Kira O’Reilly (UK): Untitled bomb shelter action for Kuopio, returning
“LILY, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet.” The Dead, James Joyce
The charged space of Kotkankallio bomb shelter was host to Kira O’Reilly’s performance for ANTI 2003, which became one of the more iconic moments in the festival’s history. Kira’s return to the same site this year is the first time ANTI has asked an artist to readdress their practice in – and its relationship to – the same physical location. Seven years later, what has changed for the artist, and what has changed for us?
Using the central channel of the shelter, this new work explores bodily utterances of slowness, feeling in the dark, and being literally lost for words. Kira describes her body-based practice as “attempting to move at the edge of some kind of capacity and some unnamed ground, falling, tottering, trembling. This is the place I attempt to make art from; bodily utterances that then travel across an intimate space to you the viewer, creating a possibility for something that is perhaps tender, or troubling, or astonishing – for both of us”. You can go and watch Kira doing her performance anytime during 14.00 – 17.00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Kira O’Reilly (UK)
Kira O’Reilly regularly shows her performance work across the world to much critical acclaim. Her practice, including groundbreaking research on biotechnical tissue culturing, has been supported by a number of international agencies including the Welcome Trust and SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia.
UNTITLED BOMB SHELTER ACTION FOR KUOPIO, RETURNING is a coproduction/copresentation with City of Women in the framework of the European project ‘A Space For Live Art’ with the support of the Culture Programme 2007-2010 of the European Union.
The skin of my teeth
I feel it in my bones
An eye for an eye
Following my nose
Gut feeling
Shoulder to shoulder
Stomach churning
Spine tingling
Heart felt
”I make works with which to consider The Body and our lived in experiential bodies. Mine is a 43 year old body, attempting to move at the edge of some kind of capacity and some unnamed ground, falling, tottering, trembling. This is the place I attempt to make art from; bodily utterances that then travel across an intimate space to you – the viewer; creating a possibility for something that is perhaps tender, or troubling, or astonishing – for both of us.”