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Category: Podcast

Blooms & Barnacles Podcast: Could an AI Write Ulysses?

Written by Conor on .

Join us at The James Joyce Centre for a special Bloomsday live podcast recording that tries to answer a question that could not be more topical: Could an AI write Ulysses?

On Bloomsday, Monday, June 16th at 6.30pm, Kelly Bryan and Dermot O’Connor of the Blooms & Barnacles Podcast discuss Ulysses through the lens of current generative AI technology. Could a chatbot become the 21st century’s James Joyce? Maybe not, but could AI at least help us analyse and understand Joyce’s work better? In this discussion, Kelly and Dermot explore the artistic use case for generative AI and what it tells us about the future of creativity and literature. The two will be joined by Dr. Josh Q. Newman, an assistant at the James Joyce Centre and one of the organisers of the Bloomsday Festival.

Blooms & Barnacles is a podcast hosted by Kelly Bryan and Dermot O’Connor born out of the desire to prove to the other casual intellectuals out there that not only can you read and understand Ulysses, it can also be fun. There is a sense of dread or failure often attached to the name Ulysses: an unfinished phantom mocking you from your bookcase. It’s a novel we pick up hopefully and set down dejectedly. It’s long, it’s obtuse, and it doesn’t love you or care about you. It carries with it the stink of failure for the casually intellectual among us. Inspired by the Ulysses Support Group (a.k.a. Book Club) at Portland, Oregon’s T.C. O’Leary’s Irish Pub, Blooms & Barnacles hope to create an entertaining companion for anyone making their way through Joyce’s masterpiece.

Kelly Byran is a founding member of T.C. O’Leary’s Ulysses Support Group (a.k.a. Book Club). Together, the Support Group read the entirety of Ulysses out loud from Bloomsday 2017 to Bloomsday 2018. She has never really stopped reading Ulysses since then. She does not have an English degree. She has failed to be accepted to Ph.D. programs twice and decided to just write this dang blog instead. Kelly lives in the west of Ireland with her husband, Dermot.

Dermot O’Connor is the titular ‘angry animator’ of his animation blog. He provides cartoons and sketches for the blog and is the Barnacle to Kelly’s Bloom. He has never read Ulysses but has enjoyed reading passages from it on occasion. He is currently attempting to dissuade Kelly from reading Finnegans Wake.

The podcast will be recorded live in front of an audience in the James Joyce Centre as well as streamed online.

Tickets for in-person attendance

Tickets for online streaming

Both options are €10.

Bloomsday at the James Joyce Centre

Written by Conor on .

The James Joyce Centre opens its doors to celebrate the greatest day of the year — Bloomsday! We will be open to the public for free on Monday, June 16th from 9:30am to 6pm.

The James Joyce Centre is proud to organise the Bloomsday Festival on behalf of the city of Dublin. As a token of our appreciation to Dublin and all the participants of Bloomsday, we will open our doors to the public for free. Come see Leopold Bloom’s door from No. 7 Eccles Street, where it all began. Browse our exhibitions, parlour rooms, and interactive guides to Joyce’s life and work. Marvel at the beautifully preserved 18th century townhouse, a stunning example of high Georgian architecture. See the Maginni Room, named after “Mr Denis J Maginni, professor of dancing &c,” the real-life dance instructor who used the room as his dance studio and is mentioned in Ulysses!

Listen to the beautiful music of Classical Joyce at 10am and a trepidatious performance by the Fingal Mummers at 2pm. The Bloomsday Film Exhibition by the Bloomsday Film Festival will be playing in the Volta Room throughout the day starting at 10am.

Enjoy the acclaimed performance of Declan Gorman’s The Dubliners Dilemma at 4pm and listen in on a live recording of the Blooms & Barnacles Podcast: Could an AI Write Ulysses? at 6.30pm. Please note that these two events are ticketed.

Seedcake will be provided by the Parnell Street Bakery for visitors to enjoy. An appearance by “Alice,” a vintage car built in 1904, will grace North Great George’s Street.

There will be readings, talks, music, children’s events, and fun throughout the day!

Feel free to dress up in your finest bowler hats and Edwardian garb as you join visitors from all over the world for an unparalleled cultural celebration.

Admission is free and open to the public. No booking is necessary.

We hope to see you there!