Brian Patterson - Chrissie Cadman - Margaret Byrne & Sebastian Dooris
performance text photos
photo: Sebastian Dooris
'Brian Patterson is currently working as administrator and co-ordinator of
projects for Bbeyond. He organised the setting up of Bbeyond in 2001 to promote
performance work in Northern Ireland.'
The summary above is the description that is listed in an A5 fold-over leaflet offered to others, and myself as I queued in a line. In my estimation when I arrived at 6.15pm there was a strong body of at least 150 people waiting to view a performance exhibition, in this historic landmark building of Kilmainham Gaol, that as an adult and child I have only viewed through public tours.
I have known Brian Patterson for the last six years and consider him to be the nuts and bolts to the organisation of Bbeyond, I true ‘Bbeyonder’. A person that spreads his passion about performance art even in the everyday conversations you would have in passing with him. He has an energy and enthusiasm that you can only be engulfed by. His humorous nature always waiting to escape, and share with you a hearty, mischievous laugh. You can’t help but walk away with a grin to yourself. Brian works endlessly to promote the working practice of performance artists in Northern Ireland for local, national and International programmes, festivals and events. It was exciting to see him, for a change, participating without the organisational pressures he would usually have to face as an organiser of this kind of event.
The fascination began with the droning of low toned voices. The hustle and bustle of the waiting lines of people; signing in, waiting to view. The expectation of what is to be opened, or unveiled before us. What will we get to see? Will there be enough time? How will we be surprised? How will we navigate the performance artists and their spaces? Will they all be in a cell? I’m a bit afraid of what to expect. These tones humming in anticipations, alongside the greeting of old friends and introductions to new ones.
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photo: Margaret Byrne
It is the first performance I have been to in Ireland that had the energy and feel of the National Live Art Review of Glasgow, Scotland, where excellence in Performance Art gather yearly to privilege us with live art and experiential exchange. Maybe after the many years I have been viewing and participating in live art practice, the group of Performance Art Live have finally been in a position to give the deserved platform for Irish performance artist to have a physical voice.
The electric energy began in the cold damp evening as we waited to have our numbers called. We had numbered tickets issued on arrival - calling us to witness. An appropriate passage for Gaol inmates, even for a few hours on a wet windy November night. As I entered the main chamber my first impression was the scale, so vast but claustrophobic, the ceiling being brought to the floor as artists negotiated sound you could not remain on the periphery. You were the voyeur but forced to playing your part in the exchanging sound. The energy of yourself, the viewers voice, raising and falling in momentum to the actions of the performances. Areas of silence, areas of caution and curiosity, in the freezing cold night air the whispers of breath exchanged for paces of movement. Moving between silence and sounds, body and presence.
From afar, the frame was a setting of a classical masterpiece; it was that of a painting, which came to life through Live Art Actions. This was the currency the building held. It’s iconic architecture, the told and untold histories of people. As my eye scanned the setting of the panoramic landscape, it had taken me to the familiar sight of my friend and colleague, Brian Patterson. Situated on the left hand side hanging over the bridged walkway, bent double, arms stretched, holding a position as if he were in the stocks. At first arms out, then weaving, then stopping, holding and concentrating. His uncomfortable stance to make the action of water droplets bouncing into steel buckets. Buckets hanging at various heights below him. His physical action central to the conversation between arm, body and mind; focus, trust, timing and gravity. Noticing Brian dropping individual droplets of water, I could not make out from what until directly positioned under the steel buckets; a large fluid pipette. At times the buckets moved as Brian aimed to hit them but missed.
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photo: Sebastian Dooris
As I walked closer I became more aware I was walking in time with the timekeeper of the space - Fergus Byrne - keeping rhythm whilst skipping and reciting on a wooden springboard. Outside Michelle Browne’s cell water dripped from another bucket, dissolving a block of salt, a conversation between all the artists. Brian varied the speed in which he delivered the droplets into his buckets; they sway, almost making contact with each other. The audience were most cautious negociating Brian’s suspended space from below; I to avoid getting wet perhaps? As the evening went on the floor under the buckets became increasingly wet.
This suspended installation embraced the vastness of the distance between ceiling and floor echoing the hierarchies between powers and authority in its relationships with the space. The whole setting is engulfed by elements of suspension, risk and time. The experience of the performances became inseparable from my processing of the ‘here and now’ of what was occuring.
Chrissie Cadman, January 2011
This suspended installation embraced the vastness of the distance between ceiling and floor echoing the hierarchies between powers and authority in its relationships with the space. The whole setting is engulfed by elements of suspension, risk and time. The experience of the performances became inseparable from my processing of the ‘here and now’ of what was occuring.
Chrissie Cadman, January 2011