Things To Do: Meet the night walkers, listen to a ceramic bowl, talk about shops

Our Picks

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

Anatomy of a Night

Almost three years ago dance artist Nick Nikolaou debuted their show Anatomy of a Night in the Complex warehouse as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. It was a sweaty, euphoric descent into an otherworldly club that was composed of Nikolaou’s memories.

Described by Nikolaou as “a love letter to the queers, the weirdoes, the trailblazers, the fringes and the night-walkers”, Anatomy of a Night is a tribute to the city’s queer spaces and clubs, like the Sound House and Tengu. Using dance, costume, spoken word, film (featuring a cameo from Dublin Inquirer’s own Stephanie Costello), hypnotic lighting, and an immersive sound design by DJ and producer Rory Sweeney, Nikolaou tells the story of a single night out. Throughout that night, they adopt different personas, and seem to travel back in time through different eras, while the night unfolds, until eventually we hear the birds singing in the distance.

It is a playful testimony to the vitality of nightclubs in the city, and now, the show is making a return this week, with three nights lined up in Temple Bar’s Project Arts Centre, beginning tonight. Nikolaou has also given it a few updates, adding in some very, very fresh-off-the-shelf needle drops into the soundtrack, so as to make it an ever-evolving love letter.

Tickets for Friday have sold out. But there are still some available here for tonight (Thursday, 17 July) at 21.30, and at the same time on Saturday, 19 July.

International Centre for the Image

This evening, PhotoIreland is launching the International Centre for the Image, a brand new cultural venue for photography and visual arts.

Located in Cooper’s Cross, the centre will consist of a gallery, library, workshops, and studio and office spaces, and the space will be opening this evening at 7pm. The inaugural event is limited to those who have RSVP’d, something which I, the paper’s cultural reporter, forgot to do. But while some of us won’t be down there today, there are still a few things worth checking out starting tomorrow.

In the centre’s library, there is the Archive of Modern Conflict, an exhibition devoted to one of the world’s leading private collections of war and conflict photography. More than 60 titles from its extensive catalogue will be featured in the show, which will be free to view until 14 September.

Meanwhile, on Friday and Saturday, the centre will also be hosting a series of conversations about “the value and place of the image in contemporary art practices and for society”. These talks will take place between 9.00 and 17.30 on both days, and will feature a range of artists, curators and researchers, including Alex Prager, Jean Curran, Eamonn Doule, Basil Al-Rawi, Anna Safiatou Touré, Orson Rouffignac, and Kalev Erickson, who will be discussing the Archive of Modern Conflict.

Tickets to this two-day event are available here, and for more information about the centre, visit its website here.

Weekend at the Martello

Yesterday, the band Daddee released their debut album, Weekend at the Martello, and in the ensuing 24 hours, I’ve given it more than a few spins already.

A concept album about The Martello, a “seedy” fictitious seaside pub, the record is like an anthology, with each of its tracks exploring the lives of the different patrons, few of whom are likely to warm your hearts.

Musically, drawing from the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Viagra Boys and LCD Soundsystem, Weekend at the Martello pulls the listener into an uneasy night made real by an onslaught of fuzzy guitars, driving krautrock-inspired drums and sleazy neon synthesizers. Floating over this are the threatening vocals of Ciarán McFadden, who snarls and rambles like Iggy Pop, as he introduces you to this cavalcade of darkly comic punters who you’d rather didn’t insist on striking up a conversation with you at the counter.

Like the later-era records by the Fall, Weekend is a tight and well-thought out ramshackle piece of work, which will definitely awaken some memories in anybody who has ever pulled a few shifts behind the bar counter.

Weekend at the Martello is now streaming, and they will be launching it tomorrow night, Friday, 18 July, in Sin-é, with support from Queen Bitch and everyone’s favourite, ever-changing musical act, TBA.

Tickets start at €7 and are available here.

New market in Newmarket

Newmarket is finally going to be a market again.

Seven years since the Dublin Flea Market left Newmarket Square, and relocated to the Digital Hub, one of the city’s most iconic trading spots is finally going to be living up to its name again.

The Newmarket Flea will be launching in Newmarket on Sunday, 20 July, and running from 11am to 4pm. Backed by Dublin City Council and Teeling Whiskey Distillery, the market will form part of a three-month pilot that will run across July, August and September.

For more information, visit the market’s Instagram for updates here.

Talking Shop

Beginning next Wednesday, you may be spotting a few reporters from the Dublin Inquirer in and around the Liberties, doing what we do but in full view.

That is because we are going to be a part of the Liberties Festival’s event Talking Shop, in which we’ll be hosting six after-hours conversations with local business owners, discussing their own histories and respective places within the community at large.

Reporters Stephanie Costello, Eoin Glackin, Claudia Dalby and I will be hosting these talks, beginning on Wednesday, 23 July, with Noel’s Deli followed by Little Flower Penny Dinners at 19.30. Then, on Thursday, at 18.30 we’ll be in the Model Shop, followed by Straffan Antiques at 19.30, and finally on Friday, we’ll be over at Assissi in Liberty Market at 18.30 and Fusco’s at 19.30.

