Culture File
Episodes
Close Up Magic: with Michael Dervan
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Music critic Michael Dervan wants everyone in the zone to enjoy the artistry of The Great Slydini and other m...
The Culture File Debate Extra: Freedom
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Outlandish Theatre Company's performance event Freedom uses the myth of Antigone to explore the act of speaking about Gaza, about the limits of art an...
The Culture File Debate: Freedom?
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Outlandish Theatre's latest, Freedom works with the myth of Antigone to focus on the act of speaking about Gaza, about the world in which it exists, a...
Reconstruction: with Joshua Barley
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Translator, Joshua Barley encourages Colm Tóibín to watch Reconstruction (Anaparastasi) Theo Angelopoulos' ...
Reconstruction: with Joshua Barley
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. Translator, Joshua Barley encourages Colm Tóibín to watch Reconstruction (Anaparastasi) Theo A...
Kerry James Marshall, Unmade Art, Ragas Live
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
24 Hour Raga People at a festival in Redhook, NY; by the banks of the River Nore, Tadhg O'Sullivan journeys into art that might not get made ; and in ...
The Art of Listening: Under Water: with Finola Merivale
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. Composer, Fiona Merivale encourages Colm Tóibín to tune into The Art of Listening: Under Water...
Escaping Perfection with Niklas Paschburg | Culture File Digital Single
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hamburg-born composer and pianist, Niklas Paschburg on the shortcomings of perfection and his footstamping solo piano outings.See omnystudio.com/liste...
Do Bugs Need a Glow-Up? | The Culture File Debate
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this XXXL edition, Luke Clancy and panel make the case for loving some teeming critters of the invertebrate kingdom. Advocating for their favourite...
Strange lands still bear common ground | Culture File Digital Single
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Curator, Beulah Ezeug takes a tour of some of the work she's brought into the big tent of TULCA Festival of Visual Arts 2025, including the immense qu...
Beatles 64: with Christine Feldman-Barrett
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. XXXL Edition. Beatledemic Christine Feldman-Barrett joins Luke Clancy and Colm Toibin to watch the latest in ...
Útóipe Cheilteach? | Culture File Digital Single (Double 'A' Side)
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén on the music of a Celtic Utopia in their new documentary, plus Light Moves festival teams up with Palestinian Movement F...
The Iron Gates, Steven Daly, Organism
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Worshiping giant sturgeons at the Iron Gates in Barbara Knežević's new film; keeping the Hot Club de Paris sound alive on the banks of the Tolka; an...
Hope and Glory: with Rosie Lavan
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone. Academic and editor, Rosie Lavan wants us to think again about John Boorman's rosey 1987 Blitz biopic, Hope a...
Adeniyi Allen-Taylor | Culture File Digital Single
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Musical director of African Gospel Choir Dublin, Adeniyi Allen-Taylor on the ingredients of his music - and his Ọba Ńlá 2025 concert, showcasing h...
Moving Still, Grogan's, Banat Al-Quds
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File | The place of perfume in music making with DJ-Producer, Moving Still; how Dublin pub Grogan's defies the partification odds; the sound o...
Neu!: with Eleanor Myler
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL edition. Drummer, vocalist and member of the danktrad supergroup, OXN, Eleanor Myler leads Colm Toibin in...
Comfort Zone Likes | Jennifer Walshe
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colm Toibin and Comfort Zone visitor, composer Jennifer Walshe, share some things worth bringing into your head and your home.See omnystudio.com/liste...
The Culture File Debate | The Fire This Time
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The myths and meanings of fire with: Dr Cathy Smith of Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires; ANNEX co-founder Donal Lally; Andrew Scott, Professor of Moder...
The Culture File Debate | What are the artists doing in the garden?
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The horticultural turn in contemporary art has a long history, but the urgency with which artists address our patches of green has never been greater....
The Swallow
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Culture File Digital Single meets Filmmaker, Tadhg O'Sullivan who speaks about his new film starring Brenda Fricker, The Swallow, a watery, elegi...
"Exotica": Jennifer Walshe
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone: Composer and tech wrangler, Jennifer Walshe, leads Colm Toibin deep into the humid heart of the musical mega-...
Taking the Waters
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File goes for full immersion into some extended realities at Immersive Island at Venice Film Festival, and at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz...
