Culture File

Les Twins: with Favour Odusola

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 17:10:51 +0000

The Comfort Zone: dancer and choreographer, Favour "Official PAK" Odusola brings the choreographic art of Les Twins for appreciation, and also creates a Comfort Zone Choreo (seated) for celebrated non-dancer Colm Tóibín.

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Samba Yonga, Mariano Llinás, Ernesto Montequin | Culture File

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:31:14 +0000

An epic trilogy of documentaries dedicated to a cinematic biography of Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival. Its director, Mariano Llinás and its main character, archivist and translator, Ernesto Montequin unfurl their completist life of Borges. An award winner at this year's Ars Electronica festival was SummitShare, a project from Zambia which uses AR and deep metadata to address the crisis in museums around contested cultural objects. One of the project's creators, Samba Yonga explains the problems around repatriation SummitShare promises to right.

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The Comfort Zone: Anechoic Chambers with Beatie Wolfe

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 10:26:58 +0000

Musician, conceptual artist and regular Eno collaborator, Beatie Wolfe encourages The Comfort Zone crew to contemplate the not-quite-natural silence of an anechoic chamber.

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Culture File Presents Fictions: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:25:17 +0000

Culture File's summer reading club concludes with Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, Jorge Luis Borges' story of a possibly lost, possibly never-existing civilisation, hunted down by a literary flatfoot called Borges and his BFF, Adolfo Bioy Casares. Writer and critic Orit Gat helps Luke Clancy and Colm Tóibín assess the damage to the fabric of reality, while Ariel Hernandez (guitar) and Dermot Dunne (accordion) play some live milongas.

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Culture File Presents Fictions: Funes the Memorious

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 16:28:20 +0000

Culture File's summer reading club continues with Funes, His Memory, Jorge Luis Borges' tale of a man benefiting and suffering from total recall. Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy are joined by Joseph Rizzo Naudi, a blind writer and researcher who works on making art and exhibitions engaging through the creative use of blindness.

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Culture File Presents Fictions: The Circular Ruins

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:30:31 +0000

Culture File's August reading club featuring the Fictions of Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy are joined by poet and novelist, Susannah Dickey, for Culture File's latest voyage into Borges' short stories. This time, they find themselves on a mysterious island dreaming new life into being, while wondering is art even worth making.

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Culture File Presents Fictions: The Circular Ruins

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:29:00 +0000

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Why are we like this? | CFDS

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:47:00 +0000

Art as history, and history as art in the research-driven, karaoke-spiced work of artist duo Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty, showcased in a provocative new exhibition, A Disentailing Deed, at Project in Dublin.

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Fictions: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote (XXXL) | Culture File

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:36:26 +0000

Culture File's August reading club featuring the Fictions of Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. Luke and Colm welcome a special guest to discuss one story from Borges's collection Fictions. This time, we're on the trail of Pierre Menard, an improbable literary figure who has re-written Don Quixote from scratch. Poet, Ella Frears, and composer and improviser, Olesya Zdorovetska, join the search posse.

Presenters: Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy

Associate Producer: Niamh Daly

Producer: Luke Clancy

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Fictions: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote (XXXL) | Culture File

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:13:26 +0000

Presenters: Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy

Associate Producer: Niamh Daly

Producer: Luke Clancy

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Counting Bashō | Culture File

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:57:00 +0000

Translator and poet, Andrew Fitzsimons on translating the complete haikus of Basho, the 17th century master of the form, and on the work of one unfortunate contemporary follower, The Haiku Killer.

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Fictions: The South | Culture File

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:45:00 +0000

Culture File launches a summer reading club on the fictions of Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. Each week, Luke and Colm welcome a special guest to explore a story from Borges' collection, Fictions. First up, The South, a dream-like mystery tale of a man held somewhere between life, death and Buenos Aires. Joining the pursuit this time, scholar and author, Patricia N. Klingenberg.

