The Irish Times

Sean Scully: 'I am an Irishman and I love a good fight'

Irish abstract artist’s pandemic work goes on display in Paris with price tags close to €2m

Sat Jul 10 2021 - 05:00

Asia’s pro-democracy activists surprisingly favour Trump over Biden

US president praised for talking tough with China as conspiracies about Biden embraced

Tue Dec 01 2020 - 17:48

Go with the grain: Unbeatable rice recipes, from pilafs to puddings

This store cupboard staple can be transformed into the star attraction with just a few extra ingredients

Mon May 25 2020 - 06:00

Stasi files catalogue tragedy and trauma of four toxic decades

German Democratic Republic’s secret police had a pair of eyes and ears for every 230 East Germans

Wed Nov 06 2019 - 01:00

Chinese political cartoonist Badiucao on living in fear and revealing his identity

The artist hopes raising his profile online will provide protection for him and his work

Tue Aug 06 2019 - 06:00

Aosdána functions as way of hiding fact that arts funding is shamefully low

If sector was funded to level of European norm there would be no need for allowances

Wed Jul 24 2019 - 05:00

Destination design: 10 hot spots to see in 2019

For design lovers the best travel plans involve a feast for the eyes

Sat Jan 05 2019 - 00:00

From Damien Hirst to Marcel Duchamp, what makes artists tick?

Sarah Thornton has been asking artists about myths, muses and their ‘less normal’ lives

Tue Nov 13 2018 - 05:00

Event of the Week: Brian Maguire – ‘War Changes its Address’

The Aleppo Paintings: dismay at scale and intensity of the destruction, of place and people

Sat Jan 27 2018 - 05:00

Human Flow review: Migration crisis film is as epic as cinema gets

Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei’s film emphasises common humanity over suffering

Thu Jan 04 2018 - 11:00

What's a protest arts group backed by a rich Russian doing in Tallaght?

The a/political’s provocative art is setting up shop in Dublin for a year

Sat Oct 21 2017 - 06:00

A giant silver dome filled with art: Louvre Abu Dhabi to open

‘Starchitect’ Jean Nouvel discusses his design for the immense gallery

Thu Oct 19 2017 - 12:00

Women artists ‘reclaiming history we were written out of’

Artists have a rich history of activism, using their talents to take their messages out of the gallery and into the street

Thu Sept 28 2017 - 05:00

Jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo dies

News of democracy proponent’s death prompts rage online among rights activists

Thu Jul 13 2017 - 16:54

Berlin bubble? Property is booming and rents are rising

German banks say asking prices out of step with reality

Sat Mar 18 2017 - 05:00

Oscar Wilde’s suffering makes holy ground of Reading Gaol

Fintan O'Toole visits the cell where Wilde was imprisoned, and finds it haunted by the ghosts of more anonymous victims

Fri Nov 04 2016 - 15:00

Beijing court jails Ai Weiwei’s lawyer for 12 years

Prominent human rights lawyer Xia Lin sentenced in Beijing on fraud charges

Thu Sept 22 2016 - 13:24

Super-gallery puts San Francisco at the centre of the art world

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, reopened after a $305 million expansion, is now the biggest gallery of its kind in the US and has been transformed into a suitably blue-chip space

Wed Jun 22 2016 - 06:00

Driving an Australian peninsula in a temperamental campervan

A trip along Australia’s Bellarine Peninsula turned out to be an amazing holiday

Sat Apr 02 2016 - 01:59

Chinese journalist missing after trying to fly to Hong Kong

Jia Jia disappeared after publication of open letter calling for President Xi Jinping to quit

Thu Mar 17 2016 - 19:20

China expels Swedish human rights worker Peter Dahlin

Dahlin had been detained on subversion charges and made confession on state TV

Tue Jan 26 2016 - 11:15

Lego changes rules to calm row over Ai Weiwei brick order

Chinese artist had accused the toymaker of censorship after it refused bulk order

Wed Jan 13 2016 - 11:54

Scuffles at trial of China rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang

Diplomats also jostled as they try to gain entry to the three-hour trial in Beijing

Mon Dec 14 2015 - 17:55

Trial of Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang lasts three hours

Police block diplomats, foreign reporters and protesters from the Beijing court

Mon Dec 14 2015 - 07:14

Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang set for trial

Attorney who has represented dissidents faces eight years for ‘provoking trouble’

Mon Dec 14 2015 - 01:00

US ambassador to China urges end to crackdown on rights lawyers

Max Baucus urges Beijing to see rights lawyers as partners, not enemies

Fri Dec 11 2015 - 01:02

Ai Weiwei finds ‘listening devices’ hidden in Beijing studio

Dissident artist posts images of suspected bugs on Instagram after returning to China

Mon Oct 05 2015 - 07:57

Travel Desk: prehistoric sites and rock bottom flights

Sat Sept 19 2015 - 03:28

Weekend in . . . Berlin, a place for the strange and libertine

Believe all the hype, the German capital is a hipster idyll – but in a good way, writes Charly Wilder

Sat Sept 12 2015 - 05:00

China will ‘explode’ if communist regime remains, says Ai Weiwei

Beijing leadership in denial about scale of problems the country is facing, warns artist

Wed Aug 05 2015 - 16:15

Minister intervenes to give Ai Weiwei full UK visa

Dissident Chinese artist initially refused six-month stay over ‘criminal conviction’

Fri Jul 31 2015 - 18:08

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says UK denies him six-month visa

Dissident artist told he failed to declare a ‘criminal conviction’ in visa application

Thu Jul 30 2015 - 11:16

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei given back his passport

Surprise move comes over four years after Beijing authorities confiscated document

Wed Jul 22 2015 - 15:27

Sean Scully: ‘I don’t lie on a chaise longue with a cigarette holder and a glass of champagne’

The Irish-born artist doesn’t do creative block. Nor, as Beijing hosts a retrospective of his work, does he have time for westerners who ‘keep banging on about Ai Weiwei’

Sat Apr 11 2015 - 01:00