Caught in the Furze - Amanda Coogan

Title: Caught in the Furze

Dates: 15 - 21 June 2025

Time: 13pm - 5pm daily

Venue: School of Architecture, Nano Nagle Place, Douglas St, Cork, T12 X70A, Ireland

‘THE WREN THE WREN THE KING OF THE BIRDS
ON STEPHEN'S DAY WAS CAUGHT IN THE FURZE
HER CLOTHES WERE ALL TORN- HER SHOES WERE ALL WORN 

UP WITH THE KETTLE AND DOWN WITH THE PAN
GIVE US A PENNY TO BURY THE “WRAN”’ 

Midsummer Festival is delighted to commission one of our most celebrated performance artists. Within an installation of Furze bushes Coogan will make a seven-day durational performance. Harnessing ancient folk traditions and contemporary performance Caught in the Furze navigates the liminal spaces between history and memory, myth and modernity past and present. This work will evolve with magnetic intensity. Shifting and changing daily the audience are invite to come and go throughout and experience this extraordinary new work by an artist at the height of her powers. Do not miss the fierce resistance and resilience of Coogan's practice.

Amanda Coogan is celebrated for her compelling durational performance practice. Her works are immersive, non-verbal, embodied experiences. She explores contested sites and minority narratives, distilling these into urgent contemporary performances. Using gesture, context and time, Coogan’s multi-faceted works leave ghostly trails in the memory. Her work stands at the forefront of some of the most exciting durational performances in contemporary art. 

'Coogan, whose work usually entails ritual, endurance and cultural iconography, is the leading practitioner of performance in the country'.  The Irish Times.