We Irish love a meaty discussion and now there's a festival dedicated to it, writes SINEAD GLEESON
IRELAND HAS never been short on talking-shops. From major arts festivals and storytelling nights to panel TV shows, we’re a nation who gravitate towards meaty discussions.
For years, the literary festival model was based on readings and book signings, but new crossover events have remodelled not just what’s up for discussion, but how they are delivered.
This weekend, the concept of shared ideas and public discourse is presented in the form of Mindfield, a series of events incorporating arts, politics, design, technology and counter culture taking place in Merrion Square. With over 60 panel discussions, talks and readings, it offers bite-size debates that hope to provoke and inspire attendees.
Mindfield itself is a broader offshoot of Leviathan, the “political cabaret” night organised by consultant Naoise Nunn. First held in 2003, with an inaugural panel that included Ronnie Drew, Des Bishop and Pat Rabbite, Nunn noted the gap in the market for “having a conversation in public”. In 2006, Leviathan had grown to hosting monthly nights with a range of contributors.
“Like the dinner party conversation, people love the idea of having pubic discussions. If you throw in experts and a panel, an audience really wants to engage with that,” says Nunn.
“Irish people like politics-as-bloodsport-as-entertainment. We wanted to create an informal, irreverent style of debate that would capture that.” In the same year that Leviathan began to expand, the global phenomenon of Ted talks was born. The informal lectures are based loosely on Ted’s theme of technology, entertainment and design, and were created to spread ideas.
It’s no coincidence that both Mindfield and Ted came into their own just as the economic bubble was about to burst. Experts and commentators have never been more in demand, but with these kinds of public discussions, there is more access and accountability. “As the economic situation deteriorated, people became more politically and economically literate,” says Nunn.
“People started asking ‘what the hell is going on?’ Somewhere like Mindfield, rather than the more mediated space of a television studio, offers a place to interrogate the protagonist.”
Since 2009, Mindfield has been a regular presence at the Electric Picnic. It has expanded from a niche section of the timetable to a sizeable “festival within a festival”. So what’s on offer? Talks on sustainability, gaming, publishing, fashion, foreign policy and several free events for children. Mark Little talks social entrepreneurship, while Diarmaid Ferriter helms a discussion on Technology and Memory. Several writers, including John Banville, Peter Murphy, The Onion’s Nathan Rabin and Dermot Healy will be reading.
In content terms, “crossover” is a key selling point, but there is also the appeal of connection – of physical interaction and networking. Many of us are guilty of sustained online life, of tweeting opinions and arguing with strangers in the anonymous ether of the internet. Mindfield encourages people to unplug and engage face-to-face. “There’s definitely an antidote-to-the-internet angle,” says Nunn. “We all like human contact . . . that interpersonal stuff . . . and that’s without the storytelling culture of Ireland.
“It’s also an inherently Irish thing to have a discussion and agree to disagree. We can still get on with people who have very different political views to us”. Nunn sums up Mindfield as like “discussing the Sunday newspapers live”.
This weekend’s event should qualify as a bumper edition.
Mindfield takes place in Merrion Square from Friday to Sunday. Tickets and details: mindfield.ie
HIGHLIGHTS
Friday April 29th
This is Your Brain on Google: Does Technology Shape Memory?
Hosted by Diarmaid Ferriter with Alan Smeaton, Darragh Doyle, Orla Fitzpatrick and Greg Baxter. 6pm
Saturday April 30th
Publish and Perish? The Future for Printed Media Featuring Declan Meade (The Stinging Fly), Brendan Barrington (The Dublin Review and Penguin Ireland) and John Ryan (Broadsheet.ie). 6.30pm
Sunday May 1st
Leviathan Political Cabaret: Political Reform — Are We Fit to Govern Ourselves?
With Andrea Pappin, Johnny Ryan, Garrett Tubridy, Oliver Moran and Paddy Cullivan’s Comedy Maps of Ireland. 6pm
