Hi all!

I can’t believe that another week is gone! And it is only 38 days until Christmas. Mad! Today I have seen the first decorated Christmas tree in an apartment in Finglas, but I find it still a little early for that. So no more talk of Christmas, just an ordinary Event Guide this week. ;-)

This weekend sees the Annual Art Ireland Show in the RDS (Main Hall). It is the biggest art show in Ireland. The opening hours are Fri 16th Nov 12:00-21:00, Sat 17th Nov 11:00-19:00, Sunday 18th Nov 11:00-19:00. Unfortunately this show is NOT free and normally I wouldn’t mention it for that reason, BUT Tania found an offer from Phil Pankov, a brilliant black&white photographer. Phil says that he has some free tickets available and would prefer if people didn’t have to pay to the exhibition, so he is offering these tickets to people that send a mail to info@philpankov.com. If you are a facebook member you can find his offer here: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5843527349 I don’t know how many tickets he has, but try sending him a mail if you are interested and if you want to save the 10 Euro.

Some people think they have made it if they appear on Radio or TV. If that is the case then this Dublin Event Guide has indeed made it!! :-) Last week I found out that our guide is used as a basis for the weekend event announcements on Raidio Na Life (FM 106.4)!!! Serious problem for me is that the whole program is in Irish and I can’t understand ANYTHING. But it sounds like fun (IF you understand a few words). The show where the Event Guide is featured is on Fridays from 16:30 until 18:00 and is presented by the natural radio talent Louise Foxe. On www.rnl106.com you can listen to it online. I am not sure if Louise mentions that people can subscribe to this Event Guide – as I have said, I can’t understand her! ;-)  But with a bit of luck she will mention the website that will be launched very soon. Oh, and you can send in music requests or mentions or encouragement and support via SMS to 086 600 1064. You are even allowed to do that in English!

Did you get a chance to read last weeks Event Guide? And did you read the piece about “Blackboxing”? I still don’t know what it really is and am still waiting for enlightenment, but just to make it even more puzzling, there is a Blackboxing Special Event tonight from 17:00-20:00, called “Unpacking Blackboxing”. After some artistic and poetic presentations, there is an open discussion, followed by a casual reception in the gallery. The whole thing takes place in the Project Art Centre in Temple Bar. www.project.ie/cgi-bin/eventdetail.pl?id=639

A bit more traditional type of art is shown in the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle: “A unique exhibition of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi woodblock prints which spanned the violent transformation of Japan from a medieval to a modern society. Working in the ephemeral medium of woodblock prints or ukiyo-e, literally ‘pictures of the floating world’, Yoshitoshi at first confronted the savagery of his time. By the 1880s, he created One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, a more tranquil series of a hundred portraits imaginatively linked to phases of the moon. These portrayals of individuals both ordinary and great combined native lyricism with a dynamic, modern look resulting from his adoption of western spatial techniques and colouring.” The exhibition opens today (Fri 16th) and runs until January. Admission is free. www.cbl.ie/

Diwali Family Day on Sat 17th from 14:00-15:00:
The Chester Beatty Library welcomes Preeti Ramnath to perform classical Bharata Natyam dance as part of the annual Diwali Family Day. This event is free of charge. Please book free tickets here Tel: 4070750 or email: educationservices@cbl.ie. Diwali is a major Indian and Nepalese festive holiday and a significant festival in Hinduism.

In Fingal the “Celebrate Cultural Festival” is currently running. You find more information on the Fingal County Council website
www.fingalcoco.ie/CommunityRecreationandAmenitiesDepartment/ follow the link to “Community Culture” first and then to “Events”.
On Sunday at 17:00 the Balbriggan Gospel Choir and Guests will perform an Intercultural Choral Concert at 17:00 in the Lusk Heritage Centre. Admission is free.

I understand this year there will be no ice rink for ice skating on Smithfield Plaza, but instead Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown has built an ice rink in Booterstown where you can skate since yesterday and until the 13th of Jan. As you can imagine the skating is not cheap and therefore this event doesn’t deserve to be mentioned here. However there is something different that does allow me to mention part of it: While other similar ice rinks even charge visitors who only want to watch, Goskate.ie in Bootertown will not do that. If you want to see other people skate – a lot of them badly :-P – you can go there as a spectator and watch for free. The ice rink is in Booterstown near the Dart station.

This weeks Sunday at Noon (18th of Nov @ 12:00) concert in the Hugh Lane Gallery is performed by Concorde, a contemporary music ensemble. Concorde (www.concorde.ie) regularly commission new work from Irish composers and frequently work with international guest soloists. Admission is free.

And after all attempts to avoid it, I unfortunately have to use the C-word now:
Dun Laoghaire is getting all dressed up for Christmas this weekend with The Christmas Lights Festival marking the offical switching-on of the Christmas Lights in the town & harbour. The Parade of Lights will assemble in The People’s Park at 16.00 and set off at 16.30 – making its way along upper and lower Georges St, down Marine Road and towards Harbour Plaza. At the Harbour Plaza a fireworks and the subsequent switching-on of the lights will end the event.

After the Temple Bar Food Market and the National Gallery, today I want to remind you of another free permanent event. This week it is one that a lot of people don’t know about:
Government Buildings in Merrion Street was originally the Royal College of Science and was then renovated and is since 1990 the office of the Taoiseach. The Cabinet meets in it and the Attorney General and Department of Finance have offices in the building. Most of you have seen that impressive building from the outside, but did you know that you can visit it (including the Taoiseach’s office)?
Every Saturday free guided tours of Government Buildings take place. The first tour starts at 10:30 and the last tour is at 13:30. Tours depart every hour and are approx. 40 min long.
Tickets are free of charge and are available on the morning of the tours from the ticket office of the National Gallery (open at 10:00). Advance booking is not possible. Here is a description of the history and some of the features of the building:
www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=184&docID=-1
I did the tour a few weeks ago and found it very interesting. 40 minutes on a Saturday morning and you have learned more about this country you are living in.

That’s it for this week. Oh, and today (Friday 16th) is International Day for Tolerance, so be nice to everybody that is different to you (i.e. all these weirdos out there!), the day only lasts for 24 hours. :-P

Enjoy the weekend,

–Joerg

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