Things To Do: Leave the office, hit the quays for a hooley, study the kitchen table

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Long Day At The Office

On Monday, Dublin City Council granted developer Stormborn Capital Acquisition Three Limited permission to redevelop Phibsborough Shopping Centre with its brutalist tower slated to be turned into a nine-storey, 150-bedroom hotel.

Ahead of the tower’s regeneration, Richmond Road Studios will be holding a “goodbye exhibition” and programme of events on the fourth floor this week.

Long Day At The Office is the studios’ collective send-off to the tower which has served as their home over the last four years following their eviction from the original Richmond Road Studios in Fairview. The group exhibition features work from the studios’ members and will open at 6pm this evening. The dress code is “office core”.

Also launching in the tower this evening is multidisciplinary artist Lana Zubović’s debut solo show The House of Complex (The Necromancer). Zubović will also be up in the tower on Saturday 27 June, at 1pm to discuss the show.

That isn’t all though. On Friday (26 June), at 6pm there is a special screening of Displace: the battle for Dublin. Directed by James Redmond, the black-and-white documentary explores the city’s housing crisis, decline in cultural spaces and activism. Among the stories Redmond points his lens towards is the April 2022 studio eviction, with the film featuring contributions from Richmond Road members Maeve Brennan, Aoife Ward and Taoiseach Shame.

Finally, on Saturday at 11am, architect Cormac Murray will be up in the studios to deliver a talk on the history and design of Phibsborough Tower.

The show will continue until Tuesday 30 June before Richmond Road relocates to their new location in Glasnevin Industrial Estate next month. All of the events are free. But please note that the tower will be closed on Sunday, and visits on Monday and Tuesday are by appointment only. To make a booking, contact Richmond Road Studios here.

This is not a table // this is a table

Precisely one area code south of Phibsborough, artist and Onion Boys singer James Carroll Freeney will be launching his new exhibition This is not a table // this is a table in Clancy Quay Studio on Islandbridge this evening.

In This is not a table… Freeney contemplates an object as ordinary as one’s kitchen table as a “site of profound human experience”, becoming a “place where conversations linger, absences become realised, and generations overlap”.

This new collection veers towards the abstract, like a murkier version of Joan Miró, and draws inspiration from the concept of block time: the idea that the past, present and future all exist simultaneously. Using the kitchen table as a recurring motif, Freeney considers the ways in which fragments of ourselves remain in a place long after a moment has passed.

This is not a table // this is a table opens at 6pm this evening, and will run in Chamber House until Monday 29 June.

For more information, follow Clancy Quay Studio here.

Jessie and the Veil

Over in Marrowbone Books on Friday evening, folk rock group Jessie and the Veil will be performing a free gig at 7pm.

Fronted by singer Jessie Dingle, the five-piece emerged with their bright, ethereal debut single, An Bhfuil Tú i nGrá Léi? back in February. Using Irish and English in their lyrics, the group blends the storytelling aspect of folk music with the theatricality of artists like Kate Bush and Florence & the Machine.

There are no tickets. They’re operating on a “first come, first served” basis here, so you should probably head down a little early.

If things don’t work out, however, there is still a chance to catch the band later this summer when they headline the Soundhouse on 6 August with support from Local Noise, Even Angels and Dollmen. Tickets for that gig are available here.

Western Girls’ Pride Hooley

Then, on Saturday night, “rowdy outlaw” DJ duo Western Girls are returning to Sin É for their annual Pride Hooley.

For the occasion, DJs KWOO and Hag Trader have vowed to spin everybody from Eartha Kitt and Shania Twain to the Pet Shop Boys and CMAT, as well as a few obscure grooves and Dustin the Turkey floor-fillers (ideally anything off 1997’s seminal Faith of our Feathers).

Joining them on the bill this year is the anarchic, stylophone-driven punk of Vulture Fun, a band that promises to put the “ass in asset management”, and the dreamy, clanging post-punk of Dose, whose debut EP Sycophantic is a must-hear for fans of Warpaint, Dry Cleaning and '90s Sonic Youth.

The hooley starts at 8pm, and finishes late. Admission is free, but booking is advised and can be done here.

Artists’ Studios in Henrietta Street 1976-2026, Selected Works

Last week the Irish Georgian Society unveiled its new exhibition celebrating the Artists’ Studios in Henrietta Street.

As the name strongly suggests, Artists’ Studios in Henrietta Street 1976-2026, Selected Works brings together works by a range of painters, printmakers and sculptors who lived or worked on the inner-city street over the past 50 years.

Although, it is important to note that the exhibition itself isn’t on Henrietta Street. It’s at the IGS’ City Assembly House on South William Street.

Rather than acting as a comprehensive study, the exhibition takes a look at 15 artists who were shaped by the street and its Georgian heritage since the mid-'70s. Curated by Francesca and Peter Murray, the show features works by artists including Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Eithne Jordan, Geraldine O’Neill, Diana Copperwhite, Mick O’Dea, John Kelly and Charles Cullen, as well as photographs by Anna Rackard, David Davison and Perry Ogden.

Artists’ Studios… explores the street as a home, a workspace and a source of inspiration, reflecting on its tenement history, and the subsequent periods of restoration and renewal today.

Admission is free. The exhibition will run until 10 July.

For more information, visit the Irish Georgian Society’s event page here.

Billy Ramsell and Render

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, poet Billy Ramsell will be upstairs in Books Upstairs to read from his new collection Render.

Published by Banshee Press, Render is set in Barcelona during the second half of the 20th century, and is presented as the selected works of a fictional poet, Alberto Cenas, “the lonely scion of a wealthy Catalan family”.

As well as delivering a few readings from this lyrical character study, Ramsell will also be in conversation with poet and playwright Adam Wyeth.

The event begins at 2pm, and admission is free. But, to repeat everyone’s favourite catchphrase, booking is advised.

You can also reserve a copy of Render here.

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A Study of Skin and Shadow

This weekend, artists Babs Daly and Declan Kelly will be putting on a new exhibition, A Study of Skin and Shadow at the Dean Docklands.

Organised in partnership with Dublin Pride, A Study of Shadow and Skin will run from Friday 26 June to Sunday 28.

For more information, follow Kelly and Daly on their respective social media pages.

SuperLoo

Drainage experts Dyno-Rod will be scouring the country to find the nation’s next SuperLoo.

Originally run back in 1992 when it was won by Slieve Russell Hotel in Cavan, the competition to crown a new champion of Irish bathroom excellence will make its return after more than three decades this summer.

Businesses can nominate their bathroom here, with these being judged on a criteria including cleanliness, comfort, accessibility, style, smell and ease of maintenance among other things.

The closing date for applications is Friday 17 July. Adjudicators will review every application and shortlist 10 entries to face a public vote.

WE LOVE JULY 2026

Dublin City Council is inviting people of all ages to experience We Love July, a programme of four free events celebrating the city’s culture, imagination, heritage and community spirit.

These free events will be taking place across four Saturdays in July from noon to 6pm. Beginning on 4 July in Smithfield, the first event Heart of Play promises “a joyful day of exploration, connection and shared experiences”, including live music, circus, aerial performances, workshops and more.

The programme will then move to St. Patrick’s Park, Merrion Square and finally Fairview Park over the subsequent Saturdays.

For more information, visit the We Love July 2026 event page here.