‘Rage Reactor’ sees artist Zack Mennell working with their archive of NHS and DWP letters in (para)site, working more with the estranged archive of collective family photos. The performance will entangle poetic explorations of personal childhood trauma with the trauma that the civil nuclear industry enacts on the land - considering lineage and generational cycles of trauma. Asking broad questions such as: What does this leave us with? Where does this leave us? Where can we go from here? The installation will be altered after each activation. Audiences are invited to move around the installation, stay a while, leave and return freely during the installation and activations.
Access: BSL interpretation and Audio Description will be provided at this event.
Age Guidance: 16+ Contains nudity and adult themes
Booking info: While the installation will be open to visit during Bluecoat opening hours, there will be 3 performative activations during this commissioned piece installation. Booking va eventbrite for these is essential.
Please book a ticket for one of the following times:
- Sat 22nd Mar:1:30pm-2:30pm
- Sun 23rd Mar: 12.00pm-1.00pm
- Sun 23rd Mar: 2:30pm- 3:30pm
Follow this link or click booking link button above to get your tickets.
About Zack Mennell
zackmennell (b. 1994, UK) is an emerging self-taught artist whose lived experiences shape their multidisciplinary practice. Using performance, photography, and writing, they explore queerness and neurodivergence in relation to presence and visibility. Their photographic work is strictly analogue, employing 35mm film to document performance and live events.
In 2022, zack was commissioned to create their first solo work as part of Tidechangers, a development programme for early career artists by Totally Thames/The Thames Festival Trust. They frequently collaborate with performance artist MarO'Brienrien, integrating care with artistic co-performance and photographic documentation. Their partnership has led to performances at notable institutions and festivals across the UK and Europe, including Whitechapel Gallery, SPILL Festival (2016), and ICA London (2021).
They are a member of the Bethlem Artist Collective, Liberty Advisory Group, The Other MA (TOMA) 24/25 cohort and a studio holder at Triangle LGBTQ+ Cultural Centre. They were part of the 2021 cohort of "The Sunday Skool for Misfits, Experimenters and Dissenters" at VSSL studio.
About DDFI40:
DaDaFest International returns 8th-31st March 2025 to celebrate DaDa's 40th Anniversary and this time we are coming with ‘RAGE: A Quiet Riot’.
DDFI40 will showcase work by disabled artists that captures all shapes and sides of rage. From the internal quiet frustrations and righteous rage, to overt injustice and activism, DDFI40 will explore disability rights, disability arts, access, ableism and ‘Rage’ in an explosion of creativity.