Totally Dublin

Review: Soundcheck at The Science Gallery
2017-08-28 10:00 - 2017-09-29 20:00 (Europe/Stockholm) | Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
When I walk into the Soundcheck exhibition at Trinity’s Science Gallery, a wall-sized blackboard is scribbled with chalk where visitors are asked to write their favourite sounds. “My children’s laughter,” writes one person; “Lana Del Rain,” quips another. Soundcheck continues this invitation to personal interaction throughout the exhibition; all lies dormant until some curious individual speaks into the microphone in “Chit Chat,” an installation that translates the slightest vocalization into birdsong, and a muttered “hello” becomes a round of morning chirps. In “Baloica,” a set of swings are fixed to a Kinect motion-sensor which responds to each oscillation with a melodic note, and the higher you swing the more complex the sounds become, turning an everyday activity into an exercise in creative experimentation. Brenda Hutchinson’s “Giant Musical Box” challenges the concept of what sounds “good,” having tuned the brass bars to quarter tones, and allows those with zero musical training to strike a pleasant chord.

Upstairs, there is a kitchen stocked with utensils rigged to transform any bang or tap to musical percussion: a ceramic bowl becomes a steel drum, stirring beans in a pan becomes the audible equivalent to neon-lit rain. In “Theremin Tapestry,” historical traditions of weaving are combined with theremin technology to create a piece of art that answers motion with song. Strictly untouchable, this installation demands restraint and a reflection on the relationship between the senses. Although each installation is spitefully unique in its own way, one commonality shared with all is challenging ideas of what music is or can be. “Star Struck” presents a pin-ball machine as a musical instrument, and features a four-person multiplayer play field framed by bass guitars. The game features targets that produce stochastic compositions – randomly generated scores created by controlling an array of audio effects – that integrate pinball gaming into compositional construction. Not all installations include teamwork, however. “Ashes to Ashes” is a nightmare soundscape carved from virtual uranium instruments, crowding into the listener’s ears through headphones. Evoking nuclear fallout and stars’ theatrical self-destruction, this installation is a journey from bleak, cavernous echoes to high-pitched swoons tipping into hysteria. This might be what you hear when you put your ear to a black hole, or if you woke to see the moon crashing down through the night.
Unity, isolation; sound can do both, whether it’s drawing disparate groups together to make noise in a kitchen or needling in on the individual. What you take from Soundcheck depends entirely on who else is there – cacophony if it’s busy, sparsely-punctuated silence if it’s quiet. Either will make you wonder at these peculiar vibrations we call sound, and at the possibilities that sprout from music’s ongoing love-affair with technology.

words: John Vaughan.

Käthe Kolwitz | Life, Death, and War
2017-09-06 11:00 - 2017-12-10 18:30 | National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin 2, Ireland
Final call for this impressive collection of 40 prints by this German artist on the year that marks her 150th birthday. Her five print cycles: Revolt of the Weavers (1893-98), Peasant War (1902-08), War (1921-22), Proletariat (1924-25), and Death (1934-37) place her among the foremost printmakers of the twentieth century. A committed socialist and pacifist who eventually leaned towards communism; her work took a path from realism to expressionism. A true pleasure.

Ailbhe Barrett's INFUSIONS
2017-09-12 10:00 - 2017-10-05 19:00 | Graphic Studio Gallery, Cope Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Graphic Studio Gallery presents INFUSIONS, the debut solo exhibition of Ailbhe Barrett. James Hanley of RHA will officially open the show on the 7th of September at 6pm. He has said the following of Ailbhe Barrett’s work:
“Nine large prints – a mix of etchings, monoprints with etchings, and etchings with carborundum – feature alongside two original oil paintings. Country landscape predominates, with one exception of an evocative view outward from Limerick train station, the tracks slowly dissolving in the creeping mist, form disappearing into the ether in the manner of Monet’s similar manifestations of light and steam enveloping stone and iron.

But it is in those rural landscapes that Ailbhe’s star shines. It is here that her innate artistic sensibility finds voice. This is the world of her childhood and she knows it from its winter light to its summer sun, and from its hills to its meadows.
Her images are not, however, the landscapes of a locale or a particular place, but rather the suggestion of a mood, the evocation of a place that captures her imagination. It is not surprising that Turner was an early inspiration in the way he transformed the world into something far more atmospheric than it is by his bravura manipulation of paint. So too with Ailbhe. Two trees side by side, hedgerows and fields, a bend in the river, distant mountains shimmer in a haze of memory made manifest by her mastery, with aquatints, sugarlift and spitbite amplifying her dexterous line.”

