Arts and Humanities Research Festival is back with a bang!

Posted on: 17 September 2024

Trinity’s Arts and Humanities Research Festival returns this week with a week-long programme of free talks and screenings spotlighting the fascinating work being undertaken by the university’s arts and humanities researchers. 

Organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, the programme will take in topics ranging from medieval recipes to ward off the plague to why lawyers should read literature and the history of bad environmental ideas to how music can change the world. 

The events will run from Monday 23 to Friday 27 September. All events are free and open to the public. See the festival website for more information.  

Highlights:  

• Ireland’s Border Culture: Launch of a new research project which has developed a groundbreaking open access digital archive of the literature, visual art, memoir and film of Ireland’s ‘cultural borderscape’ from 1921 to the present day. [Mon 23]  

• Why lawyers should read literature: from Henry James to Star Wars, David Kenny explains how novels can change legal mindsets. [Tue 24] 

• Library quick picks: library staff will showcase their favourite items from the Library’s  Collections including a recipe against the plague found in a 15th century manuscript and an introduction to the mythical island of Hy-Brasil in a 16th century map of Ireland. [Wed 25] 

• A History of Bad Ideas about Climate and Nature: Katja Bruisch, Tim Stott, Diogo de Carvalho Cabral and Francis Ludlow delve into the history of wild and wonderfully bad ideas about climate and nature including wetland reclamation, geoengineering and Spaceship Earth. [Thurs 26] 

• What is a 21st Century Person? Novelist and screenwriter Eoin McNamee tackles the big question with drama expert Nick Johnson, lawyer Neville Cox and neuroscientist Shane O'Meara. [Thurs 26] 

• Can music change the world? Darryl Jones on why the Beatles changed us forever; Balazs Apor on the revival of punk in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary; Philip Coleman on why heavy metal matters; Nicole Grimes on silence around women composers;  Eoin O’Dell on copyright, music, and AI; and Jonathan Hodgers on Bob Dylan. [Fri 27] 

• Film screenings: ‘Iarsmaí (Remnants)’, a new Irish language documentary following the return of historic human remains from Trinity to Inishbofin; ‘We Will Remain’ a documentary about the threatened Palestinian Bedouin communities; and ‘Acts of Memory’ a film by Mairead McClean capturing the story of an Irish archive lost to war and its virtual reconstruction a century later. [Mon 23, Wed 25, Thurs 26] 

The Trinity Arts and Humanities Research Festival is taking place in association with Trinity’s START (Start Talking About Research Today) European Researcher’s Night which takes place on Friday 27 September. 

Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Eve Patten said: “Launched in 2023, the annual Trinity Arts and Humanities Research Festival celebrates cutting-edge research and creativity. It provides a unique opportunity for scholars and artists to share their work with a wider audience, engage in meaningful conversations with their colleagues, and make new collaborations across disciplines.” 

“Last year’s inaugural festival attracted more than 1,000 attendees, with over 70 events taking place across Trinity Long Room Hub and Trinity’s Arts Building. This year we will again showcase the great research being undertaken in Trinity which is uncovering new understandings of culture, history, and who we are as humans.” 

More information here: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/events/trinity-arts-and-humanities-research-festival/ 

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• Arts
• Culture
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• Society