Tag: performance writing

‘grass’ residency at Live Art Ireland

From October 1st I will be spending three weeks on a residency at Milford House, the home of Live Art Ireland. The theme for this year’s artist residencies is ‘grass’ and my proposal is to reflect on and develop some new performance material from my relationship with the dairy industry.

Proposal: Having grown up on a dairy farm in West Limerick and now living in Devon, I am familiar with landscapes prioritising a version of grassland, seeking an almost monoculture of grass species, driven by additives to deliver bulk. Dairy cows are exploited to maximise milk production, for consumer products seen as essential. Culturally this industry has been promoted by the Irish State, been part of the story we tell of ourselves to others. Can I find a chink within this edifice to account for the other-than-human, acknowledging species contributing to this landscape system of production and consumption. I want to look at the network of small creameries and cooperatives that developed in the early 20th Century across rural Ireland, and use these as a starting place. I want to look at language and rhythms of this industry, to consider my place within it, and develop text and actions in response.

Some work in progress images and text are up on the Live Art Ireland website now: https://www.live-art.ie/2023/10/05/mark-leahy/

screening of MarjonXRame Summer School film at Leadworks on April 18

There will be a screening of the documentation art film of the MarjonXRame Summer School at Leadworks in Plymouth on Tuesday 18th April 2023 at 1930hrs. The film has been edited by Siobhan Bauer from material recorded over the three days of the workshops at Maker and Rame in July 2022. I’m looking forward to being reminded of the heat and intensity of the days we spent camping, making, swimming, eating at Maker Heights. Entry to the event is free, but food bank donations are welcome.

Event: 1930hrs. Tuesday 18th April 2023. Leadworks, 170 Rendle Street, Plymouth, PL1 1TP.

“i remember / i don’t remember” for WBN2023

I made a visual text piece as my contribution to the World Book Night 2023 project organised and curated by Sarah Bodman and Linda Parr. ‘i remember / i don’t remember’ responds to the call using a sequence of childhood memories and found and generated text. The colours relate to the stories in the sequence.

For World Book Night 2023, WBN United Artists invited people via an open call, to read one or all of the following texts, and consider how they might represent a memory that could be used to create a shared experience, a coming together of voices from the past and present. I Remember by Joe Brainard / I Remember (Je me souviens) by Georges Perec / I Remember, I Remember by Mary Ruefle. 112 contributions were sent from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, UK, USA.

The exhibition will be on show at Bower Ashton Library, UWE Bristol, UK from 20th April – 30th June 2023, and Hong Kong Design Institute from late July – end of Sept 2023. You can view all the works received on the Instagram gallery put together by Linda Parr. WBN 2023 is curated and organised by Sarah Bodman and Linda Parr. The exhibition at Hong Kong Design Institute is organised by Jessica Ho Yuk Ching.

‘capes, folds, drapes’ with William Luz at Minerva Cafe on March 2nd

On March 2nd at Minerva Cafe in Bretonside, Plymouth, artist William Luz and I will present some outcomes from conversations and work-in-progress. Our process of working together started from a conversation about drawing, gesture, mark-making and representation. Specific details came to the fore, and prompted a gathering of material around fabric and drapery in art, and around the image of the cape in particular in superhero comics. Further thoughts clustered around queer representation of the cape, around desire as focused on the wrapped, clothed or veiled body. Our distinct practices in drawing, performance, writing and making combine in this joint presentation of early outcomes of this investigation. There will be drawings, actions, reading, words, and a free mini-zine for the audience. The event is part of the First Thursday series organised by Queer District Collective.

‘toward an emblem’ presentation video now online

The recording of the zoom live performance of the text and image work ‘toward an emblem’ is now online at the CAMP website. The slide-film with reading was presented as part of the CAMP Huddle event on 8th December. My performance runs to 25:39 on the timeline. It is followed by a short Q&A with the online audience, and then there is a presentation by artist Sarah Trotter. Follow the link to the CAMP website HERE and scroll down to watch the video.