MAILING LIST︎︎︎

Supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

BACKGROUND


Bea McMahon
Performance of Background
As part of Terrapolis
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
7–9:30pm, Saturday 26 July 2025

Background is a performance by artist Bea McMahon, choreographer Artémise Ploegaerts, and writer Díc Walsh that was restaged as part of Terrapolis at IMMA in July 2025.

The performance focuses on things as they separate from their background and turn into coherent, distinguishable and countable subjects that can then take part in the plot. It is like the gap between when you don’t know something and then after a little while you do know it. It was originally conceived in relation to McMahon’s two-person exhibition with Conor McFeely, titled GOD, curated by Mark O’Gorman at the Complex, Dublin 2024.

This restaging has an additional plot twist, situating the performance as the backdrop to one episode of a new TV show titled Crickets. Conceived as a series and created in the genre of cringe tragedy, Crickets is devised to be performed and shot by the artist and her crew of collaborating writers, actors, camera operators and producers. Their chimeric appearances on and off-stage will colour and distort the original performance, while adding to the layers of background material.

The performance was filmed for use in the production of a new artwork by the artist. The audience was able to choose whether or not to be included in this filming.

Bea McMahon uses many different media including sculpture, performance, song, dance, moving image and installation, often working in collaboration with others. Trained in mathematics and mathematical physics, she navigates through conceptions of reality and their corresponding appearances in the outside world. Recent collaborations include Crickets, a TV series shot in various locations including Treignac Projet and Kunstverein Aughrim (ongoing); Another Shot at Love, a romantic comedy commissioned for the 40th EVA biennale in Limerick, 2023; live performance with lip-synching pop group Dina from Egypt in I’ll be your Mirror, Hugh Lane Gallery, 2023 and pop-video-smash-hits magazine launch at Framerframed, Amsterdam 2024.

Artémise Ploegaerts is a choreographer and performance artist, blending movement, theatre, and video. Her work has been featured at Dansmakers Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum, and KLAP Marseille.

Díc Walsh creates experimental, author-driven theater. A former architect, his work includes Drainage Scheme (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and Oneday (Iontas Theatre).

TV Crew:
Nathan O’Donnell - writer
Shane Malone-Murphy - production
Conall McCauley - sound
Deniz Buga - camera

Background was supported by the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Mondriaan Fonds, Dublin City Council, Kunstverein Aughrim and the Art Council. Kunstverein Aughrim’s ongoing collaboration with Bea McMahon is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.