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File photo of an exhibition in the National Gallery. Pimlico Project

'What was Zeus playing at?': A tour with a difference is hoping to get more people into art

It’s part of a new arts festival taking place in Dublin next week.

HAVE YOU EVER wondered what the subject of a famous artwork was thinking?

What’s on the mind of Mona Lisa, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, or Zeus? If so, you might get an answer to one of those questions next week.

An art tour with a difference is taking place at the National Gallery – a guide will lead a tour of some of the gallery’s most famous works, while a comedy duo adds their own take on in the art in question.

Aoife-Marie Buckley has delivered many tours in the gallery, catering for school children, college students, and parents with babies to name a few groups. Next week’s tour will be the first she’s done with this kind of comedic element, however.

“There are many types of tours – school tours, everything from montessori to college tours – a wide range. There are general tours and tours around a specific artist or exhibition.

“There are also tours for visually-impaired groups and tours done in a low-sensory environment so people can enjoy a part of gallery that is closed off, with the lights dimmed,” Buckley explains.

She said the artwork that gets the biggest reaction in the gallery is Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ – an imposing and striking painting that documents Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss.

“Irish people love stories – people of all ages, especially school children, love stories. They love hearing the story of [the painting] – about it being rediscovered in Ireland (at a Jesuit community house in Dublin in 1990, having disappeared long before),” Buckley told TheJournal.ie.

The gallery runs a number of initiatives that aim to encourage people who may not usually visit art galleries to attend. Renailssance, workshops and an exhibition combining art and nail art, has been very popular of late, for example.

“There is something in the gallery for everyone – many types of paintings from a whole variety of countries and cultures and ages. I think there is something there for everyone there.

“All of the things the education department offers, they do that because they want people to come in. It is the National Gallery of Ireland, it’s there for everyone,” Buckley said.

Canaletto In Convo 13.12 (2) Aoife-Marie Buckley giving a tour at the gallery. National Gallery National Gallery

The comedy tour is another attempt to appeal to a new audience and sees the gallery teaming up with Frayed – Dublin’s new free fringe festival, which is also aiming to make the arts more accessible.

Buckley notes that while there have been dramatic reenactments of certain paintings in the gallery before, this is the first time there has been a comedic take.

“I am looking forward to it a lot, seeing someone else’s interpretation of the artwork,” she said.

During the tour, Buckley will share the history of some classic artworks, and improv/sketch duo Underthings will then give their own take. Denny Mac Dermott, one half of Underthings, said the tour will feature both well-known pieces and some hidden gems from the gallery.

“We’ll obviously be looking at Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid by Vermeer because it’s hard to ignore that kind of beauty – and then make silly comedy about it, but we’ll also be seeing slightly less feted pieces like Venus and Cupid by Tosini, a painting that is, quite frankly, strange. But absolutely perfect for this tour,” Mac Dermott told us.

National Gallery of Ireland Visitors Photo Courtesy Pimlico Project (4) File photo of an exhibition in the National Gallery. Pimlico Project Pimlico Project

She said the artworks that will feature in the tour were chosen because “some of them are strange, some are very beautiful, but most of the paintings we have chosen are about people in odd or ambiguous situations – our personal wheelhouse”.

One question they will attempt to answer is indeed, ‘What did Zeus think he was playing at?’ Mac Dermott said Zeus, like Jupiter, “was an extremely terrible brother-husband and we hope to explore that”.

“Fingers crossed we’re not too late and a very angry women’s co-operative can be started on Mount Olympus.”

‘Marry the familiar with the strange’ 

Mac Dermott said the goal of combining art forms, such as classical art and comedy in this instance, is to engage people. 

For me art is about finding a new or illuminating way to look at life and using an alternate discipline as a lens to examine someone else’s art form (or your own) is an excellent way to achieve that. In our case if some gentle teasing of high culture actually engages people then that’s great; good art can defend itself.

Combining different types of performance art is one of the goals of Frayed – Dublin’s free fringe festival, which the tour is part of.  

Rick Doody, a co-founder of Frayed, said the festival was set up to highlight the quality of, and raise the profile of, performing arts in Dublin.

Dublin has a great performance art scene and we wanted to expose that to more people, through free shows and access programmes with people who might not normally be engaged by art.

He said the quality of the arts in Dublin is “excellent, but the audience for art could be bigger”.

Free shows will be running as part of the festival across various venues in Dublin city from tomorrow until Thursday.

Most of the events combine different types of performance, such as drama and comedy – something Doody said the festival’s organisers, a team of volunteers, is “really excited about”.

69199455_522312215202103_4323664291786915840_o Underthings Underthings

“To those on the outside, art can seem like something only for the initiated. Art intimidates many people. We think art should be challenging but also inviting,” he said.

