The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026
Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù
Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La
Biennale di Venezia - Amanda Coogan
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026 is an exhibition by 20 artists from Southeast Asia, Serbia, and Ireland at the Venice Biennale de Arte at Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù. As part of the collateral events, the exhibition focuses on the theme of maritime routes as pathways of exchange, rupture, and renewal, tracing how stories of migration, diaspora, and spiritual resilience move in quiet tones across oceans and generations. We are delighted to include the work of renowned Irish artist Amanda Coogan in this exhibition exploring strangeness, melancholy and solace in relation to identity, diaspora, displacement and human migration.
Coogan will show her Ode to Joy - Thai Sign Language video work, transposing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony into body language. The work hones the spirits of rage, resistance, resilience and hope. Working with a Thai Deaf choir the work re-members this totemic symphony with the magnetic power of Coogan in performance. Coogan’s participation is gratefully supported by Culture Ireland.
Coogan on her Ode to Joy Series:
“Sign is a language in motion, a form of communication that manifests on the body with choreographic impact. I am a CODA, born hearing to Deaf sign language using parents. By integrating Sign as a choreographic language, “Ode to Joy in Sign Language” transcends traditional boundaries of expression creating a visually captivating and emotionally resonant artwork. A vibrant testament to the enduring fight for inclusivity and the collective effort to hope for a more inclusive and equitable world.”
Curator Apinan Poshyananda on Ode to Joy - Thai Sign Language:
"The hum in minor keys is difficult to appreciate when hearing is almost impossible. Amanda Coogan, Irish performance artist, spent lengthy periods with Thai youths with hearing disabilities. Her perseverance, through sign language, formed a silent choir to perform Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in Thai Sign Language in front of the giant white stupa at the Temple Prayurawongsawat in Thonburi, Thailand. The symphony, calling for peace and equality, transcends political and social divides and was composed when Beethoven was completely deaf. The maestro replied in his ‘inner ear’, recalling the sound of notes and combining them in new ways. Magical moments are shared in Coogan’s performance, and this extraordinary collaboration relays a synergy that bypasses language and ethnic barriers. These chords - in minor keys - are most resonant. Take a deep breath, exhale, and sing so that the voiceless can be heard.”
Georgina Jackson, Curator for Irish Pavilion, on Coogan’s Ode to Joy in Series:
Jackson curated the first iteration of the Ode to Joy series of works. “Coogan’s work harnesses the power of collective expression and inclusivity. By drawing on the experiences and perspectives of the Deaf community, she constructs a narrative that forges connections that traverse social, cultural, and artistic realms. Coogan’s art exemplifies the profound impact of community engagement in contemporary art, demonstrating that art is not created in isolation but thrives when it springs from the collaborative spirit of diverse voices and experiences.”
About the music recording:
The accompanying music is played courtesy of the Department of Foreign Affairs. This is a recording of a performance of Symphony No. 9 by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Brophy, with a specially-formed choir and Irish and European soloists. Recorded in May 2023 at the EU50 Gala Concert of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the National Concert Hall, in association with the European Commission and European Parliament to celebrate 50 Years of Ireland’s Membership of the European Union.
Live performances:
For The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026 Coogan will make a specially commissioned live performance; Sabat Mater. Celebrated for her power in live performance, Coogan is at the forefront of durational performance art practice. This live performance considers Vivaldi’s Sabat Mater - composed for the women and girl of the Venetian orphanage Ospedale Della Pietà. Transforming the work through Irish Sign Language and Coogan’s embodied performance, her live performance will be layered with resistance, resilience, mourning and rage. She will be live throughout the vernissage week 6 - 8 May. On Saturday 9 May, the first public day at the Biennale,
Coogan will be joined by tenor Aleksandar Timotić who will singing Vivaldi’s Sabat Mater alongside Coogan’s performance. This promises to be an exceptional experience. Further live performances will be scheduled throughout the exhibition run.
Curator Apinan Poshyananda:
“Long durational performances will set the tone of The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026. The exhibition will address layers of issues including faiths, races, hegemony, migration and neo- colonialization in the suffering world we live in.” Apinan Poshyananda’s cinematic work - The Spirits of Maritime Crossing II
Coogan also appears in curator Apinan Poshyananda’s film which gives this exhibition its title. The film, invites audience into a journey through movement, memory and the unseen connections that shape our world. The film sees Coogan wandering the streets of Bangkok and Venice in this gothic thriller. Poshyananda casts Coogan as a karmic incarnation of Marina Abramović. Coogan and Abramović, they have a long-standing working relationship. Coogan, most recently, re-performing Abramović’s gruelling endurance work; House with an Ocean View for the Royal Academy, London’s 2023 exhibition. She also played Abramović for Robert Wilson’s Operatic work The Life and Death of Marina Abramović. Since completing her Masters with her over twenty years ago Abramović has commissioned and curated solo works from Coogan on many occasions.
About the artist:
Among many awards Amanda Coogan received she became a member of Aosdána in 2021. She was awarded the Allied Irish Bank’s Art prize in 2004. She has performed and exhibited her work extensively including the Broad Museum, Michigan; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, Florida; The Neimeyer Centre, Spain; The MAC, Belfast; Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford; Uilinn, West Cork Arts Centre; HOME mrc, Manchester; The Golden Thread, Belfast; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Contemporary Irish Art Centre LA, Los Angeles; The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; The Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, The LAB, Dublin; Limerick City Gallery of Art; PS1, New York, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, West Cork Arts Centre; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris and the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
On the Ode to Joy performance in Crawford Gallery of Art, 2023 https://www.irishexaminer.com/:
“The audience is jolted to attention as the music suddenly roars from the speakers and Coogan, at the top of the theatre, begins to interpret the instrumental section in graceful and flowing movements. It’s when the choral section starts, however, that it all comes to life, the ISL performers rising from their places among the audience, following Coogan’s lead. The positioning gives an immersive quality”
On Coogan and the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf’s recent collaboration Possession https://www.theartsreview.com/single-post/possession “Created and performed by internationally renowned performance artist Amanda Coogan [...] Who, like a conductor, transforms the space the moment she enters it. Parading towards the writhing mass with strutting confidence, Coogan owns the space, her body, and everyone else’s as they follow her articulate lead, trying to emulate it.
Throughout, no words are said. No words are necessary. Yet nothing is silent, nothing is still.”
Her 2015 exhibition in Dublin's Royal Hibernian Academy, I’ll sing you a song from around the Town, was described by Artforum as 'performance art at its best’. In 2010 the Irish Times: 'Coogan, whose work usually entails ritual, endurance and cultural iconography, is the leading practitioner of performance in the country'.