Tag Archive for: Culture

Kwaidan: The exhibition and a prestigious cultural event connecting Japan and Ireland

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‘Kwaidan’, the exhibition and a prestigious cultural event connecting Japan and Ireland is managed by Blue Moon Projects and SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin.

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About Kwaidan
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Kwaidan aims to follow in Lafcadio Hearn’s footsteps by connecting east and west through common cultural values, and will be a shared celebration of the life and work of Lafcadio Hearn, the Irish literary figure revered in Japan as the cultural icon Koizumi Yakumo.
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Kwaidan includes 20 leading artists from Japan and 20 artists from Ireland who visually interpret a story of their choice from Kwaidan, Hearn’s 1904 seminal collection of ghost stories inspired by Shintō and Buddhist legends.

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The exhibition will be staged in many venues in Japan and Ireland from September 2023 to the end of 2025. This will include being one of the main opening events for the exhibition space in the new Irish Embassy building (New Ireland House) in Tokyo and at the Lafcadio Hearn Museum in Matsue. In Ireland the prestigious venues will include Farmleigh Gallery in Dublin and Hyde Bride Gallery at the Yeats Building Sligo.

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Kwaidan will offer unique access to connections, exposure and cultural affinity with an historic event that will have lasting resonance in both countries. Project has the support of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs Ireland, Irish Embassy in Tokyo, Japanese Embassy in Dublin, Business to Arts and UCD, and organisers will engage with Culture Ireland and The Arts Council of Ireland.

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For more information: https://kwaidanexhibition.com/

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About the Curators
  • SO Fine Art Editions is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary galleries specialising in printmaking. SO Director Catherine O’Riordan has worked with many of the Kwaidan participants previously. SO’s most recent international print project was a lonely impulse of delight in 2015 which toured to London, Beijing and Tokyo. www.sofinearteditions.com
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Contact details
Stephen Lawlor
0868314040
slawlorart@gmail.com
www.stephenlawlor.com
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ILFDublin Writer In Residence Tomoka Shibasaki with Polly Barton

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Ireland’s premier literary event – International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin) – is taking place from 17th – 26th May, gathering the finest writers in the world to debate, provoke, delight and enthral.

This year’s festival has an amazing line-up with the very best of Irish and international talent for you to meet at the readings, discussions, debates, workshops, performances and screenings across various venues.

Among other amazing events, we would like to highlight event and discussion with Tomoka Shibasaki  – Japanese writer in residence at ILFDublin 2019. From Osaka, Tomoka Shibasaki has won the Noma Literary New Face Prize and the Akutagawa Prize for ‘Spring Garden’, her first novel translated into English, which tells the story of Taro, a reclusive divorcee who is drawn into a strange relationship with the woman upstairs. The New York Times Book Review described ‘Spring Garden’ as, ‘Like a good meditation: quiet, surprising and deeply satisfying.’ Two of her works have been adapted for film.

Date: Thursday, 23 May 2019
Time: 6.15 p.m.
Venue: Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin
Tickets: €8 – €10, available online here: https://ilfdublin.ticketsolve.com/shows/873602946

Tomoka Shibasaki will be in conversation with her translator, Polly Barton, recently shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Editions essay  prize for ‘Fifty Sounds’, a record of linguistic and cultural assimilation in Japan, where she lived for seven years and became a literary translator. She was the recipient of the 2016 Kyoko Selden International Translation Prize.

Together they discuss their work and map out the territory of contemporary Japanese literature. Chaired by Martin Colthorpe, Programme Director, ILFDublin.

Presented with the support of the EU Japan Fest Japan Committee.

Full list of ILFDublin 2019 events are available here!

 

Prades Sextet treats IJA members and friends to a chamber music concert in Dublin

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At the end of November, Ireland Japan Association (IJA) had the pleasure to invite and treat its members and friends to a special members-only event of chamber music performed by The Prades Sextet in a warm, intimate and acoustically excellent setting in Dublin city centre followed by reception.

Mrs. Mari Miyoshi, Ambassador of Japan in Ireland as well as representatives of the Embassy of Japan in Ireland attended event together with members of IJA and Japanese Business Association.

The guests were treated to a passionate musical performance by The Prades Sextet – a group of 6 young, talented world-class artists that met at the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, France 2016. Since their meeting, Mayu Konoye (20), Christopher Ellis (20), Johannes Gray (20), Takehiro Konoye (20), Ruña ‘t Hart (25) and Martin Moriarty (23) have enjoyed playing together as The Prades Sextet and in various ensembles. The members of the sextet come from Ireland, Japan, The Netherlands and The United States of America. Between them, the members of the sextet are currently studying music at conservatories in Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris.

The group performed:
* Johannes Brahms: String Sextet in B flat Major, Op. 18, No.1 (35’),
* Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Op. 4 for String Sextet (30’),
* Japanese Popular Medley arranged by Hidetake and Hidemaro Konoye,
* Romance for Viola by Hidetake Konoye presented to Crown Prince of Japan on his wedding day.

IJA would like to thank Mr. Yasuyuki Ozeki, IJA Vice-Chairperson, Mr. Hiroaki Ozaki, Director of Ozaki Associates Ltd. and everybody who helped to organize this wonderful event. Big thanks goes also to Connect Ireland for hosting this event and Yamamori Restaurant for providing tasty treats for the event reception.

Chamber Music Concert

 

Chamber Music Concert

Chamber Music Concert

 

Chamber Music Concert

Chamber Music Concert