Outburst Arts and The Belfast Ensemble in partnership with the Ulster Orchestra presents: MASS An epic performance of queer ritual and connection featuring a full orchestra headlines the annual Outburst Queer Art Festival Composed and conducted by Conor Mitchell The Telegraph Building, Belfast, 17th & 18th November, 7pm & 9pm “an outstanding new work by the Northern Irish composer Conor Mitchell… a richly entertaining and significant work” Observer (on Abomination: A DUP Opera)
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After headlining Outburst Queer Art Festival with Abomination: A DUP Opera, Ivor Novello-nominated composer Conor Mitchell returns to the festival with the 64 musicians of the Ulster Orchestra and six queer international filmmakers to present an epic evening smashing together sacred, profane and queer ceremony. In Belfast’s iconic Telegraph Building, Conor’s new work takes the time-honoured ceremonies of Christian faith that have been performed over centuries, and creates a new place of connection and celebration where all are welcome. Part classical oratio, part rave, audiences will be able to walk freely around the space to view the central orchestra and six films projected in cinematic scale onto the walls of the old newspaper building, visually responding to the movements of a mass through different queer lenses from around the globe.
MASS headlines this year’s Outburst Queer Art Festival which runs from 12th – 20th November.
The specially commissioned visuals are by queer film makers Madonna Adib (Syria), Paulo Mendel & Vi Grunvald (Brazil), Mariah Garnett (USA), Simone Harris (Jamaica), Mohammad Shawky Hassan (Egypt), and Debalina Majumder (India). The evening also features international soprano Giselle Allen, mezzo Sarah Richmond, baritone Christopher Cull and tenor John Porter.
Conor Mitchell said, “This epic new work will support queer people to reclaim a space for faith. This puts queer contemporary music on the orchestral agenda, and bang in the heart of a war scared city. For me, this is symphonic 'activism'; smashing faith, our Northern Irish religious contentions and queer identity together. Northern Ireland is the centre point here, leading from from a place of historical marginalisation, religious discrimination and queers 'fighting back'.”
Ruth McCarthy said, “Working with Conor again, this time with the Ulster Orchestra and some of the most vital queer artists in the world, is incredibly exciting. At a time when global LGBTQ+ solidarity is critical, we are proud to present a work that is both deeply contemplative and also a radical act of collective queer joy.”
Outburst Queer Arts Festival is an annual explosion of queer art and performance in Belfast. It showcases great local and international queer work and support the development of queer arts at home and internationally. The 15th Annual Outburst will take place 12-20 November 2021, the full programme is available here
The Belfast Ensemble is an emerging collective of internationally established, award-winning Belfast-based artists. Their purpose is the eventual founding of a permanent performance ensemble - world-class theatre and music makers in the city of Belfast - a legacy and a living wage. Their manifesto is ‘Made in Belfast / Brought Beyond’: engaging with the wider European contemporary music / theatre / design scenes by festival touring, commissioning and drawing upon present trends in writing and performance. The Belfast Ensemble will have no ‘home’: the city is their stage. Their vision: Art in the hands of Artists.
Founded in 1966, the Ulster Orchestra has been at the forefront of musical life in Northern Ireland and the Orchestra’s full-time musicians form the region’s only professional symphony orchestra. In 2019, the Ulster Orchestra appointed Daniele Rustioni as its Chief Conductor, a role which commenced at the start of the Orchestra’s 2019/20 Season. With a mission to enrich the lives of people living in Northern Ireland, those visiting, and those who encounter it through international touring and regular radio and TV broadcasts with both BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 3, the Orchestra strives for excellence in all it undertakes, be it regular concert performances, learning and community engagement programmes, or creative collaborations across the arts.
Running Time: 45 mins | Suitable for ages 18+
Company information
Composed and conducted by Conor Mitchell Performed by the Ulster Orchestra
Featuring Giselle Allen (Soprano), Sarah Richmond (Mezzo), Christopher Cull (Baritone) and John Porter (Tenor)
Films by Madonna Adib, Mariah Garnett, Paulo Mendel & Vi Grunvald, Simone Harris, Mohammad Shawky Hassan, and Debalina Majumder
Listings information
17 & 18 November, 7pm & 9pm
The Telegraph Building, Library Street, Belfast BT1 1FH
£20 (£5 access concessions) | outburstarts.com
Supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, British Council, Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Artist biographies
Mariah Garnett (USA) is an artist and filmmaker who mixes documentary, narrative and experimental filmmaking. She is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow in Film & Video and lives and works in Los Angeles. Her first feature film, Trouble, had its Irish premiere at Outburst in 2019.
Mohammad Shawky Hassan (Egypt) is a filmmaker and video artist currently living in Berlin. His work has been screened and exhibited at the Berlinale Forum Expanded, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), MUCEM, Sheffield DocFest, Anthology Film Archives, Sursock Museum, Contemporary Image Collective – CIC, Festival dei Poppoli (Florence) among others, and has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as part of its permanent collection.
Simone Harris (Jamaica) is a 7th generation Maroon, Queer Artist and Activist based in Kingston, Jamaica. She has produced live events globally including Tobago Contemporary Dance Festival, Dance Umbrella (Jamaica), the Festival of the Arts (Boca Raton) and is founder of Choreography is Copyrightable. Her latest project Walking Tall is a stilt walking performance art programme. Lady Blake Ophelia Stratum is an experiment in character art that explores ancestry, colonialism and ritual here in video form as part of MASS.
Debalina Majumder (India) is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer. One of the foremost documentary filmmakers working on gender and queer sexuality issues in India, her films have been made part of curriculum in universities and institutes all over the world. She has written and directed internationally acclaimed documentaries and short films, including Sar..rr..ra (Joy Run) and …ebang bewarish..(…and the unclaimed).
Paulo Mendel & Vi Grunvald (Brazil)
Paulo is a director, cinematographer, editor, visual artist and independent curator. His work explores audiovisual possibilities in different media and the interface between art and video and between video art and documentary. His hybrid works have been exhibited at major festivals such as the Bienal de Sao Paulo, the Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil and the Prague Quadrennial, and are included in collections such as Circuito Videodanza Mercosur and Centre de Vidéo-danse de Bourgogne.
Vi Grunvald is a filmmaker, researcher, artivist and Professor in Visual Anthropology. President of the Pierre Verger Award at the Brazilian Anthropological Association, her recent work focusses on gender, sexuality and queer/cuir theory. She creates award winning work with Paulo Mendel and the Stronger Family on issues related to family, kinship, city and social markers of difference. including their renowned documentary Sunday (2019).
Madonna Adib (Syria) is a freelance writer and director from Damascus, Syria. Her work revolves around themes of queer life, body and women in Syria, including collaborations with Parabola Films (Canada), the Scottish Film Institute and British Council with her latest short, Let My Body Speak which premiered at IDFA (2020) and was part of British Council’s Five Films For Freedom international queer short film showcase. She is currently working on a feature documentary and her first short fiction with Georges Films in Paris.
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