Tickets are free, but you’ll need to book, which can be done here.

Ma (間) – The Sound Between

Last week, I advised readers to check out Glibless, an abstract noise artist who explored the “sonic palette of a newly found crowbar”.

This week, and assuming those who visited may be now suffering from tinnitus, I’m recommending a composer who uses ceramics and water as a way of consistently catering to your needs, while being conscious of the need to reduce your decibel intake.

Over on Fenian Street on Wednesday, The Space Between will be hosting a “Hiberno-Japanese sonic exploration”, in which Tomoko Sauvage, the Paris-based artist who creates sound from ceramics, water and electronics, will be collaborating with composers Matthew Nolan and Sean Mac Erlaine.

Titled Ma (間) – The Sound Between, the event promises water bowls, hydrophones, tuned percussion, electronics, woodwind and more. Tickets are available here, and the event starts at 20.00 sharp.

Here's what's on at the Liberties Festival

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The Liberties Festival is one of Ireland’s oldest festivals and this year takes place from 21 to 27 July in Dublin 8. Most events are free, but booking is advised. Below some highlights of the week ahead.

Holding Space: A unique and intimate experience, a scent poem for everyone. Step into a special space containing the scent of the Liberties, created this spring through community workshops with artist Erin Quinn. Hold hands, connect through touch and sense, and feel embraced by a community. At Bridgefoot Street Park, Tuesday 22 July to Thursday 24 July.

Says She: Jan Brierton and Martina Keegan return with their poetry and spoken-word evening in which they will be inviting community members and attendees to share stories under the theme of, "Do You Remember the First Time". Take to the stage or observe from the crowd. Tuesday 22 July, St Catherine’s Church, Thomas Street, 7pm.

Music in St Audoen's – The Singing Hollow: World premiere of a brand-new composition by Sebastian Adams for the organ, in Dublin’s oldest medieval church, St Audoen's. Wednesday 23 July at 6.30pm. Supported by the OPW.

Lunchtime talks at the National Irish Visual Arts Library in NCAD: Exploring the legacy of Lillias Mitchell, who set up the set up the Irish Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers in 1975; the history of the Liberties festival through past brochures; and the eco-feminist art practice of Beatrice O’Connell.

Recalling the Layers – Marshalsea Barracks Broadcast and Discussion: Recalling The Layers uncovers a hidden story embedded in the oral histories and architectural fragments in the Liberties in Dublin 8, a place steeped in centuries of history and destruction. Through historical documents and oral histories this hidden story is recalled, a story of Marshalsea Barracks; once Ireland’s national debtors' prison, later a tenement, it stood for nearly 200 years at the top of Bridgefoot Street. All that remains is the atmospheric locked and overgrown Ballcourt and surrounding stone walls. Wednesday 23 July, , 7pm, Tailors' Hall.

Noticeboard

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

Cabbage & Kraut Presents: Ballymunch – The Ballymun Food & Nature Trail 

Cabbage & Kraut are popping up this Sunday, 20 July, with a supermarket-style sample stand at Setanta GAA Club’s Community BBQ before the All-Ireland Hurling Finals kick-off.

From 12.00, they’ll be handing out an illustrated Food and Nature Discovery Map of Ballymun, along with some foraged samples and plenty of local knowledge. From community gardens to Ballymun's top takeaway dish, the map is a tribute to the grassroots food movement quietly flourishing in the area

For more information, visit Cabbage & Kraut’s Instgram page here or contact them at cabbageandkraut@gmail.com.

New Fingal Food Markets

Beginning on Saturday, 19 July, Fingal County Council will be hosting a series of food markets across the county until September.

Alongside the market at Swords Castle, which has been running on the third Saturday each month since April, the council has announced that there will be markets at two brand-new locations, in Malahide and Donabate.

The Malahide Food Market will be at the Casino Model Railway Museum on the fourth Saturday each month, while the Donabate Farmers Market will be in the St. Patrick’s Church grounds on Saturdays when the other markets aren’t taking place.

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

Lucy Andrews – Earthly Remains

Opening on Friday, 18 July, at Pallas Projects/Studios is Lucy Andrews’ exhibition, Earthly Remains, the fifth exhibition of its 2025 Artist-Initiated Projects programme.

Running until 2 August, Earthly Remains is concerned with the idea of architecture as porous, volatile, and constantly in process, and features kinetic elements, found objects and architectural interventions that describe traces of humans and of other forms of life.

For more information, visit the exhibition’s page here.

Sarah Moss at Books Upstairs

On Thursday, 24 July, author Sarah Moss will be discussing her new novel Ripeness in conversation with Enda Wyley at 18.30 in Books Upstairs.

From 1960s Italy to present-day Ireland, Ripeness is a haunting, luminous tale of love, grief, and the lifelong search for where we truly belong.

Admission is free. To book a place, visit the event page here.

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