ZOË’S DUBLIN DIARY: WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: JANUARY 6, 2016 →

Wednesday, 6 January – Nollaig na mBan, €10, 19:45,  Irish Writers’ Centre

“Little Christmas” was originally conceived, some say, as an occasion upon which women would have one day – one day – to put their feet up and let the men take care of the household duties. Luckily, we can do one better than that. For the second year running, the Irish Writers’ Centre are taking back “Women’s Christmas” as an opportunity to celebrate some of the country’s diverse female voices. This year sees an assortment of spoken-word poets, writers, dramatists and broadcasters take to the stage and soapbox, with Joanna Walsh, Michelle Read, Sinead Gleeson, Lisa McInerney and plenty more. Bring a book from your favourite female writer as a gift to exchange. More details here. Tickets here.

Thursday, 7 January – East of Berlin, €10/€16, 20:15, Project Arts Centre

Writer Hannah Moscovitch and director Lee Wilson explore the discomforting origin story of Rudi. Growing up in Paraguay in the 1970s, Rudi had believed his father to be a physician in the German troops in the Second World War. The truth, though, is later revealed through his unwitting friend Herman. What ensues is a depiction of the struggle to accept oneself in light of revelations beyond one’s control. More details here.

Friday, 8 January – Charlotte Prodger: Stoneymollan Trail, Free, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios

Bournemouth-born, Glasgow-dwelling artist Charlotte Prodger gives her first solo show in Ireland, curated by Linsey Young. Revolving around a video displayed on one screen, the multi-format footage, shot on iPhone and HD camera, with a voiceover, and through screen-printed graphics, gives a personal history, but also probes the mediating power of the screen over subjectivity. More-enticing blurb here.

Saturday, 9 January – Anti-Patriarchy Chaos Social, 20:00, BYOB, Jigsaw

The Anti-Patriarchy Chaos Social is a glorious reimagining of what social spaces can be, run by feminists for feminists. The evening will aim to provide a safe, mutually supportive space for frank discussion and lots of carousing. Things will kick off with an open exchange of what you see as the problems that social spaces face, what you think some potential solutions could be and what you would ultimately like the group to provide. Spoken word, dancing and collaborative playlisting to follow. More here.

Sunday, 10 January – Serge Charchoune, Free, Douglas Hyde Gallery

The uncharacterisable work of Franco-Prussian painter Serge Charchoune has been selected for the Douglas Hyde by Merlin James. Charchoune created work at the margins of the modernist movement, influenced by those tropes while still evading them. He has, as such, been largely forgotten. His own interests ranged from the obscure and symbolic (synaesthesia, Rosicrucianism) to the irrevocably modern and outré (Dada). Click this link for more.

 Monday, 11 January – Last Hijack, €9, 20:30, Irish Film Institute

The story of Somalian pirate Mohamed is relayed by Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting through styles of documentary, relayed sequences and distinctive animation. Mohamed leads a double life, at once a feared pirate and middle-aged man trapped by economic circumstance, with dream-sequence-esque rotoscoping animation admitting viewers into his psychological world: his past and his motivations. More details here.

Tuesday, 12 December – The Importance of Being Earnest, €25/€32, The Gate

Oscar Wilde’s language has become so ingrained in our cultural landscape that it is difficult, sometimes, to feel like anything revelatory could come of it. The Importance of Being Earnest remains one of his most-loved and imitated dramas. Seasoned director Patrick Mason injects new vigour into it, with noteworthy set and costume design from Francis O’Connor. More here.

