LYING on the ground in the middle of the courtyard of the Irish Museum of Modern art in Dublin with my eyes closed and a zip pulled up the front of my hood, so I could not see. The sounds of other performers caught my ear and I found myself joining in with the drum beat with a tinkling of a silver cup banging on the ground.
Although I felt invisible after twenty minutes, I pulled of the hood to find that along with the 28 Bbeyond performers there was a couple of hundred people watching us around the courtyard.
We had been invited to perform at the Earth Rising weekend, a three-day long eco art festival. As is often the case with Bbeyond – who are committed to the promotion of performance art and arts8ts from Northern Ireland and further afield – I often end up in interesting situations, be it a silent lecture in the grounds of City Hall or lying in the courtyard of the Irish Museum of Modern art.
70 artists in all were participating but one aspect they did not get right was the food. Or maybe it’s the curmudgeon in me? I’m all for organic and vegan but the very limited food offering resulted after a very long wait in me wishing the Millennials in charge had done some work experience in a fish and chip van and the eight Euros I spent resulted in no more than what in reality was a small portion of hot crisps with a squirt of mayo and a sprinkling of cheese. If this is the food of the future we are all going to starve.
www.bbeyond.live
Back in Belfast the Ron Muek exhibition is closing at the Mac on November 5 so there is limited time to catch it. There is a really nice abstract art exhibition at Ards Art Centre. Sally Houston and Willie Heron have elevated the humble materials of cardboard, wood scraps and paper to a really excellent exhibition. Locally abstract art tends to get less of an airing so it’s worth the trip. Open until October 28.
www.andculture.gov.uk
If you want to continue the haunted feeling of Halloween, Saint Joseph’s in Sailortown are hosting as part of the Belfast Film Festival The Weird and Eerie. It caught my eye with the line ‘Have you ever thought there was something weird about Northern Ireland?’ How long have you got? was my thought. The festival has collated “an audio -visual, hauntological experiment which delves into the Northern Ireland televisual archive of the last century and brings back the stranger and more macabre elements of life in the six counties.” Musical accompaniment will be provided by Vendetta suite.
www.belfastfilmfestival.com
The Weird and the Eerie, November 11, 8pm, Saint Joseph’s.
The festival runs from November 3 to 12 and offers everything from making a film in a day, some Ukrainian films, short film competitions and premiers.
They have also just announced a buy three films and get one free deal which can sweeten a film addiction. Combined within the festival is an XR festival.
Previously BFF has organised rooms where people could book in and see a selection of virtual reality experiences. This year they have included augmented reality ‘a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world’.
You can book in for an hour at the very reasonable price of £3 and see three or four experiences at the Black Box on November 9 and one third of the content is local. www.belfastxrfestival.com
The next late night art when all the Belfast Galleries are open late is Thursday, November 3.
