Dublin Art Book Fair 2023
Our publication ‘Walking in the Way: Performing Masculinity’ documenting our collaborative performance project ‘Walking in the Way’ is now available in the Dublin Art Book Fair in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. Edited by the wonderful Catherine Marshall, the book also features essays and text by Dr. Áine Phillips, Dr. Kate Antosik-Parsons and Nieves Correa. Thank you to Curator Wendy Erskine. The fair is open until the 17th so be sure to visit.
Thank you to our live performance audience
Thank you to everyone who came to our performance for The Language of Men / El Lenguaje de los Hombres. We enjoyed your company. Thank you also to our friend and colleague, writer and performance artist Nieves Correa for giving an informative tour of our exhibition from her perspective of being a Spanish performance artist and from her cultural understanding. Our exhibition runs until the 9th of August, all are welcome.
Thank you to our opening night audience
Thank you to everyone who came to our opening at Wexford Arts Centre for the opening of The Language of Men / El Lenguaje de los Hombres. We had a great evening of crossovers between Spanish and Irish culture united by music and dancing. Our exhibition runs until the 9th of August, all are welcome.
The Language of Men / El Lenguaje de los Hombres at Wexford Arts Centre
Wexford Arts Centre proudly presents, The Language of Men / El Lenguaje de los Hombres, an
exhibition of work by Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti.
Photo Title: Antonio and Henry, the Barbers of Madrid, with Cummins & Mezzetti Photo. Photographer- Abel Loureda.
Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti are feminist artists who challenge essentialist fixed identities, in their series of performances: Walking in the Way. The performances take place in cities where the two female artists take on the mannerism, gestures and physicality of male presence in the public arena they have selected. The focus of each piece develops from the general to the particular and each one is unique to that city. An important part of the research process is informed by making connections with key figures in each of the selected cities. The performances are observational, transient works with a core meaning and resolution. They have taken place in eight different cities, Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Derry/Londonderry, Istanbul, Madrid, Seville, and Malaga.
Official Opening:
This exhibition will open with a celebration of cultures, music, and dancing on Friday 14th July at 6:30pm.
Tickets to this event are free of charge, a €1.30 donation to the Centre is optional when booking online. Places may be limited, be sure to book your place at www.wexfordartscentre.ie to avoid disappointment or call 053912 3764 / email boxoffice@wexfordartscentre.ie.
Live performance;
15th of July at 3pm.
Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti will host a mid-exhibition performance event on Saturday 15th July at 3pm with writer Nieves Correa which explores ideas of social conflict and public space. Through this series of collaborative performances, the artists explore issues around the control of space, stereotyping, masculinities, movement and presence. As feminist artists, they seek to make visible how gender intersects with society.
This event is free to attend and all are welcome.
The exhibition runs until the 9th of August. Gallery opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5pm Saturday 10am – 4pm.
Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford, Y35 X5HF
Thank you to the Appearance, Inside/Out participants
Thank you to The Lab and to our wonderful participants for coming to our workshop Appearance, Inside/Out. We had a great sharing experience together. Thank you to photographer Juliette Rowland for the images.
Talk at Blessington Library for International Women’s Day
Celebrate International Women’s Day in Blessington Library on Tuesday, 7th March at 6.30pm with an artist talk from award-winning artists Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti.
The talk titled Talking about Walking will examine the work of the artists body of work Walking in the Way.Cummins and Mezzetti took on the mannerism, gestures and physicality of male presence in the public areas of different cities including Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Derry/Londonderry, Istanbul, Madrid, Seville, and Malaga. Join the artists as they talk about their subversive work, their exhibition (currently on display in the Lab, Foley Street, Dublin 1) and their new publication, Walking in the Way – Performing Masculinity.
Booking Required [blessingtonlib@wicklowcoco.ie or 045 891 740]
Appearance, Inside / Out workshop at The Lab Gallery
The Lab is pleased to present a workshop entitled Appearance, Inside / Out with internationally acclaimed performance artists Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti as part of their current retrospective exhibition A World of Appearances / Walking In The Way. This workshop on the 14th of March (2 – 5pm) includes a tour of the exhibition and performance exercises encouraging individual actions in response to the exhibition’s thematic. All are welcome and loose clothing is recommended. Places are limited and while the workshop is free, booking is essential. Vist here to book your place.