ZOË’S DUBLIN DIARY: WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: DECEMBER 9, 2015 →

Wednesday, 9 December – Pop-Up Independent Bookshop Christmas Party, Free and BYOB, 18:30, 47 Drury Street

The Independent Bookshop is back for December 2015, this time with a beautiful street-level shop window and a location that is treacherously close to Grogan’s. For its official Wednesday launch, there’ll be festive treats, mulled wine and more books that you can shake several sticks at. Fourteen independent publishers have come together to stock and staff the Christmas pop-up, including New Island Books, Liberties Press, Little Island, Lilliput Press, The Stinging Fly Press, The O’Brien Press, Roads Publishing, Irish Academic Press/Merrion Press, The Salvage Press, The Swan River Press, Mercier Press, UCD Press, Columba Press and Four Courts Press. Open now, launching today and running until Christmas. Facebook event here.

Thursday, 10 December – A Celebration of Traveller Music, €5, 20:00, The Cobblestone

Though they constitute about 0.5 percent of Ireland’s population, with an estimated population of 25,000, Travellers remain a marginalised minority facing a staggering level of prejudice, veering from the casual to the vicious. This evening will be an opportunity to celebrate the rich oral tradition of songs passed through generations of Traveller families, with performances from Thomas McCarthy, Stephen Pecker Dunne, Paddy Dunne, Jack Delaney, Trish Nolan, Bridget Doyle Collins, John Connors, Bernie McDonagh and Katie Theasby, and open-mic singing sessions. Organised by Poster Fish Promotions and Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group, proceeds for the evening will be going to those affected by the Carrickmines tragedy in October, in which ten people died in a halting site fire. More information here.

Friday, 11 December – Drainland, Unyielding Love, Black Spring, €7 and BYOB, 20:00, Tenterhooks

Nihilistic grindcore experts Drainland are back with a new line-up and their first gig in some time. They got the attention of the prestigious Southern Lord label, who reissued And So Our Troubles Began back in 2011. Unyielding Love and Black Spring will also be playing, with speed-driven death metal and sludgy dirgecore in equal parts. Facebook event here. Have a listen here, here, andhere.

Saturday, 12 December – Helena Hauff and Sunil Sharpe, €10/€13, 23:00,  Button Factory

Helena Hauff comes off as having such a thoroughly anarchic temperament that her September release, Discreet Desires, is made all the more surprising by its restraint. Her first full-length album has a retro-revival feel in almost the same vein as the Drive soundtrack, except instead of being catchy, it is hypnotic, and minus the camp but with added menace. There’s no doubting the skill, but if you too have obsessively tracked recordings of her live sets, you’ll be curious as to what happens when she’s in charge of a room. Sunil Sharpe will be setting an appropriate tone, and warm-up also comes from Daire Carolan of First Second Dublin and All City Records. More information here, tickets purchasable from here.

Sunday, 13 December – The Brownbread Mixtape, €10, 20:00, Stag’s Head

The Brownbread Mixtape is a long-standing monthly soirée of spoken word, music, and comedy. Resident poet Kalle Ryan will be on emcee duties, assisted by musician and sound-man Enda Roche. Proceeds for the night will go to a charity of the audience’s choosing, and music will be from Ross Breen, Sinéad White and Pearse McGloughlin, with spoken word from Paul Timoney and John Cummins, and comedy from the Brownbread Players. More information here.

Monday, 14 December – Good Game Ireland Games Night, Free, the Black Sheep

Ireland’s first open gaming night will have four screens in the basement of the Black Sheep available for you to play on. Good Game Ireland will provide plenty of their own consoles but you’re also welcome to bring your own, or just come for cards and chats and avail of the night’s drink and food deals. The Facebook page for the event is here, website here and Good Game’s calendar here.

Tuesday, 15 December – Ella DeBurca/Ruth Clinton/Niamh Moriarty: Transhistorical Terrain, 10-18:00, Draíocht

Linda Shevlin has curated this year’s Amharc Fhine Gall X, in which a curator and artist(s) work together to bring their art to a wider audience. Oral and archival histories inform these specially commissioned works, and with them come the implications of hearsay and memory out of which our experience of the present is created. The various historical material is overlapped with non-time-specific narratives. The aim is to examine the active role that visual culture plays in the construction of our temporal self. More information here.

