About Olivia Hassett
Biography
Dublin based Olivia Hassett creates live and site-specific performance-based video works. Hassett regularly collaborates with other performance artists and works on cross disciplinary art projects. She graduated with a MFA from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (NCAD) in 2012 and a BFA from NCAD in 1997.
Hassett has performed and exhibited both nationally and internationally at Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm (2024), Live Art Ireland (2022,24), Catalyst Arts, Belfast, (2025 & FIX Festival (2023)), RUA RED, Dublin (2014), MART, Dublin (2024 & 2022/18/17/14) Trinity College Dublin (2017 & 19) PAB Bergen, Norway (2015), Bealtaine Festival (2021).
Olivia is artist in residence in Tallaght University Hospital since 2018. Final outcomes from the two-year Curiosity project with consultant Dermatologists will be permanently installed in TUH during May 2025
Current projects include performance-based responses to Neolithic burial sites in Massey Woods in the Dublin Mountains. and on top of the Paps of Anu in the Kerry mountains. Alongside Paul Regan Hassett will curate the 2025 Performance Art Festival at Rua Red during September.
Upcoming solo performances include Unveiled at Tallaght University Hospital in May, and Threading time, part of the May Festival, Killeagh, Co.Cork. Upcoming group performances of note include Arcane Ritual part of the Ceremony Festival, in London, UK during April and xChange@RuaRed inaugural performance at Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre in June.
Alongside Synaptic Space, a collaboration with fellow performance artist Rachel Macmanus, and Cerberus, with Deej Fabyc and Rachel Macmanus, Hassett regularly performs with performance group Bbeyond in Belfast.
For more information please visit:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassettolivia/
Image: Creation Myths, performance at Mart Gallery, 2024
Image credit: Deej Fabyc
Artists Statement
From a young age my fascination with science and more specifically human physiology was fostered by my mother who was a biology teacher. Working as an artist in residence in Tallaght University Hospital and collaborating with scientists at Trinity College Dublin has created a vibrant and exciting framework for my exploration of notions relating to the physiology and politics of the human body.
Over the years I have engaged and reengaged with the notion of human skin as a porous liminal boundary. During the past two years this interest has extended to include prolonged and deep explorations of the relationship between my body and a selection of Neolithic burial sites in Ireland.
From the monumental natural world to unseen microworlds my performing body responds to the compressed energy, and thinly veiled layers of history, memory, and ritual action that echo at these sites. Working with intuitive, immersive performance and filmmaking processes allows me to create artworks that explore the physical and philosophical nature of the human body as it co-creates with the animate, inanimate, and liminal spaces between.
Embodied colour is my language, it speaks out boldly, draws on the energy of place, and inspires the creation of site-specific performative skins. Sculptural objects also act as conduits for the site-specific performative actions and the layering of these multiple elements are key to the creation of the final live and film artworks.
Prehistory is an ephemeral place defined by the absence of stable and final identities. Engaging with what is forgotten or lost through the relentless passage of time helps me resonate with those who feel invisible or unseen. As a performance artist working with a living ageing body that is moving beyond motherhood into a complicated physical and societal framework it is important to me that I reference this journey alongside incorporating empowering feminist ideologies into my practice.
Image: Papping, performance at the top of the Paps of Anu, Kerry,
Image credit: Peter Hassett