Doody told us that in order to give non-traditional audiences “a way into” the arts, the festival’s plan is to “marry the familiar with the strange”, adding: “We want Frayed to be a gateway into the arts for those who would normally be afraid to go to a live art show.”

Another element of the festival involves outreach work such as stand-up comedy workshops with communities who may not normally get the chance to participate in such programmes.

“We know that one way to get people more involved is through participation, doing something is a great way of getting to know and enjoy it. We’ve run stand-up comedy workshops with individuals who wouldn’t normally get access to that kind of training,” Doody explained.

He said the festival is hoping to roll out a larger programme of workshops in the coming year “to give people access to a spectrum of different art forms”.

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    Mute Donegal Doseofshh
    Favourite Donegal Doseofshh
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:14 AM

    I think the whole thing is a bit unorthodox to be honest.

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    Mute Stefan Epure
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:45 PM

    @Donegal Doseofshh: If it will be anything like the Romanian (un) Orthodox church. They are better of leaving it be.

    5
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    Mute Cal Mooney
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:16 PM

    @Stefan Epure: The US have been urging this for the last 2 years. They want unrest on Russia’s doorstep.

    34
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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:20 AM

    Poroshenko is trying to create his own church and is dangerously mixing state and church together instead of there being a seperation of the two.
    This article fails to tell the full picture about whats going on, it`s NOT all roses and harmony for Poroshenko.

    Hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church have refused en masse to take part in the so-called ‘unification council’ championed by the country’s president, sending “invitations” to the event back without reply.

    The mailbox of the man who sent the invitations – the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I – has apparently been full of late, since 56 hierarchs have already followed suit, the Church said on Thursday. Apart from them, the Church’s bishops refused to take the invitations in the first place.

    And you can already see Poroshenko invoking the Martial law by saying there will be no public gatherings allowed will be allowed.
    Next is the SBU saying the Russians are planning a provocation at the time of this meeting, will be interesting to see what Poroshenko tries to blame them for this time

    71
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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:51 PM

    @Pixie McMullen:
    Our Pixie comes up with a post that wholeheartedly backs the Putin world view.
    How surprising.

    29
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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:22 PM

    @Patrick Nolan: Whats wrong, do ye not like facts Paddy?
    How is this Putins world view?

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    Mute SC
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:38 PM

    @Patrick Nolan: I found the comment informative, Russia isn’t always right or always wrong so you can’t dismiss something just because it doesn’t portray Russia as evil. There was some new Ukrainian church involved in the Ukrainian genocide of Poles.

    22
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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:40 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: what is also a fact that is that the Russian Patriarch Kirill is slavishly devoted to Putin and will not tolerate any deviation by clergy in Russia from this alliance of church and state.

    19
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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:56 PM

    @Brendan Greene: The church in it`s present form in the Ukraine has been there since 1686, well before the Soviet Unioon, Modern Russia or Putin.
    Poroshenko is bent on ripping up history, there are some 200 churches and monasteries at risk of being taken over , it is =also against the Ukrainian constitution according to Krilli

    Active involvement of government officials in the drive for the supposed church independence is actually a blatant breach of the country’s constitution, Patriarch Kirill stressed.

    “The Ukrainian President himself does not make secret his hostile attitude towards the Church. Mr. Petro Poroshenko publicly threatened to banish from the country those Ukrainians who do not want to join the “autocephalous church” which is being created by the government,” the letter reads.

    “The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that ‘the church and religious organizations in Ukraine are separated from the state’ and therefore any interference of the state in inter-church relations is unconstitutional.”

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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:27 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: Great narrative from Russian propaganda. “Hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church have refused en masse” just by “mistake you forgot to add “of Moscow Patriarchate”?

    11
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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:31 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: Great Narrative from Putin’s propaganda. “Hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church” ? Have you just by mistake forgot to add Hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate? The ones who make masses for Putin? And thus making them not connected to the state?

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:40 PM

    @Oleksandr Savitskyy: Ah, How`re ye Olek!
    any comment on what Poroshenko is doing is unconstitutional ?

    Any comment on the church being there since 1686??

    12
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    Mute Cal Mooney
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    Dec 15th 2018, 3:06 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: Paroshenko pictured with some his troops this week wearing Nazi insignia. This is the type of animal we are dealing with.

    12
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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 15th 2018, 3:14 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: Exactly what Poroshenko is doing unconstitutional? Do you the history? Look at what church was there in 1686. Do you even know that Moscow was build nearly 300 years after the first Church was build in Kiev? And the comments of Patriarch Kirill about “Active involvement of government officials”. The head of the church who is using government security services, government jet, 3 out of 4 of his residencies are provided by Putin and nearly half of all income of that church provided by Russian goverment. He was smuggling cigarettes from abroad in 90-s as “humanitarian help” (was officially investigated) and partly this way made his $4bn fortune.

