Things To Do: Ponder a monument, celebrate a horse, blur the lines between waking life and reverie, visit Kilbarrack

Our Picks

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

Oneiroi

Up on Meath Street this evening, a new group exhibition is opening in Lucky’s.

Taking its name from the winged dream-spirits from Greek mythology, Oneiroi brings together works that “inhabit the intimate space between the domestic and the fantastical, where bedrooms become sanctums, objects become talismans, and love feels both tender and uncanny”.

Running until 17 March, Oneiroi features works by Rosie O’Mahoney, Season Dailey, Taoiseach Shame, Alexie Hagan, Beate Pionke, Svenja Michelle Behle and Carmen Quigley. Across their works, each of the artists will be conjuring up dreamscapes that blur waking life and reverie. Plus, the exhibition is in a bar, so that’s going to be fun too.

Oneiroi opens at 6.30pm today, Thursday 19 February.

POV

Since the start of the month, the Axis Ballymun has been exhibiting POV, a new mixed-media project by service users in St. Michael’s House, which "provides a comprehensive range of services and supports to men, women, and children with disabilities and their families".

Created in collaboration with writer and artist David O’Neill, POV dives into themes like identity, independence, memory and the idea of our true selves through spoken word, poetry, and audio collages that blend music with everyday sounds.

The exhibition, in Axis’ Mezzanine Gallery, puts on display written pieces by seven artists, while also offering the audience the chance to listen to an audio narrative version of each work, all of which you can hear here.

Described by O’Neill as a hybrid form of storytelling, POV is a hypnotic and thought-provoking reflection on day-to-day experiences, featuring works by Jenny Whelan, Christopher Sullivan, Susan Phillips, Sean Savage, David Burdock, Philip Macken and James Harte.

POV will be on show until 6 March. For more information, you can visit the Axis website here.

Of Cobblestones and Jostle Stones

Lunar New Year is upon us and to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse, Coolock library will be hosting a talk on the legacy of our inner-city equine friends this Saturday.

Historian Cathy Scuffil will be delving into the history of horses in the city and their profound impact on urban life, industry, and architecture. From the streets to the canals, Scuffil’s talk will look at how central horses were to the city’s growth, powering the canal barges, delivering goods for breweries like Guinness, transporting flour for Jacob’s, and serving laundries and markets.

Her talk will also highlight the physical traces left behind in the cityscape, including jostle stones – placed at street corners and carriage arches to protect buildings from horse-drawn cart wheels - to demonstrate how the hoofed among us shaped our streets, business infrastructure, and everyday urban life.

The talk is at 1pm. Spaces are limited, so booking is recommended, and can be done here.

And if you’re looking for some supplementary reading in advance of the talk, why not read through some of our past stories, like our reports on the former stables up in Molyneux Yard, artist Marion Bergin’s documentary on inner-city horse culture, the manure-centred romantic comedy Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, or the council’s recent decision to cease collecting manure up at Sweeney’s Terrace.

Carpark Sci-fi

Last week, we recommended you give a listen to A Rasher Each: Longmiles and Laneways, the latest compilation of Irish artists performing songs by the indie bands Pavement and Silver Jews.

Among the contributors to that album, released by the Classic Hiss label, was Carpark Sci-fi, otherwise known as musician and visual artist Gav Cowley, who offered a stripped down, rawer take on Pavement’s luscious 1994 single "Range Life".

Now, Cowley has announced that he is set to release a new six-track EP, The Hundred Halves, due out on 10-inch vinyl on 1 April.

Ahead of this release, Cowley has dropped its first track, "Wake Me Up", a slice of lo-fi psychedelia that is prone to sudden mood swings. The verses are driven by jangly guitars and Cowley’s jaded, distorted voice, sighing “oh Jesus Christ”, while the chorus is a bombastic wall of fuzzy chords and wailing, spacey melodies. It’s the sound of an optimist doing battle with his fatigued, cynical morning self.

The music video for "Wake Me Up", created by Cowley, can be watched here.

As if nothing could fall: Essays on monuments

On Wednesday, 25 February, Books Upstairs is launching As if nothing could fall: Essays on monuments, the latest collection of non-fiction writing from PVA Books.

As if nothing could fall is the fourth book of essays from the Dublin-Berlin publisher, and takes the reader through “distant vistas and past worlds, monolithic structures and forgotten ideas". Reflecting on how and why we imbue the objects around us with memory, the collection features works by 17 writers, including Julie Bates, Amit Chaudhuri, Gavin Corbett, Beulah Ezeugo, Roisin Kiberd, Belinda McKeon, Rebecca O’Dwyer, Neil Hegarty and John Tuomey.

To celebrate its release, contributors Bates, Corbett, Kiberd and Hegarty will be in Books Upstairs on Wednesday evening at 6pm to give readings.

The event is free, but booking is advised. To reserve a seat, visit the launch’s Eventbrite page here.

Mo Cheantar Féin – My Own Area

This week, painter Paul MacCormaic launched Mo Cheantar Féin – My Own Area, a new exhibition of works at Kilbarrack Health Centre on the Greendale Road in Kilbarrack.

Commissioned under the Health Service Executive’s Per Cent for Art scheme, the collection is composed of 16 local landscapes. Mo Cheantar Féin is a permanent exhibition, and you’ll just need to ask security at the centre if you want to go in to give the works a viewing.

There is also a 40-page catalogue available for free while stocks last. For more information, visit MacCormaic’s website here.

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Gairdín Rós | Rose Garden

In March, the Olivier Cornet Gallery will be presenting Gairdín Rós | Rose Garden, the second solo exhibition from Vicky Smith, featuring a series of self-portraits painted during the first four years of motherhood.

Opening on 8 March at 3pm, the official opening will be introduced by curator and board member of Interface Inagh Marysia Więckiewicz. The exhibition is also accompanied by a text by writer Phillina Sun.

Gairdín Rós will run until 12 April.

For more information, visit the Olivier Cornet Gallery website here.

The Tenters Celebrated Heritage Group is seeking new members

The Tenters Celebrated Heritage Group is seeking new members to join their group.

Currently, they are preparing their Tenters Exhibition, which will be part of the Culture Date with Dublin 8 Festival in May.

They meet each Thursday morning at 11am. If you would like to come along or get more information, contact them at tenterstales@gmail.com or visit their Facebook group, Tenters 100 and Beyond, here.

Flesh and Fantasy: Two One Act Plays

Dublin Shakespeare's Society will be presenting two one-act plays at The Teachers Club on Parnell Square this March.

On 27 and 28 March, they will be staging Bobby Gould’s In Hell by David Mamet, and directed by Suzanne Walshe, and 27 Wagons Full of Cotton by Tennesse Williams, and directed by Brigid Sweeney.

The two modern morality plays will open at 8pm on 27 March, with performances at 2pm and 8pm the following day (28 March).

To book your tickets, visit the Eventbrite page here.