W.O.W
2017-09-27 22:00 - 2017-09-28 01:00 | Whelan’s, 25 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Women on Wednesdays is a collaborative initiative between Whelan’s and Aidlink, which aims to provide a platform for female artistry, whilst raising funds for Aidlink’s Girls’ Education Programme in rural Kenya.
Still bubbling from the success of its inaugural event in July, WOW returns to Whelan’s on September 27th for another night of conversation and celebration of female creativity.
This month’s WOW welcomes another exciting & eclectic line-up, with performances from: Rachael Lavelle, Deirdre Sullivan, Leila Jane, Lisa Casey & SYLK & special guests to be announced. Check out these performances below to see what lies in store.

The Art of Perfume
2017-09-28 12:00 - 2017-11-04 18:30 | SO Fine Art Editions, 2nd Floor Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, 59 South William St, Dublin, D02 H762, Ireland
The Burren Perfumery is a family-run business based in the west of Ireland that creates fragrances and cosmetics inspired by the unique beauty of the area that is its namesake. It has recently collaborated with the visual artist Cliona Doyle, whose work tends toward the botanical, to create the designs for the company’s perfume bottles. Doyle had spent a year documenting on copper plates flora native to the Burren, and creating line drawings inspired by them, which she later etched on to the bottles. The resulting images are mix of stylised tenderness and fidelity to nature—they are, in other words, representative of the fragrances created by the company. The bottles will be on display at SO Fine Art Editions until 4 November, along with other original etchings and line drawings by the artist.

Dublin Podcast Festival: No Encore
2017-09-28 22:00 - 2017-09-29 01:00 | Whelan’s, 25 Wexford Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
A fun and informal music podcast in which Dave, Colm and Craig attempt to make sense of the music that finds its way into their ears on a constant basis. With tangents.
Following on from a spectacular sold-out live debut in March, Ireland’s pre-eminent music podcast NO ENCORE will once again take to the stage at Whelan’s on Thursday September 28.
The event takes place as part of the first ever Dublin Podcast Festival, presented by HeadStuff and Aiken Promotions, and will see hosts Dave Hanratty, Colm O’Regan and Craig Fitzpatrick recording an episode live from one of the capital’s most storied venues.
They won’t be alone, either, with three of the country’s most exciting live acts for company – sets from instrumental behemoths Overhead, The Albatross, West-coast wunderkind Daithí and electronic luminary Elaine Mai are also part of what’s guaranteed to be another extraordinary night of entertainment.
It’s another milestone in an already impressive year, which has seen the podcast go from strength to strength in their second season. As well as wowing a capacity Workman’s Club crowd to bring up the half-century, the show has welcomed lively interviewees including Hamilton Leithauser, Girl Band and Ho99o9 – and continued to further its status as an incisive, irreverent and unmissable jaunt through the world of music.
There will be no holds barred. There will be no apologies. And there will be NO ENCORE LIVE.

Album Launch: Edel Meade's "Blue Fantasia"
2017-09-28 22:00 - 2017-09-29 01:30 | Bello Bar, 1 Portobello Harbour, Dublin, Ireland
Following on from the video release of ‘Blue Fantasia’, an enthralling experimental piece earlier this year, and ‘Sideways’, a gorgeous, evocative lullaby of sorts, Edel launches her album full of sophisticated, romantic and beautifully unpredictable music.
Her songs are almost episodic in structure, meandering through vivid ensemble instrumentation, bursts of Funk, and intimate balladry, all led by her soulful – and vulnerable – voice.
Acclaimed Irish vocalist and composer, Edel Meade, celebrates the release of ‘Blue Fantasia’, her debut album with a 7-piece band, with lush vocal harmonies and intimate lyrics. Edel says, “I’ve always been drawn to artists who speak from the heart, the ones who are honest and fearless in their approach.”
“Certainly I’ve been inspired by Joni Mitchell and singers like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone who share a piece of their soul with you when they sing.”