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Do Bugs Need a Glow-Up? | The Culture File Debate

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:44:23 +0000

Luke Clancy and panel make the case for loving some teeming critters of the invertebrate kingdom. Advocating for their favourites are: Rachel McKenna (shieldbugs); Liam Lysaght (wasps); Cassia Gaden Gilmartin (earwigs); and Nessa Darcy (woodlice). Recorded live at National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin as part of Dublin Book Festival. First Broadcast: 151125

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Beau Travail: with Caroline Mac Cathmhaoil

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:06:50 +0000

The Comfort Zone: artist, writer and filmmaker Caroline Mac Cathmhaoil leads Colm and Luke into Claire Denis’s 1999 film Beau Travail, a kind of waking dream of a movie about jealousy and justice and the wages of colonialism, explored, in part, through the medium of contemporary dance.

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Comfort Zone Pick of The Week | CFDS

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 13:47:00 +0000

Something for the weekend? Colm Tóibín inserts the Kanneh-Mason sibling's take on Fauré's Après Un Rêve into his dinosaur (car); Caroline Mac Cathmhaoil plugs the poetry and YouTube performances of Joelle Taylor, while Luke Clancy suggests a trio of compilations from Swedish label, XKatedral, on which you may hear, among other sounds, organ chiffing.

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Irish Wake Amusements; Danh Vo; Paddy Woodworth; and Patrick O'Laoghaire | Culture File

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 08:41:10 +0000

Lots of fun at fun at Rob Heaslip's Irish Wake Amusements; floral action from Amsterdam with Danh Vo's show at the Stedelijk Museum; Paddy Woodworth's Naturalist's Bookshelf too turns to flowers; and Patrick O'Laoghaire holds a wildflower in his hand.

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The Shape of Jazz to Come: with Olesya Zdorovetska

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:09:30 +0000

The Comfort Zone: musician, composer and improviser, Olesya Zdorovetska encourages Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to encounter the many freedoms offered in Ornette Coleman's 1959 free jazz throwdown/manifesto album, The Shape of Jazz To Come.

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Still In A Dream with Simon Reynolds | Culture File

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:27:23 +0000

Simon Reynolds has made a habit of writing books that offer to rethink the histories of popular music, such as Rip It Up and Start Again, his keywork on Post-Punk, and his story of electronic dance music, Energy Flash. Now, he's back with a highly personal history of the shapes of music from 1984 to 1994, from the hazy 'snowdrift' assaults of My Bloody Valentine, to the paraslacker aesthetics of The Smiths he calls Still In A Dream: Shoegaze Slackers and the Reinvention of Rock.

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Culture File

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 13:53:31 +0000

The Comfort Zone: writer, Emma Dabiri invites Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to get with the subversive allure of Carl Anderson's Judas, and other hidden treasures in the 1973 film version of the Rice and Lloyd Webber musical, Jesus Christ Superstar.

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The Musical Universe of Daisy Press | CFDS

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:01:00 +0000

Growing up on tour with Neil Diamond gave Daisy Press a unique outlook on the magic and mysteries of music, and started a journey that leads from Indian Ragas via the 12th century chant of Hildegard von Bingen -- all the way to the engaged minimalism of Frederic Rzewski, whose work she performs at this weekend's Louth Contemporary Music Society festival, Coming Together.

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Culture File

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:53:36 +0000

A soft walk with artist, Ciara Rodgers, whose soft sculpture will scatter through the streets of Cork Midsummer; writer and performer, Day Magee on their bus stop-set performance, On The Way: An Artist's Sermon; the latest postcard from the islands from Patrick O'Laoghaire

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Culture File Digital Single: Comfort Zone Pick of The Week

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:22:46 +0000

The Comfort Zone panel pick some things worth your time, with Colm Tóibín opting for Raphael's Young Man Carrying an Old Man on His Back (at The Met, NYC, but also on the internet); Luke Clancy bigging up The Cosmic Tones Research Trio's eponymous second album of neo-cosmic jazz; and musicologist, David Beal suggesting João Gilberto equally eponymous collection of shimmering whispery bossa, João Gilberto, from 1973.

