On Discipline

an intensive workshop with Martin O’Brien

This intensive workshop looks at discipline in performance making - how commitment, repetition and training can shape the way we work. Together we’ll explore how we can make rules - and break them - as we make our performances. In his own his work, Martin O’Brien sets up rules and conditions. These inform his choice of actions, materials and aesthetics and give the work an internal logic which he can make decisions with - or against. Using exercises dervived from Martin’s practice, we’ll work through ways of (re)committing to an artistic exploration. Identifying and clarifying our own existing rules, and experimenting with new logics, we'll explore how adherence to these self-defined / self-inflicted conditions can push our actions beyond the expected and familiar. We'll also look at what happens when we transgress, disrupt, break or overturn established rules during our performances. What do refusal and resistance bring to our work? We might also understand our rules as an expression of our artistic values, what happens when we subvert our them? We invite artists and performers with varied and diverse practices to join ON DISCIPLINE. Although Martin will reference his own explorations of pain-based and BDSM-informed practices, they are not the focus of this workshop. Our guiding principles will be commitment, dedication, repitition and endurance - principles which will mean different things to different artists.

What to expect:
Performance / Live Art