Tom Lordan
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Tom Lordan
@tomlordan.bsky.social
Irish Art Critic | The Irish Times, Frieze, Paper Visual Art | Philosophy & Aesthetics - Filosofia y Estética - Philosophie & Ästhetik
Pinned
Wrote a catalogue essay for Cian McLoughlin's incredible 'Zero Is An Even Number' at the Molesworth Gallery. McLoughlin's arresting style is always evolving, though aesthetic and conceptual themes connect each stage of practice.

Full essay: www.cianmcloughlin.com/news/40-tom-...
Reposted by Tom Lordan
This year’s Dublin Gallery Weekend is in full swing with over forty galleries, including the RHA, taking part across the city.

See dublingalleryweekend.ie for more.

On view for DGW here at the RHA 👀
November 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
Japanese poster for Ingmar Bergman's THE RITE (1969)
November 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
My latest review for @irishtimes.com is online. This week's focus is Corban Walker's #RESIST at @solomonfineart.bsky.social. The acclaimed, Cork-based artist continues to exercise his long-standing preoccupation with structure, scale, utility and proportion.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
RESIST: between structure and entropy, Corban Walker’s sculptures resist their own annihilation
The accomplished artist continues to explore long-standing preoccupations into structure, scale, utility and proportion
www.irishtimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
Today we commemorate the passing of Bernard Stiegler, one of the most original voices in contemporary philosophy of technology.
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August 5, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Sunrise in the Pyrenees
October 23, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Latest review for @irishtimes.com was on Ella Bertilsson's Slippery Like Mango Juice at the #Horse gallery on Bethesda Place, around the corner from the #HughLane.

Violence simmered below the playful surface, along with ruminations on dislocation, alienation.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
Ella Bertilsson: Slippery Like Mango Juice review – Violence simmers below a playful surface
Ella Bertilsson’s work oscillates between pointed satire and reflections on social isolation
www.irishtimes.com
October 5, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Saw PTA's new film One Battle After Another yesterday. Definitely enjoyed it, though I'd like to see it again - hard to wrap my head around it. Some intriguing resonances with Aster's satire Eddington. An unusual narrative form: it wasn't a journey, it wasn't episodic...
September 29, 2025 at 5:42 AM
"If one wishes to label me 'analytic', I will accept it only with the clarification that mine is a special form."

Lorenz Puntel in 2022.

#philsky #structureandbeing

youtu.be/YyuTwa1XtJA?...
Sein und Nichts - der Philosoph Lorenz Bruno Puntel im Gespräch
YouTube video by Loyola Productions Munich - Visualizing Minds
youtu.be
September 23, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Latest @irishtimes.com review is centred on the @helengblake.bsky.social beautiful exhibition Let The Rules Be Soft.

I discuss Blake's process of stratification and structured absences, the human and the inhuman, and her evocation of the transcendental.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
Helen Blake: Let the Rules Be Soft review – An absorbing, unmissable exhibition
Visual art: At the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin, Helen Blake’s immediately recognisable paintings are profoundly compelling
www.irishtimes.com
September 15, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
The opening talk of this year’s Boole Lectures in Philosophy will be delivered by Prof. Roberta Sala (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy)

Title: Unreasonable Agents in the Digital Era

Venue and time: CACSSS Seminar Room | Wednesday, September 17th, 1600-1800

Everybody is welcome!
September 14, 2025 at 10:27 AM
I contributed a catalogue essay to Karen Ebb's exhibition An Outer Reflection Of An Inner Reality, which opened in Dun Laoghaire's #Municipal Gallery last night.

I referenced Hilma af Klint, Goethe, and Bridget Riley as useful touchstones for understanding the artist's work.

karenebbs.com
September 12, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I visited the opening of @helengblake.bsky.social 's phenomenal Let The Rules Be Soft at the #Molesworth Gallery during the week. Exquisite, visually inventive, phenomenologically rich abstract painting. Really looking forward to writing my review - so much to grapple with!

#helenblake
September 6, 2025 at 12:19 PM
For my latest review in @irishtimes.com, I covered the Kevin Kavanagh gallery's #TrueColour exhibition. Including an early Evie Hone, this is an impressive collection of contemporary abstract painting, ranging across several distinct styles & visual genres.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
True Colour review: A stirring group show devoted to the profundity of abstraction
Visual art: Including an early work by Evie Hone, this impressive collection ranges across styles and genres of abstract painting
www.irishtimes.com
September 6, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
Kant! Kant!! KANT!!! Those who love Kant are going to love our latest issue, which is chock full of Königsberg's most famous son. academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics... #philsky
September 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I really enjoyed this short article by Theo Belci in #ArtForum. Fascinating insight into Dean Kissick's public 'Seaport Talks' on contemporary art in 2023-24, via a discussion of this subsequent essay collection.

www.artforum.com/columns/seap...
Little Red Book
What Is Contemporary Art for Today? collects twenty-five responses to the titular question, with essays by artists, writers, and critics.
www.artforum.com
August 31, 2025 at 8:23 AM
I'm obviously late to the party but Jesus this is a great read

#annakornbluh #immediacy
August 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
April themes.
May 1, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I reviewed From A Low And Quiet Sea, a theatrical adaptation of Donal Ryan's novel, for @theirishtimestoday.bsky.social.

Some great performances, though I felt the monologues became a little repetitive.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...
From a Low and Quiet Sea review: Excellent performances, but this Donal Ryan adaptation has taken a big risk
The novelist has an ability to connect Ireland’s historical roots with its modern realities, but the multiple monologues of his story can struggle on a bare stage
www.irishtimes.com
May 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
RP2.18: New issue out now!

Sita Balani on culture wars
Verónica Gago on the 'fascistisation of social reproduction'
Sophie Lewis on 'fag hags'
Bill Cashmore on the closure of CRMEP
Dossier on the life and work of Marina Vishmidt

radicalphilosophy.com
April 28, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Martin Parr, at random, has so many absolute belters.
April 23, 2025 at 6:20 AM
I interviewed renowned #photographer Martin Parr for the @irishtimes.com this bank holiday weekend, in run up to the Dublin Street Photography Festival.

A giant in British & Irish circles, especially famous for his documentary observations of leisure and class.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
From a garda at prayer to Ireland’s first McDonald’s drive-through: Martin Parr’s revealing photographs of Irish life
Dublin Street Photography Festival 2025: The Magnum photographer has spent his career documenting everyday Ireland and Britain
www.irishtimes.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Recently reviewed Gerard Byrne's The Struggle With The Angel exhibition at #Kerlin Gallery for @irishtimes.com .

Meticulous, cerebral photographs that hint at humanity’s precarious condition.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/art/...
Gerard Byrne: The Struggle with the Angel – Global journeys hint at humanity’s precarious condition
The multimedia artist arranges 23 hand-printed photographs that recall Walter Benjamin’s evocative description of the angel of history
www.irishtimes.com
April 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Tom Lordan
Translations of two “schemata” Adorno & Horkheimer wrote for their ‘Dialectics’ book in April 1942–(I) Re: domination of nature & society; (II) Re: “Geist” b/w myth & enlightenment. To my knowledge, never before published or translated.

(Link below)
April 18, 2025 at 9:25 AM
April 6, 2025 at 2:26 PM