Fading Out of Dead Air | Martin O'Brien
Schedule
Thu Nov 07 2024 at 06:00 pm to 09:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
International Museum of Surgical Science | Chicago, IL
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Defibrillator Gallery proudly presents:FADING OUT OF DEAD AIR
Performance Art by Martin O'Brien (UK)
THU 07 NOV | 6-9PM*
International Museum of Surgical Science
1524 N Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60610
* a three-hour durational performance where viewers can come and go
A scratchy sound of white noise emanating from a small radio fills the dark room. A faint voice comes through. It sounds like nothing from this world, as if death itself was speaking. Somewhere else, sickly patients lay in hospital beds in hell. They don’t understand why they are still sick. They listen to the hospital radio, but it doesn’t play their favorite songs. Instead, they listen to the sounds of a life once lived.
Fading Out of Dead Air explores mortality through ideas of immortality. Taking its inspiration from hospital radio, and pop culture references to ghosts being heard only through analogue technologies, this work explores the human desire to communicate, and record. In a strange and eerie landscape, O’Brien shuffles around, recording and playing half heard voices and unholy sounds. The work will take the form of a strange durational séance of actions. The performance will last three hours, or until the dead make contact, whichever comes first.
Martin O'Brien is an artist and zombie. He works across performance, writing and video art. O’Brien has cystic fibrosis and all of his work and writing draws upon this experience. His work uses long durational actions, short speculative texts and critical rants, and performance processes in order to explore death and dying, what it means to be born with a life-shortening disease, and the philosophical implications of living longer than expected. Originally from Burnley, Lancashire, he has shown work throughout the UK, Europe, USA and Canada, and is well known for his solo performances and collaborations with the legendary LA artist and dominatrix Sheree Rose. His most recent works were at Tate Britain in 2020, and the ICA London in 2021. He is winner of the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Visual and Performing Arts 2022. He was writer in residence at Whitechapel Gallery throughout 2023. In 2018, the book Survival of the Sickest: The Art of Martin O’Brien was published by Live Art Development Agency. His work has been featured in The Guardian, Frieze Magazine, on BBC radio and Sky Arts television. He is currently head of performance at Queen Mary University of London.
This project is made possible with support from the Visiting Artists Program and the Wellness Center at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, along with the International Museum of Surgical Science.
O’Brien will present a talk through the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on Monday, November 11 from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Free and open to the public. Visit www.saic.edu/vap for more information.
The Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (www.saic.edu/vap) presents today's most influential practitioners and thinkers. It has featured over 1,000 international artists, designers, and scholars representing more than 70 countries through a diverse mix of lectures, screenings, conversations, and readings. The mission of the Visiting Artists Program is to educate and foster a greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary art and culture through discourse.
The Wellness Center at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (www.saic.edu/wellness) provides empathic and compassionate support and care dedicated to ensuring that every SAIC student's experience is a successful one.
International Museum of Surgical Science (www.imss.org)maintains over 10,000 square feet of public galleries dedicated to the history of surgery, and an exquisite permanent collection of art and artifacts from the history of Medicine. The Mission of the Museum is to enrich people’s lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history, development, and advances in surgery and related subjects in health and medicine through medically themed exhibitions and a vibrant contemporary art program.
Defibrillator Gallery [www.DFBRL8R.org] is an international roving platform dedicated to Performance Art. Based in Chicago, DFBRL8R presents projects whenever and wherever opportunities arise. Actively contributing to global dialogues surrounding time-based art and immaterial expressive forms, DFBRL8R energetically bridges local and global communities to raise awareness, appreciation, and respect for the discipline of Performance Art.
Photo credit: Martin O’Brien, The Last Breath Society (2021). Institute for Contemporary Art, London. Photo by Holly Revell.
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Where is it happening?
International Museum of Surgical Science, 1544 N DuSable Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60610-6684, United States,Chicago, IllinoisEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
