Serralves, Old and New

Fundação de Serralves is a cultural foundation based in Porto in northern Portugal concerned with the communication of the value of contemporary artforms and the environment. The foundation does this through exhibitions and events held in Parque de Serralves, a landscaped park that is home to Casa de Serralves and Museu de Serralves, a contemporary art museum. The park and original house were commissioned by Carlos Alberto Cabral, Count of Vizela in the 1920s (completed long after in 1944). The house in particular, designed by José Marques da Silva, is considered one of the best examples of art deco architecture in Portugal, and it's easy - even from the outside - to see why. I've visited Parque de Serralves twice now, but have yet to make it inside the art deco house. Hopefully third time's a charm...

SAL - Surf At Lisbon Film Fest

Today sees the kick off not only of Ireland v Spain but also the kick off of SAL, the Surf At Lisbon Film Fest. Running for four days (until 17 June) in Lisbon's iconic Cinema São Jorge on Avenida da Liberdade, the city's main boulevard, Surf at Lisbon screens a number of documentaries, features and shorts exploring surfing, along with exhibitions and gigs around the city.

OFFSET2012, Part 1

(Image courtesy of OFFSET)

It's been a full ten days since OFFSET2012 ended. And it took most of this time for me to process what I saw and heard over the course of what really has become Ireland's premier creative festival. My first task was to try to condense 24 or so presentations, discussions and interviews over 3 days in 2 rooms in Bord Gáis Energy Theatre into a relatively coherent 800-word review for Architecture Ireland. That, which will be posted mid-April and entitled 'OFFSET2012, Part 2', was a difficult task, and while I think I just about managed coherent, keeping to 800-words was Not Easy. So much so that here's some further outpouring of thoughts and questions and excited reactions to the whole thing:

le cool Walking Tours

(le cool issue 057 cover by Will St. Leger)

Not long ago a new initiative from the boys behind le cool Dublin was launched via Fund:it. They've devised a series of walking tours that will take visitors and locals alike into the cultural heart of the city and provide a snapshot of what's happening around Dublin at any given point. Rather than give a tour solely about Dublin's history, Michael and Ciaran aim to show you what's happening in in the city right now, taking groups to exhibitions, pop-up spaces, one-time only performances or rehearsals and more. Every tour will be slightly different, with no reused routes or scripts.

The Fourth Wall

This weekend I gorged myself a small bit on architectural screenings. Currently running in the IFI is The Fourth Wall, a season of architectural films curated by Nathalie Weadick of the IAF and Samantha Martin-McAuliffe of UCD Architecture. The season explores architecture as a protagonist, or sometimes as a physical manifestation or extension of a character. It looks to show architectures margins, and to tell its story from alternative viewpoints.

Here's the Heads Up #9

Here's the latest head's up, with dates and times for some of the talks series' I mentioned in Discussing Dublin, along with some other events going on (and approaching deadlines..ahem..)


(Image of the Long Room Hub via TCD)

20 April and 4 May, 1pm:
The Dublin Seminar, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin
Next in the Dublin Seminar series is Linking the architecture of the City of Dublin and Trinity College, a lunchtime talk by Niall McCullough and Valerie Mulvin, the architects who designed very venue for the talk. And a beautiful venue it is - it's reason enough to go to the talk. Following that on the 4 May is The Future of the Past: Recent Developments in the National Library of Ireland, a lecture by Fiona Ross, Director of the National Library of Ireland.

My Favourite Upstart

Slightly belated (as things often are here), but here it is: my favourite poster from the Upstart campaign:

Upstart

Upstart is an opportunity for creativity to be seen, discussed and (hopefully) valued within the Irish state. Creatives in any discipline are invited to submit work which can be printed and distributed around Dublin city in the format of an election poster during the Irish General Election 2011 (while filmmakers, musicians and others can submit work for display on the Upstart website). A positive change in Irish society requires creative thinking and ingenuity. The arts provide inspiration, direction, and commentary; the arts are our solace in times of need. Projects such as Upstart and the wonderful National Campaign for the Arts exist not only to remind the public of this, but to ensure there is adequate support for the arts to ensure their survival in difficult times. The deadline for submissions from artists, designers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, performers and any other creative types who want to get behind this initiative is 4 February, and you can find submission details here:

Last Weekend

So spoiled are we for cultural events here in Dublin (pictured above from the roof of Liberty Hall) that right now, every weekend is jampacked with exhibitions, events, screenings and gigs, and last weekend was no exception. Busy as it was (Open House was pretty hectic, but excellent nonetheless), I still managed to fit in some Darklight events (below is their awesome poster, but they haven't emailed me back yet to tell me who designed it). Kudos must go to the artists of the Dodo Collective for their excellent exhibition, Utopia, in Smithfield. Also on the bill was Synth Eastwood Present New Animation Shorts in Lighthouse, a really enjoyable collection of ...well... new animation shorts..