Beacon – works from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation at Ballina Arts Centre
Throughout the month of January Ballina Arts Centre is presenting ‘Beacon’, an exhibition of works from the collection of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, situated in Ballycastle, Co Mayo. Selected by Sean Walsh, director, Ballina Arts Centre, the exhibition comprises a range of works from a number of leading Irish and international artists, including Sean McSweeney, Nick Miller, Martin Gale, Mick O’Dea, Charlie Tyrrell, and many others, including Nuala Clarke, the New York-based Irish artist with strong north Mayo connections. The Ballinglen Arts Foundation was created in 1991 to bring together established international artists and emerging artists of recognised ability, from Ireland and abroad, to live and work in north Mayo, to benefit both the artists and the community.
Operating from the Ballinglen Centre in Ballycastle, a village in the disadvantaged remote coast of north county Mayo, the foundation supports artists making important work in ideal inspiring conditions and equally it aims to create an understanding within a rural community of the meaning and importance of contemporary art and artists. Free admission. All are welcome to attend, exhibition runs until January 31.
Ballina Film Club presents… Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice
Ballina Film Club presents Andrei Tarkovsky continues this week with Stalker, at Ballina Arts Centre on Tuesday January 20, at 8pm. Loosely based on the science fiction novel Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Stalker depicts the journey of three men as they travel through a post-apocalyptic wilderness called the zone to find a room that has the potential to fulfil a person's innermost desires. The film stars Alexander Kaidanovsky in the title role of the stalker, who guides the other two men: the writer, (Anatoli Solonitsyn ) and the professor (Nikolai Grinko ). Alisa Freindlich plays the stalker's wife. The film uses the English word stalker as its title, which it borrows from the original novel. However, it refers not to the contemporary sense of stalking other people, but rather to the older sense of tracking game.
Born in Russia, Andrei Tarkovsky (1945-1986 ) was one of the 20th century’s most important filmmakers, with Ingmar Bergman saying ‘Tarkovsky for me is the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream’. Tarkovsky worked extensively as a screenwriter, film editor, film theorist, and theatre director. He directed most of his films in the Soviet Union, with the exception of his last two films, which were produced in Italy and Sweden. His films are characterised by Christian spirituality and metaphysical themes, extremely long takes, lack of conventional dramatic structure and plot, and memorable cinematography. He died in Paris in 1986.
The programme concludes next Tuesday January 27 with The Mirror. Throughout the month there is also a series of screenings for secondary schools of Ivan’s Childhood. For more information on the programme, contact Ballina Arts Centre.
Ballina Arts Centre is open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 3pm on Saturdays. For information/booking, contact Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett St, Ballina, Co. Mayo. Tel: 096 73593, e-mail [email protected], www.ballinaartscentre.com
