Breaking Rainbows – Orla Barry's live performance/ video installation exhibition
Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford Performance Friday October 20th-Saturday October 21st, 8pm. Exhibition October 22nd-November 18th wexfordartscentre.ie
Artist and shepherd Orla Barry’s personal experience informs her performance/ installation that, in a sequence of vignettes, muses on our interdependence with the natural world and our disconnection from it. Sheep farming traditions including shepherd singing competitions in ancient Greece, gender stereotyping and consumer culture all come into play in Barry’s witty, inventive creation. The 300kg of wool comes from the Lleyn sheep on her own farm.
Stephen McKenna
Kerlin Gallery, Anne's Lane, South Anne St, Dublin Until November 26th kerlingallery.com
Sadly, the painter Stephen McKenna died last May. A popular man and a great, dedicated artist, he showed regularly with the Kerlin Gallery from its establishment in 1988. This exhibition, intended as a celebration of his life and legacy, features a representative selection of the work he made in the 10 years prior to his death. It includes examples of all the genres that preoccupied him: landscape, still life, domestic and studio interiors and allegorical figure compositions. The show will close with an event as part of Dublin Gallery Weekend on Sunday November 25th from 3-5pm.
Hidden Dips, Blind Summits: The Road to Brexitaria – New paintings by Dermot Seymour
Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Chancery Lane, Dublin Until November 18th kevinkavanagh.ie
Dermot Seymour casts a sardonic eye on the dystopian notion of Brexit on the Irish Border. Born in Belfast and growing up with the bizarre unreality of the Troubles, Seymour has long explored the surreal nature of the North-South divide in cultural and political expression. Now based in rural Co Mayo, he uses his characteristic visual language to test the idea of the return of the Border. Hapless farm animals stand in for the hapless human populace.
From Box to Anti-Box: The Berkeley Library at 50
Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Sq, Dublin
Trinity’s Berkeley was designed by Paul Koralek and opened in 1967. Generally regarded as a fine and extremely successful building, this “brutalist gem” pioneered the modernist presence in an historic precinct. Now the library is 50 years old and, as part of a year-long series of event marking its birthday, the IAA has organised a documentary architectural exhibition, curated by architect Donal Hickey, himself a Trinity graduate.
In Case of Emergency
The Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin Until February 11th, 2018 sciencegallery.com
From nuclear apocalypse to environmental disaster, there's nothing funny about global threats. Yet dystopia and disaster are staples of the film industry and other forms of fictional entertainment. Zombies, robots, bombs and post-apocalyptic wastelands are par for the course in speculations on terrible tomorrows. In Case of Emergency lays out the top threats to our world, evaluates how likely they are to happen, and asks what we can do about them. Highlights include Catherine Sarah Young's olfactory portrait of the rainforest, Anna Dumitriu's antibiotic resistance quilt, Dirk Brockmann's Epidemic Event Horizon and real-time crisis management in the Situation Room.
