Mutantspace And Gulp’d Host Free Music Weekend From Friday 17th – Sunday 19th May

moray mair | All about mutantspace | April 30, 2013

hans dens plays mutantspace music weekend

stuart wilde plays the mutantspace music weekend

Pearse McGloughlin plays the mutantspace music weekend

cormac ocaoimh plays the mutantspace music weekend

carl plover aka wasps vs humans plays mutantspace free music weekend

So rather than do a festival I’ve decided to stick to putting on a couple of gigs. The art exhibitions, talks, workshops and comedy are going to have to wait. To be honest the Trash Culture Revue has been a victim of it’s own success. When I started off doing these events through mutantspace there was only about 4 – 6 people interested in producing a show. Last May there was nearly 30. I also don’t have a budget. Last years festival cost €50. Which is pretty incredible seeing as we had a packed programme and national coverage of most events. However I can’t keep that up. Something has to break. And for me it was time.

This year I’ve decided to go easy on myself and have fun rather than stress out over the whole thing. So I’m only putting on gigs. Music is always easier for me to put together and Plugd records have been a great help. So here’s what we’re doing between 17th – 19th May. There are also a few other house events. But I can’t publicise them.

We will be doing our annual Bloomsday event on 16th June and Ill be putting a mutantspace collective art show together over the coming months. So here’s the blurb on the weekend of free music that ranges from psychedelic experimental electronica to slam poetry, punk trad and folk to dark gothic blues.

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Get Involved In The YCP Rainbow Flag For Humanity Photo Collaboration

moray mair | All about mutantspace | February 4, 2013

I was hoping you’d all be interested in getting involved in a photo collaboration that mutantspace is doing in conjunction with some of the top photo and art websites and tumblr blogs in the World; YCP, PixelUnion, Artchipel, Lensblr and 2HeadSP.
The idea is to create an online photo montage called The YCP Rainbow from 15th – 28th February, 2013. You don’t need to be a pro you just have to be interested. The idea is to send in photos based on the colours of these flags:

The Wiphala Rainbow represents the native peoples of the Andes in particular those living in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador parts of Argentina, Chile and Colombia. It represents the Inca Empire and each of its former four regions. The rainbow consists of seven horizontal stripes representing the seven colours of the rainbow

The Buddhist flag is a symbol of all forms of Buddhism around the world. It consists of six vertical coloured segments. The first five are usually blue, yellow, red, white and orange while the sixth is a combination of the first five.

The Pace flag in Italy was first used in a peace march in 1961 and was inspired by similar multi-coloured flags used in demonstrations against nuclear weapons. It became popular with the Pace da tutti i balconi (“peace from every balcony”) campaign in 2002 which started as a protest against the impending war in Iraq. The most common variety has seven colours; purple, blue, azure, green, yellow, orange and red and is emblazoned in bold with the Italian word PACE, meaning “peace”.

The LGBT pride flag sometimes called ‘the freedom flag’ was popularized as a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and diversity by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. The different colours symbolize diversity in the gay community and the flag is used predominantly at gay pride events and in gay villages. The colors were designed to symbolize: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (harmony) and purple/violet (spirit).

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Happy Christmas From Mutantspace

moray mair | All about mutantspace | December 25, 2012

Just a short Happy Christmas to all of you. Hope you’ve enjoyed most or even some of what I’ve been posting up during the year. Hope you all get some kind of break, rest, lie down, break from the recession over the next few days.

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The Dead Medium Comedy Series: A Podcast Project By One Of Our Skills Exchange Members

moray mair | All about mutantspace | November 10, 2012

The Dead Medium comedy series is an ongoing podcast project by one of our skills exchange members, Gareth Stack better known as Ladyboy Jesus’.

The project is inspired by Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Thing A Week’ project and it’s the groups hope to create a year of original comedy sketches. Here’s what Stack has to say about the project:

Each week I write and record a new audio comedy sketch with some comedian friends of mine. Each three to eight minute sketch is lovingly crafted, buffed up with sound effects, and loosed on the world like an ape taught to speak. So far sketches have featured radio magicians, backwards psychics, perverted therapists, time travelling leprechauns and sassy magic rainbows.

