Ringfenced

Mountshannon Arts Festival Pre Opening - Saturday 25th May - 4pm

Ringfenced - a guarantee that funds (allocated for a particular purpose) will not be spent on anything else. Also, to create a barrier around an enclosure.

For the performance Rachel will create a ringfenced enclosure within which she will ask the audience to situate themselves. The viewers become the viewed, and the performer becomes the guarantor. Using sisyphean actions to construct and destruct, the performance addresses how it feels to be present in a space, and looks at how we barricade ourselves into enclosures of our own making.

Rachel will also show a series of new paintings which will be displayed during, before and after the performance.

Rachel Mcmanus

Based in Co Clare, Ireland, Rachel works through drawing and performance. Her drawing takes the form of a community based collaborative practice, which allows an ongoing exploration into the cultural and social nuances of her surroundings. Her performance practice employs endurance based tasks and repetitive action as a way to experience how it feels to be present in a space.

Rachel holds a Masters in Fine Art, Open College of the Arts (UCA) 2019 and a BA in Visual Communications, National College of Art and Design 1997

She has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally at Live Art Ireland Tipperary, Mart Gallery Dublin, 126 Artist Run Gallery (Galway), glór (Co Clare), Ps2 Studios (Belfast), Revision Festival (Belfast), FIX21 Catalyst Arts (Belfast), Die Kunstschaffenden Gallery, (Linz, Austria) and Musikhuset, (Gävle, Sweden).

Rachel has co-facilitated Creative Circles, a monthly meeting space for Clare based Creatives, since 2021. She is a founding member of the Co. Clare based art collective The Negative Space, which is currently painting a series of public art works in Ennis Co Clare under the PRISM public art scheme. In 2023 Rachel founded and runs Here and Now; a performance art collective based in Co Clare, currently facilitating workshops exploring and learning about performance art. In January 2024 p(art)y Here and Now was launched - a monthly live participatory performance event, taking place in Ennis, Co Clare.

In 2024 Rachel will be continuing Negative Space Collective's public art programme in Co Clare, commencing a mentorship with Embrace Arts and Disability Programme, Co Clare, developing ongoing participatory projects for Here and Now and producing a body of work for upcoming shows.