About the exhibition;
A World of Appearances / Walking In The Way is part of a countrywide retrospective of the work Walking in the Way . This is a collaborative performance series by established artists Frances Mezzetti and Pauline Cummins. They explore control of space, stereotyping, masculinities, movement and presence. Walking in the Way was first performed in Dublin in 2009 and the artists continue to probe the possibilities to date. This decade long collaboration in performance art, A World of Appearances, addresses cultural and social perceptions around gender, age and visibility through documentary images and video. The Walking in the Way performances take place in cities where the two female artists take on the mannerism, gestures and physicality of male presence in the public arena. The focus of each piece develops from the general to the particular and each one is unique to that city. The development of the work is informed by key figures from the chosen community, and an important part of the research process is informed by understandings and connections that are forged with local individuals in each of the selected cities. The performances are observational, transient works, with a unique meaning and resolution. 10 performances have taken place in 9 different cities, Dublin, Belfast, London Edinburgh, Derry/Londonderry, Istanbul, Madrid, Seville, and Malaga.
About the artists;
Frances Mezzetti
Frances Mezzetti is a visual artist based in Dublin. Mezzetti holds a BA hon in Fine Art from NCAD (1998) and a MSc in Art Psychotherapy from Queen Margaret University Edinburgh (2011). Her extensive background in art therapy and in the field of well-being practices have influenced her concept of performance as a means of “movement to a way of awareness”. Mezzetti’s practice explores the themes of gender and place from a feminist perspective. Previous exhibitions include site specific work with Univ. of Trieste, Italy (2022), Nairs Fundaziun, Switzerland,(2021), BIFPA (2020), Greenway Boston (2018), ‘Out of Site’ series Promenade (2008), Rathmines Festival (2007) and York Street (2006). Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally. She works in performance art, including six years of events with The Performance Collective, and in site specific, installation and video, with an emphasis on collaboration with artists across disciplines.
Pauline Cummins
Pauline Cummins’ performance and video work examines the human condition from a feminist perspective. Research driven themes of the political body, activism, human rights and gender are often explored in the artist’s practice. Cummins likes to collaborate with artists and communities in public sites and situations; including within prisons as a visiting artist and was the founding chairperson of the Women Artists Action Group, (WAAG). Cummins lectured at the National College of Art and Design from 1994 – 2014. Her work is in both national and international collections including The Irish Museum of Modern Art and the National Maternity Hospital. Commissions include the Newgrange Interpretive Centre, New St. Park (Dublin) and the National Maternity Hospital. Current exhibitions include The Narrow Gate of the Here-and-Now, Protest and Conflict, IMMA. Cummins was recently an Artist in Residence at The Irish Museum of Modern Art from 2021 – 2022 and is currently based in Rua Red artists studios.
Upcoming exhibition in The Lab Gallery
Culture File RTE Segment
You can listen back to a segment about our work in the South Tipperary Arts Centre on RTE Lyric FM radio here.
Irish Examiner Article
You can read an article about our work in The Irish Examiner by Marjorie Brennan here.
Workshop spaces available – Performing Masculinity
Limited places remain for our workshop on the gendered experience of public space – 7th May Clonmel Community Resource Centre. Kickham Lodge, Kickham Street, Clonmel from 10am to 4pm. This workshop is free but pre -booking is essential. The workshop will explore feminist concerns, performance of gender and holding power. Email info@southtippartscentre.ie to reserve a spot.
Walking in the Way Retrospective Tour
We are pleased to announce a retrospective three gallery tour that will take place from 2022 – 2023. Each gallery retrospective will run additional events, community engagements and talks.
The first leg of the tour is currently open at South Tipperary Arts Centre, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary until May 14, you can find more details here.
Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Ferrybank South, Wexford, opens Culture Night September 23rd
The Lab, No. 1 Foley Street, Dublin, opens Spring 2023.
The tour is accompanied by a book Walking in the Way: Performing Masculinity. This is a 98 page publication with 44 high quality images which documents the project begun in 2008 around the gendered occupancy of spaces in cities in which the artists have performed in Ireland, UK, Turkey and Spain.Edited by Catherine Marshal, the book includes essays by Dr. Áine Phillips, Dr. Kate Antosik Parsons and Nieves Correa. You can purchase the book directly here.