Borderless Romance in North Tipperary

Nestled on 17 wooded acres between Borrisokane and Carrigahorig, historic Milford House makes an idyllic setting for a unique festival of art and music taking place next month.

Convergence: A Borderless Romance is the title of the groundbreaking event organised by Live Art Ireland - in partnership with p(art)y Here and Now - over the weekend of August 8-10. It will feature music in the grounds from some well-known names, among them Liam Ó Maonlaí, Ian Whitty & the Exchange, Cáit Ní Riain, Nic an tSaoi and Nightwood.

A central aspect of the festival will be innovative live art performance practices from both established and emerging artists, pushing the boundaries of contemporary performance art.

Performance art generally involves live actions executed by an artist, sometimes with other participants, concentrating on a particular theme. There will be performance art workshops at the festival, as well as a film programme and plenty more to look forward to. Around 300 people are expected to attend and will be able to camp in the lush surrounds of Milford House.

Founded in 2020 by Deej Fabyc and her late husband Mark Newell, Live Art Ireland is based in the seventeenth century house, which has become an attraction for artists from all over the world. Deej hopes the upcoming Convergence festival will further enhance the renown of her Milford base and help introduce more local audiences to performance art.

“Bringing music and performance art together is so important because the audience will be attracted to someone like Liam Ó Maonlaí coming to play, and hopefully getting interested and more engaged with a new art form,” she said. “That is the idea - to introduce people to an art form they may not have come across before but in the context of giving them something that we hope they will enjoy.”

‘A PASSIONATE LOVE AFFAIR’

Convergence: A Borderless Romance is billed as “a passionate love affair between artistic disciplines, cultures, and creative voices that transcends geographical, stylistic, and conceptual boundaries… The festival's philosophy embraces the idea that art, like love, knows no borders.”

Deej invited people to step beyond their comfort zones to engage with this new form of expression, which, although unfamiliar to many, is gaining in recognition. Live Art Ireland is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Tipperary Co Council, and a growing number of local artists have embraced the new medium.

“When we approached Tipperary Co Council, they'd never actually worked with live art before,” Deej explained. “It's really come on in the last five years since I've started working here.

“In the area, there are more artists that are becoming familiar with the practice, more artists emerging who are working with the practice. We're creating an ecology of artists in the area that connects in with those more national networks in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Cork, etc. We're creating connections both for Irish artists and also for them to make connections internationally with their peers.”

Among the Tipperary artists to have engaged with Milford House are Layla Tobin, Annie Hogg, Lucy Lamb, Julie Lockett and Sheila Goggin, along with Teresa Burke from nearby Portumna. There were also two Ukrainian refugees - Volodymyr Topiy and Maria Frymier - who lived at Milford House for six months, both artists who have since gone on to set up in Limerick.

Live Art Ireland networks with the wider community as much as possible. A recent example was last year’s performance the Portach Promenade, which involved a well-attended walk at Redwood Bog. As well as local stories, music, history and information about the ecology of the bog, it featured presentations of performance art based around grief over loved ones who have passed on, and over the destruction of our climate.

REMEMBERING MARK

For Deej personally, the upcoming Convergence festival will conjure memories of her husband Mark, who tragically died in a road accident in 2023. “His memory is still here,” she said. She often shows visitors to Milford House a sculpture - which Mark called ‘Untitled Folly’ - in the grounds, which he made only a couple of months before his death.

“This is the really sad thing in that Mark was really coming into his own as far as his own practice as an artist at the time he passed on,” Deej reflected.

“I just want to express my gratitude to all the people who have stepped into the breech since Mark passed away. Live Art Ireland… could not have kept running without the local support and national support that I had, both from the artist members... and also the support from the Live Art Ireland board of management. I wouldn't have been able to keep going if I hadn't had these people come and help in all sorts of immeasurable ways.”

HISTORIC HOUSE

Passing the gates at Milford House, one can feel the weight of history going back to 1630 and the many residents that called it home over the centuries.

Mark and Deej moved there from London after they purchased the house in 2020. They carried out extensive renovations, some of which had to be redone this year when the house was damaged by Storm Éoywn, which also brought down several old trees in the grounds.

Mentioning that she would like to return the original name of the house - ‘Lisheenboy’ - Deej pointed out that her home is a National Monument and people are welcome to go and have a look, though she would like them to make an appointment first.

Members of the Irish Georgian Society are the most frequent visitors, and they are fascinated to see how Milford has become a mecca for artists from near and far. These artists in residence typically stay for three to six weeks at a time, participating in performance art workshops; international visitors use Milford as a base from which to explore Ireland.

Deej said that Milford is one of only two artist-in-residency centres in the world that are dedicated to this kind of live art practice (the other is in the United States). She has been invited to give presentations about it later this year at performance art festivals in Finland and China.

“We are getting more confidence in our project,” she said, adding that she would like to get the funding to take on more paid positions. As it stands, the project involves only one part-time position; Deej runs it on a voluntary basis.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

A team of 16 volunteers are involved in organising this year’s Convergence festival, which is to continue as a bi-annual event.

Among the festival highlights to look out for are appearances from Laura Leuzzi - who will deliver a keynote presentation - Marie-Chantal Hamrock and Maja Zeco, all sponsored by Gray’s School of Art.

Among other artists internationally recognised for their performance art are Alastair MacLennan, Nigel Rolfe, Amanda Coogan and Ciara O'Reilly, the latter of whom was to have attended the last festival but had to cancel. Another artist that Deej has for sometime wanted to perform at the festival is Ulster University lecturer Sandra Johnston, while Áine Philips, who teaches at the Burren School of Art, has also been added to the bill.

Convergence will furthermore see the launch of a North Tipperary Queer Shed on Saturday, while on Sunday the Irish launch of ‘Playing with Fire’, a film by Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, will take place before the festival closes with a ritual invoking love for the Earth and nature. For tickets and all further information about Convergence: A Borderless Romance 2025 and Milford House, visit www.live-art.ie.