Eoin McKenzie is the artist currently leading Lab Station, our drama and performance workshop for young people aged 12 - 16 years and, along with Gudrun, also leads the Platform Young Company. Eoin has been a regular visitor to the venue for almost ten years and we are delighted that he will be one of our Associate Artists for the year ahead. Here he talks about what he is currently working on and his relationship with the building.
Hello Eoin! What are you currently working on at Platform?
I’m currently working with a group of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 16 at Lab Station on Monday nights, where we make performances based around whatever excites us all! And I’m also the director of the Platform Young Company working with a group of artists aged 16+!
What do you enjoy about spending time and working at Platform?
I’ve really enjoyed working with Lab Station and the Young Company, I feel that the people who take part in these projects are always up for experimenting with performance in a similar way to me! During the summer I also worked with Geraldine Heaney and a group of amazing young folks to make 10 videos over 10 days as Platform TV, which was the most fun I’ve had in a long time! I also love the variety of shows and gigs that the venue hosts – not to mention squeezing in a cheeky swim at the pool if I feel like treating myself!
I love that Platform genuinely support the artists they work with to make work that they are excited by! All of the team here really listen and respond to our ways of working, our interests, and our instincts – also, they all have good chat! I think it’s amazing that the building is used by folk from Easterhouse alongside folk from further afield, as a place to hang out, meet pals, and make art! I always enjoy working there because there’s a buzz throughout the space, it feels like there’s always something happening and that’s a good vibe!
Can you tell us a little bit more about your practice?
I’m a performance maker, facilitator, and director – but really I see what I do as being an interest in trying to make sense of the way humans experience and inhabit the world; sometimes I do this by myself, sometimes with other artists, sometimes with people who’re just passing through the building. I make work through choreography, writing, repeated process-based actions, collaboration with other humans and non-human materials, and through research – often I feel that my work is ‘finished’ when what I’m making moves, just slightly, out with my own control or understanding of it! I’m fascinated by failure, impermanence, and transcendence – and how they relate to the ways we make sense of ourselves and the things we interact with.
What do you take inspiration from?
I get a lot from trying to find ways to make sense of ideas and experiences that feel a little bit intangible – that are hard to make sense of through words or linear thinking. I get really excited when I experiment with how these things can exist in real time and real space! I’m inspired by the other artists I get to work with at Platform – I find hanging out and collaborating with them to be really stimulating! I also get a lot from working with the folk from Lab Station and the Young Company!
