The new episode of #A.I.L - artists in laboratories, the weekly radio programme about art and science i present on ResonanceFM, is aired today at 4pm (London time.)
My guest at Resonance this afternoon is Kira O'Reilly, a performer whose work i've encountered a number of times in biotech art context. I've been particularly drawn to the works that address the ethics of human/animal interactions and more generally our complex relationships with animals. The most discussed of her work is probably inthewrongplaceness, an intimate performance that Kira developed on her return from a residency at the art science collaborative research lab SymbioticA in 2004. Realizing the similarities between the pig's skin and her own, Kira danced skin to skin with a dead pig and invited members of the audience to touch both her own and the skin of the nonhuman animal,
Kira O'Reilly, inthewrongplaceness, 2009. Photo by Axel Heise
A few years later, Kira presented the performance, Falling Asleep With a Pig in which she cohabited with a live pig called Deliah in a specially constructed sty. Sometimes they shared the space for 36 hours and in other performances, the cohabitation lasted 72 hours.
Kira O'Reilly's work has been exhibited and discussed widely throughout the UK, Europe, Australia, China and Mexico.
Kira is currently busy working on a three year AHRC funded creative fellowship at Queen Mary University of London called Thresholds of Performance, between body, laboratory and text.
Kira O'Reilly, Falling asleep with a pig, 2009, Cornerhouse, London © Kira O'Reilly