Monday
Keep in Touch
The Gallery, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare Until April 29
burrencollege.ie
Melanie Lan tops the bill at the Burren College's MFA graduate show. Her "large-scale murals and wheat pasted works [on] themes of belonging and dislocation in an ever shifting social landscape." The "hybrid entities" she creates symbolise "our contemporary need for adaptation and fluidity". Suzanne Tuene and Yulia Gurevich also feature, plus works by MFA1 and Undergraduate Study Abroad students.
Tuesday
Drogheda Arts Festival Exhibitions
Beyond the Pale: The Art of Revolution. Highlanes Gallery, Laurence St. highlanes.ie Cumann: Michael McLoughlin. Droichead Arts Centre, droichead.com April 25-May 2
droghedaartsfestival.ie
Beyond the Pale's three curators, Anthony Haughey, Pat Cooke and Aoife Ruane, weave three strands of revolutionary reflections, from 1916 to how its aspirations have played out. Included are photographs of lesser known people and places linked to the Rising, works by Cecily Brennan, John Byrne, Brian Creggan, Dorothy Cross, Mark Garry, Ori Gersht and Michael McLoughlin, and essays by three commentators: Fionna Barber, Justin Carville and Luke Gibbons. McLoughlin's Cumann, meanwhile, consists of sound installations developed through meetings and recordings with local communities.
Wednesday
Interconnections
The Core, Church Street, Roscommon
roscommonlambfestival.com
Ten Irish and six Scottish artists exhibit their woven tapestries, including work by Joan Baxter (above). It's an ancient medium and hugely labour intensive, but the work looks vibrant and fresh. The show is part of the Roscommon Lamb Festival.
Signatories
paviliontheatre.ie
Proclamations, unlike constitutions, are wonderfully aspirational documents. In the events of the 1916 Rising, to declare a republic was a hugely symbolic act underwritten in blood. In one irony of history, the playgoer and diarist Joseph Holloway spotted what he thought was a theatre bill posted to a wall, which turned out to be “a long and floridly worded document full of high hopes”. In this performance, each of the signatories is given a monologue by writers (and UCD grads) Emma Donoghue, Thomas Kilroy, Hugo Hamilton. Frank McGuinness, Rachel Fehily, Éiliís Ní Dhuibhne, Marina Carr and Joseph O’Connor. Patrick Mason directs the production, which transfers from Kilmainham Gaol to Pavilion Theatre. Whether Ireland has lived up to that document may be the underlying question.
Mark Lanegan Band
Academy, Dublin 8pm €27
ticketmaster.ie
Lanegan may be best known for his collaborations (QotSA, Gutter Twins, Isobel Campbell) than his solo work, so perhaps it's time to acquaint yourself with the man whose voice has been described as a blend of scratchy stubble and smooth shoe leather.
Thursday
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
Belfast, 8pm, various venues/ ticket prices
cqaf.com
There's a very strong music strand at Belfast's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, which runs from Thursday, April 28th- May 8th. Straight off the starting block are three fine gigs – UK psych-pop band, The Zombies, NYC singer-songwriter Jeffrey Lewis, and what will be the final Belfast gig for Americana band Richmond Fontaine, which will be splitting up after their Irish tour. (Other gigs include Afro Celt Sound System, Steve Mason, Marc Almond, Gavin James, and Guy Garvey.)
Why is it always December?
Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Co Armagh
millenniumcourt.org
Heaven knows, the 1980s were miserable, curator Gregory McCartney recalls, and he's rounded up some contemporary art to prove it. X-Ray Audio (Stephen Coates and Paul Heartfield), Nadège Mériau, Mhairi Sutherland, Fiona Hession, Siobhan McGibbon and John Smith all revisit arcane aspects of the decade, from psychic spies to Russians devising ways of hearing banned western music.
David Lyttle Trio feat. John Goldsby & Tom Harrison
JJ Smyths, Aungier St, 9pm, €15
jjsmyths.com
This promising international trio was actually born in the west of Ireland when Belfast drummer David Lyttle met American bassist and educator John Goldsby (currently based in Cologne with the renowned WDR Big Band), and rising UK saxophonist Tom Harrison at the Sligo Jazz Project. Could be the start of something.
