First Fortnight

Challenging mental health prejudice through arts and cultural action

Saturday 11th January 2020
Doors 7.30pm, show begins at 8pm sharp!
Free Admission - drop in anytime during the evening
Venue: Common Ground Bray

Klinkerdin – Performing Arts Salon, presents new talent as well as established artists and performers. For First Fornight, we will have a vibrant mix of theatre, music, poetry, comedy and more. Most of the acts are drawn from the Common Ground membership, a co-operative, community-based group, located in Bray, County Wicklow.

This event explores the themes of young and older people’s experience of depression, how modern life in Ireland impacts that experience, and how we can ‘endure well’ through the transformative power of human connection and artistic expression.

Common Ground Bray is a meeting of hearts and minds to create a sustainable and workable community. Mindfulness, ethics and ecology are at the centre of this shared vision. A contradiction to the isolation, alienation and stress of modern life, Common Ground facilitates connection and open discussion of all aspects of our shared human experience in a compassionate and safe environment. Klinkerdin is the performing arts outlet for these values and ideas.

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Culture Night 2019

Culture Night Fringe @ Common Ground

Friday 20th September 6pm – 11.30pm

Free Admission - drop in anytime during the evening

Common Ground is a community-based group, located just off Bray Main Street, dedicated to promoting a co-operative, mindful and ecological lifestyle.

Join us on Culture Night to enjoy an exciting mix of music, film, dance, comedy, drama and visual art at the Klinkerdin live performances and workshops we’re holding throughout the building.

Music - Dance - Poetry - Meditation - Film - Art - Comedy - Storytelling - Workshops - Drama

Tea & Coffee!

Venue: Common Ground, Church Terrace, Bray A98 P3V2
(end of laneway opposite Royal Hotel)

Running Order - PDF of programme - Facebook Event

Music

'Staff Only' is a project formed by the songwriting duo Cian Condren and Oisín Fleming. They've been working away perfecting their material and are now performing to live audiences regularly. With Cian's guitar, Oisin's piano and both their voices they have developed an exciting, hybrid rock/pop sound which is sure to get crowds moving.

'Gumbo and the Ghosts' are a 4 piece band from Dun Laoghaire. They are currently preforming tracks from their unreleased debut album '10 Toes', which is inspired by the likes of Elliot Smith, Yung Lean, Haruomi Hosono, and artwork by Robert Bass.

My name is Hannah Grace, and I'm an 18 year-old singer-songwriter. I've been writing songs for as long as I can remember; there's nothing I love doing more.

For me, writing songs has this sense of real-life magic which has never worn off; because although it is through music that we can feel pain more intensely and have our locked-up memories dusted off and illuminated, it is also a key to our fantasies, where we can escape from our real world and real lives, and forget.

Sheenagh: ‘No matter what I go through in life, I know no experience is wasted as long as it inspires me to write a song about it.’

Storytelling

Novelist and scriptwriter Catherine Brophy will be telling stories about some of her travel adventures. Her theme is Travel Broadens the Mind.

Workshops

Reclaimed Bead Necklace workshop, led by artist Anna O'Donnell.

'Chalk it up to Experience': Interactive Art, based on the theme of Community, with Oona McFarland.

Comedy

Lucy is coming to the loft in Common ground to give it a once over. She is one heck of a cleaner and you will certainly see she loves what she does. Armed with her rubber gloves and trusty feather duster she can make any place shine.

Rose Lawless brings her unique blend of burlesque comedy and song.

Meditation

A 30-minute session involving a brief introduction to Heartfulness, its relationship with the UN Peace Day, and the opportunity to experience Heartfulness relaxation and meditation for oneself. More Info

Art

Visual Art Works displayed in the Common Room, all provided by our wonderfully creative community.

Poetry

Richard Webb is a member of Abraxas, Bray Writers Group and has read his poems at the Bray Literary Festival and at Bray Arts Group meetings. His poems are mainly inspired by the environment of Wicklow and particularly by experiences when walking in the Wicklow hills. Richard will be reading poems based on some recent personal experiences and events.

Carol Jordan: 'Coming from a psycho theraputic position, I am drawn to exploring difficult psychological processes I like to work a theme through different media often combining visuals, ceramics, photography, print with written and spoken word. This visual work, Trauma, responded to my close friend, Trish Cavanagh's breast cancer journey. Our photos are a collaboration, with the tonality expressing mood. In my ceramics I left the clay bare to show vulnerability, with only oxides to intensify the tones, I worked ritualistically, embodying details like a breast sculpted from sugar - a known carcinogenic and of particular significance to Trish's journey - and I have used strands of her long hair, shaved prior to chemo, to etch the scar of her mastectomy. My Trauma poetry is sound driven and rather savage. In general my poems are embedded in ritual and myth and need to be heard rather than read. My work is highly charged and I aim for a strong emotional response.'

Film

Denise Heeley presents a film focussing on the lives of artists in war torn Sudan, and their role, through civil disobedience, in eventually toppling the dictatorship.