ZOË’S DUBLIN DIARY: WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: DECEMBER 2, 2015 →

Wednesday, 2 December – #FirstWeds: Repeal the 8th, Free, 19:00, Wigwam

Campaigners, activists and interested parties will gather to discuss a 32-year-old piece of legislation that serves to punish rather than protect, forcing women out of the country and confiscating the reproductive rights of those who cannot go, whether they are on lower incomes or lack the ability or right to travel. Speakers on the night will include Nita Mishra, a PhD researcher on rights-based approaches, Amel Yacef, the chairperson of AkiDwA and Soraya Sobrevia, a case worker in theMigrant Rights Centre Ireland. Dublin City Councillor Eilis Ryan of the Workers’ Party will act as moderator. Facebook page here.

Thursday, 3 December – Winter Open Exhibition 2015, Free, 10:00-18:00, Rua Red, Tallaght

Rua Red launched their Winter Open Exhibition last Friday with Oisín Byrne’s ‘There Comes a Timeless’, winner of the 2014 Rua Red Judges’ Choice Award. Objects – found, crafted or manipulated – are laid out through the space with the intent of defying hierarchical order. This year’s exhibition features work from artists such as Sarah Wilson, Bartosz Kolata, Christine Carey, Eilis O’Toole, Dianne Whyte, Mary Burke, Anna Hryniewicz and Ella Bertilsson. More details here.

Friday, 4 December – Wriggle & Milkshake, €5/8, 23:00, Tengu

Milkshake will be launching upstairs in Tengu with a determinedly loose-minded electronic game plan of funk, house and techno from Ben Bix, Chris Holten and Rory Caraher, with guests Daire Carolan and Esteban. Downstairs, Wriggle have grime producer Shriekin’ headlining, offset by affrobeat and dancehall from Tim Nairn and Johnny Carroll of Manma Saor. Info here.

Saturday, 5 December – Suspended Animation 01, BYOB, €20/25/28, A bowling alley . . . somewhere.

In the grand old tradition of going bowling and getting locked, Suspended Animation are hosting a truckload of DJs and producers in their first-ever event, in a bowling alley-cum-arcade-cum-pool hall of undisclosed location. Bowling, pool and – eee – arcade games will be free all night. Which in itself is a big deal. It’ll be a mix of techno, house and disco with Nathan Jones, Frank B, Sim Simma, Weathertop et al. More info here. Grab your ticket here.

Sunday, 6 December – Bernadette Devlin: Notes on a Political Journey, €4, 16:00, Jigsaw

Bernadette Devlin, an Irish socialist and republican activist, came to international prominence at 21 years old when she was elected as a member of the UK’s House of Commons in 1969 on the strength of her role in the People’s Democracy civil-rights group, and her outspoken approach. Directed by Leila Doolan, Notes on a Political Journey was released in 2011, and features later interviews with Devlin as well as the highly publicised footage from the time of her election as the then-youngest MP. More here.

Monday, 7 December – Carol,  €9, 16:30/20:30, Irish Film Institute

In 1948, Patricia Highsmith was a young writer, engaged to Marc Brandel. She had wolfish good looks and a talent for seducing women. Working behind a toy counter in Bloomingdales, she developed a penchant for rich, married women – usually blondes. Her novel The Price of Salt, published in 1952, was inspired by one such woman. Directed by Todd Haynes, Carol is the adaptation of this story. Details here.

Tuesday 8 December – December’s Comics Lab, €2.50, 19:00, Liquor Rooms

The Comics Lab, meeting once a month in the Liquor Rooms, provides a relaxed space for illustrators, comic artists and serial drawists to exchange stories and ideas and meet other people within the community. For its December instalment, Paddy Lynch, Joven Kerekes and Sophie Spendel will be giving talks – Paddy on his collaboration with Doug DuBois on My Last Day at Seventeen, Joven on his varied career since coming to Ireland to co-found the Illustrator’s Guild and Sophie on the doodling process. More details here.