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The Music of Docteur Nico with David Beal

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:27:27 +0000

The Comfort Zone: writer, musician and archivist, David Beal leads Colm Tóibín on a rumba/cha cha into the music of Congolese guitar hero, Docteur Nico.

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Orit Gat's Voice Notes | Culture File Digital Single

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:04:59 +0000

Orit Gat wanders the many venues of this year's Venice Biennale of contemporary, catching boycotts, footballing triumphs and work from Irish artists Isabelle Nolan, Rachel Fallon and Alice Maher.

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The Future Sound of James Holden

Fri, 29 May 2026 07:05:00 +0000

Culture File | 1990s teenage trance prodigy and superstar DJ, James Holden on lighting out for the territories of modular synthesizers, spiritual jazz, Moroccan ceremonial music and Live Coding.

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M.I Abaga's "Illegal Music 3" with Dagogo Hart

Fri, 22 May 2026 13:22:06 +0000

The Comfort Zone: Playwright and performer, Dagogo Hart introduces a classic of Nigerian hip-hop into the Zone, in the shape of M.I Abaga's 2016 "Illegal Music 3" mixtape

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Culture File Digital Single: Comfort Zone Pick of The Week

Thu, 21 May 2026 12:47:49 +0000

Marking your cards for some time well spent, Colm Tóibín suggests getting down to zero with Shostakovich's last string quartet; Canadian poet, Karen Solie points out Nathalie Léger's 2012 book, Suite For Barbara Loden, to be enjoyed along with Loden's 1970 classic, Wanda; and Luke Clancy is learning to assemble a soundsystem in the Moroccan outback with the help of director Óliver Laxe's 2025 film, Sirā

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Abbas Zahedi's Fast Moving Air, Post-Appalachian, Inishturk

Fri, 15 May 2026 14:28:20 +0000

In Dublin, an armoury of sonic devices are improvised and repurposed by Abbas Zahedi, including a commercial sonic weapon called an LRAD, which the artist has converted to broadcast poetry; then some we're-just-going-to-go-ahead-and-call-them post-appalachian sounds from the fiddle and the banjo with Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman; and for dessert, an island postcard from Inishturk by composer and writer, Patrick O'Laoghaire.

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Gorjira's Fortitude: with Rónán Ó Raghallaigh

Fri, 08 May 2026 12:40:40 +0000

The Comfort Zone: artist and performer, Rónán Ó Raghallaigh asks Colm and Luke to focus on the work of French-American band, Gorjira's album, Fortitude, in a conversation that touches on metal's relationship with trance and pre-Christian Irish traditions of imbas forosnai, as well as the politics of noise, wind turbines, Prof. Ivor Brown, and Californian gay biker culture.

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The Culture File Debate: The Shortwave Orchestra

Fri, 01 May 2026 14:24:29 +0000

The Shortwave Orchestra is a collection of experimental musicians who came together to play for the first time in Dublin in April. Following their world premier performance, Culture File convened a panel featuring Orchestra members, Aileen Wallace, Bryan O’Connell, Dennis McNulty and Orchestra instigator, Touch's Mike Harding, to talk about the modular synth scene, endangered communities and surviving in the avant garde. (photo: Fergus Kelly)

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Culture File Digital Single: Pick of The Week

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:52:21 +0000

The Comfort Zone's Colm Tóibín suggests reading a new literary biography by Nicholas Boggs, Baldwin: Alove Story; artist Harold Offed thinks a trip to your local Brazilian foods store would be a solid idea; and Luke Clancy recommends Emily leBarge's art 'n' trauma memoir, Dog Days.

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Jim Thompson's Pop 1280: with Karen Solie

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:27:29 +0000

The Comfort Zone: TS Eliot Prize-winning Canadian poet, Karen Solie suggests our present moment might be an apt time for Colm Tóibín, Luke Clancy and everyone else to read Jim Thompson's nasty and hilarious Southern novel of crime, corruption and excrement, "Pop 1280".