Drama

Commoners Theatre presents "The Woods", written and directed by Josh Miller.

Dance

The evening will end with a Still Moving Dance, led by the wonderful Joanne Breton.

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December 2018

KLINKERDIN Experimental Arts Salon presents

'THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT'

Discourses on Life, the Universe and Everything -
through song, music, art and sound.

Venue: Common Ground, Church Terrace, Bray A98 P3V2
(end of laneway opposite Royal Hotel)

Doors 7.30pm, performances begin at 8pm sharp...we have a lot to get through!

Free Admission

Cabaret Artist and Comedian Rose Lawless is your host for the evening.

We have a fabulous Line Up including the return of the very talented band MEFFI who brought the house down on Culture Night. A group of young people who have some something to say and they SAY it through their own brand of original material.

A rare performance by singer songwriter Sinead O'Brien whose awesome voice and exquisite, poetic sense of story telling marry into an experience that's really special. Sinead also is Common Ground's Drum Circle facilitator.

Trish Cavanagh's lifetime of deeply felt and traumatic experience finds expression in insightful performance and visual art work that brings us through hard places into epiphany in a very held way.

Singer Anne O'Loughlin's rich soulful voice reflects a personal journey of spiritual awakening expressed in voice and sound. She will be accompanied by guitarist Gerry Anderson.

The highly repulsive sound artist Ruaidhrí O'Sullivan is improvising a piece using modular synths and visual experience. The work is inspired by the music of the Krell, made famous by Bebe & Louis Barron in the 1956 classic, Forbidden Planet. I managed to get a reluctant interview with him. That podcast will be available at klinkerdin.com shortly.

Wicklow Screendance Laboratory 2018

Screen Dance is a vibrant, hybrid medium, bringing together Choreography/Dance and short film making.

It creates an experience of dance/choreography that is entirely new by affording the expansion of the choreographer's craft through dedicated time in the dance studio as well as the visual means to transcend the studio and in some cases even the body itself.
This art form includes a wide variety of cinematic styles which vary from visual abstraction through to strict narrative.

An exciting array of Irish and International artists will present both film screening and live dance performances as well as Q & A and discussion sessions, thoroughly exploring this exciting medium.

Costs have been subsidised by the Arts Council of Ireland and other sponsors with the Friday Salon session free and the Mermaid sessions only €6 each or €15 for the all three Saturday sessions.
There is also a student rate of €6 for the whole day.

Booking for Saturday's event via Mermaid Arts Centre

No booking required for Friday's event.

All are welcome.

Brochure

Culture Night 2018

CULTURE NIGHT @ Common Ground

Friday 21st September 6pm – 11.30pm

Free Admission

Common Ground is a community-based group, located just off Bray Main Street, dedicated to promoting a co-operative, mindful and ecological lifestyle.

Join us on Culture Night for an open evening to learn about the events, classes and activities available for members; and then stay to enjoy an eclectic mix of music, film, dance, comedy and visual art at the Klinkerdin live performance and workshop sessions we’re holding throughout the building.

Music - Dance - Poetry - Meditation - Film - Art - Comedy - Storytelling - Workshops

Tea & Coffee!

Venue: Common Ground, Church Terrace, Bray A98 P3V2
(end of laneway opposite Royal Hotel)

PDF of programme

Music

Retrofix - “A bunch of highbrow savages.." aptly described by our original drummer and poet, Kenny Doran. The band revel in this perceptive one-liner that sums up the band's broad spread of talents and influences.

M.E.F.F.I.(May Everyone Feel Free Inside. Pron. May-fee.) play a diverse range of music genres, such as Indie or Alternative Rock. With band members ranging from 14-16, all of whom are students in Wicklow Sudbury School.

Donal O hAnnain will serenade us with his mellifluous sounds.

Sheenagh & Hannah - The Songwriting Workshop had it's successful first run in Common Ground this Summer, with some incredible young talent from the area taking part. These up and coming songwriters learnt various techniques and skills for writing as well as performing.

Aisling McGowan - Musician/Artiste shares her passion for music in her unique and sensitive style.

Storytelling

Novelist and scriptwriter Catherine Brophy will tell true stories and tall tales. Bring the kids, bring your friends. It will be fun.

Workshops

Chaos in Harmony - Natural Voice Workshop

Bianca Cobian - A short workshop about self care through sound and breath.

Reclaimed Ballast Glass workshop, led by artist Katherine McNamara, learn to make jewellery from glass.

Bray Beachcomb Wombles - The plan is to create something interesting from the plastic we collected from Bray beach.

Comedy

Wendy Stephens will become Lucy, our favourite slapstick mime.

Rose Lawless brings her unique blend of burlesque comedy and song.

Meditation

A 30-minute session involving a brief introduction to Heartfulness, its relationship with the UN Peace Day, and the opportunity to experience Heartfulness relaxation and meditation for oneself. More Info

Art

Visual Art Works displayed throughout the building, all provided by our wonderfully creative community.

Talks

TRE (Tension, Trauma Releasing Exercises) is an innovative series of simple exercises which assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma by inducing a gentle muscular shaking response.

Common Ground Women's Group - Find out more from Wendy on the night

Poetry

Rosy Wilson: Poetry Ireland Introductions Poet in 2000, widely published in many magazines, and author of several collections, most recently Going West, Lapwing Publications.

Carol Jordan: 'As poet and artist my work is informed by the ritual, mythic and the geological and interfaces with ritual death, abuse, disintegration and transmutaion.'

Film

John Lawlor presents his acclaimed short, "Sunday".

Abstract works by Oisín McFarland Smith.

Hannah Stephens: Visual Poetry, shooting from the hip.

Dance

A screendance presentation by Adrienne Brown, focusing on the work and interpretation of renowned choreographer Martha Graham.

The evening will end with a Still Moving Dance, led by the wonderful Joanne Breton.

Always interesting...

Late Junction

.

I only came across this programme about 18 months ago, but it's firmly entrenched in my weekly audio diet.

The various presenters (I don't think Radio 3 employ DJs) each have their own tastes and leanings, but there's always something either refreshing, challenging, or both.

Keystep SysEx

Keystep settings

In an effort to be able to adjust the internal settings of the Keystep, but not having regular access to a PC capable of running the MCC, I laboriously copied all the SysEx strings from a window within the MCC, and then tabulated it all into a . PDF.

I posted this on the Arturia forum, and it was downloaded a few times, being useful and all.

However, the post seems to have been removed, possibly Arturia aren't happy with the prospect of people tinkering with the values.

Anyway, I'll leave it here for now.

Newsletter

KLINKERDIN Experimental Arts Salon Common Ground Bray NEWS LETTER NO.1 Spring 2017

Thanks a million for joining the KLINKERDIN Experimental Arts Salon mailing list and for your support. Our last session was a great success with many people finding the presentations staying with them. We welcome all feed back so please feel free to get in touch with us to let us know how we can develop KLINKERDIN.

What a great play! Clare Stephens and Mildred Fox and the gang are continuing to facilitate Kilmac Community Youth Drama on Fridays from 5.30pm to 6.30 pm in the parish hall in Kilmac. New members are welcome. The Seniors are currently taking a break while the Junior?leaving Cert Mock exams are underway. You can contact the group via Face Book and Conor mentioned that if people would like to feed back their thoughts on the play they can mail Kilmac Drama Via Facebook. Here is the Link - https://www.facebook.com/groups/kilmacdrama/?fref=nf

Sinead O'Brien whose authentic and direct performance left us breathless and gave such pleasure is busy recording and developing new music. She has a Facebook Page where you can keep up with her https://www.facebook.com/sineadobrienmusic/ and some of her beautiful songs are available at band camp here. https://sineadobrien.bandcamp.com/track/whisper-4

Mikey Doyle's improptu performance on Sinead's guitar caused a stir with many of the audience calling him a Christy Moore in the making. We look forward to Mikey bringing some more songs to another KLINKERDIN night.

Wendy Stephens created uproar and tears of laughter with her clowning piece 'Lucy's First Performance – Please be kind!' 'You Sexy Thing' Lucy! Wendy is busy developing a women's group in Common Ground Bray which meets every Tuesday evening from 7.30pm. She is also creating a supportive group for people who'd like to develop artistic performance projects in a safe and nurturing environment. Keep in touch with her via http://commongroundbray.com .

Polyana aka Ruaidhri. Here's what Mildred had to say 'Ruraidhri's piece was great. It was stuck in my head for days'. A rock of KLINKEDIN and indeed Common Ground Ruaidhri's endless technical, artistic, organisational and musical skills make KLINKERDIN possible. His moving artwork soothes and challenges all at the same time. He's currently working on a new piece which we hope he'll show us at a future KLINKERDIN. Many people have asked for the poem which he used here it is. LET'S NOT BLOW IT Public Service Annoucement By Homer Groening (1967) There are millions of years in the past There are millions of years ahead of us And here we are Right in the middle Then there's space There are miles and miles of space in all directions And here we are Right in the middle This is a big deal Being in the middle of time and space It sort of makes your eyes water

We'd never find this moment again In a million years This is our world Let's not blow it

CHAOS IN HARMONY – KLINKERDIN stall worths continued to sing their eclectic mix of World and Inspirational a capella music and are deeply appreciated by KLINKERDIN supporters. They meet every Monday from 8-9.30pm in the loft at Common Ground and new members are always welcome.

KLINKERDIN are hoping to get Brian Kavanagh a London Based Lecturer/composer, originally from the Bray area, who is a classical guitarist and has also done research on the uses of electronics and electronica by European Symphony Orchestras, to share some of his research and music at an upcoming KLINKERDIN.we also hope to present a Dance piece and a new work by Anderson McFarland and other yet to beconfirmed acts.

All the best for now and we hope you keep in touch with KLINKERDIN's goings on.