ZOË’S DUBLIN DIARY: WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: NOVEMBER 25, 2015 →

Wednesday, 25 November – Love, Irish Film Institute, €10, 13:00/18:30

Gaspar Noé’s meditation on the struggle to combine sexual compatibility and meaningful romantic love looks surprisingly dulcet for the well-established enfant terrible of French-language film. Hungover Murphy (Karl Glusman) wakes up to a voicemail from his estranged ex-girlfriend Electra’s (Aomi Muyock) mother Electra on New Year’s Day, launching him into a reminiscence of the unravelling of their relationship. Details here.

Thursday, 26 November – Homebeat #21: Participant EP launch, North Circular Road, BYOB & BYOC(ushion), Free, 20:30

Homebeat are going back to their roots with Participant’s new EP launch this Thursday. With promoters stumbling over themselves to source ever-more-innovative, ever-glitzier spaces, the humble living-room gig has a special appeal. While the charm of Dublin’s revolving door of pop-up spaces is often in their ramshackle authenticity, the living-room concert can abstain from the rat race completely. Stephen Tiernan debuted his first EP last September, and his follow-up builds upon the same delicately textured singer-songwriter sincerity. More details here.

Friday, 27 November – Frontleft: Kyoka, Tengu, €10, 22:00

Kyoka is a Japanese producer dividing her time between Berlin and Tokyo, with three experimental glitch records that borrow from jazz, industrial, ambient and pop. Her sound has developed from playful electronica to delectable svelte industrial with a harder edge. While studying economics in Tokyo, Kyoka bought a Roland MC-505, and recorded a set of tracks that would be released on the Onpa label. She has collaborated with members of the Raster-Noton family like Byetone and Alva Noto’s Diamond Version’s 2014 release. She’ll playing alongside audiovisualist Sinead Meaney, musician Niamh de Barra and DJ Joni. More details here.

Saturday, 28 November – Show & Tell: Creative Conference & Christmas Fair, Smock Alley Theatre, €12 per session/€30 full day, 12:00

I’m about to be ever-so-slightly (no, monstrously) biased, but creative conferences with stellar lineups at affordable prices don’t happen every day. I believe this may, in fact, be Ireland’s first. Show & Tell is a new Hunt & Gather venture looking at honest, first-hand experiences with creative business ventures in Dublin. The day will comprise of talks and panel sessions curated by Made It, Totally Dublin and Le Cool, in which entrepreneurs will be relating their failures and successes, and giving the low-down on navigating the support systems and using the tools available to get your ventures off the ground. There’ll also be an ongoing fair showcasing new Irish design with ne’er a kitschy felt hat in sight. Details here and here.

Sunday, 29 November – Palestinian Culture Night, New Theatre, Free, 18:00

Palestinian food, music, poetry and prose will accompany a screening of Annemarie Jacir’s film When I Saw You, to celebrate the UN’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The New Theatre will also host an exhibition of posters from the archives of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign for the evening. Details here.

Monday, 30 November – Beck’s Rhythm Series: Thundercat, Sugar Club, 19:30

Thundercat’s emotionally charged release earlier this year has been prophetic, alongside Flying Lotus’s most recent masterpiece, of the incredible return of jazz-inspired cosmic g-funk that has been gracing the airwaves. Stephen Bruner’s The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam is an aural rendering of his own confrontation with mortality, heartache and racial injustice, all put to his trademark harmonious groove. His Sunday show sold out fairly rapidly, and it would be unsurprising were this to do the same. Ticketshere, Facebook page here.

Tuesday, 1 December – Liliane Tomasko, Sense, Kerlin Gallery

With an opening reception on Friday, Kerlin are hosting their new winter show, Liliane Tomasko’s “Sense”. Tomasko’s new work deconstructs everyday objects by examining their shape and materiality and, implicitly, their human connection and emotional significance. She generates this questioning of the domestic sphere through sculpture, painting and photography, through an approach that has steadily deepened in intensity and zoned in on her subjects. Her exhibition is accompanied by an essay from Sue Hubbard. Details here.

