Kenny McBride, UK
"In answer to the world as it has been given me, artistic production is a manifestation of my humanity and a social action. Reverberation begins long before and continues long after the act."
Kenny McBride employs processes of body-based performance and installation art to generate elaborate and expanded sculptural environments. These become emotionally charged spaces wherein the pathologies of the lived and the mediated experience assume a hallucinatory journey. Simultaneously they conjure a meditative engagement with encounter and alienation that results in a dialogic fragmentation of visual phenomena. Often they are devised specifically and responsively to a proposed site and its social context. Works often engage the full range of senses.
He is author of uniquely intense works, presenting in diverse locations and contexts internationally, operating mostly, though not exclusively, beyond the traditional gallery structures and in a wide variety of impermanent or public spaces.
He has organised small and large-scale events and retrospectives, and is founding editor of online magazine www.agora8.org Previously he worked for 15 years as an artist in disadvantaged communities and within the rehabilitation and prison systems.
“McBride is extraordinarily able to view a relationship between his emotional psyche and empiric observation by way of distilling such responses to the simplest and most elegant performative gestures and installations.”
John Newling, john-newling.com
“Really high quality form of processual engagement. His dedication is total and without a doubt.”
Luka Salapura, artmagazin.co.yu
manifestActions
'Meant Lament'
September 2007, Future of Imagination 4, Singapore
Generations, loss, and memory.
Kenny McBride interviewed by Lee Wen
'Meant Lament'
May 2007, Interakcje, Piotrkow, Poland
Generations, loss, and memory.
‘Past Now Present'
October/November 2006, 7a*11d, Toronto, and MIFPA, Boston
Excavating mediated encounters with violence.
'Arbeider'
September 2005, Tou Brewery, Stavanger,Norway
Testament to 107 workers of Tou Brewery who lost their livelihoods to global business interests.
'I Want to Experience What I Understand. IV.'
August 2005, Zlatno Oko, Novi Sad.
Dispute with territory. Action generated 'Red Flag With Soil' for 1st International Artistic Flag Festival, Novi Sad.
'I Want to Experience What I Understand. III.'
August 2005, SKC, Belgrad.
Dialogue with territory.
'I Want to Experience What I Understand. II.'
August 2005, IMAF 7, Odzaci, Serbia and Montenegro
Marking territory.
'I Want to Experience What I Understand. I.'
Nov 2004, Dartington, UK
Pathologies of hostage phenomena and media representation, with a focus on events in Beslan.
Yellow'
June 2004 Totnes, UK
Intervention with 5000 yellow shopping bags, removing corporate text from the consumer as site of advertising, the highlighting and marking of human movement within architecture through corresponding colour. Duration, ongoing
'Asylum Europa I - IV - Recoil From Reason'
Aug/Sept/Oct 2004, Dartington, UK; Merz-Haz, Budapest; Zlatno Oko Gallery, Novi Sad; IMAF 5, River Serb-Croat River Danube Border, Serbia And Montenegro; Central Park Star, Sepsiszentgyörgy, Transylvania.
A body of durational works animated by the interfaces of action/site/video to report geo-alienation, cultural boundaries and cultural boundedness, culminating in a simultaneously live and mediated install-action exploring the visual phenomena of site and installed-body actions as a way to produce and inhabit context.
'Still Life Exile'
July/Aug 2003, Kézdivásárhely, Transylvania; BWA Katowice, Poland
Cultures of exile and displacement offer a plurality and simultaneity of vision and community.
'Blood Soil'
April 2003, Zona Deacon Itinerant, Barcelona
Media images and the index of blood and soil as psychic registers of xenophobia and territorial conflict.
'Re Past'
March 2003, Dartington, UK
Feast of media reports appearing as frozen registrations of pathological ingestion.
'Heimat'
June/Aug/Sept/Oct 2002 & Feb 2003, National Review Of Live Art, Glasgow, UK; Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham, UK; TransArt Communication, Slovakia; IMAF 4, Odzaci, Former Yugoslav Republic; Innerspaces, Poznan, Poland; Shippon Studios, Dartington, UK.
Human/nature diatomic inheritance axis of creation/destruction with discourse centered on space and place and illustrated with media images of exile and enforced migration.
'Day Wounds'
Jan 2003, Dartington, UK
Walking against time action reporting media representations of economy and conflict.
‘Déja Bloody Vu’
Dec 2002, Fix02 Catalyst Arts, Belfast
Media reports of missing persons and trans-border conflict.
'Still Life Still'
Nov 2002, Dartington, UK
Human body and religious faith.
'Nourish Wall'
Oct 2002, Mamü Galeria, Budapest
Resurgent phenomena of European terrorism and the role of the media.
‘Ha! Ha! Terror'
Aug 2002, Castle of Imagination, Ustka, Poland
Laughter in the Middle Ages as a means to defeat terror.
‘Red’
March 2002, Rzeszow, Poland
Absence of public seating in the main civic square.
'Shelter: River Dart Action'
Sept 2001, River Dart, UK
Action in a tidal river. Collaboration with Joe Sallis.
'Take My Breath Away'
Aug 2001, River Dart, UK, Collaboration with Joe Sallis.
40th anniversary report action in a tidal river remembering those who died crossing the Berlin divide.
‘Summer Street Bridge Action’
June 2001, Mobius, Boston, USA, Collaboration with Joe Sallis
Displacement and memory in Fort Point, Boston.
'Sonic Drawing 1: Sleep'
April 2001, Dartington, UK
Domestication of human waste and the simultaneous cleansing of European languages in the 16th century.
