Things To Do: Solve an alleged art riddle, visit a fire station, enjoy some Italian black metal

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

De Profundis

Today would have been Oscar Wilde’s 171st birthday. To celebrate the occasion this evening, the Irish Film Institute will be screening De Profundis, a new film, produced by the Museum of Literature Ireland, which revisits Wilde’s prison letter to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, better known as Bosie.

Written in 1897, De Profundis was the only piece of work completed by Wilde while he was imprisoned in Reading Gaol for “gross indecency”. It would become the penultimate entry in his remarkable bibliography prior to his death three years later on 30 November 1900. Ahead of the 125th anniversary of his passing, MOLI has brought to life once more this raw text that Wilde was permitted to slowly assemble over a three-month period.

Directed by Benedict Schlepper-Connolly and Nestor Romero Clemente, the film De Profundis brings its audience into the letter, visiting its key locations, while passages are read by writers, artists and activists including Paul D’Alton, Jane Clarke, Naoise Dolan, Seán Hewitt, Adiba Jaigirdar, Sonya Kelly, Bulelani Mfaco, Una Mullally, Sonya Mulligan, Katherine O’Donnell, Declan Toohey and Tonie Walsh.

The hour-long film is screening at 6.30pm this evening, and will be followed by a conversation with writer Katherine O’Donnell and MoLI’s Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, hosted by Margaret Kelleher, the Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin.

Tickets are available here.

America at Home – Cormac Murray

Author and architect Cormac Murray is also set to launch his new book, America at Home: the architecture and politics of the US Embassy in Dublin this evening at the City Assembly House on South William Street.

Opened in 1964, and described as “one of the last avant-garde results from a strategic building programme undertaken by the US government during the Cold War”, the five-storey cylindrical embassy on Elgin Road quickly became one of the city’s most unique structures.

Now, in this new book, Murray dives into the story behind the building. He looks at John F. Kennedy’s intervention to break a political deadlock that hindered it at the design stage, and how it was built using cutting-edge technology wherein its 1,600 components were flatpacked on a barge and shipped to Dublin.

Assembled from newly released archive photography from the construction phase, original hand-drawings by the architect, and newly commissioned illustrations of the building, America at Home chronicles the constellation of interactions that culminated in the creation of this singular building out in Ballsbridge.

America at Home is published by Phibsboro Press, and as part of its launch, Murray will be speaking alongside author Shane O’Toole (who provided the foreword) and historian Dónal Fallon.

You can book a space at the launch here, or purchase a copy of the book at the Phibsboro Press website here.

Art Riddler 25

The anonymous, masked patron of the arts known as the Art Riddler is returning this week.

Since October 2022, the enigmatic Riddler has staged annual exhibitions across the city, hyped by elaborate guerilla marketing tactics, featuring an array of exciting up-and-coming artists, and culminating in one receiving a hefty cash prize. And while last year’s show was billed as the “final riddle”, despite it being neither of those things, it certainly is a relief to know that he can’t resist holding the event once more.

On Friday, over at One Charlemont Square, his new group exhibition, Art Riddler 2025, will open to the public, and includes quite a few names that will be familiar to loyal readers, including Nicole Manning, John O’Flynn, Eileen Leonard Sealy and Jordan Cassidy.

Art Riddler 2025 launches tonight, and will run across the weekend, closing on Sunday evening.

For more information, follow the Art Riddler on Instagram here.

Alpamysh

After seeing some art, one tends to have a hankering for Italian black metal, and fortunately, GalleryX on Hume Street can satiate that need.

At 7pm on Friday night, Italian artist Alpamysh will be bringing his genre-bending mix of ambient music, black metal and dungeon synth to a basement near you, if you just so happen to live in relatively close proximity to Dublin 2.

Drawing inspiration from black metal, its many subgenres, and 1960s Italian cinema, Alpamysh’s discography is surprisingly eclectic, whilst operating within the confines of metal’s most dour and doomy corners. It offers some hauntingly dreamy moments, and melodious nods to early '80s goth, all of which promises to transform the basement gallery into a catacomb ahead of Hallowe’en.

