Image credit: Tom Ó Caollaí 

Root to Crown: A Joseph Beyys Symposium

Programmed by the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art led by Bbeyond Member Thomas Wells

In 1974 the island of Ireland was captivated by the arrival of a German conceptual artist making waves across Europe for his radical approach to art, learning and community, Joseph Beuys. 
Fifty years on from a series of lectures that were held across the island of Ireland, we look at how they were embedded in the psyche of those who witnessed them and how this inspired generations of artists on the island of Ireland to organise, create and disrupt the established norms. 
Coinciding with the 175 years of The Belfast School of Art, Root to Crown will explore the initial impacts of Beuys visit at Crawford Art College, Co. Cork, The Ulster Museum Belfast and The Belfast School of Art. We will hear about how these lectures and approaches to practice influenced the creation of new organisations such as Art and Research Exchange a decade later. 

Root to Crown also welcomes artists from across the island whose work touches on themes present in Beuys practice on landscape, ecology, pedagogy and time. 

Root to Crown is a programmed event by Belfast International Festival of Performance Art as part of Beuys: 50 Years Later at the Ulster Museum.

Programme of events

10:00 - Welcome from Belfast International Festival of Performance Art committee member Thomas Wells, a member of Bbeyond

10:30 - 11:30 - Root - an in-conversation with Maud Cotter

11:30 - 12:30 - Trunk - ‘Hedge School’ a performance lecture by Tom Ó Caollan

LUNCH provided by Ulster Museum

13:30 - 14:30 - Bole - Art and Research Exchange, an in-conversation with Belinda Loftus, Alastair MacLennan and Rainer Pagel

14:30 - 15:30 - Branches - a performance by Rainer Pagel (performance will follow directly after ARE talk)

15:30 - 16:30 - Leaves - Brian Connolly - a talk by the prolific artist, educator and organiser in the creation of ‘Available Resources’ and ‘Bbeyond’

16:30 - 17:00 - Crown - ‘Jarred.Beuys’ Legacy from Irpinia to Belfast’ a performance from Marina Iodice

17:00 - 19:00 - Skywards: an archive installation with Siobhán Mullen

Root to Crown will be followed by the launch of a new publication ‘Creativity + Conflict’ , a document of the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art in 2023 featuring newly commissioned essays. Creativity and Conflict has been compiled by BIFPA committee members and designed by Keith Connolly. 

BIFPA Committee members are: Brian Connolly, Sandra Johnston, Brian Patterson, Siobhán Mullen, Sinéad O’Donnell, Zara Lyness and Thomas Wells.  With thanks to the staff at Ulster Museum and Fine Art Curator Anna Liesching. In parentship with Belfast International Festival of Performance Art

Brian Connolly, Sandra Johnston, Brian Patterson, Siobhán Mullen, Sinéad O’Donnell, Zara Lyness and Thomas Wells are all members of Bbeyond.

Monday 18 November 2024 from 10:00 - 20:00
Location: Ulster Museum Belfast Room and Lecture Theatre

Tickets can be booked through the Ulster Museum website