Birthday Party
Le CCI fête ses 20 ans !
- Friday 16 September 2022
- 6pm-10pm
- Admission free
Drinks and Foodtruck in the courtyard - Aux péchés mignons (burgers)
Multimedia Library open from 7pm to 10pm
Our first event of this new season is a multi-facetted evening to mark the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of the Centre Culturel Irlandais!
Exhibition by Aideen Barry
Before the opening, at 6pm, conversation with the artist Aideen Barry (admission free - in English).
Artist Aideen Barry performed at the CCI during its very first year and returns in 2022 to present her new large-scale film piece Oblivion. This ambitious new work by Aideen Barry combines performance, moving image and sound installation. The artists responds to the threat to culture and human existence posed by war, pandemic and environmental challenges with this visually spectacular call-to-arms. The rôle of the artist is seen as primordial and Aideen Barry finds inspiration in Edward Bunting who largely prevented Irish harp music from disappearing in the 19th century. For this apocalyptical manifesto, she collaborates with harpist Aisling Lyons, conceptual fashion designer Margaret O’Connor, and Canadian electro musician RIIT ᕇᑦ., who is keeping Inuit throat singing alive following a decades-long ban in the 20th century. This work is the 2020 Bunting commission by Irish Traditional Music Archive and Music Network.
The doors of the elegant Old Library open onto the exhibition Conquering the Unknown that journeys through the history of scientific expeditions.
On the dancefloor with Daithí!
At 8pm, the talented multi-instrumentalist and producer Daithí draws us into the courtyard to groove to his electro-pop mélange of synthesizer, vocals, beatbox and fiddle.
Now a mainstay at Irish festivals, musician and producer Daithí conjures up sounds bedded in electronica for a great live dance experience. In 2015, he released a single called "Mary Keanes Introduction" which featured Daithi's 90-year-old grandmother talking about how she met her husband - the track stayed at no1 in the Spotify Irish charts for 6 weeks. Like an alchemist, he continues to mixes unique elements like his signature fiddle – a symbol of his traditional Irish upbringing – with vocally-charged supporting characters to create a richly textured fusion of Ireland’s past and present.
Laser show
And at 9pm, the party culminates with a laser show specially designed for our courtyard façade by Conan Wynne working with Stephen Reid and the SUBSET collective.
Large-scale street art is a signature of this Dublin art collective whose main aim is to transform the city into an open-air gallery. Controlled in real time by the artist, a striking collage of light paintings and electro music embellishes the Centre’s 18th century architecture.
Until 9pm, the artists in residence Anna Macleod and Abigail O’Brien welcome you in their studios in the courtyard.
Don’t miss this ephemeral and joyous celebration of the CCI’s long-standing commitment to artistic innovation!