Comfort Zone Likes | Autumn Brown
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Academic and podcaster, Autumn Brown joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: Calligraphy Lesson: Collected Short Stories ...
The Culture File Debate x Beta Festival
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at Beta Festival '24, writers and artists Noam Young-rak Son, Joanna Walsh and Leon Butler to help chart recent shifts at the intersecti...
Comfort Zone Likes | Eleanor Myler
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Percussionist-singer Eleanor Myler joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen...
The Culture File Debate x Beta Festival
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at Beta Festival '24, artists Basil Al-Rawi and Conan McIvor, researcher Dr Autumn Brown, and historian Ciaran Wallace explore how we pr...
Comfort Zone Likes | Róis
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Composer-vocalist, Róis joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy in sharing some culture choices: Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, John Healey's Death of an I...
The Tortured Poets Department
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone: Art writer, Orit Gat joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and in...
Caravaggio 2025
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File XXXL Mix. An extended version of our Caravaggio program in which Colm Toibin, Orit Gat and Luke Clancy go to see this year's blockbuster ...
Culture File Likes: Raina Lampkins-Fielder
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Raina Lampkins-Fielder, the Paris-based curator behind IMMA's current Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee's Bend, on a few of her favourite thingsSee om...
On The Boreen: Teaċ Daṁsa; Tour de Force; Hedgerow & Wayside
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This time on Culture File, A visit to Daingean Uí Chúis, where Michael Keegan-Dolan is creating a dance work around The Bothy Band's 1975 debut albu...
Burn a million quid: Kerry Guinan
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL Edition. This time, artist and curator, Kerry Guinan join Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy to rake ove...
Culture File | Schaymon Draymon's House of Hibernia, Cecilia Danell's sylvan scifi, The Natural History of Selborne
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The spiritual calling that is running a rave; the sylvan sci fi of Cecilia Danell; unfinished art; and Paddy Woodworth's The Naturalist's Bookshelf.Se...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL version
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media: musician-academic-composer Richard Duckworth joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy for an extended ...
Culture File Digital Single: Kate Carr (XXXL version)
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sound artist and recordist Kate Carr talks to Culture File about her sonic practice and principles, and the importance of messy urban soundscapes.See ...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media: musician-academic-composer, Richard Duckworth joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy for an encounte...
Culture File Digital Single | Culchie Boy
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the latest version of his Culchie boy, I Love You exhibition, artist Kian Benson Bailes, has added in some ceramic flutes, with which he finds som...
Culture File Presents | The Comfort Zone XXXL version
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Silence: Dr. Autumn Brown invites Colm Toibin and Luke Clancy to join her on a journey out of the Comfort Zone and into silence, in all its shapes, du...
Culture File: CoVahr Fox & Friends, Kate Carr, Zoe Basha
05 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cityscape-appreciating sound artist ,Kate Carr, on her urban practice; Dublin-based musician-composer-carpenter, Zoe Basha on getting into and out of ...
Culture File | Presents: The Comfort Zone
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Silence: Dr. Autumn Brown invites Colm Toibin and Luke Clancy to join her on a journey out of the Comfort Zone and into silence, in all its shapes, du...
Culture File Debate | An Cailleach Beara
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File Debate broadcasts live from Eyeries Village Hall, Rachel Andrews is your host with three panelists who will give a broad and unique under...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone XXXL version
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Keening: Fermanagh composer and musician, Róis brings some of the few surviving recordings of keening in the old style into The Comfort Zone, where t...
Culture File Presents |The Comfort Zone XXXL Version
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lasagne: authentic Italian cucina, a basic microwave meal and a way of understanding language, memory, literature and reality? Derry poet and novelist...
Culture File | Brown Sauce, Knitting Now, The Museum of Curiosities
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The frontline of knitting, DIY monuments and macabre collections, and our latest suggestion for books to include on the ideal Naturalist's Bookshelf.S...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone Extra
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
German poet and traveller, Joachim Sartorius, author of Syracuse: Sicily’s City of Stories, talks to Luke Clancy about the histories and happenings ...
Culture File Presents | The Comfort Zone XXXL Version
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Syracuse: Historical novelist, Ferdia Lennon, whose book Glorious Exploits was set in ancient Syracuse, joins Colm Tóibín and Luke Clancy for a verb...
