Glocal intermissions : 50 Years of Performance Art in Ireland, Belfast and beyond |1975-2025

This Autumn, Belfast becomes the stage for a landmark symposium honouring five decades of performance art across Ireland. Glocal Intermission : 50 Years of Performance Art in Ireland brings together artists, curators, scholars, and cultural workers to reflect on the radical, ephemeral, and transformative power of live art.

Hosted in Belfast , the symposium will feature keynote presentations, exhibitions, archival screenings, participatory and solo performances, and panel discussions that trace the lineage of performance art from its early provocations to its contemporary, socially engaged forms. From Alastair MacLennan’s durational works with students of Belfast School of Art, 1975 to the site-responsive practices shaping today’s cultural landscape, this event celebrates performance as a tool of resistance, enquiry and embodiment. Reaching from Belfast to a global network of performance art opportunities. Transforming lives as it goes.

The programme invites attendees to explore the intersections of body, place, and memory—re framing performance art not only as spectacle, but as a living archive of Ireland’s evolving identity. Highlights include:

• Keynote by Emeritus Professor Alastair Maclennan reflecting on his 50 years of experience.

• Live interventions by Bbeyond artists

• A walking tour of Belfast’s peace lines as performative thresholds

• Archival displays and poetic responses to seminal works

• Solo Performance by Bbeyond new commission artist Madison Agnew

• 50 year anniversary group performance Unity Walk

• Intergenerational knowledge share

• Performance art and mental health what is the intersection?

• Opportunities to learn about and share memories of performance art in Ireland

• Opportunities to feed into 50 years of Performance art exhibition at Belfast School of Art

This symposium is supported by:

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, Belfast School of Art and Bbeyond.