The Dublin Community Blog

As part of the upcoming Dublin Theatre Festival , the south and west sides of Liberty Hall are being turned into a giant animation canvas. Members of the public can create animations with sound and music via the Playhouse website. These animations will be broadcast on Liberty Hall during the festival from September 24th until October 11th.

Powering the display are 100,000 low-energy LED lights, installed into 330 windows on the south and west faces of the building. These lights can illuminate each window as a solid colour turning it into a tiny pixel that’s part of a giant display.

The project was born from a series of conversations and connections made in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin. Originally inspired by the Blinkenlights installation in Berlin, Playhouse raises the technological bar with the ability to produce colour animations.

Photo above and more can be found on the Playhouse Flickr stream here.

What a wonderful idea.

In the second instalment of Discovered in Dublin we are featuring a young lady with a little house in her tummy: Riona Hartman. This lady is an emerging songwriter from Dublin, who contributes vocals to Sami Moukaddem’s live band and also sings on his album “The facts of life for the Palestinian”; and has performed on the balcony of Balcony TV Dublin. Her songs tell little stories in their own right, reminding of early Tori Amos but with a more definite hint of jazz in there (listen to “Sea Snail”). And she’s not afraid to use the right language – this is definitevely no polished accoustic-pop.

Here’s what Riona has to say:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Back Loft is an ‘artist playground’ located in St. Augustine st, just off Thomas St in the Liberties. The bright former factory hall sees a constant stream of exhibitions and other art-related events, such as live art performances, video art, music, theatre, salons and much more interesting stuff.
I have been to a few of their events and it is refreshing to see how a place like this can really provide for a stage for new artists. It’s a true hidden gem!
Have a look at their website on http://thebackloft.blogspot.com for more info on future events.

A really interesting combination of competition, event and exhibition for all photographers and photo aficionadas has started in April at the No. 3 venue on Fade Street:

On Monday nights from 7.30 -11.30pm, No. 3 hosts SHOOT-OUT, an evening of cutting-edge music and photography. Each night, the work of 5 photographers is showcased on flat screen TVs and projector screens. Throughout the night, patrons are given voting cards and invited to choose their favourite image. The photographer behind the winning image joins 9 other winning photographers over three months to compete for the grand prize. The final is co-adjudicated by public vote and a panel of experts.

I attended yesterday’s  showcase and was really impressed by the quality of the works on display – not to mention that it was quite difficult to pick one “winner” out of the evening’s 50 pictures.  You can view all participating photographers and their works here. If you are interested in participating yourself, you’ll find the application form on the website of the Shootout Crew. A very neat idea indeed.

I love markets and its so exciting to see a new market start up.  May 3rd next sees the launch of the Art & Crafts Market in Newmarket Sq, Dublin 8 – 5 minutes walk from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is held on the first Sunday of every month from 11am to 5pm.

In these tough economic times, the market also encourages people to embrace their creative side and make some extra money doing it. So if you think you have a great idea that will sell or think that you can make some money from your favourite hobby then why not take a stall?

On the first Sunday of each month, 35 stall holders will set out their wares and with stalls priced at just €30, the ethos is low rent equals low price and haggling is encouraged!

With free parking on a Sunday and an ideal indoor location, come rain or shine the Art & Crafts Market is a great, fun day out for all the family with entertainment and a cafe offering delicious home made treats.

And if that wasn’t enough we also will be giving away two artworks absolutely free to a lucky winner each month!

Further information including location directions, stall booking and featured stall holders can be found on the Arts & Crafts Market website.

Happy shopping and selling!

What a clever idea – a new art concept:

Free Art Friday is a relatively new art movement that’s rapidly gaining in popularity around the World. Artists create a painting, sketch, sculpture or installation and leave it on the street. The piece can then be picked up by anyone and claim it as their own. Finders are encouraged to email the artist and tell them how and where they found it.

Further info and updates here.

expect to find FAF art in sheltered areas such as, a bus seat, door way or phone box. Basically, anywhere public. If the weather is good then, you’ll find them on; park benches, window ledges, railings and you can even expect to find one piece in a sitting on a cinema.

Last art drop is at 4pm. I think I’ll go for a wander! Let us know if you find any art.

In the last year I moved from Phibsboro to Stoneybatter and while I loved living in Phibsboro I have to say I absolutely love Stoneybatter, even the name is brilliant. There is a wonderful atmosphere in the area and being a stone’s throw from Smithfield, it is definitely worth spending an afternoon wandering about and enjoying the best of old Dublin meets new.

Between the coffee shops, local shops, great pubs, delicatessens, cinema, horse fairs, it is all happening here and one particular exhibition is coming up that you should definitely make a point of seeing and thats Dublinr, a photographic exhibition in the Joinery, made up of some of Dublin’s favourite Flickr members.

It opens on November 5th (so remember remember the fifth of November) and knowing some of the photographers from Flickr it will be well worth checking out.

Here’s a map to the Joinery Gallery, which incidentally is a relatively new space. I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of it pre-opening and I am very much looking forward to seeing it finished with amazing photographs on the walls. The Dublinr exhibition runs from November 5th (remember remember) until Sunday 9th, 11am – 6.30pm daily.

I am delighted to see exhibitions like this and I know there’ll be more, having heard murmurings of the same over recent months. So watch this space, the best of luck to Dublinr (I know it’ll be great), make sure you catch it.

The brilliant Halfset are releasing their 2nd album “Another way of being there” nationwide on October 3, and are celebrating this fact with the official launch party tomorrow night at the Sugar Club. I’ll be there. Who else?

On a more serious note: besides the Talk-like-a-pirate-day there’s also the Dublin Culture Night on Friday.

Dublin’s first Culture Night took place in 2006 as an initiative led by Temple Bar Cultural Trust in association with the Council of National Cultural Institutions and supported by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, to provide a new and imaginative route for people of all ages to connect with the arts and cultural life of the city.

Since then Culture Night has grown to include over 100 of the city’s arts and cultural organisations with the vast majority opening until 11pm and their very own free events programme for young and old, which is expected to attract in excess of 100,000 people this year.

This year is also the first time that the Culture Nights expands to other cities, such as Limerick and Cork. So, if you want to spend Friday night with culture instead of getting drunk, this seems like a good opportunity – the cities gallerys and librarys are at your disposal all night long. A map (PDF) is here.

It’s that time of the year again. Over the next 3 days the festival will take place in and around Temple Bar.

Building on its strengths on an annual basis, Hard Working Class Heroes returns to the streets of Dublin over the weekend of Friday 12 th /Saturday 13 th / Sunday 14 th September for its 6 th consecutive year.

[...]

This year, in addition, Ireland’s photographers are being called on to submit their finest shots for a chance to feature in a full Photographers Exhibition which is being curated by Ireland’s newest quality monthly magazine State.

You can find all information, plus the official festival-download charts over at the official website. This year I am really looking forward to the “Scottish Invasion”-part, featuring bands such as Sons and Daughters and Frightened Rabbit. And I am really delighted to anounce this on the 711th anniversary of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, hehe.