Bbeyond is the only Performance Art focused organisation and charity in Northern Ireland. Our intergenerational membership spans from members in their early twenties to mid eighties. With twenty years of experience and networking behind us, we support local artists on an international level.
We organise regular local events in public spaces where members of the public are welcome to join in, as well as formal programmed events in venues ranging from the Ulster Museum to town halls. With rising costs it is becoming more and more difficult to support our artists and continue to integrate performance art into the mainstream local cultural scene.
(G)LOCAL INTERMISSIONS (P)ART 1:
LOCAL ACTUATIONS is (p)art 1 of a larger project dealing with performance art’s global significance as a contemporary art process. Its focus will be on the local contributions within the context of this global phenomenon – that is performance art.
Facilitate Knowledge Sharing through Collaboration Through talks, social time, panel discussions, performances, and walks “Unity Walk” from Belfast School of Art to Alexandra Park this symposium creates space for artists, academics, and the public to connect, share insights, and engage with the living history of performance art and activism
Celebrate Artistic Legacy and Continuity The event acknowledges the 50 years legacy of performance art in Ireland, tracing this liminal art form’s immaterial lineage through individual artists and collectives. Rainer Pagel, James King, Brian Connolly, Sandra Johnston, Siobhan Mullan, and collectives :- ARE, Bbeyond, BBDB, BIFPA, Array Collective and Live Art Ireland. It highlights how performance art has evolved alongside Belfast’s transformation. Linking Bbeyond’s New Commissions, the Equinox project, Festivals, Solo work and Group performances.
Reflection on Historical and Cultural Shifts Commemorating pivotal moments in performance art and examines how it’s responded to political conflict, shaped artistic freedom then and now and how it continues today. It also offers an opportunity to share performance art memories to be shared with a sympathetic audience.
Who will benefit from it? Curious people with open minds, artists, future and present curators, students, community organisers. People willing to engage in experiential knowledge with its connection to the physical, mental and emotional being could possibly benefit from this total engagement.
What do we want to establish from it? That performance art transcends boundaries of individuals and groups; it is an important aspect in a divided society. It’s artistic legacy in Ireland threads continuity and opportunities for transformation. Where it will go next is up to those involved and willing to participate .
Thank you to our funders, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council, without their support we would be unable to bring the event to life.
Bbeyond is funded through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Lottery Project Funding. Clare McComish, Visual Arts Officer at the Arts Council commented: “This symposium draws together artists, curators and a variety of educational contributors from across the island and beyond to mark a milestone 50 years of performance art in Ireland. Over the last five decades, performance artists have presented us with original, compelling and thought-proving work, inviting audiences to experience live art and play a role in its creation. This event will celebrate the contributions they’ve made to artistic life here, as well as showcasing work from a new generation of performance artists.”