ZOË’S DUBLIN DIARY: WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: NOVEMBER 3, 2015 →

Wednesday, 4 November – Lawrence of Arabia, 14:00, €7.50, Light House Cinema

Peter O’Toole’s classic portrayal of T. E. Lawrence trumps all other historical epics in drama, soundtrack and sheer scale. It is World War I, and British lieutenant T. E. Lawrence is sent to the Arabian Peninsula to unite the Arab tribes against the Turks, but in doing so finds his allegiances and identity shaken and undermined. The screening of the four-hour saga coincides with the recent release of a biography recording the enigmatic actor’s outrageous escapades and haughty demands. In a production of Macbeth at the Old Vic late in his career, O’Toole insisted that there be so much fake blood on stage that the actors kept slipping, forcing stagehands to try to mop up the mess. ‘No blood, no show!’ he is said to have roared from his dressing room. Details here.

Thursday, 5 November – The Re-appropriation of Sensuality, 18:00, NCAD Gallery

Emma Haugh’s collaborative project, curated by RGKSKSRG, opens this Thursday. Driven by the question of what a space dedicated to the manifestation of female desire might look like, Haugh deploys a series of fabricated panels that evoke the fantasy space of the sex club: latex, PVC, rubber, chain, velvet, netting. Material from Haugh’s Reading Troupe workshops, which encourage students to give performative responses to critical texts, are included in the exhibition. Details here, and here.

Friday, 6 November – Bring Your Own Stories, 19:00, BYOB, MART

Dublin Independent Publishers are back for the annual Bring Your Own Stories event, hosted by MART. Completely free, BYOB and open to everyone, ten authors from Liberties Press, New Island Books, Tramp Press and Little Island are giving readings. On the bill are June Caldwell, Kevin Curran, Doreen Finn, Frankie Gaffney, Jarlath Gregory, Joe Joyce, Caitriona Lally, Joanna Walsh, Stephen James Smith and Enda Wyley. Details here.

Saturday, 7 November – Metropolis Festival 2015, 12:00 to 00:00, €79.50/€145.50, RDS

The much-hyped Metropolis opens its doors this Saturday. Billed as a multi-arena winter indoors music festival, Metropolis is occupying the RDS this weekend with panels, talks and installations as well as music from an impressive selection, featuring both heavy-hitter regulars and local bohemians. Saturday sees White Collar Boy and Cloud Castle Lake alongside Matthew Herbert and Todd Terje, Gemma Dunleavy and Clu with Vince Staples, and talks from John Cooper Clarke and Giorgio Moroder. Details here and here. Tickets here.

Sunday, 8 November – Prison, School Tour, Ainriail, 20:00, €7 BYOB, Barricade Inn

With the new threat of a court injunction to force the social centre and collective from the building, this could very well be your last chance to see the Barricade Inn in its present
configuration. The line-up for the evening so far includes synthy post-punk, trancey electronica and sludgy stoner doom, and more is promised. Details here.

Monday, 9 November – Dulciana presents: ♀, 20:00, €10/5, Freemasons

An all-female choral lineup is joined by Imogen Holst and Rebecca Clarke in an evening of choral music composed entirely by women. Dulciana’s third concert will also be featuring Anna Clifford, Síobhra Quinlan, Raeghnya Zutshi, Sherry Hazlitt and Éna Brennan, all in the mystic surroundings of the Freemasons’ Hall. Details here and here.

Tuesday, 10 November – The Lobster, 13:00/20:15, €10, Irish Film Institute

In the bizarre universe of Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, those who have remained single are sent to a sinister countryside hotel, where they have 40 days to find their soulmates, or face transfiguration into an animal of their choosing before being released into the wild. Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman engage in some fantastic deadpan delivery within the surreal confines of Lanthimos’s English-language debut.