Red Square Rivals Blog The Festival

Oh those Red Square Kiboshers, what ever will they do next. Our rivals. Arch enemies even. They've been following us to the gigs, the talks, lurking in corners - if we says it's good, they say it's great. If we really enjoyed something, they LOVED something. Always looking for the upper hand. We ran into them last night at the Damo Suzuki gig and tonight they'll be watching us from afar once more (insert drum roll there if you like).

On a serious note though, they're doing a cracking job of covering the festival. We could be a bit biased in that review as myself and John were involved with them in the build up to the festival, covering the ground over a two day workshop on blogging, podcasting, video on the web, ways of covering the festival online. This, all being part of a new initiative by Butler Gallery, headed up by Jean Tormey, to put together a group of young critics and introduce them to the world of visual art. As a result, they've been able to link up with journalists, curators, artists, musicians and take in the visual art strand, craft strand and by the looks of things, the majority of the rest of the festival as well given anywhere we turn up, they seem to be as well.

Personally, I think it's a great idea. If there was something like it ten or fifteen years ago (ok, the technology wasn't there for the way they're tackling the coverage) I would have jumped at the chance to spend a summer tipping around a festival chatting to people and learning all the arts have to offer. To further their understanding of the art forms they were going to critique over the run of the festival, the group were also given the chance to work with artists in advance through painting, sculpture and more. Rumour has (and we hope) that they're going to get some podcasts up and keep the reviews coming over the end of the festival and into next week. So, if you would like a look at what some of the younger reviewers doing the rounds at this year's festival are up to, take a look at the following blog posts:

• Journalism workshop with David Donohoe
• Review: Where Did It All Go Right? (Ponydance)
• Review: Steven Loughman's work
• Ciarán Walsh (Rothe House exhibition)
• Review: Group Therapy For One

To all you Red Square Kiboshers - see you at the finish line, and keep up the good work :)

- Ken

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