Our sketches veer from the magical realist to the deadpan, and are influenced by everything from Chris Morris’s Blue Jam to classic sketch comedy like I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again. Our cast are young Irish comedians and writers Gordon Rochford, Sinead Lynch, Lucy Moffat, Alison Spittle and Krishna Srikumar. The show is the latest effort from the team behind the radio comedy series ‘The Emerald Arts’ and the comedy podcast ‘The Invisible Tourguide‘.

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Elizabeth Graeber’s Food On Paper Illustrations Are Delicious

moray mair | All about mutantspace | August 30, 2012

Elizabeth Graeber‘s ‘Food On Paper’ illustrations are wonderful. Simply wonderful. Their vibrant colours remind me of Judith Kerr’s illustrations in ’The Tiger that Came to Tea’ while her quirky drawing style has shades of Quentin Blake – in it’s immediacy and boldness. Yes, her work belongs in such illustrious company. What’s most gratifying about the series is that she plainly states her love for food, a desire that comes out in her drawings.

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Adventures of a Music Nerd: 1 Guy, 2 World Cups Is On This June In Cork

moray mair | All about mutantspace | June 15, 2012

‘Adventures of a Music Nerd: 1 Guy, 2 World Cups’, presented by skills exchange member Ronan Leonard, is on during The Cork Midsummer Festival this month. It’s a loving ramble through the many World Cup songs that came out for Italia ‘90 (the one Ireland won – as our hero remembers it) and USA ‘94 (the one we didn’t).

See how the most ubiquitous sounds of modern technology were stolen from our World Cup songs…
See how Paul McGrath was not a good rapper…
See how U2 could have turned out without Bono…

Having come through the youth ranks and making its debut as part of last year’s Solstice festival in Cork City, ‘Adventures Of A Music Nerd: 1 Guy, 2 World Cups’ has made a high profile transfer to a new team at Cork Midsummer Festival. The second one-man show in a long running series, where Ronan Leonard finds themes, deconstructs and reconstrues elements of music and lyrics and generally tries to find fun in songs, as opposed to making fun of them.

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10 Reasons To Produce Festivals For Free

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 28, 2012

I thought I’d jot down 10 reasons why I, along with the other members of our skills exchange, produce our DIY Arts Festival for free. The Trash Culture Revue was a big success with no one making money, being recognised as purveyors of good taste, of producing cultural excellence, attracting sponsors, promoting tourism. Surely that’s what arts festivals are meant to do is it not? Create a land of Oz in which everything glitters and has a monetary value to it . A land in which culture is objectified, packaged and sold to the highest bidder.

I have no wish for that. I feel that once you’re in the position of being paid a salary to maintain that illusion then you are caught in a death spiral. You are answerable to everyone but yourself. You become a caretaker for a bigger project, a project that has nothing to do with celebrating culture; the vibrancy and expression of people, of place.

So here it is my 10 reasons why I love producing our autonomous DIY arts festival twice a year.

You have no one to answer too but yourself
When you don’t work for money your value system changes. Time becomes your currency and giving time comes from the bottom of your heart
Producing events for free creates a feeling of solidarity between everyone involved; performers, organisers and audience
Without money you have to think of alternative ways to produce events. This creates a space for ingenuity and collective action
Productions created without capital can never be owned or appropriated by those with capital
There is no compromise
Every space in which an event happens is a space full of possibility and potential
The event isn’t objectified rather it becomes part of a process
A more substantial relationship is created between producer, performer and audience. In certain circumstances the barrier between the three is broken down entirely
When you create something from nothing using time, will, love and desire then there are no limits to the imagination and possibility of change

Let me know what you think or if you have anything to add.

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Trash Culture Revue Was A Great Success So Thanks To Everyone Involved

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 24, 2012

The Trash Culture Revue is over. Finally. It finished on Sunday night but has taken me days to recover. It was heavy going with alot of events, gigs, talks, shows, workshops and partying to do, be at, enjoy. I did my best but it was an impossibility to attend all 25 events. It was three days of hectic, crazy, tiring fun.

It was our biggest DIY Arts Festival so far going from five events in 2009 to 25 in 2012. All of it produced by our skills exchange, our bank, through co – operation and collective action. In all the festival cost about €60 which is ridiculous when you think it often cost tens if not hundreds of thousands to programme, produce, manage and market a festival. Obviously you can’t compare apples and oranges but all the same it does show what can be done through positive action and collective power.

Attendances for all the events were generally pretty good and everyone I talked to enjoyed themselves, had a good time, got something out of it, met new people, heard new ideas, ways of thinking and so on. We even had a few future partnerships and collaborations coming out of it which is what our skills exchange is all about. So all good. All better than I thought.

There are so many people to thank not least everyone in mutantspace that got involved, participated, got stuck in and went with it, created an autonomous space that was open to co – operation and collaboration. So I’m not going to name them, name you. You know who you are. Suffice to say that without everyone there would be nothing. Together we created a space to do, make, create, learn, exchange, fail and I hope in the future we can build on these foundations, keep it going, trying, putting the word out that there are other ways of doing things, cracking the inevitable, the impossible.

We’ll do it again, later in the year, probably in November. So if you want to get involved, have an idea let me know.

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The Art Hand School Have Creative Holiday Deals

Sean Corcoran | All about mutantspace | May 23, 2012

One of our skills exchange members, Sean Corcoran, recently set up an art school with his wife in County Waterford. It’s a beautiful part of the world and they have alot of different courses for you to get involved in. So if you are interested in a creative holiday with your friends then check out what they have to offer.

They’re doing group discounts which run as follows:

When two people book a course they will each receive a €50 voucher towards any other course at The Art Hand
When three people book a course they will each receive a 15% discount
When four or more people book a course they will receive a 25% discount
Continue reading »

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The Medicine Sessions Has Another Successful Music And Spoken Word Night In Waterford

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 22, 2012

One of our skills exchange members runs a monthly music, spoken word, cabaret night in Lismore in County Waterford, The Medicine Sessions, and has just finished her third month. Here’s the night in her words. If you’re ever in the area check it out.

The night came in, dry and warm. Downstairs the bar ebbs with a slow pulse, yet to realise itself as the hub of activity it would later become. The smell of greasy cooked goods, spilled beer and long gone cigarette smoke pervades the air, The Medicine Room hangs with a pre-gig woodsmoke and joss-stick and the sound of Quicksilver Messenger Service playing on the PA. The lull, the gathering of energy, the quiet alchemy building.

Two guys climb the stairs, enter the smokey room looking like gunslingers who’ve just spent their poker winnings on new outfits. One with a firm handshake and serious laugh, the other, quietly hiding a bloodthirsty potential behind a softly spoken Spanish lilt. They arrange their belongings, setting the tools of their trade on a penis graffiti’d trestle, airing electric nylon strings, vintage Danelectro, blood red Epi, and magic boxes holding secret images, tribal rhythms, controlled by tough soles. Later on, an auburn haired lady enters, struggling with an Orange box and a set of keys. She flashes smiles easily and speaks with a calmness that belies her power. She dresses in red and waits for a crowd. The poetry man has cancelled, his back broke.

At nine, the public ascend the Red House stairs, dressed in their best, fresh from a days work and the potential of a weekend. They know to come on time to find a chair, a place to put down their liquor. the atmosphere in The Medicine Room builds with anticipation, the breath that comes before unknown things, the chance of new discoveries, the revelations of knowledges that have so far been secrets. the night will soon begin.

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There Will Be Much To Savour At This Dublin Banquet

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 18, 2012

One of our skills exchange members is a wonderful chef and has contributed many fantastic recipes to this blog. He’s currently organising a banquet in Dublin so if you’re interested keep reading…

On the 1st and 2nd of June The Cake Cafe is hosting a banquet in an old Primary School Building on Pleasant’s Place, Dublin 8.

