Stephen, Author at CQAF

Fatal Deviation

Posted on 17th April 202421st April 2024 by Stephen

Ireland’s first (and only) feature-length martial arts film. Filmed in the Meath hinterland and featuring exactly one (completely unintentional) stunt, this is a film best witnessed in the safety of a group and on horse tranquillisers…

The film tells the story of a young man returning home after a long absence, his future uncertain, his father gone. After witnessing Jimmy’s takedown of local drug gang The Drug Lords Gang (featuring Mikey Graham, member of boy band Boyzone) , a monk belonging to the local church’s secret underground kung fu sect approaches with an offer to train Jimmy for the upcoming no-holds-barred Bealtaine tournament.

As Jimmy learns the monk’s secret techniques of cutoff shorts, tai-chi and kicking near small fires, The Drug Lords Gang increasingly pressures Jimmy to join them. When he refuses, the Drug Lords call ace fighter Seagull back from Hong Kong to take Jimmy out in the tournament.

Jimmy’s only hope is mastering the Fatal Deviation, as taught by a man strongly resembling a drunk Led Zeppelin Hermit. Fatal Deviation is a masterpiece that defies explanation. It was made on a budget of about 40 punts back in 1998 in rural Ireland.

“A ludicrous everything. Art is beautiful”.�Frieze.

“Unmissable. A watershed moment in Irish history.” Edgar Grike

“One of the best, if not the best, Irish film of all time.” Irish Times

Kane Stonestreet

Posted on 17th April 2023 by Stephen

Bbeyond New Commissions artist Kane Stonestreet will make a Live Performance as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival at Flax Art Project Space from 7pm to 8.30pm on Thursday the 4th of May 2023.

Kane Stonestreet (b. 1992, Lancs) is a multidisciplinary performance artist. Their practice is informed by visual art histories, from their time at Glasgow School of Art (2012-2015) where they specialised in Sculpture & Environmental Art. Their art school punk band Pennycress led them to DIY subcultures. They toured North America with Joanna Gruesome, screamed on Shetland with Damn Teeth and sang about roast dinners with Cat Apostrophe.

On their 26th birthday, stonestreet performed with their close friend Joseph Morgan Schofield. This ritual with talc and ice transformed into a project about their queer siblinghood. They spent time on a residency at ]performances p a c e[ and performed at VFD, London and Sprungturm Festival, Darmstadt.

Their project Holding (Qualities of Loss) (a performance between their body, a block of ice and a site) was adapted for digital presentation as part of R-A-W, a digital exhibition from Bbeyond. The project’s latest offering, a work entitled Holding (open), was a part of Live Art Ireland and Bbeyond’s Convergence festival and will be performed at Emergency in Manchester.

In 2021, they initiated and co-led a residency project entitled Collective Attention: Anarchic Action with Eleanor Dalzell Jenyns. Through weekly workshops 7 artists shared their practices and developed a communal language. The project culminated in a 4 hour performance at Ugly Duck. In these shared actions, stonestreet hopes to find new qualities of engagement and entanglement.

https://kanestonestreet.com

BBEYOND IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION SUPPORTED BY THE ARTS COUNCIL OF NORTHERN IRELAND | LOTTERY FUND | REG. CHARITY NO. NIC102867

Deirdre Mc Kenna: Mundane again, again… A retrospective

Posted on 3rd April 20235th April 2023 by Stephen

Mundane again, again… A retrospective

25 April – 13th May 2023

PS² is most excited to work with Deirdre McKenna (b. Dublin, 1973) for her solo show Mundane again, again… A retrospective, where we will delve into the artist’s extensive back catalog of works. Deirdre’s practice broadly spans diorama, painting, sculpture, photography, curation, installation and video. It stems from her desire to visualise autobiographical stories, while allowing room for the viewer to embellish the narrative or alter the meaning. In recent years, her socially informed and engaged practice has led to commissioned projects with local activists from Reclaim the Agenda for their processions; the work was later selected for inclusion in the British Textiles Biennial 2019.

Deirdre is a visual artist, art worker and studio member of Flax Art Studios, Belfast. She studied Fine Art Painting in the RTC, Sligo, followed by a BA at Ulster University, Belfast. In 2007, she graduated with distinction in an MFA at Ulster University. Nationally, Deirdre has exhibited at The Model Arts Centre, Sligo; FE McWilliam, Banbridge; Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast; and CCA Derry~Londonderry. Her work has also been exhibited internationally (including Taiwan, Tokyo, and New York) featuring in shows alongside Tracy Emin, Grayson Perry, Henry Moore, Phil Collins, Susan MacWilliam, Mark Wallinger, Christine Borland, Seamus Hanrahan and Stephen Rennicks. Her work features in several private and public collections, including Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Deirdre has worked with arts organisations and activist initiatives in Belfast since 2000 such as Catalyst Arts, Golden Thread Gallery, numerous artists, curators, communities and collections (including Tate, Imperial War Museum, British Council, and Arts Council of Northern Ireland). Since 2017, Deirdre has worked both as a freelance arts administrator, and as the Creative Programmes and Participation Lead with University of Atypical, Belfast.

I remember how it made me feel…. Jane Butler

Posted on 12th April 202212th April 2022 by Stephen

Jane Butler’s research-led practice focuses on the experience of trauma and the relationship of body and mind to external environments. Her architectural interventions, installations and photography-based works are informed by elusive memories and neurological effects.

‘I remember how it made me feel’ is an accumulation of her work during two years on the Freelands Artists Programme. This exhibition serves as a meditative place to sit and reflect.

Jane Butler is an artist and organiser specialising in public and site-specific projects. Butler received a BA Fine Art (Sculpture) from Ulster University in 2009. She has produced projects in partnership with Belfast City Council, PLACE and TULCA Visual Arts Festival, Galway. Butler was a Co-Director and chair of Catalyst Arts (2012-2015). She is currently a Co-Director of Household, who work collaboratively with artists, writers, curators and the public to develop thought provoking projects in the public realm. She is also an active member of Array Collective; a group of Belfast-based artists who create collaborative actions in response to issues affecting Northern Ireland, who recently won the Turner Prize 2021 in the Herbert Coventry Museum, with their installation The Druthaibs Ball, 2021.

Author: Stephen

Fatal Deviation

Kane Stonestreet

Bbeyond New Commissions artist Kane Stonestreet will make a Live Performance as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival at Flax Art Project Space from 7pm to 8.30pm on Thursday the 4th of May 2023.

Deirdre Mc Kenna: Mundane again, again… A retrospective

I remember how it made me feel…. Jane Butler

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