AMANDA COOGAN is an internationally recognised and critically acclaimed artist working across the medias of live art, performance, sculpture and installation. The Irish Times have said, 'Coogan, whose work usually entails ritual, endurance and cultural iconography, is the leading practitioner of performance in the country'.
Her extraordinary work is challenging, provocative and always visually stimulating. Using gesture and context she makes allegorical and poetic works that are multi-faceted, and challenge expected contexts. She is one of the most dynamic contemporary artists practising in live art.
The body, as a site of resistance, is the centrality of Coogan's work. She encompass a multitude of media; Objects, Text, moving and still image, all circulating around her live performances. Her expertise lies in her ability to condense an idea to its very essence and communicate it through her body. Time is a key material in Coogan's practice, building controlled instability into the fabric of her work. The long durational aspect of her live presentations invites elements of chaos with the unknown and unpredicted erupting dynamically through her live artworks.
Coogan was awarded the Allied Irish Bank’s Art Prize and has extensively presented and performed her work, including at The Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, PS1; New York, The Whitworth Gallery; Manchester, The Museum of Fine Arts; Boston, Van Gogh Museum; Amsterdam and the Manchester International Festival; The MAC, Belfast; The Golden Thread, Belfast; The Niemeyer, Aviles. She delivered two large-scale live art exhibitions in the National Gallery of Ireland and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville in late 2018. Her 2015 live exhibition; I'll sing you a song from around the town, was described by Artforum as 'performance art at its best'.
Collections Amanda Coogan’s work is included in a number of Public and Private Collections including:
The Irish Museum of Modern Art University College Cork Trinity College, Dublin The Arts Council of Ireland The National Self Portrait Collection, Limerick Limerick City Gallery of Art
26.04. - 01.06. GROUPSHOW KUNSTKOMPLEX+MENNUNI, Mülhauser Str. 56, Basel, Switzerland
Einzelausstellungen | Soloshows (selection)
2018 THE LADDER IS ALWAYS THERE, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, US 2017 I'LL SING YOU A SONG FROM AROUND THE TOWN, The Niemeyer Centre, Spain 2016 I'LL SING YOU A SONG FROM AROUND THE TOWN, Uillinn, West Cork Arts Centre & Limerick City Gallery of Art 2016 THE PASSING REPERFORMED, The Niemeyer Centre, Spain 2015 I'LL SING YOU A SONG FROM AROUND THE TOWN, RHA, Dublin 2014 CORPUS, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris 2014 FROM THIRTEEN TO ONE, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin
Gruppenausstellungen | Groupshows (selection)
2019 GROUPSHOW, Galerie KUNSTKOMPLEX+MENNUNI, Basel, Switzerland 2019 NEW&COMING, Galerie Kunstkomplex, Wuppertal, Germany 2018 FLOATS IN THE AETHER, National Gallery of Ireland 2018 ACTS TO OBJECTS, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions 2018 DOUBLE TAKE, The Glucksman Gallery, Cork 2018 NAKED TRUTH, The Crawford Gallery, Cork 2018 FLOATS IN THE AETHER, National Gallery of Ireland. 2017 ROSC 50, Irish Museum of Modern Art 2016 A DIFFERENT REPUBLIC , The LAB 2016 A DECADE, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2016 CARNAGE VISORS, Rua Red, Dublin 2016 AS ONE, Benaki Museum, Athens 2016 2116, Glucksman Gallery, Cork & The Broad Museum, Michigan 2015 PERFORMANCE ART + NORTHERN IRELAND, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast 2015 TO CAMERA, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast 2014 JUVENILIA, The Naughton Gallery, Queens, Belfast 2014 MOBILE ENCOUNTER: Documenting the early years of performance art in Ireland, IMMA, Dublin 2013 BEETHOVEN 7, FIX13, Catalyst Arts, Belfast 2013 MANHOLE, Insel Hombroich, Germany 2013 COEXIST, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin 2012 REMNANT(S), Ballina Arts, Centre, Mayo 2012 TENSE, Limerick City Gallery of Art 2011 THE PASSING The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2011 SPIT SPIT, SCRUB SCRUB, Dublin Contemporary
