Orla Barry: SPIN, SPIN, SCHEHERAZADE

SPIN, SPIN, SCHEHERAZADE is a new installation by Orla Barry, co-commissioned by Mu.ZEE Oostende, Belgium, and EVA International as part of the 39th EVA International programme. The work uses the narrative voice to reflect upon the culture of disconnection from the natural environment, drawing on the artist’s own rural background and current occupation running a successful pedigree Lleyn flock alongside her art practice.

SPIN, SPIN, SCHEHERAZADE was first performed as part of Els Dietvorst & Orla Barry’s Wintrum Frod exhibition at Mu.ZEE Oostende in July 2019. The Irish iteration of the work will take place in Phase 3 of the 39th EVA International programme in 2021.The work exists in two forms both as an installation and a performance. In each iteration Orla Barry directs and writes for her longstanding collaborator Einat Tuchman using story telling as a means to recount the artists’ personal experiences of returning to her pastoral roots to be reborn as a hybrid: farmer-artist.

SPIN, SPIN, SCHEHERAZADE is an EVA Partnership Project made possible through the support of Mu.ZEE Oostende and Arts Council Ireland’s Project Award programme.

Artist Biography
Orla Barry is both visual artist and shepherd. She lived in Brussels for sixteen years and now runs a flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep on the coast of rural Wexford. Her artistic practice includes writing, performance, video and sound installation. Recent performances include WoWmen Festival, Kaai-theatre Brussels, 2020; Playground festival, Museum M 2019; Performatik 17; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Argos, Brussels; TBG&S, Dublin. Solo exhibitions include Quetzal Art Centre, Portugal (2017, with Rui Chafes), Mothers Tankstation (2014, Dublin), CCB, Museu Bernardo, Lisbon (2011, with Rui Chafes), Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin (2006), SMAK Ghent (2005), Camden Arts Centre London (2005), and W139 Amsterdam (2005), Argos, Brussels (2002). She was awarded the prize of the Palais de Beaux Arts in the ‘Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge’ in 2003 and was shortlisted for the Glen Dimplex Prize in 1999.

EVA Partnership Projects
EVA Partnership Projects is a programme initiative by EVA International that supports the co-commission of artworks through direct partnership with national and international organisations.