss ideas to protect its future.

The meeting will begin at 5:30pm, and according to their Instagram page, they have invited representatives from both the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to attend.

Following the meeting, if you want to show the Complex support, they will be hosting a Christmas Market in The Depot on Saturday, 13 December, from 11am, and beginning on Wednesday, 17 December, they will be staging a “marathon public event” to raise awareness around their campaign, featuring a range of performances. That will run until 19 December, with further details to be announced in the coming days.

For further updates, follow The Complex on Instagram here.

Uncertain Ethnographers: Short Films From South East Asia

Over in Phibsborough this evening, A4 Sounds is organising a fundraiser in aid of South-East Asia floods relief.

Since November, the tropical cyclones Senyar and Ditwah, alongside powerful monsoons, have caused catastrophic floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. In direct response to these devastating natural disasters, A4 Sounds, the studio and gallery space, will be screening five short films to raise funds that will be going directly to vetted relief efforts in the affected regions.

Uncertain Ethnographers is curated by film researcher Dini Adanurani and visual artist Nguyễn-Võ Bảo Hân, and puts on show the works of contemporary South-East Asian artists, focusing on themes of colonialism, land and the ethnographic gaze. Initially planned by the curators to address the underrepresentation of South-East Asian art in Dublin’s cultural scene, its purpose has been reshaped in response to the ongoing natural disaster.

Released by artists from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines between 2017 and 2025, the films due to be screened are Here We Are by Chanasorn Chaikitiporn, Before the Sea Forgets by Lê Ngọc Duy, Letters from Panduranga by Nguyen Thrin Thi, A Tale of the Crocodile’s Twin by Taufiqurrahman Kifu and To Pick A Flower by Shireen Seno.

Uncertain Ethnographers starts at 7pm, and tickets are available here.

Wolfe Tone lecture

On Saturday, Ringsend & Districts Historical Society is organising a lecture on republican and United Irishmen founder Theobald Wolfe Tone.

Titled Five Years That Shook The World, the lecture traces the origins of Irish Republicanism back to Irishtown in 1790, where Wolfe Tone and his fellow United Irishman Thomas Russell discussed their ideals while walking along the beach. As well as framing the role of Irishtown in the emergence of Republicanism, it also look at the area’s significance during this revolutionary period, and will explore where and why Wolfe Tone resided there.

The talk will be held in the Ringsend Irishtown Community Centre on Thorncastle Street at 2pm.

Admission is free. For more information, contact Ringsend & District Historical Society at ringsenddistricthistorical@gmail.com.

Afterwardness and Vsevlod Plotkin, The Hut

As Christmas nears, the onslaught of saccharine Christmas playlists that refuse to acknowledge a single track off A Charlie Brown Christmas intensifies, and if you are in dire need of a minor musical gear change, The Hut in Phibsborough might be your saving grace.

The Dublin 7 venue will be hosting an evening of oddballs and noiseniks, including the three-piece experimental outfit Afterwardness, Birmingham-based bassist, composer and improviser Si Paton, the very lo-fi and high-concept punk outfit Vsevlok Plotkin, and Pink Glasses, the experimental punk project by drummer and filmmaker Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz and guitarist Aonghus McEvoy.

It is a gig that could go in any direction considering the last time I saw Vsevlod Plotkin, they distributed instruments among the crowd, and departed while the audience continued to play for another ten minutes.

The gig starts at 7:30pm sharp. Admission is €10.

Merchy Christmas

Continuing this newsletter’s annual tradition of gift recommendations, this week we are suggesting Merchy Christmas, the annual artist and music market over in the Grand Social.

Running across Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 December, the market will see more than 80 artists selling their merchandise, including Æ MAK, Gilla Band, Lankum, Just Mustard, Courtesy, Tebi Rex, the Murder Capital and Pillow Queens. Also on the line-up are a few DJs and a raffle, for those who are fond of gambling with relatively decent odds.

Plus, many of the artists on the bill will be selling their merch in person, so you can get all those burning questions ready, like “can I join the band?”, “do you write the songs, or just make them up on the spot?” and “where did you buy your Boss TU-3W Chromatic Tuner?”

Entry is free. But there is a suggested donation of €6 on the door.

For more information, visit the Merchy Christmas website here.

Even In The Darkest Time, Ranelagh Arts

Last week, Ranelagh Arts launched its new winter exhibition: Even in the Darkest Time, in support of Médecins Sans Frontières and their ongoing work in Gaza.

Curated by Taffina Flood and Ria Czerniak, the exhibition boasts an impressive range of talent, including artists Aideen Barry, Rachel Fallon, Maser, Corban Walker, Joy Gerrard and Nicole Manning.

The gallery has been packed out with a total of 124 works up and on sale, in case you’re looking to fill a stocking with a canvas-sized gift.

The exhibition will run until 9 January.

For more information, visit the Ranelagh Arts website here.

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APNI Awards and Gala Night

On Saturday night, 13 December, the African Professional Network of Ireland is holding its Awards and Gala Night at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Dublin 8.

The event aims to celebrate the achievements of Black and African professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders in Ireland.

APNI Awards and Gala Night starts at 6pm. To book your tickets, visit the event page here.

Love in the Lav launch

On 23 January, Dr Averill Earl’s book Love in the Lav: A Social Biography of Same-Sex Desire in Ireland, 1922-1972 will be launched at the Irish Georgian Society on South William Street.

Using courtroom testimonies, police records and family history archives, Earl’s book documents queer lives in newly independent Ireland.

Starting at 6pm on Friday, 23 January, the launch will consist of a short talk by Earls, followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Tom Hulme and Dr Páraic Kerrigan.

To book a spot, visit the event’s page here.

Solstice Light: Art in Winter

Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality in Sandycove launched a new curated exhibition, ‘Solstice Light: Art in Winter’ earlier this month.

Running until 25 January, the exhibition celebrated the turning of the seasons, and features the work of artists; Antonio D’Souza, Viktoriia Yevsiukova, Gillian Lambe, Jane McCloskey, Jessica Rodrigues, Avril Murphy Allen, Mary Cullen Kelly, Ruth Egan, Stephen Doody, Hina Khan and Mary Moynihan.

Admission is free and donations are welcome.

For more information, email: admin@smashingtimes.ie