QSS artist Amanda Coogan took part in Visual Carlow’s celebration of Culture Night 2020 on Friday 18th September. This celebration, entitled ‘When I’, took the form of a 30-minute programme of newly commissioned works and performances for screen, bringing together some of Ireland’s leading artists.
Amanda’s piece, ‘Above the Starry Canopy’, was a collaboration with the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf. The title of the work comes from the poem ‘Ode to Joy’ written in 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller. However, ‘Ode to Joy’ is best known for its use by Ludwig van Beethoven in the final (fourth) movement of his Ninth Symphony, to which ‘Above the Starry Canopy’ is set against.
‘When I’ can be viewed in full on Visual Carlow’s website: https://visualcarlow.ie/events/info/when-i-culture-night-2020
Amanda Coogan is an internationally recognised and critically acclaimed artist working across the medias of live art, performance, photography and video. She is one of the most dynamic and exciting contemporary visual artist’s practicing in the arena of performance. At once playful and challenging, Coogan’s work address struggle and psychological resilience. Her work is filled with Irish Sign Language vocabulary and littered with literary references. Using gesture and context she makes multi-faceted works that leave ghostly trails in the memory. Among many awards Coogan received the Allied Irish Bank’s Art prize in 2004. She has performed and exhibited her work extensively including the Broad Museum, Michigan; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, Florida; The Neimeyer Centre, Spain; The MAC, Belfast; Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford; HOME mrc, Manchester; The Golden Thread, Belfast; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Contemporary Irish Art Centre LA, Los Angeles; The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; The Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, The LAB, Dublin; Limerick City Gallery of Art; PS1, New York, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, West Cork Arts Centre; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris and the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.