Chef Giles Clark will be cooking up a seasonal meal with ingredients from the Leinster area. Giles is presently cooking with the Young Turks in London and before that he was in Noma in Copenhagen. He also worked at Patrick Guilbauds while living and studying in Dublin and previously did stages in a number of famous kitchens across the globe including; Chez Panisse, Berkeley California, River Cottage in Devon and Alinea in Chicago.

At this event we will be bringing together Giles’s culinary knowledge with the wonderful bounty we have here in Ireland in the early Summer. The evenings will be hosted by Michelle from the Cake Cafe and there will be wine provided at cost price by Colm from the Corkscrew.
There will be a seasonal cocktail upon arrival before some mostly tactile feasting.

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Check Out Our Trash Culture Revue Programme For Saturday 19th May

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 18, 2012

Saturdays DIY Arts Festival programme sees a wide range of workshops, readings, talks, gigs and theatre.

First up is a full day workshop in Theatre of the Oppressed techniques in the Cork Circus Space on Albert Quay. It runs from 10am – 5pm and there are still some spaces available. It’s €40 for the day. Theatre of the Oppressed describes a range of theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated on in the 1960s. Boals techniques use theatre as means of knowledge and transformation of reality in the social and relational field. In the Theatre of the Oppressed, the audience becomes active, such that as “spect-actors” they explore, show, analyze and transform the reality in which they are living.

From 10am – 12pm we’re delighted to be hosting teenage poetry readings in the Cork Central Library. ‘Why Can’t you Write Something Happier’ is the second book of poetry and prose from the young members of the Colaiste an Phiarsaigh creative writing group which has been facilitated by Cork poet Kathy D’Arcy since 2011. So why not pop in and listen to these talented young writers read their sometimes hilarious, sometimes thought-provoking work.

Solidarity Books on Douglas Street are hosting a day of talks beginning at 10am with ‘Time Banking’. At 12pm there will be a discussion on Autonomy and the financial system, at 2pm a talk on Counter-culture and counter-power in the 18th century and at 3.30pm a workshop about building a personal and collectively more sustainable resistance. Veg Out, a vegan café, will be doing food during the talks and discussions.

Bloom Boom is a street performance piece that will be ongoing throughout the afternoon on the streets of Cork City centre. Kathryn Crowley will be bringing the colours of nature to the concrete and spreading some smiles, giving out flowers, positive quotes and poetry.

At 4pm at The Roundy Round House Productions will be showing their one woman show, ‘Magazine’. A show about city life, the media, living the ideal and coming to terms with loss and grief.
At the same time as the theatre show we’ll be hosting two workshops at The Camden Palace Hotel. The first is a Comedy Workshop at 4pm presented by comedian Aidan Killeen and the second is a Spontaneous Speech Workshop at 4.30pm, in the same venue, and run by Dave Rocks.

At 6.30pm in The Roundy the wonderful Pearse McGloughlin and the Nocturnes and special guest Justin Grounds will be performing a chilled out set inbetween the madness of the Rugby European Cup Final and the Football Champions League Final.

Then more theatre at 8pm in The Camden Palace Hotel where Crooked Wheel Productions will be performing ‘Couch’. It’s a short play about Rachel, Leah and the people in their life. The focal point of the play is the couch – both Rachel’s and Leah’s. Rachel has one but disdains it while Leah’s couch is colonised, soiled and ultimately swapped for something she really doesn’t want but is compelled to take. At only 50 minutes it’s well worth checking out. Best of all it’s donations only.

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Trash Culture Revue Line Up For Friday 18th May

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 17, 2012

So tomorrows line up for our DIY Arts Festival is a really full programme of events with everything from circus to comedy, spoken word to theatre and film to music.