Live Works (selection)
2018 Dolores, Dublin Dance Festival 2018 Hands in Blue, The Umberellas of Phnom Penh 2018 Cowards, Steakhouse Live, Toynbee Studios, London. 2017 Talk Real Fine, Just Like a Lady, The Peacock Theatre, Dublin 2017 Sin Eaters, Anu, Dublin Theatre Festival 2017 Cowards, Project Arts Centre, Dublin 2017 Cowards, University of Oviedo, Spain 2017 Silent Dinner, Buzzcut Festival, Glasgow 2016 Run to the Rock, The Mac, Belfast 2016 Once More, Lyric Theatre, Belfast 2016 Anu Production’s On Corporation Street, HOME, Manchester 2015 Smoking in Bolero, Live Collision Festival, Dublin 2015 Silent Dinner, Summerworks Festival with FADO, Toronto 2014 The Chocolate Performance-Re-performed, The Naughton Gallery, Queens, Belfast 2014 You told me to wash and clean my ears, in collaboration with the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, The Project Arts Centre, Fringe Festival, Dublin 2014 Smoking in Bolero, CCI, Paris 2014 I’ll sing you a song from around the town, in collaboration with the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, Live Collision Festival, The Project Arts Centre, Dublin 2013 13 WOMEN, Hugh Lane, Dublin Municipal Gallery of Art, Dublin 2013 Promenade, Imagine Art festival, Waterford 2013 Robert Wilson’s The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, North American tour 2012 Robert Wilson’s The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, European tour 2012 Molly Blooms, Joyce in the City: Dubliners, Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin 2012 Bubble up in Blue, Bbeyond, Queens University, Belfast 2012 Time, Time Time, Compass, Beacon Art Projects, UK 2012 LABOUR, a live exhibition, ]Performance Space[, London, The Void, Derry & The LAB, Dublin
Stipendien & Auszeichnungen | Grants & Awards
Arts Council of Ireland, Project Award 2017, 2014 British Council, Shakespeare Lives Award, 2016 Arts Council of Ireland, Bursary Award, 2013 University of Ulster Vice Chancellor grant, 2009 - 2013 AIB Art Prize, 2005 EV+A Artist Award, 2003
Bibliography | Selection
Guy, Jennie & Lawless, Amie, A Different Republic, ADI and Firestation, 2018 Gonzales-Arias, Luz Mar, Amanda Coogan, Centro Niemeyer, 2017 Murphy, Patrick, I’ll Sing you a Song from around the Town - Amanda Coogan, RHA publications, 2016 Barber, Fionna, Art in Ireland since 1910, Reaktion Books, 2013 pp. 249, 260-262 Kelly, Noel & Kissane, Sean, Visual Artists Ireland, Creative Ireland, The Visual Arts, 2011 Morales Ladron, Marisol, Elices Agudo, Juan F. (ed) Glocal Ireland, Current Perspectives on Literature and the Visual Arts, Cambridge Scholars, 2011 p. 229 -243 O’Byrne, Robert, Plurabelle Publishing, Dictionary of Living Irish Artists, 2010 p. 60-61 Bbeyond, Pani, Performance Art Northern Ireland, 2010 Orrell, Paula, Prestel, Marina Abramovic + The Future of Performance Art, 2010 Davoren, Ann, West Cork Arts Centre, Living Landscape, 2010 Farrell, Carrissa, VISUAL, Centre for Contemporary Art, 2010 Brady, Sara, Walsh, Fintan (ed) Crossroads, Performance Studies and Irish Culture, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 pp. 180 – 195 Antosik Parson, Kate, Remembrances: the performance of memory in recent works by Amanda Coogan, Artefact, Journal of the Irish Association of Art Historians, 2009 Irish Museum of Modern Art, Altered Images, IMMA, 2009, p.12-27 Mey, Kerstin, I.B.Tauris, Art And Obscenity, 2007 p.31-32