Things To Do: Interact with the sea, listen to some “formally promiscuous non-fiction”, and marvel at the macabre

Our Picks

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

Don’t Anger the Gods

Over in FLUX Studios on Chatham Row, a new exhibition by painter Rasher aka Mark Kavanagh is opening tonight at 18.00.

Titled "Don’t Anger The Gods", Kavanagh has pulled together a “strange symphony of contradictions” using his trademark blend of figurative oil painting with surrealism and abstraction.

Pondering, as his subjects, the likes of former French president François Mitterrand and his “final forbidden meal” – a roasted ortolan – as well as Beethoven and Anthony Bourdain, Rasher dives into the threads that connect death, beauty, our appetites and creation.

Greed. Shame. Innocence. Flawed humanity. It has all the makings of a perfect Thursday night.

"Don’t Anger The Gods" opens tonight, 22 May, and runs until Wednesday, 28 May. For more information, visit the FLUX Studios website here.

Memento Vivere

Attentive readers may recall the name Murky Anyango. She appeared in our pages as the cinematographer on performance artist Venus Patel’s short film Daisy: Prophet of the Apocalypse. Now, she’s stepped forward and released her debut album Memento Vivere.

It is a 12-track collage of electronica, drum ‘n’ bass, IDM, shoegaze and '90s indie, with drum beats distorted to within an inch of their lives and layers of high-pitched, autotuned and heavily processed voices. Opening with the aptly named "Hard Exterior", the album comes at the listener with force, and a degree of mania that fans of Aphex Twin will appreciate.

But brave the feral first impression, and gradually the abrasive hyperpop reveals a more tender side, which defies expectations at every moment.

Memento Vivere is almost certainly an album that will divide listeners. But if you’re up for something exciting, stream it here.

Tolka Journal, issue nine

The International Literature Festival has descended once more on Merrion Square, and if you’re out that way, I’ll start with a few quick recommendations to jot down on your personal to-see list: Javier Cercas, Rebecca Solnit, Ece Temelkura, Sohn Won-pyung and Serhii Plohky.

But, on Friday, I'm eyeing up the launch of issue nine of the Tolka Journal at 18.30. Self-described as the “journal of formally promiscuous non-fiction”.

Issue nine, which you can order here, has quite a spectacular offering, with a cover by painter Salvator of Lucan, and works by Maija Makela, Caelainn Hogan, Dylan Brennan, Gustav Parker Hibbett and SJ Kim, among others.

Also in the issue is a translation of Nobel prize-winning author Annie Ernaux by Anna Moschovakis.

And to launch this, contributors including Hogan, Parker Hibbett, Kim and Makela will be over at the festival to give readings.

You can book your tickets here.

Adam Gibney, Tidal Composition 1: Fall and Rise

If you’re out in Balbriggan, drop down to the library where Richmond Road Studios artist Adam Gibney is currently exhibiting his latest work, Tidal Composition 1: Fall and Rise.

The project began with an installation down on Balbriggan’s front beach last week, using a SALIE (sound and light interactive emitter) network, described as a “technological bridge between the Irish Sea and our inner emotional landscapes”.

While regrettably, the beach installation is now gone (and you can blame me for not giving you a heads-up last week, sorry), until 30 May, Gibney has a pop-up exhibition in the library, which gives visitors an insight into the project.

It will also offer you an opportunity to borrow one of his SALIE consoles for a one-week period, so that you can bring his “sea-to-self transmission” into your home.

For more information, visit Fingal County Council’s website here.

The Flats, Irish Film Institute

After screening at the IFI Documentary Festival last year, Alessandra Celesia’s award winning documentary The Flats is coming back to the IFI this Friday.

An exploration of how the New Lodge neighbourhood in Belfast was affected by the Troubles, in it Celesia looks at the lives of its residents – some of whom, in their youths, had engaged in paramilitary activity, but now suffer from unemployment and poor mental health.

Likened to Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, in which a former executioner of political dissidents in Indonesia restages events from the 1965–66 mass killings, here Celesia has Joe, a middle-aged tower-block resident, reenact traumatic memories from his childhood, with his neighbours participating in the process.

The Flats opens on Friday, 23 May, with the first screening including a Q&A with director Celesia hosted by Alan Gilsenan. To book tickets, go to the IFI page here.

Museum of Curiosities

A few years ago, our reporter Aura McMenamin went over to Lost Lane on Nassau Street to check out Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow, a cabaret of “warped and nightmarish characters”, led by Paul Mangan.

Mangan, also known as Monsieur Pompier, is back, and he is opening The Museum of Curiosities at 35 Pembroke Street Lower next Thursday, 28 May, promising sights and artefacts odd, macabre and “marvelously misaligned”. 

The nation’s first museum devoted to the truly bizarre, Monsieur is promising us shadowy halls, shelves of bottled and mummified specimens, “charmingly dreadful taxidermy”, arcane medical instruments, haunted dolls and of course, the most terrifying of them all: Victorian relics.

If you want to head out for the opening night, tickets are here.

Noticeboard

Listings of events submitted by readers – you can submit yours for next week's newsletter, via this form.

What A Difference A Day Made

Artists including Tolü Makay, Niamh Bury and Bobbi Arlo are set to take to the stage in Collins Barracks this Saturday, 24 May 25, as part of a day-long festival organised to mark the 10th anniversary of the Marriage Referendum.

The event runs 11am to 7pm, and you can get your free tickets here.

Swift survey in Blanchardstown

BirdWatch Ireland, in partnership with Fingal County Council, is undertaking a breeding swift survey across Fingal over the summer.

After the survey started last week in Balbriggan, on Sunday 25 May, it continues over in Blanchardstown at 7.30pm, with participants meeting at Tesco Superstore, Roselawn.

Additionally, BirdWatch Ireland is asking the public to report any sightings of Swifts by emailing swifts@birdwatchireland.ie or entering records on the National Biodiversity Data Centre website.

Last chance to see Yuyan Wang and Raphaël Hénard at the Douglas Hyde Gallery

It is the final week to see the current exhibitions by Yuyan Wang and Raphaël Hénard at the Douglas Hyde.

Working primarily in film, Wang excavates the vast landscape of digital imagery, distilling hours of found footage into compelling films, while Hénard has a new sound work currently in Gallery 2.

The exhibitions will close on Sunday, 25 May. Entry is free.

Behind the Scenes Bus Tour of Dublin Port

This June, Dublin Port will be offering guided bus tours around the docklands to share its histories, show its sights and tell how the port plays a vital role in our everyday lives.

Beginning on 11 June, and meeting at Dublin Port Substation, the tour gives visitors a chance to see the inner workings of day to day operations. Tickets start at €2.50, with tours offered in English, Spanish and Irish.

To book, visit their Eventbrite page here, or for more information, contact Byron at bterris@dublinport.ie.

Resolve 25

Students and graduates of the Royal Hibernian Academy of the Arts will be exhibiting their work as part of a group show in the RHA Gallery, Elys Place, on Monday, 26 May, and running until 3 June. Admission is free. For more information, visit their website here or email Rebecca at rebecca@rhagallery.ie.

195th RHA Annual Exhibition

Also on 26 May at the RHA Gallery is the 195th RHA Annual Exhibition, Ireland’s largest and longest-running visual arts exhibition, with more than 350 artists working across paint, sculpture, drawing, print, photography and architecture set to go on display.

Admission is free. For more information, visit the RHA site here.

Please Share

If you know anyone who'd like to get this newsletter, please share it with them – and they can sign up for free via the button below.