A weekend of talks, music and discussions & the launch of Second Culture Press

Saturday 28  March 2015, 6 – 11pm • Sunday 29 March, noon – 6pm 

The National Sculpture Factory is pleased to announce Second Culture Press’ two-day event, Burn Down After Reading, a weekend of talks, music and discussions, exploring the value of independent initiatives.

Moving away from the ‘quantifying’ value mechanisms of economics, in favour of a more experiential approach, the project seeks to look at how the independent cultural sphere is not only crucial to creative processes, but also a form of civic engagement, providing and encouraging the reflection necessary for any kind of democratic or pluralistic society we might aspire to.

The weekend also serves as the launch of Second Culture Press, a series of homemade publications featuring contributions from initiatives from around the world, developed by Taf Hassam, for the NSF Im/plant programme, together with writer Janine Armin and designer Marius Jopen of the design group The Foreign Legion.

Opening on Saturday 28 March at 6.00pm, the evening begins with a presentation of Second Culture Presspublications, followed by talks with special invited guests: writer Fred Dewey (US) on rethinking public space; scholar Jiří Kocian (CZ) on Charter 77 and musicians of the underground in former Czechoslovakia; and artist and independent curator Megs Morley (IRE) on artist-led initiatives in Ireland.

The evening opens and closes with music by The Azorean Project (Unknown).

On Sunday 29 March the factory is open from noon to 6pm, functioning as a café and reading lounge where visitors can come and take time with the books and partake in a series of talks and reading groups which run in parallel.

To conclude there will be the official Irish launch of Fred Dewey’s The School of Public Life (Errant Bodies Press, 2014) at 5:00p.m.