RTÉ - Culture File on Classic Drive

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 ClancyAssociate Producer: Niamh DalyProducer: Luke ClancySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 ClancyAssociate Producer: Niamh DalyProducer: Luke ClancySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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: 151125See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Frederic Rzewski, whose work she performs at this weekend's Louth Contemporary Music Society festival, Coming Together.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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'LaoghaireSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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" mixtapeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, SirāSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colm Tóibín suggests getting down to zero with Shostakovich's last string quartet; Poet, Karen Solie points out Nathalie Léger's 2012 book, Suite For Barbara Loden,; and Luke Clancy is learning to assemble a soundsystem in the Moroccan outback with the help of director Óliver Laxe's 2025 film, Sira

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 post-appalachian sounds from the fiddle and the banjo with Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman; and for dessert, an island postcard from Inishturk

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 to talk about the modular synth scene, endangered communities and surviving in the avant garde. (photo: Fergus Kelly)

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.

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)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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.

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.