HIVE work with artists and galleries, creating musical responses to visual artworks. Below are some recent projects at The MAC and PS2 galleries, Belfast.
‘i-i-i’, for ‘On Refusal’ at The MAC, Belfast (2020)
In 2020, HIVE composed ‘i – i – i‘ in response to Sable Elyse Smith’s neon artwork ‘Landscape III’ (2017). The text in neon is spoken and sung by performers in a choreographed movement around the gallery space.
Performed 17 Jan 2020 for ‘Reflections on Refusal‘ at The MAC, Belfast.
Programmed by Nollaig Molloy, Jennifer Alexander and Chloe Austin in collaboration with Clare Gormley. Part of ‘On Refusal: Representation & Resistance in Contemporary American Art‘ exhibition, The MAC, Belfast.
‘I Get That a Lot’, for Michael Hanna’s ‘Looking Backwards’ (2019)
In November 2019, HIVE collaborated with artist Michael Hanna to create a new work responding to his visual artwork Monument VII (2019). The work was installed for Michael Hanna’s exhibition ‘Looking Backwards’, PS2 Belfast.
HIVE’s response, I Get That A Lot, was a torchlit montage of quotations from of the romance novel pasted on Hanna’s artwork.
‘Then something interrupted me from my voyage and removed me from my day dreaming’ (2019)
In 2019, HIVE worked with visual artists Thomas Wells and Louisa Chambers to produce a live performance as part of their project Then something interrupted me from my voyage and removed me from my day dreaming.
HIVE performed excerpts of ‘I’m Searchin‘ whilst rowing along the Lagan River with Lagan Currachs. Costumes by Wells and Chambers.
Listen to My Ears (2020)
“Interested in your ears? Thinking about your hearing? Enjoy telling stories or using your voice?”
Listen to My Ears was an arts and music workshop led HIVE director John D’Arcy along with HIVE members Aisling McCormick, Elen Flügge and Emily Dedakis at Catalyst Arts, Belfast in October 2020.
The workshop invited participants with all forms of ears – including hearing aid and cochlear implant users – to explore their own hearing through a series of listening and sound-making activities. The workshop invited participants to reflect on and share their personal hearing experiences in a safe and welcoming environment.
Listen to My Ears was part of Disappearing Wall, a Goethe-Institut London initiated, cross European project, made possible by Urban Scale Interventions (Northern Ireland) in Belfast and supported through engagement projects by Catalyst Arts. More information here.
Herring the King, for the closing of The MAC’s exhibition of Alfred Wallis (2022)
In March 2022, HIVE joined the closing event for the MAC’s exhibition of Alfred Wallis paintings, leading the audience in a participatory rendition of the traditional Irish sea shanty Herring the King.