Culture beat – February 28

Enjoy some extraordinary Irish art, the best of Belgian pop and an epic cinema voyage

The flagship event of Ireland’s EU presidency cultural programme is an exhibition at Bozar from Thursday until May 19. Changing States: Contemporary Irish Art & Francis Bacon’s Studio is a collaboration with two of the country’s leading institutions: the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. The former has curated a collection of 28 works by 20 emerging and mid-career artists (the majority female), while the latter offers a fascinating peek into the life and work of one of the 20th century’s major figures. Bacon’s London home and studio was faithfully moved to Dublin after his death in 1992. It shows his extraordinarily chaotic yet creative working and living practices and includes unfinished works, reams of images of nude figures and animals and large-scale photos of the interior of his flat. The contemporary section focuses on artists who have been exhibiting internationally since 2000. They include Orla Barry, a former Belgian resident, who presents a series of live performances reconfigured as a sound installation for the show. Among the paintings, sculpture, installations, photography and video art are two striking photos of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Richard Mosse (Growing Up in Public, below). His use of a military form of infrared film creates a partial image in pink, a striking contrast to the subject matter. Another artist who has ventured abroad is Brian Maguire, a passionate human rights activist. In Memorial (1998) he depicts the bodies of unarmed prisoners from Sao Paulo in Brazil, in a massive mixed-media work painted on linen. One of the most dramatic installations is Dorothy Cross’s Parachute (featured on the cover of the exhibition’s catalogue); a beautiful blue-grey silk parachute descending draped from the ceiling with a gannet nose-diving from its depths.

The annual music exchange ABBota kicks off in Brussels with the first night at Ancienne Belgique on Friday featuring familiar favourites Montevideo, Roscoe, Leaf House and the Peas Project. At Botanique on March 2 you can find Coely, Tommigun, Paon, Steak Number 8 (pictured) and Gepetto & the Whales. The programme may be pop, but you’ll find every variation of the genre on stage.

Take an epic journey into the history of cinema with a special event called The Story of Film, subtitled An Odyssey at Bozar from Friday to Sunday. Written, directed and presented by Mark Cousins, this 15-hour documentary series traces the most important moments in the history of the seventh art. From the birth of cinema, via the Golden Age of the 1920s (Hollywood, plus all those intellectual -isms – Expressionism, Impressionism, Surrealism) and the invention of sound, through almost every decade of the 20th century, this is required viewing for all cinephiles. It features interviews with Martin Scorsese, Baz Luhrman and Stanley Donen among others and also explores the depths of world cinema. Cousins’ documentary was six years in the making and his aim was for viewers to experience the beauty of the movies.

And finally, don’t forget the capital’s main event this weekend, Museum Night Fever on Saturday.