Commissions
Kira O’Reilly: Untitled (Bodies)
Publication and Roundtable series
October – December 2017
Edited by Harriet Curtis & Martin Hargreaves, this publication is the first major survey of the interdisciplinary practices of Kira O’Reilly and the fifth title in the Live Art Development Agency’s (LADA) Intellect Live series.
Kira O’Reilly’s work approaches the uncertain boundaries of bodies as the starting point for enquiry, and asks what kind of societies become possible in collaborations across species, organisms, and bodies. O’Reilly explores these themes through sustained and experimental engagements with politics, biopolitics, change (social, corporeal, chemical, reactive), and the complex relations between the human and the non-human (including the animal, the human-made, and beyond).
O’Reilly’s works have been exhibited and presented internationally, across many different formats, frames and contexts since 1998 and the book will encompass that breadth and diversity. It navigates through and between performance, biotechnical practices, image-making, and writing. Contributors include Amanda Coogan, Tracey Warr, Rob La Frenais, Marina Abramović, Franko B, Rebecca French, and Linda Montano. The book also includes interviews, archive material and Kira O’Reilly’s own writings.
The publication was complemented by three Roundtable events in London, Dublin and Helsinki, each including collaborative dialogues across disciplines, and reflecting on and representing the broad range of Kira O’Reilly’s practice.
ART FORM_ Live Art