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Open Studio: Martin O’Brien
Open Studio with Martin O’Brien
You are invited to enter the lair of the beast. An open studio in hell. Somewhere between a hospital, a morgue, and a BDSM dungeon where headless gimps serve drinks whilst being deep throated by ghosts, serpents emerging from cracks in the floor, and the dead dance on their own graves. Welcome to the strange world of Martin O’Brien. Martin will be displaying elements of his process, including fragments of performance, scores, videos, images, objects, and detritus.
Martin O’Brien is currently in residence developing his new performance, What the Serpent Told Me in the Misty Gloom. The piece will premiere on 15 November at Tate Britain.
This is a unique opportunity to meet Martin, hear more about his artistic practice, and gain insight into his creative process.
Time: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Artist Talk with Martin O’Brien: 2:00 PM
Entrance:Free – no need to book, just drop in! Your welcome to drop in any time during the Open Studio hours.
Refreshments: Snacks and drinks will be available.
Martin O’Brien is an artist and zombie. He works across performance, writing and video art. His work uses long durational actions, short speculative texts and critical rants, and performance processes in order to explore death and dying, what it means to be born with a life shortening disease, and the philosophical implications of living longer than expected. He has shown work throughout the UK; Europe; USA; and Canada, and is well known for his solo performances and collaborations with the legendary LA artist and dominatrix Sheree Rose. His most recent works were at Tate Britain in 2020, the ICA (London) in 2021, and as Writer in Residence at Whitechapel Gallery in 2023. He is winner of the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Visual and Performing Arts 2022. Martin has cystic fibrosis and all of his work and writing draws upon this experience. In 2018, the book ‘Survival of the Sickest: The Art of Martin O’Brien’ was published by Live Art Development Agency. His work has been featured on BBC radio and Sky Arts television, and as a double page spread in The Guardian. He is currently senior lecturer in Live Art, and head of department of Performance, at Queen Mary University of London.
During his residency at Warehouse9, Martin will be working on a new performance What the Serpent Told Me in the Misty Gloom. The performance will premiere at Tate Britain 15 November 2025. Martin will continue his exploration of death, dying, the undead, and ghostly returns through foggy death-scapes, where images are half seen or miss seen. Fog filled grave yards or woods are classic horror film settings. The fog has the potential to hide danger, but also to make the innocent feel dangerous. In the fog, nothing looks or feels the same. The air feels thick, almost suffocating, if you fall asleep in the fog, would you drown?
Access Information
Warehouse9 is wheelchair accessible via a level entrance. An accessible toilet is available and can be reached using a certified stairlift.
All events are held in a relaxed environment and follow a safer space policy. We kindly ask visitors to familiarise themselves with the space and the policy upon arrival.
