By Michael Smith. Avoca: I hate it. The dead river which has run marinated in copper for a century, the town which spawned the devil’s tv series, Ballykissangel, and now Avoca – the “store”, the café, the nursery, “the shopping and leisure destination”. In recent months I have discovered the joys of dedicated walking in […]
1,669 total views, 8 views today
By Nicola Carroll. ‘My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand […]
1,443 total views, 7 views today
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By Laurence Speight Patrick Kavanagh wrote ambivalently of Christmas in his distinctly anti-modern poem ‘Advent’: “We have tested and tasted too much, lover/Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder. But here in the Advent-darkened room /Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea /Of penance will charm back the luxury/ Of a child’s soul, we’ll […]
1,391 total views, 7 views today
_______________________________ Missing Microbes: How Killing Bacteria Creates Modern Plagues Martin Blaser Oneworld Publications 2014 _______________________________ Review by Frank Armstrong The overuse of antibiotics in humans and other animals combined with other medical interventions such as Caesarian sections presages disaster according to a new book by Martin Blaser, Professor of Translational Medicine and Director of the […]
1,646 total views, 10 views today
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Monb[id]iot Give it up, hero George, and learn how to cook. By Frank Armstrong In an article published in the last edition of Village George Monbiot exhibits a surprising naiveté towards veganism for a writer who is generally authoritative, and clearly a big Village favourite. He recalls how he had “tried it for […]
1,498 total views, 6 views today
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By Rod Stoneman. Ethics seem very distant for most discussion of Irish art which has been depoliticised, like much contemporary art internationally. In returning any kind of ethical debate to the domain of the visual arts we can usefully examine multi-screen films – film and audio-visual installations which have extended and replenished notions of fine […]
1,374 total views, 8 views today
By Kevin Kiely. Public sculpture in Ireland includes many monstrosities that are heavy and clumpy in their use of materials and ultimately non-artistic. The heavy-gang includes Edward Delaney, John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and Conor Fallon, but there are plenty of others. Delaney is egregious; his ‘Wolfe Tone’ and ‘Thomas Davis’ are part of street-lore. Tone […]
1,585 total views, 9 views today