    13
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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 15th 2018, 3:22 PM

    @Pixie McMullen: Here is the best description of “Active involvement of government official” and how awkward the Russian Ortodox Church has become under Kirill and Putin rule. Russian priests baptizing and icon of Stalin (who murdered 90% of priests in 1930-s) and Strategic Bomber of Russian http://simvol-veri.ru/xp/kto-pustil-proxanova-i-ikonu-stalina-na-voenniie-aerodrom-so-strategicheskimi-bombardirovshikami.html

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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 16th 2018, 2:52 AM

    @Cal Mooney: Poroshenko is a jew. Did you know that?

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:03 PM

    That’s a very bad sign for the whole region, it means the church leaders are openly taking political sides. With this, the political divisions are going to get more pronounced and more difficult to bridge well into the future. Like them or not, churches are a political reality, and can have a major effect on the public sentiment.

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    Mute Martin O'Dwyer
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:33 PM

    @Greg Blake: always did.!

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    Mute Martin O'Dwyer
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:35 PM

    @Greg Blake: always the same .

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    Mute John O'Leary
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:06 AM

    Love a new church.

    16
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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:13 AM

    @John O’Leary: just what the world needs

    25
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    Mute Martin O'Dwyer
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:35 PM

    @John O’Leary: A new problem.

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    Mute Martin O'Dwyer
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:36 PM

    @John O’Leary: A new force.!!

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    Mute Martin O'Dwyer
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:37 PM

    @John O’Leary: A new religion again.

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    Mute Oleksandr Savitskyy
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    Dec 15th 2018, 3:01 PM

    Just so you can understand what is current (and former) Russian orthodox church is. It is a highly corrupted structure, very close to Russian Goverment and a big part of the top priests are “former” KGB agents as majority of real priests were executed during Stalin times and the rest was put to prisons or had to emigrate after 60-s. Kirill flies on Russian Government jet and security provided by Putin’s Security Department. Not all of the priests are like Patriarch Kirill and the rest of the top of that church, but as soon as they complain about something they are immediately banned from public ministry or even titles. Like it happened to the real priest from on of Minsk Church who complained on Kirill. https://www.znak.com/2018-10-15/svyachennik_vystupil_s_kritikoy_patriarha_kirilla_i_emu_zapretili_sluzhit Full article in Russian. Basically he complained that people have been waiting for hours for Kirill to arrive , when he arrived he even did not paid respect or went to those people, yet he was driven in his Mercedes to the Church door , only people who had special pass could come and the rest were waiting behind the fence or live fence from security. Some of security man were staying with their backs turned to the altar (big sin in Orthodox church) Pictures say it all https://www.svaboda.org/a/29541950.html?fbclid=IwAR0_499HANzP9KQq9dhoKNJWq7422aqYtLUOcS58UPoxFD18yWXIQZy2FhA

    12
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    Mute Sean Conway
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:47 AM

    Putin went down the same road as the US american presidents. superstition to control the people.

    10
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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:26 PM

    @Sean Conway: I bet that you’d even find Putin in your bowl of corn flakes.

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    Mute The decline of Manchester United
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:16 PM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: Are you trying to say Putin is a cereal killer?

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Dec 15th 2018, 12:52 PM

    They should all sit down together, have a good ‘oul pray and wait for himself to sort the whole thing out.

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    Mute tommytukamomo
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:49 PM

    21th century, we have sent probes to distant galaxy’s, space travel for passengers is just around the corner.
    Supersonic flight is no longer a dream.
    Most cancers are no longer a death sentence but we are still prepared to wage war over sky fairies.
    Humanity has a long long way to go.

    10
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    Mute Joe O'riordan
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    Dec 15th 2018, 1:58 PM

    @tommytukamomo: sky fairies?? Bet you felt all superior and smart when you typed that ……dont believe then dont mock…there are people of far higher intellect than you that do believe. Saying that the bar above your level of intelligence is not so high……

    12
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    Mute tommytukamomo
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:19 PM

    @Joe O’riordan: Two words Oh high & mighty one..
    “PROVE IT “.
    And mind you don’t trip over those beads you sanctimonious person.

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    Mute David Ahern
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:29 AM

    Bloody Spliters

    15
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    Mute Paul Quirke
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    Dec 15th 2018, 11:19 AM

    Will be found totally and utterly dead soon

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    Mute Packie Hughes
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:12 PM

    Churches should work to unite.

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    Mute Andre le Flohic
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    Dec 15th 2018, 2:35 PM

    let god sort it out !!

    2
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