Orla Barry The Scavenger’s Daughters”

“The Scavenger’s Daughters” is performed by Kate McIntosh, Ineke Lievens and Miles O’Shea. Co-production of de Appel; STUK kunstencentrum, Leuven and Tate Modern, London.

Since 2006 de Appel has breathed new life into its historic role as a centre for performance art in recent years, by regularly presenting performances by a range of artists and dancers, who investigate the notion of the 'live moment'. In 2009, while awaiting completion of our new home base, de Appel is celebrating its temporary disembodiment with a special programme of performances, projects, lectures, informances and publications under the title "The Future Will Last Longer Than The Past". The performances will mainly take place in connection with an institutional partnership with Theatre Frascati.

Orla Barry’s work is rooted in language and is driven by the tension between visual and literary representation. The artist composes poetic prose - textual fragments that bring together philosophical meditations, casual thoughts, biographical facts as well as fictional elements and (nonsensical) associations. In her photographic series, publications, films and performances, Barry dwells on themes such as linguistic intoxication, proximity and distance, melancholy and frivolity, friendship and family relationships, the things that bring us together and those that keep us apart. Orla Barry’s “The Scavenger’s Daughters” is an ambiguous portrait of two sisters, these sisters might represent 'sisterhood', they could also be lovers or two opposite aspects of one mind: the intellectual as opposed to the corporeal, adult versus adolescent, a world of reason opposed to a world of play. This epic text weaves together three monologues, constantly failing to form a narrative dialogue. but creating an excess of meaning and of images. The title refers to the act of scavenging of words, ideas, food and emotions. Barry’s poetic writing and theatrical performance unfold a fictional narrative concerned with intimate relationships and the inability to communicate, providing a unique visual & physical experience of language.

Practical Information: Location: Frascati WG, M.v.B. Bastiaansestraat 54, Amsterdam

Orla Barry
“The Scavenger’s Daughters”
a performance
12 & 13 Juni 2009, 20.30 Uhr