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Voice Memos From The Real World | Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:57:00 +0000

Y'know, Cecil Taylor is way easier to enjoy if you slow it right down, and other insights from composer, musician, and .25 speed YouTube clip enthusiast, claire rousay.

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Cerys Hafana, Louis Haugh and 100 Caterpillars | Culture File

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:39:00 +0000

Are you coming for an echtra, or ancient Irish outing to the otherworld, with artist Louis Haugh? Paddy Woodworth is waiting within, the greatest ever photobook of Costa Rican caterpillars in his hands; and Welsh triple harpist Cerys Hafana recounts a harp journey away from everything that is high, washy or angelic.

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Viet and Nam, Connie Converse, Fin Family Moomins | Culture File Digital Single

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:44:50 +0000

Why you need to see Truong Minh Quy's film, Viet and Nam, listen to Connie Converse's album, How Sad, How Lonely and read Tove Jansson's Finn Family Moomins. Colm Tóibín, Meghan O'Gieblyn and Luke Clancy have their reasons.

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Ireland's Early Medieval Hand-Bells with Helen Flanagan

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:05:12 +0000

The Comfort Zone: Helen Flanagan of "art hag" duo, Spooky Beore, suggests Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy spend some time contemplating the hand bells of medieval Ireland, and their many unintended uses, including in the laying on of curses.

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Ireland's Early Medieval Hand-Bells with Helen Flanagan

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:58:03 +0000

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Thierry Tidrow | Culture File Digital Single

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:55:49 +0000

Canadian composer, Thierry Tidrow who features in this year's New Music Dublin festival on the strange history of Claude Vivier, the art of capturing online speech in music, and his attraction to making opera for children.

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Norma Winstone, Living On The Wind | Culture File

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:06:00 +0000

Legendary jazz vocalist Norma Winstone on learning to understand the voice as an instrument, the genius of bandmate, Kenny Wheeler, and how Drake became her most famous fan. Also, Paddy Woodwth awards Scott Weidensaul's Living on the Wind some cherished space on the Naturalist's Bookshelf.

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Princess Mononoke: with Ishmael Claxton

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:05:06 +0000

The Comfort Zone: New York-born, Dublin-based fine artist and photographer Ishmael Claxton invites Colm and Luke to head to an imaginary, demon-and-talking-animal-filled Japan in the 14th century, to encounter a masterwork from the Japanese Disney, Studio Ghibli, directed by its founder, Hayao Miyazaki.

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Ms Hartman's Neighbourhood | Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:01:50 +0000

Composer, improvisor and evangelist for the power of children's music, Ríona Sally Hartman leads a tour of her musical world.

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Culture File Digital Single: What's Up With Tracey?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:04:04 +0000

If you enjoyed Orit Gat's essay on Tracey Emin's sort-of-retrospective at Tate Modern (which you can hear in the current edition of Culture File), here is some further conversation between Orit Gat and Luke Clancy, around Emin, Autofiction, Bad Museums, Rose Wiley and Nobel Prize Winners.

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Tracey at The Tate, Make2026, Patrick O'Laoghaire

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 15:07:19 +0000

Orit Gat takes in the new Tate Modern show from former YBA, now officially OBA, Tracey Emin; Rachel Andrews is at Cork's Make2026, with Prof Helen A. Fielding to learn which AI to love; and Patrick O'Laoghaire's Island postcard comes from a road near Clifden.

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Culture File Digital Single: Pick of The Week

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:58:00 +0000

Marking your cards for some time well spent, The Comfort Zone's Colm Tóibín suggests spending (quite a few) minutes with The Met's latest production of Tristran und Isolde (screening in select Irish cinemas this weekend); artist Rónán Ó Raghallaigh offers Carlo Ginsberg's The Cheese and The Worms; and Luke Clancy counters the two series of Lucia Keskin's sitcom, Things You Should have Done.

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Future Library: with Maeve Stone

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:03:54 +0000

The Comfort Zone: Artist Maeve Stone champions Katie Paterson's deep time artwork, Future Library, and sparks a conversation with Colm Tóibín about space, eternity and marshmallows.

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A Tetrapod Makes Land: Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:37:00 +0000

Events on Valentia Island around 360 million years ago set in motion an exhibition from artist Bryony Dunne, currently at the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin.

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The Culture File Debate: What Is A Sound?

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:54:42 +0000

Sound artist and composer Tarek Atoui, musician and recordist Natalia Beylis, and Oxn drummer, Eleanor Myler probe the act of making a sound, and the art of receiving one. Recorded at IMMA, Kilmainham.

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Attention and Will: with Meghan O'Gieblyn

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:01:16 +0000

Essayist, Meghan O'Gieblyn invites Colm Toibin and Luke Clancy to an encounter with French philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil, in particular her posthumously published essay/poem Attention and Will.

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Crows and Corsets

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:25:16 +0000

Rion Hanora O'Donovan on the place of 'bad' graffiti in her clothes designs; Dermot Rogers puts some sunlight on the legacy of jazz guitarist, Louis Stewart; Paddy Woodworth slips Esther Woolfson on to the Naturalist's Bookshelf; and Patrick O'Laoghaire starts a new series musical Island postcards.

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The Great White Way: with Harold Offeh

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:38:28 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Artist and performer, Harold Offeh encourages Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to think/talk about the late US artist, William Pope.L's performance crawls, as well as the powers of lounging and of silliness.

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An Afternoon at the Opera

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:12:38 +0000

Culture File XXXL Edition | After a troubled Northern Irish childhood, Vivien Hewitt found a new life in Italy, and in opera. The director and designer takes a seat in the afternoon quiet of Trieste's Theatre Verdi to talk about a life in the dreamworld of opera.

(Photo credit: Vivien Hewitt)

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Neu! with Eleanor Myler

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. XXXL Edition. Drummer, vocalist and member of the danktrad supergroup, OXN, Eleanor Myler leads Colm Tóibín into the nice 'n' steady sound of krautrockers, Neu! (From 111025)

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The Culture File Debate: Quiet/Loud XXXL Edition

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:56:16 +0000

The Culture File panel explores the place of quiet and loud in the contemporary attention economy, with poet, Paula Meehan and musicians and composers, Siobhán Cleary, John Godfrey, and Christine Tobin. Recorded live at New Music Dublin 2025. (From 260425)

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Burn a Million Quid

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:08:07 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition: Artist and curator, Kerry Guinan join Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to rake over the embers of art-provocateurs K-Foundation's 1994 performance of burning £1 million on a Scottish island. (First broadcast July 25)

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The Culture File Debate: Wìngéd Muses

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:28:42 +0000

How birds and their metaphors move through the work and the lives of novelist, John Banville, art critic, Orit Gat, novelist, Sara Baume, journalist and author Paddy Woodworth. Under consideration are: The Pigeon; The Swift; The Wheatear; and The Crane. But which scribe fancies which wìngéd muse? (First broadcast Dec 24)

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 08:31:00 +0000

In this XXXL edition of The Comfort Zone, The Rats: 'horrademic' Prof Darryl Jones brings a favourite 1970s gorecore novel into the Zone, with a steer that James Herbert's The Rats, racism, misogyny and homophobia notwithstanding, has something to offer the world of 2025.

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The Culture File Debate: The Hare's Corner

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 09:00:00 +0000

In this XXXL edition of the debate, an ancient Irish farming tradition that sees the wisdom of leaving some farm land free from the imperatives of production -- ‘The Hare’s Corner’ -- is celebrated in poetry, story, discussion and music. Paddy Woodworth leads a panel featuring Jane Clarke, Catherine Cleary, Jane Carkill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire.

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Close Up Magic: with Michael Dervan

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:26:56 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Music critic Michael Dervan wants everyone in the zone to enjoy the artistry of The Great Slydini and other masters of sleight of hand and misdirection.

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The Culture File Debate Extra: Freedom

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:37:25 +0000

Outlandish Theatre Company's performance event Freedom uses the myth of Antigone to explore the act of speaking about Gaza, about the limits of art and speech. Listen to the piece in its entirety here. Recorded live at Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCD, Dublin in November 2025.

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The Culture File Debate: Freedom?

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 14:23:09 +0000

Outlandish Theatre's latest, Freedom works with the myth of Antigone to focus on the act of speaking about Gaza, about the world in which it exists, and about the limits of art and speech. After the show's Dublin debut, the creative team gathered to explore further for the Culture File Debate. Check the Culture File feed for a live recording of the Freedom performance.

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Reconstruction: with Joshua Barley

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:37:40 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Translator, Joshua Barley encourages Colm Tóibín to watch Reconstruction (Anaparastasi) Theo Angelopoulos' 1970 avant police procedural set in the rock-studded, murder-harbouring landscape of the Northern Greek province of Epirus.

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Reconstruction: with Joshua Barley

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 10:49:00 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. Translator, Joshua Barley encourages Colm Tóibín to watch Reconstruction (Anaparastasi) Theo Angelopoulos' 1970 avant police procedural set in the rock-studded, murder-harbouring landscape of the Northern Greek province of Epirus.

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Kerry James Marshall, Unmade Art, Ragas Live

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 15:11:37 +0000

24 Hour Raga People at a festival in Redhook, NY; by the banks of the River Nore, Tadhg O'Sullivan journeys into art that might not get made ; and in Piccadilly, the largest ever European Survey for the veteran American, Kerry James Marshall, a painter of Black American life like no other.

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The Art of Listening: Under Water: with Finola Merivale

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 10:34:23 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. Composer, Fiona Merivale encourages Colm Tóibín to tune into The Art of Listening: Under Water, a recent work by the legendary Norwegian recordist and composer, Jana Winderen.

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Escaping Perfection with Niklas Paschburg | Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:36:24 +0000

Hamburg-born composer and pianist, Niklas Paschburg on the shortcomings of perfection and his footstamping solo piano outings.

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Do Bugs Need a Glow-Up? | The Culture File Debate

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 14:59:05 +0000

In this XXXL edition, Luke Clancy and panel make the case for loving some teeming critters of the invertebrate kingdom. Advocating for their favourites are: Rachel McKenna (shieldbugs); Liam Lysaght (wasps); Cassia Gaden Gilmartin (earwigs); and Nessa Darcy (woodlice). Recorded live at National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin as part of Dublin Book Festival.

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Strange lands still bear common ground | Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:25:45 +0000

Curator, Beulah Ezeug takes a tour of some of the work she's brought into the big tent of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts 2025, including the immense quilts by artist, Jessica Zamora-Turner.

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Beatles 64: with Christine Feldman-Barrett

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:46:59 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. XXXL Edition. Beatledemic Christine Feldman-Barrett joins Luke Clancy and Colm Toibin to watch the latest in a long line of Beatlementaries, and talk about Taylor Swift, fandom and the secrets of sex appeal (they're secret).

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Útóipe Cheilteach? | Culture File Digital Single (Double 'A' Side)

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 11:28:49 +0000

Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén on the music of a Celtic Utopia in their new documentary, plus Light Moves festival teams up with Palestinian Movement Film Festival, as well as Catherine Young Dance and the Palestinian company El Funoun, for a Palestinian dance solidarity happening.

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The Iron Gates, Steven Daly, Organism

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:57:49 +0000

Worshiping giant sturgeons at the Iron Gates in Barbara Knežević's new film; keeping the Hot Club de Paris sound alive on the banks of the Tolka; and Navid Navab and Garnett Willis on their Organism platform, erected around a collection of organ pipes salvaged from a Montreal church.

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Hope and Glory: with Rosie Lavan

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 11:20:14 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Academic and editor, Rosie Lavan wants us to think again about John Boorman's rosey 1987 Blitz biopic, Hope and Glory.

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Adeniyi Allen-Taylor | Culture File Digital Single

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:02:12 +0000

Musical director of African Gospel Choir Dublin, Adeniyi Allen-Taylor on the ingredients of his music - and his Ọba Ńlá 2025 concert, showcasing his Afro-beat Orchestra.

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Moving Still, Grogan's, Banat Al-Quds

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 16:06:16 +0000

Culture File | The place of perfume in music making with DJ-Producer, Moving Still; how Dublin pub Grogan's defies the partification odds; the sound of Palestine, with all female choir, Banat Al-Quds; and Paddy Woodworth on the cosmic lives of swifts.

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Neu!: with Eleanor Myler

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:24:28 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL edition. Drummer, vocalist and member of the danktrad supergroup, OXN, Eleanor Myler leads Colm Toibin into the nice 'n' steady sound of krautrockers, Neu!

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Comfort Zone Likes | Jennifer Walshe

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:34:17 +0000

Colm Toibin and Comfort Zone visitor, composer Jennifer Walshe, share some things worth bringing into your head and your home.

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The Culture File Debate | The Fire This Time

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 11:24:02 +0000

The myths and meanings of fire with: Dr Cathy Smith of Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires; ANNEX co-founder Donal Lally; Andrew Scott, Professor of Modern and Ancient Fire Systems, and artist and performer, Rónán Ó Raghallaigh.

(First broadcast 291022)

Luke Clancy's culture come-all-ye, featuring bright spots in music, performance, film, tv and art from Ireland and the world. Broadcast Wednesday night at 9pm and Saturdays at 6.30pm on RTÉ lyric fm.

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The Culture File Debate | What are the artists doing in the garden?

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:05:09 +0000

The horticultural turn in contemporary art has a long history, but the urgency with which artists address our patches of green has never been greater. Laura Ní Fhlaibhín, Sara Muthi, Helen Flanagan and Elida Maiques join Luke Clancy to discuss artists and gardens. Recorded live at Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, County Wicklow.

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The Swallow

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 13:11:02 +0000

This Culture File Digital Single meets Filmmaker, Tadhg O'Sullivan who speaks about his new film starring Brenda Fricker, The Swallow, a watery, elegiac meditation on memory and loss, and memory loss.

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"Exotica": Jennifer Walshe

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 14:22:55 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone: Composer and tech wrangler, Jennifer Walshe, leads Colm Toibin deep into the humid heart of the musical mega-genre that almost dare not speak its name: Exotica

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Taking the Waters

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 14:05:19 +0000

Culture File goes for full immersion into some extended realities at Immersive Island at Venice Film Festival, and at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, meeting the creators of experimental experiences designed to dip users into new worlds, including the Irish team behind Irish dance gameworld, Foolish Flame.

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Comfort Zone Likes | Autumn Brown

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:40:00 +0000

Academic and podcaster, Autumn Brown joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: Calligraphy Lesson: Collected Short Stories by Mikhail Shishkin; 2023: A Trilogy by Justified Ancients of Mu Mu; and William Blake vs. the World by John Higgs

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The Culture File Debate x Beta Festival

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 10:02:20 +0000

Recorded live at Beta Festival '24, writers and artists Noam Young-rak Son, Joanna Walsh and Leon Butler to help chart recent shifts at the intersection of art, design and AI. (First broadcast 140125)

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Comfort Zone Likes | Eleanor Myler

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:26:06 +0000

Percussionist-singer Eleanor Myler joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner; Victor Hugo's Octopus; and So Little Happened for So Long by Nev Clay.

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The Culture File Debate x Beta Festival

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 13:28:15 +0000

Recorded live at Beta Festival '24, artists Basil Al-Rawi and Conan McIvor, researcher Dr Autumn Brown, and historian Ciaran Wallace explore how we preserve and reimagine our cultural archives in a world of digital tools. (First broadcast 110125)

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Comfort Zone Likes | Róis

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 14:04:06 +0000

Composer-vocalist, Róis joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, John Healey's Death of an Irish Town and Apple's The Studio.

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The Tortured Poets Department

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 13:11:02 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone: Art writer, Orit Gat joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and into the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe. (First broadcast 150325)

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Caravaggio 2025

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 13:55:59 +0000

Culture File XXXL Mix. An extended version of our Caravaggio program in which Colm Toibin, Orit Gat and Luke Clancy go to see this year's blockbuster once-in-a-lifetime gathering of the painter's work at the Barberini - as well as the many Caravaggios that are permanent Roman residents - and then gathered to imagine what the painter might mean (not to mention, smell like) to the 21st century.

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Culture File Likes: Raina Lampkins-Fielder

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 09:37:50 +0000

Raina Lampkins-Fielder, the Paris-based curator behind IMMA's current Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee's Bend, on a few of her favourite things

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On The Boreen: Teaċ Daṁsa; Tour de Force; Hedgerow & Wayside

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 14:40:50 +0000

This time on Culture File, A visit to Daingean Uí Chúis, where Michael Keegan-Dolan is creating a dance work around The Bothy Band's 1975 debut album; and to Kilkenny for a collaborative exhibition in Rothe House that brings together a botanical artist, a paper maker, a composer, and much local weedlife. Plus, our debut Twitch livestream with Renault4-based art project, Tour De Force.

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Burn a million quid: Kerry Guinan

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:02:53 +0000

Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. This time, artist and curator, Kerry Guinan join Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to rake over the embers of art-provocateurs K-Foundation's 1994 performance of burning £1 million on a Scottish island.

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Culture File | Schaymon Draymon's House of Hibernia, Cecilia Danell's sylvan scifi, The Natural History of Selborne

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:59:00 +0000

The spiritual calling that is running a rave; the sylvan sci fi of Cecilia Danell; unfinished art; and Paddy Woodworth's The Naturalist's Bookshelf.

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL version

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:55:45 +0000

Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media: musician-academic-composer Richard Duckworth joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy for an extended encounter with US composer, Easley Blackwood's electro masterpiece.

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Culture File Digital Single: Kate Carr (XXXL version)

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:50:21 +0000

Sound artist and recordist Kate Carr talks to Culture File about her sonic practice and principles, and the importance of messy urban soundscapes.

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:28:59 +0000

Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media: musician-academic-composer, Richard Duckworth joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy for an encounter with US composer, Easley Blackwood's electro masterpiece.

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Culture File Digital Single | Culchie Boy

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 08:50:13 +0000

For the latest version of his Culchie boy, I Love You exhibition, artist Kian Benson Bailes, has added in some ceramic flutes, with which he finds some tunes, as part of his exploration of traditional Irish culture and storytelling.

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Culture File Presents | The Comfort Zone XXXL version

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 08:47:57 +0000

Silence: Dr. Autumn Brown invites Colm Toibin and Luke Clancy to join her on a journey out of the Comfort Zone and into silence, in all its shapes, durations and uncanny effects.

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Culture File: CoVahr Fox & Friends, Kate Carr, Zoe Basha

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 14:17:00 +0000

Cityscape-appreciating sound artist ,Kate Carr, on her urban practice; Dublin-based musician-composer-carpenter, Zoe Basha on getting into and out of music; and how to play mini-golf in your "fursona" with Berlin's favorite pianist-fox, CoVahr.

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Culture File | Presents: The Comfort Zone

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 14:51:36 +0000

Silence: Dr. Autumn Brown invites Colm Toibin and Luke Clancy to join her on a journey out of the Comfort Zone and into silence, in all its shapes, durations and uncanny effects.

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Culture File Debate | An Cailleach Beara

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:34:52 +0000

Culture File Debate broadcasts live from Eyeries Village Hall, Rachel Andrews is your host with three panelists who will give a broad and unique understanding to the myth of An Cailleach Beara (The Hag of Beara), to give listeners context to this myth ahead of the two hour Ambient Orbit following it..

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Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL version

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 14:13:22 +0000

Keening: Fermanagh composer and musician, Róis brings some of the few surviving recordings of keening in the old style into The Comfort Zone, where the conversation with Colm Toibin turns to JM Synge, RIP.ie and real "doomscrolling"

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