Niall McCann is making a name for himself as a documentary maker that looks at creativity under neo-liberalism. His feature on Luke Haines got rave reviews from those lucky enough to see it at film festivals. His recent Lost in France is about the seminal Glasgow record label Chemikal Underground. Martin Leen sat down with him to chat about making art in these market-driven times.
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
Taking On The Vulture Club.
Above: Illustrartion by Holly Pereira. Check out more of her amazing work at Hyperpictures. Last January, the Master of the High Court Edmund Hanahan warned that over the next five years home repossessions were to increase five-fold. Already this year there have been 517 cases lodged by companies affiliated with vulture funds against debtors, that’s a tenfold increase from the 53 cases recorded in the High Court last year. Sean Finnan looks at … Read More
Gombeen #14: The Regime’s Regina.
Who is the regime’s Regina? A blueshirt politician, a landlord, and a failed en-tra-pra-nure – she couldn’t be more the elite’s own if she tweeted where she was when Princess Diana died in a week when three homeless people died on the streets. Her failed consultancy firm Enhance Solutions didn’t keep its books in proper order – a criminal offence in itself. When it went into liquidation it owed over … Read More
Scratch That Itch.
Above: Patrick O’Brien captures the masked hip-hop crusader in his natural enviroment. From co-founding Galway’s Community Skratch games, being a member of the Vince McMahon scratch super-group to making some seriously innovative music as one half of one man duo Deviant and Naïve Ted, Andy Connolly has been a cornerstone of Irish hip-hop and electronica for over a decade. Martin Leen took the brave step and left Dublin for the … Read More
Another Outpost Gone.
Above: Captured by our man Beggars. The kiosk in all its architectural glory. This tiny hexagonal kiosk out in Ballsbridge is just 37 square feet. It’s about the size of a bathroom in a small gaff. It may be one of Dublin’s smallest buildings, but as Dan Lambert finds out it tells a terrible tale about where our city is going. On the outside it’s undeniably pretty. Sitting neatly on … Read More
Bye George!
Above: Illustartion by Mice. That’s next year’s totally inappropriate Halloween mask sorted so. George Hook is a long time Blueshirt supporter who made a good living from greasing the gears of the establishment and the fine craft of being a reactionary wind up merchant on prime time radio. We drafted in Paul Dillon to look at how the Hookie monster eventually fell from grace and the far bigger picture of … Read More
Leo, Actually.
Above: This one ended up on our front page. An illustration by Mice that eviscerates our glorious leader. Her best yet? The Blueshirts anointed a new party leader recently and that man is a master of the spin game. Sam Noonan slips on a pair of waders and takes a poke around the slurry pit of our new Taoiseach’s career so far. You’ve heard about the government’s new Strategic Communications unit … Read More
Political Hacks.
Richard Barbrook played a key role devising Corbyn’s radical digital democracy manifesto. He was in town giving a talk at the recent Critical Media Conference. Martin Leen braved Storm Brian and ventured out to leafy ballsbridge for the lowdown on how to hack a general election. You were deeply in involved in Jeremy Corbyn’s recent election campaign, Could you tell us how you hacked the election with all the press against you? … Read More