The Culture File Debate “A Photograph Is Not an Opinion. Or Is It?”
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, nature writer Helen Macdonald, novelist Sin Blaché and investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov share their favo...
Culture File Presents | The Comfort Zone XXXL Mix
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Row Bag: Author and academic, Rachel O'Dwyer brings her favourite luxury "dupe" into the Comfort Zone, where the conversation with Colm Tóibín t...
Culture File Presents | The Comfort Zone XXXL Mix
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Tortured Poets Department: art writer Orit Gat joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and int...
Culture File | Caravaggio 2025
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Caravaggio is celebrated this summer in Rome with a once-in-a-lifetime meetup of paintings normally living in museums around the world. Colm Toibin, O...
Culture File | No Irish Need Apply
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artist, Marianne Keating on her archival voyage into the lives of Irish migrants to the UK; Tadgh O'Sullivan's further encounters with artworks that n...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After Life: Aisling Kelliher joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and into the everyday supernatural of H...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mulholland Drive: Anna Kornbluh ("Immediacy") joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and into David Lynch's...
Jóhann Jóhannsson's Not Mass | Culture File
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Conductor, teacher and former King Singer, Gabriel Crouch, on the mysteries of the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson "not classical" "not mass" work, ...
The Culture File Debate: Quiet/Loud
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at New Music Dublin 2025 at the NCH in Dublin, the panel explores how creative practices engage with the quiet space of loud sound, as w...
Culture File: Marnie Weber, Tadhg O'Sullivan, The Museum of Disgusting Food
19 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ghost bands and circus values, with LA artist, Marnie Weber; Tadgh O'Sullivan on art that never was; and an in-the-end surprisingly pleasant visit to ...
Culture File: Rhythm of the Seasons, Stone Carving In The Bronx, Changes in the Land
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Percussionist, James Larter reboots of the Four Season; the allure of ancient craft in New York; and Paddy Woodworth suggests a new old volume about N...
Culture File: Politics of the Imagination, The Gee's Bend Quilters, Bombast!
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Classical music and hiphop meet with a bang in Belfast composer, Anselm McDonnell's latest project; the textile stories of Gee's Bend, Alabama at a ne...
Berginald Rash | Culture File
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At this year's New Music Dublin, American Irish clarinetist, Berginald Rash presents Bombast! his program of chamber music from contemporary Black and...
Ethan Iverson | Culture File
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pianist and composer, Ethan Iverson, formerly of The Bad Plus, on working solo, standards v hits, and the music of Igor Stravinsky. He plays The Coole...
Thurston Moore Special (Podcast Only XXXL mix) | Culture File
08 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An extended version of our conversation with Sonic Youth co-founder and explorer at the furthermost limits of the sonic spectrum, Thurston Moore, on n...
Culture File Presents: The Comfort Zone
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mulholland Drive: Anna Kornbluh ("Immediacy") joins Luke Clancy to wave Colm Tóibín off on a journey out of his comfort zone, and into David Lynch's...
The Culture File Weekly 080225: The Square Tomato and The Third Kingdom
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artist-farmer Lisa Fingleton's new exhibition takes its title from a sci-fi fruit: The Square Tomato; "corn smut" at The Third Kingdom mushroom-based ...
The Culture File Debate: Breath
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Culture File Debate on breath, from the need for breathable air to states of mind and body rooted in breath. Featuring IMMA's Mary Cremin; artist ...
The Culture File Weekly: Cicada Safari
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A "double emergence" of two broods of periodical cicadas near Springfield, Illinois for the first time in more than 200 years inspired a band of sound...
The Culture File Weekly: All the Rembrandts
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special All-Rembrandt-All-The-Time edition, we're in Amsterdam to join in the Netherland's celebrations of the 350th Anniversary of Rembrandt ...
The Culture File Debate x Beta Festival
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at Beta Festival '24 in Dublin's Liberties, The Culture File Debate brings together artists Basil Al-Rawi and Conan McIvor, researcher D...
The Culture File Weekly: Dublin's Hallelujah
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Walking a few momentous blocks of Dublin on the scent of a constellation of chancers, charities, literal bigwigs, choristers and 18th century It Girls...
The Fingal Mummers | Culture File
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Irish Institute of Music and Song in Balbriggan's "Pathway to the Well" offer children in North County Dublin experiences of Irish music and tradi...