Kicking off at 6m at The Triskel Arts Centre are the Lords Of Strut, Ireland’s hardest working Man – Band . They’re premiering their new show, ‘Sell Out Tour’, which I’m assured will blow your minds and bring you to your knees laughing.
So who are these kings of comedy, these clowns of manlihood? Well they’re a two man band; Famous Seamus and his bumbling younger brother Seantastic who seems to be – in the eyes of Seamus – the only reason they’ve not reached the heights of fame which Seamus expects of his untouchable talents.Expect satire, surrealism and silly comedy with flashes of surprising acrobatic skill and dance routines.

At 7pm we have our seventh Mutant Shorts Film Competition at The Roundy. This time round we decided on the theme of ‘Lego’ so it’ll be interesting to see what the filmmakers have come up with. And as always a big thanks must go out to the Cork Film Centre who have donated a prize of three days free film equipment rental.

At 8pm Terry Dineen will be performing her one woman show, ‘The Birth Day’ at The Camden Palace Hotel. It tells the story of a woman who plunges herself into an emotional journey through life. On the way significant scenes are depicted from her birth, through her youth, to middle age. We follow her life as she discovers the joys and pains of sex, love and work in her struggle to come to terms with herself and the world she lives in.
This is a text based work explored through visual images, music, movement, puppetry and clown.

At 9pm is our Mutant Cabaret – the chance for all mutants to perform at The Roundy. We have a great line up all MCed by the fantastic Tina Pisco. On the bill are:
Dave Rock, a poet and performer based in Galway whose stage poetry comes in many flavours but is sure to involve high-energy joyous physical works and works of raw emotion and possibly some freestyling.
Aidan Killian, a banker turned comedian…nothing apparently funny about that but it is. Very funny.
Kathy D’Arcy a young writer whose first poetry collection, Encounter, was published by Lapwing in 2010. She has worked as a doctor and a teacher and is currently involved in youth work with homeless teenagers in Cork. She is also a playwright and part of a performance group of four women, Catch the Moon, who have appeared in Cork and at the Durrow and Flatlake Literary Festivals.
Deirdre Tunney is a young performer who loves to sing and is going to join in wherever possible.
Horsemen Pass By (formerly known as Beastmen B-Side Sessions) are a two – piece band playing original soundtracks to recut forgotten films. Using guitars, electronic beats, sampled horns, strings and the occasional choir their show promises weird visuals set against spaghetti western, Soviet sci-fi, 50s documentary and zombie horror sounds.
Anja Bakker is a recorder player, harper, singer and conductor who lives in West Cork and will be performing with Tina Pisco who asides from being the MC is also a published writer and poet.

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Trash Culture Revue Kicks Of With Film And Music Tomorrow

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 16, 2012

So tomorrow our DIY Arts Festival, The Trash Culture Revue, kicks off. At last. We’re here. In the flesh. The real world. Our online arts skills exchange is physically present and tomorrow evening, in Cork City, we’ll be hosting a number of film and music events.

First on up is the Moving Image Mini Film Festival that’s being held in The Camden Palace Hotel on Camden Quay at 6pm. It’s free and should be good fun.

At 8pm we have two documentaries screening at Solidarity Books on Douglas Street. The first is ‘Jana Sanskriti – A theatre on the field’, the second ‘D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist‘. I wrote up on these two films on my post earlier on today so you can read up about them there. The screenings are free and a great opportunity to see two films you’d rarely get the opportunity to see.

At 9pm doors open at The Roundy on Castle Street for our only gig of the night, Cormac O’Caoimh and Ants On Glass.
Cormac is a singer-songwriter, classical guitarist and former member of ‘The Citadels’ who received critical acclaim on various releases over the last 10 years. His debut solo cd “Stark a spark” was released in 2007 and received glowing reviews. For his new album “A New Season For Love” he re-united with ex-bandmates Art O Laoire and Eoghan Regan, who also were in The Citadels.

He is an admirable songsmith and each track from his forthcoming album “A New Season For Love” contains a catchiness and accessibility at their core that outweigh any stylistic definition. Though he may be likened to the hypnotic Nick Drake, or the inverse Elliot Smith, it is his slow and gradual soft low – key vocal delivery that inspires repeat listens. Here’s what people have had to say about his music:

There is a lot of good stuff coming out of Ireland …people like Damien Rice and David Kitt and I got a cd recently from Cork which I really like.
Ron Sexsmith

More than your typical singer-songwriter, O’Caoimh mixes pop sensibility with finely tuned song writing wrapping it all up in his soft melodic confidence and sharp lyrical commentary
Hot Press

the fresh confident songwriting of Cormac O’Caoimh suggests a promising future
Tom Robinson, BBC

Ants On Glass on the other hand are a recently formed string – duo incorporating rhythms and melodies from different parts of the world into their own original compositions. They’ll bring you on a musical journey from India to Africa via Brazil and the mountains of Austria. They’ll be offering you rare, exotic and catchy melodies in combination with intricate grooves, exploring the violin’s potential to act as a percussion instrument in combination with loops and effects. Modal improvisation, vocal harmonies and yodelling offer a truthful expression of the violinist’s passion for traveling, connecting with people and their music. The duo’s unique merging of cultures reflects the musician’s search for their own authentic transcultural identity.

This gig is for a very reasonable €5 so you have no excuse to miss it and you’ll regret it if you don’t.

I’ll have more info for you on Fridays events tomorrow.
Oh and by the way every day there are two art exhibitions on. The first is by Pretty Handsome Studios who are exhibiting their screen prints in The Roundy and the second is an exhibition of illustrations by Anna Giersz and Estera Mianowska in The Woodford on Paul Street.

Remember, if you want more info just go to our skills exchange website.
You might even decide to join up. It’s free.

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The Trash Culture Revue Is Finally Addressing The Political

moray mair | All about mutantspace | May 16, 2012

One day to go until our DIY Arts festival kicks off. We’re all set. What’s most interesting about this edition of The Trash Culture Revue is the number of events focussed on political and social commentary. Something that is central to what our skills exchange is all about. We don’t live in a vacuum and it seems that finally, finally, people are starting to engage, get involved in what’s going on around them, in the larger scheme of things, how politics, the way we live, our social relations, are at the core of our being, our relevant to us, all of us, in life, how we live, work and play. So I thought I’d give you a run down on some of our events that look to provoke, enlighten, question.

On Thursday night at 8pm we’re screening the two documentaries at Solidarity Books on Douglas Street; ’Jana Sanskriti – A theatre on the field’, a film by Jeanne Dosse (2007) and ‘D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist‘, a film by Michael W. Dean (2004)

Jana Sanskriti is centred on the fight by over 1000 peasants in India to overcome numerous social issues including; patriarchy, corruption, and worst of all, indifference. For this fight, they chose an unexpected instrument, theatre.
Through brave testimonies and parts of their forum – theatre plays, members of Jana Sanskriti (‘The People’s Culture’) reveal a solidarity in India. The group, based in West Bengal, is part of a large movement spread throughout ten different states in India utilising the methods of Theatre of the Oppressed.

Theatre of the Oppressed is a form of social theatre devised by Augusto Boal, in Brazil, in the 1960s in which theatre is used as a means of knowledge and transformation of reality in the social and relational field – the audience becoming active, ‘spect-actors’, exploring, showing, analyzing and transforming the reality in which they are living. In tandem with that documentary we will be hosting a one day introduction in Theatre of the Oppressed techniques on Saturday 19th in the Cork Circus Space on Albert Quay (check out our programme for details).

The other film, ‘D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist’ is a low-budget documentary, a ‘celebration of the underdog’ that deals with why some artists do what they do, regardless of the lack of a continuous paycheck. They may be painters, writers or musicians, they may be rich, poor or starving, but they all have one thing in common – they all create for the sake of creating something and for the need to express themselves. In the spirit of the D.I.Y. culture it portrays the DVD was released under the title, ‘D.I.Y. or Die: Burn this DVD’, with no region restrictions or copy protection, urging people to make and distribute copies for non-commercial use.

So I hope you can make it to those documentaries and if not then at least look them up, download them, buy them, get a loan of them.

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