Tickets are free and can be booked here.

Move Slow, Hen’s Teeth

On Friday and Saturday, Hen’s Teeth in Blackpitts, will become the venue for Move Slow, a two-day mini-festival of music and food.

Co-curated by Hen’s Teeth and Rory Bowens of NTS Radio, the event is packed with a rich offering of sounds, including indie, trad, avant pop, soul, ambient and contemporary jazz.

Beginning at 6.30pm on Friday, first up is the ullieann piper Lian Winnet, followed by neo-soul duo Negro Impacto and Officer John. Then on Saturday, there is vocalist and producer Elaine Howley, experimental dream pop outfit Nashpaints, and the six-piece soul group Fizzy Orange.

Finally, Assassination Custard will be hosting a ticketed slow food dinner on Saturday evening, featuring a menu of slow-cooked dishes set against the musical backdrop of four-piece jazz ensemble Pizza Jazz Band.

The music is everywhere. But tickets for Move Slow are available here.

Out of Sight: A dive into the archive of Fire Station Artists’ Studios

Open House, the annual festival of architecture, is upon us once more, and while there is no shortage of events that could be recommended across the city, one that would be worth checking out is happening over at the Fire Station Artists’ Studios on Friday and Saturday.

Out of Sight is a drop-in event, which will see the studios on Lower Buckingham Street in Mountjoy open up to the public its emerging archive.

The late 19th-century fire station offers a rich history having hosted the families of firefighters, before serving as a shelter run by the Simon Community in the '80s, before being repurposed as an artists' hub in 1991. And as part of Out of Sight, its evolving role in the north inner city is put on show, as visitors can browse its artistic archive, receive a tour of the building itself and reflect on its various uses over more than a century.

On Friday, visiting hours are at 2.30pm and 3.30pm, while on Saturday, you can go in at 10.30am and 11.30am.

For more information, and to check out what else is on as part of Open House, visit the festival’s website here.

Dubliners in imperial Russia

Finally, on Wednesday, historian Angela Byrne will be over in Pearse Street library to talk about Dubliners in imperial Russia.

Hosted by the Old Dublin Society, the event starts at 6pm, and is free to attend.

For more information, and to keep up to date with other Old Dublin Society Events, visit their website here.

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Family Fun Day Freedom Flotilla

On Sunday, 19 October, the F2 Centre in Rialto is hosting a family fun day to raise funds for the Freedom Flotilla.

Hosted by D8toPalestine, and beginning at 11am, the event promises a morning of games and activities in support of the flotilla.

Visit the event’s page here to book your tickets.

Central Area Community Grant Funding

If you are a community group, an artist, planning a local play, concert, exhibition or a community arts programme in Dublin’s south central area, Dublin City Council’s Arts Office is hosting a voluntary arts grant community information morning this Friday (17 October).

There are still a few spaces remaining for the meeting at 11am in the F2 Centre at 3 Reuben Plaza in Rialto. Book your space here.

For more information about the Neighbourhood/Voluntary Arts Grants for 2026, visit the Arts Office website here ahead of the closing date for applications at 12pm on Tuesday, 4 November.

Coastwatch Autumn Survey

Coastwatch has extended the closing date of its annual autumn all-Ireland survey to 22 October.

If you want to join this citizen science shore survey, whether you’re a total newcomer or an experienced surveyor, you can do so by signing up here.

Very Sexy CMAT Halloween Party

Known craic merchants Sing Along Social are throwing a very sexy CMAT Halloween party on Friday, 31 October.

The gig is taking place on Halloween night in The Workman’s Club and will be the usual joyful and inclusive mayhem that Sing Along Social is known for.

Proceeds from the event are going to Action Aid Ireland’s Gaza Emergency Appeal.

Get your tickets here.