“My body is a journal in a way. It’s like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself.”

That’s Johnny Depp on his own ink and what caught my imagination when I read about an exhibition called ‘Ink‘ being organised as part of this year’s Bealtaine festival. Here’s the spiel:

Age & Opportunity has commissioned photographer Aidan Kelly to photograph and exhibit his images of the tattoos of older people. If, as novelist Jack London said, tattoos are a sign of ‘an interesting past’, then this exhibition attempts to capture the history that has been absorbed into a body.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the results. The exhibition runs at the Original Print Gallery in Temple Bar from this Sunday the 16th (opening at 2pm) and runs until the end of the month.

Ever fancied yourself as a tattoo artist?

Well then this might be your opportunity to give it a shot and maybe even unearth a new talent! DontPanic! are offering up quite a unique challenge in their monthly design brief with a ‘Skin Design Competition‘. Yes, you get the chance to design a tattoo and see it being worn on somebody’s skin. They’ve got a volunteer all lined up for the live tattooing of the winning design on July 22nd! Check the link for all the info.

Here’s the spiel:

WERK // PERFORMANCE.ART.CLUB.

In a late-night haze of neon and performance, live art and discotheque, the belly of the Abbey Theatre is being put to WERK. Underground club and performance roulette – this new monthly cocktail of ideas is an epic night out in the making. Irreverent, bold and trashy; WERK is the house of outrageous investigation, abnormal talent and unnatural beauty. It’s a party. Clock in – WERK out.

Seems like an interesting and unique cultural mix for Dublin and it’s great to see the Abbey opening up for some late night entertainment.

The dates:

• Saturday 8 May 10pm-2.30am
• Saturday 12 June 10.30pm – 2.30am
• Saturday 10 July 10.30pm – 2.30am

Tickets are €10 in advance or €12 on the door. You can grab some now at the Abbey Theatre website and find out some more about the event here. Hopefully see you there!

My mug by Allan Cavanagh

The Trim Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is on over the Easter bank holiday. I just love it, particularly the ‘special shape balloons’ and the ‘Night Glow’ event on Saturday night. Fingers crossed the weather improves for all involved!

The supremely talented Sabrina Dent is offering a Business Boot Camp service that sounds excellent and is ridiculously good value. Get booking.

So Dublin City Council are going ahead with the idea of renaming Archbishop Ryan Park (that’s Merrion Square to you and I). Panti has the info on how to get involved and an excellent suggestion on her blog.

Snaps for Stu who shared a link to a gorgeous wee font called Brownstone earlier. I’m also loving Boucle this week.

The name Pat Butcher has a whole new meaning for me today on Pat Phelan’s blog.

Thank you to Allan Cavanagh for the cool caricatures.

So how did I come across this? The Linder Gallery website is a project we launched at X Communications a few weeks back. The painting is a fascinating work created almost four hundred years ago by an unknown artist although there are many theories and ideas being explored.

Here’s the video that was sent over:

You can read an excerpt of the email on the Linder Gallery blog. I’m not sure what to make of it, particularly since my interest in the TV series died around about season 2. Why that painting? And who was able to identify it, if indeed it was ‘spotted’ by the fans? Is it all a hoax?

Mysterious masterpiece indeed

How do you get your tweet up there? Simple. Just add the hashtag #playtweet to your tweets. Here’s the live video & audio stream:

Watch live video from playhousedublin on Justin.tv

Here’s a shot of one of my favourite animations so far. Hat tips to Daft.ie, the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival and SIPTU for a really awesome piece of work.

Find out more about how it’s all put together here on the Playhouse blog and vote for your favourite animation right here.

IWA

The superbly awesome Irish Web Awards are happening on October 10th at the lovely Radisson SAS on Golden Lane, Dubln 2. They’re on Twitter n all!

Although I’ll probably be murdered, thanks @IrishWebAwards for re-introducing me to someone awesome at #iwa08 that I now love lots like Jelly Tots.

It’s gonna rock

Ooh look, nominations now open at http://awards.ie/webawards/nominations/

The blurb goes like this:

“We will turn Dublin’s tallest building into a giant public canvas—and we want you to play with it. Our simple tools allow you to animate your thoughts and broadcast them on the city skyline.”

Today’s article in the Irish Indo says that 330 windows combined with some sophisticated LED lighting will turn Liberty Hall into a huge, electronic canvas as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival which runs from September 24th to October 11th.

Sounds wicked, and I’m loving the really cute n sexy website. Full info will be available on August 24th according to the www.daft.ie/playhouse page. In the meantime you can keep tabs on developments via Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Flickr.

"Love at the high place 1" by Li Wei

My thanks to Jen for sharing this article on the amazing work of Li Wei. It’s performance art meets photography and I love it. Excerpt from the article: 

After dropping out of art school and dabbling in oil painting, Li decided to focus on action art because, as he puts it, only it “offers a chance to experience an action’s message through one’s own body.”

Darragh is jumping/being thrown out of a plane in the name of charity next weekend. Here’s where you can make your donation. If he manages to TwitPic it on the way down, I’ll give him another fiver

Dublin City Soul Festival is hitting Dublin this weekend and it’s shaping up to be awesome.

McAWilliams has some beautiful shots from his first wedding shoot on Pix.ie.

Peter is putting it up to RTE and Richard Corrigan over slaughtering animals on telly.

Ikea Dublin is opening in just 9 weeks on July 27th. God help my bank account. 

Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club are at the Academy in Dublin this Saturday & they give me my choice of song for the day: