Project Description

On Friday night, 27th October we had our inaugural Here and Now performance art showcase event. 6 of the artists who attended the workshops created performances for the event. The event was intended as a finale to the 6 introduction to performance art workshops which were held between July and October 2023. The workshops were created and facilitated by Rachel Macmanus and funded by Clare Community Grant.  The workshops and the performance event profiled here were all hosted by glór, Causeway link, Ennis. The event was attended by friends and family of the artists.

6 artists performed, see images below. All images courtesy of John O’ Neill.

Artist 1:

Eleanor Feely who performed ‘Phoenix-  a response to the events in the Middle East. Using chosen objects the work was a response to current events in the Middle East. It was a powerful, moving performance which tackled a difficult, contentious subject. Artist 1: Eleanor Feely who performed ‘Phoenix-  a response to the events in the Middle East. Using chosen objects the work was a response to current events in the Middle East. It was a powerful, moving performance which tackled a difficult, contentious subject.

Artist 2:

Evelyn Sorohan, artist, educator and environmental activist. Evelyn’s performance was called ‘Change of Climate’, and took the shape of a participatory interactive performance, where the audience were taken through sensory, auditory and visual experiences and asked to respond through spoken word. It was an impactful, uncompromising performance eliciting a range of feelings from fear right through to hope.

Artist 3:

Our third artist to perform was educator and facilitator Josie O’ Connor who performed ‘The Path of The Spirit’. She wrote a short piece to accompany her work:

‘This performance is inspired by a dream; the movement of a spirit set free. Tracing its domestic movements throughout the house, it moved faster and faster in a figure of eight, cumulating enough energy to soar through the window. This intrigued me; to think about our movements and patterns in life that we repeat unbeknownst to ourselves. If we could watch them in fast forward what would they look like? I believe that words and actions, however meaningful, all fall away when nothing but our energy remains.’
It was a thought provoking, intense and magnetic performance.

Artist 4:

Gill Moses, dancer and facilitator. The names of Gill’s performance work was Duel-i.d. She wrote about her work:
‘My piece is dance as performance. The title is a playful combination of the words ‘duality’, identity and duel. I am curious about our light and dark, the way we show and hide parts of ourselves and the battle we have trying to love both.’ The performance showcased Gills ability as a dancer and her willingness to push herself as a performance artist.

Artist 5:

Our fifth artist to perform was movement artist and musician Caitriona Sheedy.  The names of Caitriona’s performance was ‘Notions’. Caitriona described it as a live art piece inspired by the process and practice of exploring the criticality and vitality of our human being-ness within our reality.
Notions combined intentional performative art and improvised somatic movement to recorded audio titled ‘feel effect’. The performance was visually compelling as well as thought provoking.

Artist 6:

Our sixth artist to perform was LSAD student and artist Tina O’ Connell, who performed ‘Bed Memories’. Tina described her work as follows: ‘Tina will transcend to a selection of living memories of her children’s childhood bed, exploring times past and the less complicated life of motherhood amongst a chaotic life.’
“Bed Memories’ was the final piece of the evening. It was a transformative piece of work, showcasing Tina’s considerable talent and performative ability.