The Sigla Blog

Fairly hectic this week but just wanted to mention a couple of things of note:
* The Leechrum festival in Drumshanbo last weekend was great fun. Halfset rocked, so did a psychobilly band I came across at about 3am. All good except for lots of us bumping in to the gigantic metal pegs of the teepees […]

Various people have been asking me if there is some way to air their views or vent spleen about the cancellation of Rattlebag. News reaches me via Stellanova that Kilkenny Labour Councillor Seán O hArgáin has started on online petition against the show being scrapped.

I caught a screening of Thank you for Smoking in the IFI last night and after this post I’m delighted to see that they’re also showing The Innocents. However, it’s just one screening on June 30th at 7pm.
Hesitant Hack wonders if yesterday’s story about the Arts Council’s proposed meeting with RTE is pointless, a PR […]

Further to the decision to axe Rattlebag, The Irish Times reports today that The Arts Council is to discuss the issue of arts programming in a meeting with RTE Director General, Cathal Goan. In the article, Arts Council director Mary Cloake - who also points to the absence of an arts correspondent in the RTE […]

A combination of working in town and being away for a wedding have kept me away from blogging, but That Girl asked what I thought of the recent RTE schedule changes so I’ll do my best to respond in the time I have for lunch.
Anyone would assume that as I’m a regular Rattlebag contributor, that […]

Tomorrow night, Habitat Ireland and Candy Magazine are launching their ‘50 x 50′ project. The idea is that 50 creative folk have produced an original piece of work in a limited run of 50 prints and each will be sold for 50 euro.
If you fancy buying a piece of contemporary art for 50 […]

Tracy Emin seems to think so. Tonight in ArtShock: What Price Art? Emin examines gender inequality in art and ponders why female artists can expect their work to sell for considerably less than their male counterparts. While, as the Guardian’s Saturday Guide listings state: “the issue of patriarchy is bandied around… Emin also wants to […]

One of things we discussed on The View last Tuesday was an important figure in the Art world who I knew very little about. All I had heard about Joseph Beuys was that he scribbled his work frantically on blackboards and spent a lot of time in Ireland. The Goethe Institute is currently showing photographs […]

An artist friend sent me this from Net Art News and figured I’d like it.

Reblogging Blues
More than a curated series of links, ‘Abe & Mo Sing the Blogs’ is part reblog and part… drinking game, maybe? Net artists Marisa Olson and Abe Linkoln’s new project, now featured on the Whitney Museum’s Artport, is presented […]

John McGahern was among a delegation who met yesterday with Brian Cowen and the government yesterday in an effort to save Ireland’s artist tax exemption. McGahern said in The Irish Times that if his entire income from writing from the last 40 years was added up for taxation purposes, “It would come to […]

Comics and Graphic novels are something that in the past I have dipped into only occasionally. Years ago, I used to read my brother’s Crisis and Deadline comics. In the latter, I first discovered Tank Girl, drawn by Gorillaz’ member Jamie Hewlitt. Mostly though, he had lots of sci-fi, Marvel Comics, DC Comics and […]

Not so long ago Damien Mulley mentioned something to me about the Irish Blog Awards and we got chatting about arts blogs. One of the proposed categories is an Arts blog award and this week I’ve been mulling it over a bit. It then occured to me that apart from a handful of arts specific […]