'Sonic Drawing 2: Drawing May Be All That Is Left To Discuss. Line Dancing'
Oct 2000, Dartington, UK
Performance lecture on the relational dynamics of idea/concept and action/gesture.
CURATION
’All in a Day’s Work’, November 2004 Dartington, UK
Roger Bourke, Gillian Wylde, Glad Fryer, Roddy Hunter, Kenny McBride.
‘ÜTÖ Gustáv. AnnART ETERNAL’, May 2004 Dartington, UK
Installation Retrospective of 25 years artistic activity.
'Nenad Bogdanovic: Man Gallery', March 2004 Shippon Studios, UK
Performance, ‘Man Gallery: Serbia II’, and retrospective of 25 years artistic activity.
‘Contexture: Equal Footing’, June 2002 Dartington Gallery, UK
Roland Miller, Helen Sharp, Kevin Henderson, Marilyn Arsem, and DCA graduating students.
‘Crossing Time International: Annex’, Nov 2002 Dartington Gallery, UK.
International artists and emerging UK artists working in performance, installation, sonic maneuvers, and video.
‘The Eternal Quest for Home', Dec 2001 Poznan. With Joe Sallis. Poznan: Artur Grabowski, Ishka Verena, Wladyslaw Kazmierczak, Ewa Rybska, Slawimer Brzoska, Slawek Sobczak, Tomek Wendland, Daria Kozlowska, Zlatko Kopjlar, Kenny McBride, Anne Marte Rygh, Maija Hirvanen, Roman Tratsiuk, Olga Maslowska, Christiane Kónig, Nicole Wagner, Joe Sallis, Helen Sharp, Odilia Jarman, Rawleigh Clay, Elaine Kordys, Kinga Araya. Paris Webcast: Richard Piegza, Esther Ferrer, Charles Dreyfus, Daniel Daligand, Elisabeth Morcellet, C & J Pineau, Max Horde, Andrzej Bakowski, Bruno Mendonca
‘Yellow Café’, 1996–98, Edinburgh.
Organization showcasing the work of emerging artists in new writing, graphics, video, and sonic maneuvers in Scotland.
‘Art On the Dole’, 1982-84 Edinburgh.
Artist-run organization and exhibition space and incorporating technology-training workshops in marginalized communities.
RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2007 AHRC Doctoral Research award
2006 Methods Network Conference award
2006 AHRC Doctoral Research award
2005 European Cultural Foundation Travel Award
2005 AHRC Doctoral research award
2004 AHRC Doctoral Research award
2004 AHRC 12 month travel award
2004 Arts Council England Project Development Award
2003 ETNA Foundation Artist-in-Residence Project, Transylvania
2003 British Council Visiting Arts Travel Award
2003 Arts Council England Research Award
2001 CSW InnerSpaces, Artist-in-Residence Project, Poznan, Poland
1985 Artist-in-residence, Special Unit, Barlinnie Prison, Scotland
1984 Artist-in-residence, Slide Workshop, Edinburgh
MENTORING, TALKS, LECTURES
Lecture presentation and workshop. Plener, Wysowa Zdroj. Poland. May 2005. With Arti Grabowski & Zbigniew Warpechowski.
Affiliate Lecturer, Dartington College of Arts. MA Programme, Visual Performance (Time-Based Art Practices).
Lecture, ‘Jerzy Beres: Manifestation and the Construction of Social Space’
‘Art – What is it good for?’ seminar. Dartington, 2004
Mentor for emerging UK visual and live artists
eXpo/NOW festival, Nottingham, 2003
‘The documentation and re-presentation of contextual art practices’
‘Notes toward performing the archive: global media and electronic landscapes’
‘The dialogic status of artists’ documents and archives’
‘Mail Art (Radio Odzaci Discussion)’, Nenad Bogdanovic, Kenny McBride, Roddy Hunter, Judit Bodor
Dartington, UK; ETNA Foundation, Transylvania; Full Nelson, Los Angeles; Radio Odzaci, Serbia and Montenegro
PUBLICATIONS, TEXTS, CATALOGUES
'Encountering the Encounter' and 'MAS Galeria' - IMAF 7
‘Reading the ‘Social Body’ of Transylvania and Romania through the Documents and Activities of Performance Artist-Organizer ÜTÖ Gusztáv’
‘The Dialogic Status Of Documents Generated And Appropriated By Performance Art: Gusztav Metzger And Marilyn Arsem’
‘Come On!’ Radio broadcast on sub – and counter culture. BBC Scotland and Liquid Sound Lounge Radio, NYC. 1995-96
2005, Zlatno Oko, 'Artist Flags' and 'I Want to Experience What I Understand' Publication.
IMAF 7 2005, Odzaci, Serbia and Montenegro
IMAF 5 2003, Odzaci, Serbia and Montenegro
TV Novi Sad, performance with interviews, Serbia
National Review Of Live Art 2003, Glasgow
IMAF 4 2002, Former Yugoslav Republic
Transart Communications 2002, Slovakia
fiX02, Catalyst Arts 2002, Belfast
Mobius/Save Our Studios 2001, Boston, Mass.
Made in Leith 1999, Edinburgh
Yellow Café at Assembly Rooms 1997-98, Edinburgh
Liquid Sound Lounge 1996, New York
Cafe Graffiti 1983-86, Edinburgh
Art On The Dole 1982, Edinburgh
EDUCATION
PhD (current).
MA Visual Performance (Time-Based Art Practice)
Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon
BA (Hons) Visual Performance (Time-Based Art Practice), 1st Class
Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon
Diploma, Media & Cultural Studies
Stevenson College, Edinburgh
Diploma, Community Education
Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh