The only indicator it was ever a cinema are its steeped motifs and the fading letters RIALT above the boarded windows and “SOLD” sign advertising its potential to investors. The “O” not being replaced is the final indignity for such a once-proud building. Even now, in its state of ruin, it looks utterly alien amidst a row of terraced redbrick houses, takeaways and phone repair shops. What must it have looked like when it opened on the 5th of November 1936 to great fanfare and the billing of “Dublin’s Suburban Super Cinema”?
Of Riots & Rituals.
Terry Dunne takes us back to look at the riotous popular culture behind the façade of Georgian Ireland and at how resistance was shaped by borrowing from festive life, folklore and recreation.
MAO 68!
This was not the first time barricades had dotted Parisian streets, but what was different about 1968 was the immediate international coverage of events. To students elsewhere, it showed the way. In Dublin, the ‘Internationalists’ of Trinity College Dublin, a small Maoist student body with influence beyond their numbers, disrupted the visit to the university by King Baudouin of Belgium.
Avanti Popolo!
The experience of the Italian Communist Party has much to teach us, and we are of course very proud of that heritage, dating back to the resistance, but at the same time our world is now very different, and we must find our own responses to the problems of today.
Starring Dublin As Dublin.
Long-time readers of rabble will know we love to draw attention to Dublin’s architecture and great architects past and present. Therefore, when we found out that the IFI were running an event called Dublin Plays Itself alongside the Irish Architecture Foundation, we were definitely interested. Patrick McCusker caught up with Sunniva O’Flynn, one of the tour guides, to find out more.
Acht Gaelige Anois.
Misneach was set up back in the sixties by socialist-republican Gaeilgeoir and modernist author Máirtín Ó Cadhain. It’s recently been revived by a group of Irish-language activists with a fiercely anti-capitalist bent. Tomás Lynch caught up with Misneach member Seanán Mac Aoidh to talk about the ructions over the Irish language Act in the North and all things Gaeilge.
Simms City.
The history of public housing in Ireland is, in many ways, a history of failure. Donal Fallon takes us for a trip in his De Loreon and introduces us to a champion of social housing who designed beautiful European art deco buildings for the city that still stand out as visionary models today. Regarded as a legacy of British rule, slumdom still defined much of the heart of inner-city Dublin … Read More
Just A Few Bad Apples, Yeah?
Above: Kerz knocked it out of the park with his illustrations for this feature in #rabble14. He previously delivered the goods on Stephen Donnelly for Gombeen #13. To see his work in all its inky glory, go cop yourself this article in print. Nóirín O’Sullivan finally resigned back in September but the Garda scandals just keep on coming. Gemma Hyland delved into some of the more recent scandals in the … Read More
Buzzin For Busáras.
Waiting for the 109 at Busáras to Navan or Cavan or whatever part of the shticks you’re off to, you probably don’t think, “what a fine building this is”. Doubly so if you frequent the post-apocalyptic stainless-steel-clad bathrooms. But perhaps you should. Caitríona Devery spoke to artist Gavin Murphy who has researched the place for an exhibition called Double Movement in Temple Bar Gallery & Studios. Busáras is a … Read More
Brick In The Wall.
Broadstone – Iosta Na Cloiche Leithne – is a right bruiser of a building that sits over the no-place between the north inner city and Phibsborough. Eoin O’Mahony takes a look at how we fetishise old infrastructure. It’s a terminus, a prayer place, a station in need of a train. Until recently there was a half legible wooden sign near the traffic lights, “Rosary Recited, Very [sic] Sun. at 3pm … Read More