Sharon Bennett and Dan McDermott are a collaborative duo who have an interdisciplinary practice that spans live, socially engaged and participatory art practices.
Bennett & McDermott have an interest in temporary community creation. They set up participatory scenarios, games and activities that facilitate conversation and create micro communities that are short lived but very energetic. Their minimalist approach to the use of materials allows human interaction and connectedness to take centre stage. Bennett & McDermott projects offer participants an opportunity to step outside of the expected mode of interaction within the space, be it an art gallery or public domain, and experience a different way of being together. Documentation becomes both artefact and the vehicle by which concepts and value are disseminated.
Funded by an ACE project grant, their participatory installation Twenty Years toured UK arts venues including Southampton City Art Gallery, Old Fire Station, Oxford, The Herbert, Coventry and Museum in the Park, Stroud. Twenty Years was first presented at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth in June 2019 and they were shortlisted for Best Visual Artist at the 2019 Portsmouth Guide Awards.
Town Time, premiered at Site Festival, Stroud 2022 and has since been presented at Offbeat Oxford 2022 and the Museum in the Park, Stroud and Leeds Art Gallery.
Bennett & McDermott’s new project, ConFab, premiered at Leeds Art Gallery and was commissioned for Offbeat Live Art Festival, Oxford in June 2023.
Bennett & McDermott are based in Stroud, Gloucestershire where they live with their two daughters.