Things To Do: Enjoy plenty of onions, browse an air fair, hear sean nós and salsa converge

Our Picks

Our recommendations – no sponsored content, or adverts, just stuff we like.

Mercadø Art Fair at Tøn Gallery

On Saturday, 5 July, the Tøn Gallery will be launching Mercadø, a brand new initiative and art fair, which is set to host a series of workshops, screenings, performances and talks over the coming while.

For its inaugural event this weekend, Mercadø’s is organising a group show titled “Mercadø // First Edition”. Opening at 17.00, the show will include, among others, the painter Nicole Manning, the ethical and sustainable designer Casacor, and photographer Alicia Donnan, who is releasing the zine Dublin Needs to Dance.

The exhibition will be in the gallery until 27 July. For more information visit their website here.

VaticanJail

Last week, the Chilean-born, Dublin-based artist and producer VaticanJail came out with her sixth single, “Miel”, her first release this year.

It is a pulsating, ethereal three-minute track that blends reggaeton beats, salsa samples and a sean-nós approach to her lyrics, the verses of which switch between Spanish and English. “Miel”reflects on her moving to Ireland from Chile at the age of 14, saying it is “as if the bones of my story are a misty memory of South America, whilst the flesh is all Ireland, and Dublin specifically”.

Inspired by Nathy Peluso, Rosalia and Hozier, “Miel” is an infectious track that journeys across genres with shifting tempos to depict the “inner fight” of immigrant children in their efforts to locate their voices.

If you want to give it a spin, the track can be streamed here, and to keep track of her upcoming gigs, you can check out her Instagram here.

KiiKO

If you weren’t able to catch DJ Emmy Shigeta at our recent 10th-anniversary celebrations over in Anseo, we’ve some good news: she has a flurry of activity coming up over the next couple of days.

On Saturday night, in the Light House Cinema, she is presenting back-to-back screenings of Japanese animator Keita Kurosaka’s short films Warm Story (1989), Agitated Screams of Maggots (2006), Rinkaku (2012) and Midori-ko (2010), alongside an exclusive interview with the director and a DJ slot from herself in the bar afterwards.

You can get your tickets here if that sounds tempting.

Then, on Monday, she will be releasing “July”, her debut single as KiiKO, a new electronic pop collaboration with producer John McDowell of the group As Many as Possible. It’s a bright, dreamy piece of glitchy drum and bass, featuring Shigeta on vocals, and will be coming out to coincide with Tanabata, Japan’s star festival.

If you want to keep track of KiiKO, you can follow them here.

Landscape (post) Conflict in NCAD

Beginning on 7 July, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the National College of Art and Design will be hosting a summer school, which explores the theme of “Landscape (post) Conflict”.

Organised in collaboration with L’Internationale Museum of the Commons – a confederation of museums, art organisations and universities – "Landscape (post) Conflict" reflects on the effects of war, invasion, genocide and mass displacement on the the environment and landscapes.

The programme, which runs until 11 July, will feature a series of lectures, discussions and workshops, featuring national and international artists, theorists and educators including Jill Jarvis, Amanda Dunsmore, Yazan Kahlili, Zdenka Badovinac, Marielle MacLeman, Léann Herlihy, Clodagh Emoe and Clare Bell, among others.

Of particular interest are a pair of public panel events on Wednesday 9 July and Thursday 10 July, which will be examining our relationship to, and understanding of, land as a resource, a boundary, home and “as it is experienced, imagined [and] constructed”.

Both panels will be discussing the question “What is the relationship between landscape and conflict?” The first is on Wednesday at 18.00 at the Harry Clarke Lecture Theatre in NCAD, and the second is on Thursday, same place, same time.

The talks will be free, but they are ticketed. So if you want to book, visit the IMMA ticket site here.

How to Peel an Onion without Crying

Over on Chatham Row, next Thursday (10 July), Flux is going all out for its upcoming group exhibition How to Peel an Onion without Crying, which is the latest show from The Art Shelter, an art and music collective that emerged late last year.

On the line-up are 13 artists, including painters Eileen Leonard Sealy, Michael Flavin, Fiona Somers and James Freeney and photographers Feride Gormez, Jordani Shepherd and Madalina Axentoi, and sculptures by Whorlasmz and Rachel Kenny, alongside mixed-media works by Lana Zubović, and digital works by Evil Anto.

As well as that, the night promises DJs, and food from Di Fontaines, the city’s superior pizzeria. And, even more exciting is that James Freeney is bringing along his snarling, gold-toothed alter ego Johnny Dublin for the evening because The Onion Boys are scheduled to perform at the launch. They also have a gig lined up in Bello Bar supporting The Donnys this Friday, in case you can’t head over to Flux.

How to Peel an Onion without Crying will launch at 6pm on Thursday, 10 July, while, on Saturday, 12 July, visual artist Aoife Nolan is in the exhibition space with a written piece and performance.

For more information, head on over to The Art Shelter’s Instagram page here.

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Clay City

Throwing Shapes, the community ceramics studio in Dublin 8, is collaborating with aparthotel company Staycity to offer a 12-month graduate programme and three 3-month professional residencies for ceramics artists.

The Clay City initiative will provide free studio space and accommodation in Dublin city to both Irish and international ceramic graduates.

The first professional residency application will open on the 1st August. For more information on all application deadlines and to apply, visit Throwing Shapes’ page here.

Atelier Now mural artist open call

Atelier Now is hosting its annual Dublin Block Party in Charlemont Square again on 26 July.

Ahead of this, they are looking for an artist to join the event’s line-up, with the criteria being whether you can paint a seven-foot by eight-foot mural in five hours.

It’s a paid gig too. For more information and to apply, go over to the exhibition’s social-media page here.

Clonsilla Old School House Masterplan consultation

Fingal County Council has prepared a Draft Masterplan for the Old School House lands at Clonsilla, Dublin 15.

The draft plan can be viewed here or at the council’s offices on Grove Road, Blanchardstown and County Hall in Swords.

Online submission or observation can be made here, or can be sent in writing to Senior Executive Officer, Planning and Strategic Infrastructure Department, Fingal County Council, County Hall, Main Street, Swords, Co. Dublin, K67 X8Y2.

The closing date for all submissions is 5pm on 28 July.

Transatlantic Poetry Salon

On Sunday 13 July at 14.00, Books Upstairs is hosting a special event with readings from four poets operating in a range of media and disciplines in Dublin and across the Atlantic.

Featuring at the Transatlantic Poetry Salon are Éireann Lorsung, Christodoulos Makris, rob mclennan and Christine McNair.

Reserve a spot here.

Displacements and Hauntings in Arabic Literature at the Douglas Hyde

On Wednesday, 9 July at 18.30, the Douglas Hyde Gallery will be holding a talk with Rita Sakr, associate professor in postcolonial and global literatures at Maynooth University as part of its current exhibition, Mohammed Sami’s To Whom It May Concern.

Sakr will be exploring literary geography with a particular focus on the ways in which contemporary Arab prose mediates "displacement".

For more information, visit the gallery’s website here.

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