The Cloud of Unknowing | Culture File
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fairy tales, they're not just for kids you know, suggests Tadhg O'Sullivan in his latest Cloud of Unknowing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...
Wìngéd Muses: The Swift | Culture File
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A taste of our forthcoming Culture File Debate: Wìngéd Muses, for which we asked some of our favourite writers—Orit Gat, Sara Baume, The Naturalis...
The Culture File Debate: Seeing Natures
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do artists capture the limitless beauty and complexity of the natural world? Paddy Woodworth chairs a panel of image-makers, featuring Jane Carkil...
Culture File "Likes": Renata Pekowska
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artist and perception wrangler, Renata Pekowska, on a few of her favourite things, which include a book about religious relics and the smell of tomato...
Seeing The Emergency | Culture File
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a taster for this week's Culture File Debate: Seeing Natures, Paddy Woodworth asks his panel of nature image-makers - Jane Carkill, Melissa Culhane...
Cartoon Networking | Culture File
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Conversations, impressions and quick sketches from this year's Galway Cartoon Festival, in cartoonist Caoimhe Lavelle's festival notebook.See omnystud...
Magic and Hyper-Reality | Culture File
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
VR visionary, Curtis Hickman, on how even good old-fashioned legerdemain can teach a creator about working with the "hyper-reality" of VR storytelling...
The Naturalist's Bookshelf "The Signature of All Things" | Culture File
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paddy Woodworth's latest selection for his ideal shelf of nature books is The Signature Of All Things by 'Eat, Pray, Love' author, Elizabeth Gilbert.S...
The Culture File Weekly 071224: Pain, Fog, halleluiah
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Conductor and researcher, Peter Whelan on what we're still learning about Handel in Dublin; Orit Gat attempts to see Monet in London through the fog, ...
Culture File "Likes": Till Holzapfel
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscientist and cyberdelic evangelist, Till Holzapfel, on some of his favourite things, including Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Magic Mountain and the...
Sound, mind, body | Culture File
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Among the ingredients for Rada Iva Sibila sound installations are the Zagreb artist's spoken words, captured as she experiences the pain of arthritis....
Orit Gat's Voice Notes | Culture File
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible to see once-breathtaking images from Monet or Van Gogh at all now? Orit Gat gives it a go at two current London shows from the Modernis...
What Did Handel's Messiah Sound Like? | Culture File
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What did George Frideric Handel hear at the Messiah's first performance in Dublin in 1743? Irish Baroque Orchestra's Peter Whelan turns his attention ...
A Return To Fishamble Street | Culture File
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rewalking a memorable path through "Handel's Dublin" in the company of the late historian, Jonathan Bardon. (4/4)See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
The Culture File Weekly 301124:
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the trail of the probably German writer behind The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Tadhg O'Sulllivan, the art of playing the violin while recitin...
Culture File "Likes":
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Composer, John McLachlan shares some of his favourite things, which include all six volumes of Karl Ove Knausgård's My Struggle, and that perennial s...
Room Taken | Culture File
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A couch-surfing homeless immigrant who doesn’t know his luck encounters a blind woman who doesn't know he's there, in director TJ O'Grady-Peyton's R...
At The Art Cabin | Culture File
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Culture File makes a studio visit to the "Art Cabin" at Brother Russell House in Limerick City.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Cloud of Unknowing | Culture File
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tadhg O'Sullivan's latest journey into the cloud attempts to follow the elusive author of The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, B. Traven.See omnystudio.c...
A Return To Fishamble Street | Culture File
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rewalking a memorable path through "Handel's Dublin" in the company of the late historian, Jonathan Bardon. (3/4)See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
The Culture File Weekly 231124: Cold Snap Edition
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At IMMA, an audio guide provides a platform for kids' takes on contemporary art; uilleann piper, Cillian Vallely teams up with Fidelio Quarter for wha...
Culture File "Likes": Timothy Brock
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the good things as rated by composer, Timothy Brock, including Vincenzo Lamagna's re-score for Akram Khan's Giselle, and a certain bowl of pas...
Everything You Can Learn About Contemporary Art From A 7-Year-Old | Culture File
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kids offer the insights for a new audio guide at IMMA's "Take a Breath" exhibition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.