Arts and culture The Distilled Eye

The Distilled Eye reflects some of the qualities and complexities of capturing live performance actions on camera. As an inherently ephemeral medium, performance art is notoriously difficult to record and retain the essence of the live moment.

This exhibition comprises of some performances made specifically to camera with a collaborative aspect evident between the performer and filmmaker.

Other video works exist as documentation of live actions where the duration and instability of the footage reflects the unpredictability of the audience and environment context.

Thirdly, some works are presented as photographic stills whereby the performance actions have been distilled into a series of concentrated held moments where the viewer can imagine the intermediary motion. Each of these variations of representation involve negotiating the elusiveness of physical presence, and reflect the essentially intimate relationship between the camera and light and time passing.

The BIFPA festival, established by Brian Connolly in 2013, is located and facilitated through the Fine Art department at Belfast School of Art. Each year the festival platforms performance artworks from students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, alongside recent graduates, staff, and international guests.

The ethos of BIFPA is inclusivity and nurture for artists exploring performance art at every level of career.

As an ongoing project BIFPA endeavours to sustain an artistic community of experimentation and support that spans from students to national and international practitioners, all sharing a passion for creating performance art.