Andre Stitt

Work for Live Art Danmark
2013 “Amnesia” at Hitparaden 1

Amnesia

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary.”
Schopenhauer

“There’ll be people dying in this town who have never fucking died before”
Stitt

Using spoken word, text, sound and projected image Andre Stitt reflected on the place of performance art in his life. From his childhood and the civil conflict in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to a life spent travelling and making art around the world, Stitt considered how memory and recall, allegory, communal narrative, conflict, codes and myth inform the present.

Using a microphone and projected images, he created a monologue interspersed with short physical actions, like placing objects on a plinth or vocalising into a different microphone on a stand.

About the Artist
Working almost exclusively in live and interdisciplinary art between 1976 and 2000, Stitt gained an international reputation for cutting edge, provocative and politically challenging work. His artistic concern is prevailingly that of communities and their dissolution, often relating to trauma, conflict and art as a redemptive proposition. He often relates this back to the city of Belfast and the ‘Troubles’ it was going through during his upbringing. His live performance and installation works have been presented at major museums, galleries and in public space throughout the world.

Photo: Peter Lind

His work has been included in group exhibitions among others at MoMA PS1, New York (2000), Venice Biennale (2005), Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art,Gateshead, United Kingdom (2005), Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2008), Galerie Suvi Lehtinen, Berlin (2011), and at the John Moore’s Painting Prize Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2012)  and the National Eisteddfod of Wales, Visual Arts Exhibition (2012).

Photo: Peter Lind

BBC News stated that “Stitt is considered to be one of Europe’s foremost interdisciplinary artists.” He has worked as a live artist since 1976, presenting his work in galleries, festivals, alternative venues and sites throughout the world. Stitt is identified with a strain of interdisciplinary art relating more to visual art and action, identified in his work as “akshun”.

Find more info about Andre Stitt on his webpage and Wikipedia entry.