The Works Presents is a new 10-part series in which John Kelly meets key figures from the worlds of film and TV, books, music, theatre and the visual arts.
In the second programme, John meets performance artist Amanda Coogan, whose new exhibition, I’ll sing you a song from around the town, is now on at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin.
Coogan talks about growing up in Tallaght, Dublin in the 1970s and 80s, as the oldest child of deaf parents, in a home that was at the heart of a wider vibrant deaf community.
‘So in my parents’ house, the lights flash when you ring the doorbell, it’s terribly noisy – people think deaf people are quiet, they’re not! – the TV makes a noise, the fridge makes a noise, they clatter and bang things. Primarily we spoke in sign language in our house, Irish sign language which is the native language of the deaf community here in Ireland. So I suppose it was a very unique experience but one that I’m delighted that I had – you know it’s really very rich.’
Little wonder that as an adult, Coogan chose to immerse herself in the visual arts – ‘it was always going to be something creative’. She trained as a painter in Limerick before studying performance art in Dublin and afterwards in Germany with Marina Abramovic, the most famous performance artist in the world then and now.
Performance art is a relatively new art form that can touch on the visual arts, theatre, dance and music. Often beautiful and disturbing at the same time, Coogan’s work plays with familiar icons from Kylie to Molly Bloom and Greek classics such as Medea and usually takes place in museums and galleries. It requires long feats of endurance – performances tend to last for several hours – and can feature an eclectic range of materials from snails to chocolate. In addition to her solo work, she has gone on to work with Marina Abramovic and leading theatre director Robert Wilson.
I’ll sing you a song from around the town marks a major milestone for Coogan, a leading international practitioner in performance art.
Amanda is a familiar face to viewers on RTÉ, where she signs the weather.
Amanda Coogan: I’ll sing you a song from around the town is at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin until 18th October.