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Gig Shura Exhibition Niall Sweeney – I am the Cos
mos Kickstarter in the can with 594 backers pledging €47,634 towards their new space in Blackpitts. The flag is hoisted on this opening weekender, with requisite splendour, by Niall Sweeney. I am the Cosmos in the new gallery explores dark matter, space deities and the electromagnetic push-and-pull of the forces that bind us. Featuring a series of eight prints and two silk scarves, Sweeney says, “Silk scarves are sensual, beautiful things, but even in conservative circles they can be the one canvas where anything goes, where play and subversion can roam – they are very egalitarian in this respect. The prints have been inspired by the designs for the scarves, depicting each of the deities in their natural habitat – the dark – but they also explore the event horizons of desire. There’s more than a hint of Egyptian gods and Japanese Shinto, of animism and the inherent spirit in all objects, and, of course, the cosmological universal field!” Hen’s Teeth, The Tannery, Blackpitts; Thursday November 7 until Wednesday December 11. She may have been dropping tracks such as Touch back in 2016 which too closely mirrored Solange’s Missing You from 2012, but with Forhver, queer Manchester synth-disco artist Shura has found certainty in her own voice and style. She’s Shura herself! Religion (u can lay your hands on me) is a swaggering case-in-point. “I wanna consecrate your body/ Turn the water to wine/I know you’re thinking about kissing too” is straight outta Fleabag and equally hot and compelling. Academy, Saturday November 16, €20 Exhibition Derek Jarman – Protest! We remember watching Jarman’s remarkable homoerotic Sebastiane (1976) from a sheltered rural outpost in the nineties. It most certainly was on Channel 4. Delivered in Latin, it straddled what the boundary of what was considered pornography. Jarman was a truly innovative rebel who created defiantly non-commercial work. Outrage fuelled his art and he reacted against the official indifference to the AIDS crisis engulfing the ‘80s, compounded by Thatcher’s Section 28 which tried to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities. Protest! captures Jarman’s engagement with both art and society. Major bodies of work, from the 1960s to the 1990s, have been gathered together, many of which have never been seen in public before. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue will provide a comprehensive examination of Jarman’s work, with over 150 works in diverse media, dating from 195893. IMMA, Friday November 15-Sunday February 23