Ex, a new RTÉ Illuminations art commission by Eamonn Doyle, Niall Sweeney, David Donohoe, and Kevin Barry can be viewed here.
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Whose memory is this? Whose memory am I? There are some parts of this island - swathes of it, vast tracts even - that are utterly daft. Things have become untethered from space and time and have taken to floating around together as if all present in the now. It's all quite loud, really. Rattled, shook, discombobulated, these mindless artefacts have no time, they are all the time. Someone, or some thing, needs to put them in order.
Film
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. I still get surprised how this film has gone under so many people’s radar. The cinematography, dialogue, and narration are sublime. "An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England" Who wouldn’t want to watch that?!
Music
Supervene - Minced Oath
Dunk Murphy's latest album under his Minced Oath moniker. Do yourself a favour and go and buy all 27 releases on his Countersunk here.
Book
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
I’ve only recently got around to reading Cormac McCarthy’s harrowing epic, following white scalp-hunters through the American southwest in 1849 and 1850.
Play
Quad I & II - Samuel Beckett
A pair of sinister mimes filmed for German television and directed by Beckett himself in 1981. "Between the two parts there is an intermission of 100,000 years." (Beckett during the rehearsals).
Television Programme
Small Axe - Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen's compelling series of dramas on the black immigrant community experience in post-World War II Britain.
Art
Love's Fire Song - Enda Bowe at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin
One of my favourite Irish Photographers, Enda Bowe’s exhibition comes to a close soon at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin. Another exhibition that suffered from lockdown restrictions, places are limited and need to be booked in advance, but well worth it if you’re lucky enough to get in and see.
Radio/Podcast
Ireland's National Folklore archive curator Jonny Dillion takes us on regular thematic tours of Irish folklore and tradition.
Tech
The best app on my phone is Audible. Two recent books include Kevin Barry's stunning reading of his novel Beatlebone and Samuel Beckett’s Molloy, read by Sean Barrett and Dermot Crowley.
