This year Ireland will be represented for the first time in the architecture section of the Venice Biennale - with a structure made entirely from 40,224 peat briquettes. N3 is described by its architect, Tom de Paor, as a "sensory pavilion . . . a speculation on land and Santa's grotto".
The following information may halt you in your determination to write a letter to the Editor on "being portrayed as a bog-trotter on the international stage" - but then again, it may not. The structure is in a shape of an "N" and it will be oriented north, as befits Santa's grotto; "N" is also for Nicholas, a saint much loved by the Venetians and also by Dubliners; indeed, the briquettes which make up N3 come from the turf yard behind the St Nicholas of Myra church in Dublin's Liberties. The three interlinking chambers echo the three gold balls which were St Nicholas's traditional symbol, and also that of pawn brokers, who claim him as their patron saint - as do children, virgins, apothecaries and property developers, apparently.
The Venice Architectural Biennale opens on June 17th
People probably think we make up the things which we report in this column, but it just isn't true. Yes, there will be a festival in Waterford in July which lists Maud Gonne, Metis - the "cross-bred archaic goddess of the ways of water", W.B. Yeats and Pan among its line-up of participants.
"Gossip: The Eighth Myth and Theatre Festival", takes place in "Celtic lands" for the first time (try telling the Vikings, the Normans and the Romanians that Waterford is Celtic). The programme of workshops, lectures, "tribunals", performances and discussions will explore myth and performance - the title "gossip" comes from the fact that the word comes from "God Sybbes" and originally concerned the theology of the soul.
There will be a theatre workshop with the event's artistic director, Enrique Pardo, who will use gossip as "the stuff of dramaturgy, the back door to myth". A workshop with Veronica Coburn from Barabbas will focus on physical theatre, clowning and puppetry, while Liam O Maonlai's sean-nos workshop will explore the "atmosphere of remembering" which the singing evokes. The festival runs from July 5th to 9th (12-day workshops start on June 28th, seven-day ones on July 3rd) and information is available from Garter Lane Arts Centre (051855038, festival@garterlane.ie).
Limerick Corporation has heard the tune, Three Year Plan, that the Arts Council is singing and is putting together a development plan for the arts in the city. It has advertised for a consultant to undertake the job of seeing how Limerick's cultural organisations could work better together: "It's a question," says the Corporation's Sheila Deegan, "of stopping and saying `Let's see where we are.' " There are big questions facing the city, she says, such as: should the Belltable start planning now to move into a new arts centre premises for the city, rather than wait for its lease to run out? She hopes the new plan may be published early next year.
Sheila Deegan is available at Limerick Corporation on 061-415799
In mid-January, readers of this newspaper thrilled to the words of the then Minister for Education, Micheal Martin, that he hoped to announce "an initiative to put in place a comprehensive policy in relation to arts education" in this State. He promptly exited stage left and Minister Michael Woods took on his job, but not, it seems, his concern with the arts in education. Nearly five months have passed, and there hasn't been a squeak about this "initiative" from the Department of Education since. Let's have some action, please, Minister Woods.
If you want proof that the Edinburgh International Festival is in a league above and beyond any other arts festival, just look at the programme. Among the highlights this year, for instance, are: the Deutsches Schauspielhaus's production of Hamlet, directed by the world-famous Peter Zadek; the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra playing along to the Nederlands Dans Theater; the Budapest Festival Orchestra playing Mozart and Beethoven, and also Bruckner, Mahler and Wagner, with baritone, Bryn Terfel and soprano, Anne Evans; and a new dance work called Korper ("Bodies"), choreographed by Sasha Waltz, who has just been given the joint artistic directorship of the Schaubuhne of Berlin. It all reinforces what an honour it is for the Abbey Theatre to be there, doing Barbaric Comedies by Ramon del ValleInclan in a version by Frank McGuinness, directed by Catalan director Calixto Bieito.
Festival booking on 00-44-131-4732000
Ballyjamesduff is holding its annual Pork Festival at the weekend - roast pig on a spit, barbecued ribs and sausages and pig racing ("Who will beat last year's winner, Linford Crispy. Will it be Lester Piglet, Cusack Chop, Streaky Bacon or Baby Spice?") will all be on offer, and on Saturday night at 9.30 p.m. there will be traditional music at Paddy Reilly's Ball in the Percy French Hotel. Paddy Reilly is coming home for the event . . . The singer, Mary Coughlan, the award-winning play by Donal O'Kelly, Catalpa, a street carnival based on "The Age of Discoveries" and a multi-cultural evening are among the highlights of the third Tallafest in Tallaght, Co Dublin, which runs from July 3rd to July 9th - phone Jane Davy on 01-4620262 for information . . .
