We’re finally back with our first edition of 2021 featuring a fantastic cover fashion shoot by Zoe Ardiff.
The edition features all the regulars as well as interviews with Fears, Fucking Young! AB Projects, Michelle Darmody (Eat the Streets) and a look at magnet fishing, One Lock Further and being in lockdown with a household of ten strangers.
Here’s some words from our editor Michael McDermott.
192 HARBINGERS OF HOPE
Right then, where did we leave off again? Oh yes, we were wishing you a merry Christmas and hoping 2021 would be better. Erm, right then. We’ll just rip the first few months off the calendar and kick it off. When it comes to that which we love the most – the city – this moment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine it, not just to construct, but to reconstruct spaces and reconsider their inherent purposes. Doubtlessly, you’ve read elsewhere about what’s been lost. But what can be gained and how can it be best facilitated?
The parameters have changed, our habits have shifted and, now that the shutters are opening, we can see the gap-toothed look of the city centre in contrast to some suburbs which thrive and flourish. A city centre always needs to be an amplified experience, a pull towards energy and possibility, brimful of expectations, possibilities and encounters.
“This moment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine it, not just to construct, but to reconstruct spaces and reconsider their inherent purposes.”
But this will only change when the so-called ‘vested interests’ are the citizens and clearly recognised as such. In essence, the likes of Dublin City Council needs to go to war with itself and win. It needs the ‘City library’ wing to triumph over the ‘White-water rafting’ one. It needs to start piloting solutions besides outdoor dining with urgency and vigour. Error is a bedfellow of trial and we need to appreciate this too.
“Error is a bedfellow of trial and we need to appreciate this too.”
The blueprint needs to be radical, far-reaching and anticipatory rather than piecemeal, ad hoc and reactive. It also needs to communicate which aspects it simply has no control over, but which we may mistakenly assume it might – such as ownership over swathes of buildings. Explain the complexities; we are smarter than you may think.
Now let’s get back on the streets and own them.
Here’s a selection of some of the places you can pick up a copy of the mag this weekend from…
