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Aisling McCoy

“The old summer’s-end melancholy nips at my heels” 

Much like this description by Sara Baume in her book A Line made by Walking, September, for me, always has a tinge of real time nostalgia. However, I’m also reassured by the potential of culture to replace the long evenings of summer. This September in particular promises a rich harvest of festivals and cultural events to compensate for the changing of the seasons.

As part of Faigh Amach at the always wonderful Temple Bar Gallery +Studio, Kathy Tynan will be in conversation with Ramon Kassam on 5th September. This should be a fascinating exchange between two artists whose practices respond to the challenge of translating place and the psychology of environment through painting.

Running parallel to the exhibition Cities of the World by Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach at the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, the City as Character Film Programme is set to be a super series of short and experimental films. It’s co-curated by Butler Gallery and Out of Focus and includes a truly global programme of films from Tehran to Fordlandia, Buenos Aires to Helsinki, and includes work by Irish artists Aideen Barry and Vivienne Dick. Given the continued genocide in Palestine, one of my picks for the programme would be the acclaimed 2019 documentary feature Gaza by Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell which will be screened on 3rd September at the Watergate Theatre.

September also heralds the 20th edition of the annual all-island-cultural-explosion that is Culture Night on Friday 19th, which involves thousands of events celebrating culture, creativity and the arts. One highlight will surely be An Assembly of Forms at Kunstverein Aughrim, where Forerunner will introduce their newest addition to “Granite Leap” in an evening which promises all kinds of delights for the architecturally inclined, including modularity, batholiths and zines!

Marie Farrington’s richly collaborative and multiplatform show Diagonal Acts, which is also part of Kate Strain /Kunstverein Aughrim’s curatorial programme, continues throughout September at the Dock (and online through the Diagonal Acts website beautifully designed by Alex Synge). The exhibition reflects on many themes that resonate with architecture such as threshold, boundary, adaption, gesture, and the connection between the human body and the land.

Continuing this theme of sensitivity to landscape and multidisciplinary collaboration, Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao will give this year’s Niall McCullough Lecture on 18th September which will surely be an inspirational insight into her practice.

EVA International, Ireland’s Contemporary Art Biennial, returns to Limerick City for its 41st iteration on 29th August, running through to October. Curated by Eszter Szakács under the title “It takes a Village” the programme centres around ideas of collaborative partnership, social justice and historical repair. The festival will include the restaging, fragmentation and elaboration of Eimear Walshe’s Venice Biennale presentation ROMANTIC IRELAND -a wonderfully provocative collision of Ireland’s past and present which asks significant questions of Ireland’s current political and social (and I would argue architectural) predicament.

Staying out west the exhibition Echo/ Locate by Sorcha MacNamara at the Linenhall gallery in Castlebar looks intriguing. With exhibition design by Aidan Conway of Marmar Architects, it’s sure to be a beautifully considered and executed installation.

The brilliant Architecture at the Edge Festival returns to Galway on Friday 26th September and will be centred around the theme of “Unseen” Architecture. One of the highlights will definitely be the week long Film + Architecture workshop led by Sabrina Morreale + Lorenzo Perri in collaboration with Tom Kerr Bell and Sofie Stilling, exploring Galway’s “Architecture of the Invisible”. If you’re interested in taking part don’t delay as applications close on the 5th!

Given the longer evenings I’m also relishing the opportunity to catch up with the recently released podcast series The Studio Sessions. Recorded last year in the exquisite intimacy of O’Donnell & Tuomeys garden studio and produced and narrated by Orla O’Kane, these are a wonderful collection of long form interviews by John and Sheila with a fascinating cohort of Ireland’s best makers, thinkers and doers including Vincent Woods, Joseph Walsh, Helen O’Leary, Peter Fallon, Lynne Parker and Pat Collins.